Hello,
My wife and I visited a model home park for prefabricated houses yesterday, and we noticed that each house offered various features and floor plans whose practical benefits I don’t quite understand. That’s why I’m starting this thread, hoping you can explain the advantages of these choices or point out what I might be missing and why it still makes sense to design a house that way:
1. Almost every house had floor-to-ceiling windows installed. What’s the purpose of these? I imagine they would be terrible both in summer and winter. Wouldn’t it get extremely hot in summer? And in winter, don’t you constantly have to lower the blinds so that anyone passing by can’t look directly into the living room or inside the house? Also, isn’t the effort to clean those windows huge? Am I missing something? Do they have advantages that I don’t see?
2. There wasn’t a single house where the kitchen and dining area were separated from the living space; at best, the kitchen was separated from the dining area. I understand that having everything open makes the space appear larger and is better for hosting many people, but isn’t it very impractical? If I’m frying or cooking something in the kitchen, doesn’t the whole living room end up smelling like food? It would also bother me that as soon as my wife or I have guests over, the other person couldn’t sit in the living room and watch TV quietly, for example. This might sound a bit picky, but for me, it’s important that everyone can invite their friends without the other person always being within earshot or needing to get out of the way somehow. Why are open-plan ground floors so common? What are the real advantages?
3. The balconies on the upper floor are always accessible from one of the children’s bedrooms and the parents’ bedroom. Doesn’t that significantly affect privacy? I can’t imagine it’s great if my child can constantly knock on our bedroom door via the balcony, for example. Also, if you have two children, wouldn’t the one without a balcony be at a disadvantage?
I don’t want to bias you with my opinions here—I’m completely open to your views because I’d like to be convinced of the benefits. So I would like to know your reasons for including such features in your plans. Alternatively, has anyone built in a more “traditional” way and can speak to the practicality of these layout choices?
Best regards
My wife and I visited a model home park for prefabricated houses yesterday, and we noticed that each house offered various features and floor plans whose practical benefits I don’t quite understand. That’s why I’m starting this thread, hoping you can explain the advantages of these choices or point out what I might be missing and why it still makes sense to design a house that way:
1. Almost every house had floor-to-ceiling windows installed. What’s the purpose of these? I imagine they would be terrible both in summer and winter. Wouldn’t it get extremely hot in summer? And in winter, don’t you constantly have to lower the blinds so that anyone passing by can’t look directly into the living room or inside the house? Also, isn’t the effort to clean those windows huge? Am I missing something? Do they have advantages that I don’t see?
2. There wasn’t a single house where the kitchen and dining area were separated from the living space; at best, the kitchen was separated from the dining area. I understand that having everything open makes the space appear larger and is better for hosting many people, but isn’t it very impractical? If I’m frying or cooking something in the kitchen, doesn’t the whole living room end up smelling like food? It would also bother me that as soon as my wife or I have guests over, the other person couldn’t sit in the living room and watch TV quietly, for example. This might sound a bit picky, but for me, it’s important that everyone can invite their friends without the other person always being within earshot or needing to get out of the way somehow. Why are open-plan ground floors so common? What are the real advantages?
3. The balconies on the upper floor are always accessible from one of the children’s bedrooms and the parents’ bedroom. Doesn’t that significantly affect privacy? I can’t imagine it’s great if my child can constantly knock on our bedroom door via the balcony, for example. Also, if you have two children, wouldn’t the one without a balcony be at a disadvantage?
I don’t want to bias you with my opinions here—I’m completely open to your views because I’d like to be convinced of the benefits. So I would like to know your reasons for including such features in your plans. Alternatively, has anyone built in a more “traditional” way and can speak to the practicality of these layout choices?
Best regards
[SIGH...] You praise the relaxed thread, and now? [emoji53]
Well: Spotlights illuminating the house – I think those are great [emoji106] and of course, we have them too [emoji2]
Spotlights in the roof overhang have been there for a long time; I don’t even find those worth mentioning.
Just read... towel warmers are also very common in show homes.
We had one in the old house: hardly used, and it was difficult to get folded towels between the rungs.
Our builder wouldn’t have installed one by default because of our underfloor heating, so we don’t have one either [emoji2]
We actually enjoy using our towel warmer here a lot. It always fits three towels. It’s just a pity we can’t turn it on during summer. Let’s see what kind of electricity usage the new one has at all. Whether we even want that? [emoji848]
Well: Spotlights illuminating the house – I think those are great [emoji106] and of course, we have them too [emoji2]
Spotlights in the roof overhang have been there for a long time; I don’t even find those worth mentioning.
Just read... towel warmers are also very common in show homes.
We had one in the old house: hardly used, and it was difficult to get folded towels between the rungs.
Our builder wouldn’t have installed one by default because of our underfloor heating, so we don’t have one either [emoji2]
We actually enjoy using our towel warmer here a lot. It always fits three towels. It’s just a pity we can’t turn it on during summer. Let’s see what kind of electricity usage the new one has at all. Whether we even want that? [emoji848]
RobsonMKK schrieb:
Can you also show windows that look that bad after 3 years? I never said they look "bad." I pointed out that the materials and surface treatments should ideally have matching durability, which I don’t see here. Even without increasing temperature stress through dark tinting—though this effect can be moderate on shaded sides or sun-exposed sides with effective shading—a plastic window starts to noticeably look "not new" after about fifteen years.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
ypg schrieb:
*Sigh*... you praise the relaxed thread, and now? Sorry about that... but when the nonsense starts up again (or I just suppressed it by being absent)
ypg schrieb:
Just read... Towel radiators are also often seen in show homes.
We had one in the old house: hardly used, it was also difficult to fit folded towels between the bars. That’s why they are built with larger gaps after every handful of ribs.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Towel radiator: I currently have one installed in our apartment. I was really excited about it initially, but we don’t just have this radiator; we also have underfloor heating. The result is that the bathroom is so warm because of the underfloor heating (my bathroom has to be warm!) that the radiator never turns on… meaning it’s basically useless, and a simple towel rail would have done the job just as well. For this reason, there won’t be any more installed in the house.
The underfloor heating also keeps the towels dry.
There are some very stylish options (like Kermi) that feature a smooth radiator surface where you can attach as many towel rails as you want. They look modern and you don’t have to stuff towels between the bars.
The underfloor heating also keeps the towels dry.
There are some very stylish options (like Kermi) that feature a smooth radiator surface where you can attach as many towel rails as you want. They look modern and you don’t have to stuff towels between the bars.
Climbee schrieb:
But we don’t just have this radiator; we also have underfloor heating. The result is that the bathroom is so warm because of the underfloor heating (my bathroom has to be warm!) that the radiator doesn’t turn on… so it’s basically useless, a simple towel rack would have sufficed. Couldn’t these two systems have been planned as a single heating circuit for this room?
Climbee schrieb:
There are some very stylish options (Kermi) that have a smooth radiator where you can mount as many towel rails as you like. They also look great and you don’t have to thread the towels through the “fins.” That’s also an alternative.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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