ᐅ Single-family bungalow, approximately 1,500 sq ft – looking for floor plan ideas
Created on: 4 Sep 2018 20:27
D
daichen
Hello everyone,
After following the discussions here for some time, I would like to join in and share my own concerns.
We have purchased a 1,700m² plot of land (28x60m width x depth). The site coverage ratio is 0.2. By the way, we are a couple in our late 20s and currently have no children. We want to plan for one child’s bedroom and one study room (home office).
About the plot:
About the house:
House design:
What is very important to us:
What is relatively important to us:
Open questions:
Floor plan
Front elevation
After following the discussions here for some time, I would like to join in and share my own concerns.
We have purchased a 1,700m² plot of land (28x60m width x depth). The site coverage ratio is 0.2. By the way, we are a couple in our late 20s and currently have no children. We want to plan for one child’s bedroom and one study room (home office).
About the plot:
- no slope
- Restrictions: up to 2 full floors allowed, site coverage ratio 0.2, roof pitch must be 40%
- Location: rural village, no through road, a residential street runs parallel to the lower boundary (bathroom to guest WC) at about 5 meters (16 feet) distance
About the house:
- Desired house type: bungalow
- Desired size: 140-145m²
- no basement, no upper floor
- Double garage with access to the house; if building regulations allow, this should be the only entrance door and it should be built on the boundary line
- Kitchen: open plan to make the living/dining area appear larger
- To avoid numerous doors in the hallway → entrance to bathroom/bedroom via dressing room and a "corner in the hallway"
- 2 patio doors, one from the kitchen (two-panel) and one from the living room (sliding door)
- Gas heating (underfloor heating) + solar support for domestic hot water production
- No (decentralized or centralized) ventilation system
- Bricks: Poroton T10 36.5cm (or T10 42cm?)
- Covered terrace
- Tall and narrow window between kitchen and hallway to brighten the hallway
House design:
- We created the design ourselves as laypersons.
- Coordination with the architect/structural engineer of the construction company will take place in September
What is very important to us:
- Access to the house via the garage, since 99% of the time we enter the house by car and don’t want to walk to the house in cold or rainy weather
- Terrace facing west or south
- 4 rooms (bedroom, living room, child’s room, study)
What is relatively important to us:
- Utility room (HAR) should not be too small (minimum 12m²)
- Utility room and kitchen should not be too far from the entrance (garage)
- Especially large/wide attic ladder
- Bathroom and guest WC should each have a shower
Open questions:
- Do you have any general suggestions for the floor plan?
- Building materials: The construction company uses Poroton T10 36.5cm for exterior walls and 11.5cm for interior walls as standard (no additional insulation in the walls)
- We don’t want to build a passive house or extremely energy-efficient house, so T10 bricks seem sufficient. Or should we invest more here? My idea was to increase the wall thickness to 42cm (outside) and 17.5cm (inside), as 11.5cm seems too thin to route cables, sockets, etc.
- Poroton T10: I’ve read that the thin ribs and thinner exterior walls make the bricks less stable. Is there any truth to this, or would we have problems fixing furniture, for example?
- Poroton is said not to be very soundproof... however, I hear more often that doors and windows are typically the weak points regarding noise (and thermal insulation).
- The window between kitchen and hallway is planned to be 200x30cm and positioned above the wall cabinets. Do you see this as a good idea, or could it cause problems?
- Is the only access to the house through the garage possible?
- I’m uncertain about the layout of the bathrooms; is it optimal as shown?
- We would like tile flooring in the kitchen area, utility room, garage, and hallway (?), and laminate flooring elsewhere. Is this okay with underfloor heating?
- I find some rooms quite small. The hallway width is only 1.33m (4.4 feet), so nothing more can be sacrificed.
Floor plan
Front elevation
This can be done quite easily in your hallway. Remove the one window facing the courtyard, since the staircase will go up in a U-shape. There might even be enough space for an L-shaped staircase. Upstairs, it leads to a small gallery area, where there is a door to the attic.
Planning bungalows is always somewhat different from designing multi-story single-family homes with a clear separation between day and night living areas (sleeping / kitchen-living area).
Since there is no separation by a staircase, there are design opportunities regarding privacy (bedrooms facing the terrace? Large bathroom exclusively for residents or located at the front? Separate "sleeping area" with its own hallway section?).
You are planning a corner bungalow. An advantage of the corner shape compared to a rectangle is more exterior wall surfaces, the sheltered terrace, and, if designed well, more natural light due to less building depth. Apart from the terrace, I don’t see this fully utilized yet.
What is missing for evaluation and advice are more detailed specifications of your needs/wishes, location, and surroundings.
What borders the property on the east side? Road, neighbor, field?
Do you want many floor-to-ceiling windows with access from all living and sleeping rooms? Or would you prefer standard window sill height in the bedrooms?
Since there is no separation by a staircase, there are design opportunities regarding privacy (bedrooms facing the terrace? Large bathroom exclusively for residents or located at the front? Separate "sleeping area" with its own hallway section?).
You are planning a corner bungalow. An advantage of the corner shape compared to a rectangle is more exterior wall surfaces, the sheltered terrace, and, if designed well, more natural light due to less building depth. Apart from the terrace, I don’t see this fully utilized yet.
What is missing for evaluation and advice are more detailed specifications of your needs/wishes, location, and surroundings.
What borders the property on the east side? Road, neighbor, field?
Do you want many floor-to-ceiling windows with access from all living and sleeping rooms? Or would you prefer standard window sill height in the bedrooms?
O
Obstlerbaum5 Sep 2018 10:55In my opinion, not very successful: Bathroom on the south side with only one window, whose light is "dimmed" by the shower enclosure? Bedroom facing south, but children’s room facing east? Garage used as an entrance area? 40° roof pitch over a 14m (46 ft) house width? Slanted small walls without necessity, considering the very large built-up area? Where is a proper staircase supposed to go if you decide to convert the attic? The hallway will probably feel quite like a cave when the room doors are closed.
Hello dertill,
Thank you very much for your feedback. From the floor plan perspective, there is a neighbor on the right side (northeast) — we wanted to position the garage as a boundary construction if possible — and on the left side (southwest) there is also a neighbor about 6 meters (20 feet) away, although since the house is not built yet, that distance could increase. At the bottom (southeast) is the street, and at the top (northwest) there is about 40 meters (130 feet) of our property, followed by a field. A total of four houses will be built there, but we don’t yet know what the other builders are planning.
We want “standard” windows in all rooms except the kitchen and bathroom. We have written down everything that seemed important to us spontaneously so far. Currently, even in our rented apartment, rooms sized 12–15 m² (130–160 ft²) only have one window, which we find sufficient, so I’m not sure if we should make the rooms significantly brighter? Which rooms do you think are too dark?
@Obstlerbaum Also thank you for your feedback. The window in the bathroom was kind of a spontaneous idea. I also think that we might want to add a high, narrow “slit window” above the toilet. We don’t want it to be too exposed there. What would be your ideas?
You also listed some points, so please feel free to share your thoughts with us:
Thank you very much for your feedback. From the floor plan perspective, there is a neighbor on the right side (northeast) — we wanted to position the garage as a boundary construction if possible — and on the left side (southwest) there is also a neighbor about 6 meters (20 feet) away, although since the house is not built yet, that distance could increase. At the bottom (southeast) is the street, and at the top (northwest) there is about 40 meters (130 feet) of our property, followed by a field. A total of four houses will be built there, but we don’t yet know what the other builders are planning.
We want “standard” windows in all rooms except the kitchen and bathroom. We have written down everything that seemed important to us spontaneously so far. Currently, even in our rented apartment, rooms sized 12–15 m² (130–160 ft²) only have one window, which we find sufficient, so I’m not sure if we should make the rooms significantly brighter? Which rooms do you think are too dark?
@Obstlerbaum Also thank you for your feedback. The window in the bathroom was kind of a spontaneous idea. I also think that we might want to add a high, narrow “slit window” above the toilet. We don’t want it to be too exposed there. What would be your ideas?
You also listed some points, so please feel free to share your thoughts with us:
- Bedroom on the south side --> Yes, why not?
- But children’s room facing east? --> Yes, why not?
- Garage as an entrance area? --> Yes, why not?
- 40° roof pitch over 14 meters (46 feet) house width? --> How else?
- Slanted small walls without necessity due to very large built-up area? --> We thought it would loosen up the design a bit. Slanted walls aren’t just for small houses; I think not every wall has to be square.
- Where would a proper staircase go if you finish the attic? --> That’s a good point, Nordlys already mentioned it. We will consider it.
- The hallway will probably be quite dark when the room doors are closed. --> We have planned windows and electric lighting there. What is the alternative? Extending the hallway all the way to the left to get a window, and losing 4 m² (43 ft²) each from the bathroom and the bedroom? If you have alternatives, please share them with us.
daichen schrieb:
If the child has to pass through the dressing room to get to the bathroom, then that’s just how it is.... Topic for those without children. Wait until the theoretical child becomes a practical reality.
daichen schrieb:
this way we avoid having a super long, narrow hallway and save on doors. You don’t actually save on a hallway by replacing it with detours.
daichen schrieb:
It worked great for friends too Friends in Germany? ? ?
I’m not really convinced that an entrance to a house exclusively through the garage is compliant with regulations, even for cars without internal combustion engines.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
daichen schrieb:
Only one window size and we actually find that sufficient, so I’m not sure if we should make it much brighter? Which rooms do you feel are too dark?I might be a bit spoiled by now; on our 13m (42 feet) southwest-facing living area, we have 10m (33 feet) of floor-to-ceiling windows.
Your south side is occupied by the bedroom (which isn’t used much during the day; east to northeast is better) and the bathroom (which has no south-facing window). The evening sun from the west shines directly into your face when watching TV.
Here’s a quick sketch—I had something similar from our renovation plans lying around. Certainly not perfect, but it might inspire you regarding the separation of living and sleeping/private areas without much hallway and with plenty of natural light.
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