ᐅ Townhouse Floor Plan 170 sqm – Your Feedback Would Be Appreciated

Good Sunday afternoon, dear forum readers,

My wife and I have been following this forum for some time and have already been able to take various things into account in our planning thanks to your contributions.

Since this year, we own a city plot that we plan to build a single-family house on within the next one to two years.

In the past few weeks, we have been working on the floor plan design. For this, we used the software "Home Design 3D."

Our plot is located in the middle of the city and is surrounded on three sides by other developed properties. At the front, about seven meters (23 feet) from the main entrance (according to the current plan), runs a lightly trafficked access road.

A special feature of the plot is its relatively elongated shape (17.5 meters (57 feet) wide, 35 meters (115 feet) long).

We would greatly appreciate your critiques and suggestions for improvement, especially since this is our first (and hopefully last) new-build project.

The questionnaire:

Development plan/restrictions

Size of the plot: approximately 600 sqm (6,460 sqft)

Slope: no (flat)

Building envelope: 9.5 meters (31 feet) wide, 17 meters (56 feet) long possible, 6 meters (20 feet) set back from the street

Number of parking spaces: two parking spaces (including garage)

Number of floors: two full stories

Roof type: gable roof, pitch between 27 and 34 degrees

Style: townhouse

Orientation: see plan

Construction method: preferred prefabricated house

Client requirements

Basement, floors: basement and two full stories
According to the plan, currently at 30 degrees roof pitch with no knee wall

Number of occupants, ages: currently three (40, 37, 1 year/s)

Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: total around 170 – 180 sqm (1,830 – 1,940 sqft)

Ground floor: living room, kitchen and dining room, pantry, office, guest toilet, cloakroom

Upper floor: two children's rooms, children's bathroom, master bedroom, walk-in closet, and master bathroom (separated)

Office: home office

Open or closed layout: not defined

Conservative or modern style: not defined

Cooking area: open L-shape with kitchen island

Number of dining seats: 6 – 8

Fireplace: yes

Music/speaker wall: no

Balcony, roof terrace: no

Garage, carport: garage

House design
Who designed it: DIY over the past three weeks…

What do you especially like?
Most of our personal wishes could be implemented in this design (e.g., separated "parents’ area")

What don’t you like?
Relatively small living room, separation between living area and kitchen/dining with sliding door (for noise/smell reasons) is not ideal yet, relatively small cloakroom

Personal budget limit for the house, including fixtures and fittings: 450,000 euros plus additional building costs and landscaping

Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump (system located in the basement technical room)

Why did the design turn out the way it is?
Brainstorming during the last three weeks followed by an attempt to incorporate these ideas into a self-designed plan.

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan summarized in 130 characters?

With our current planning, this design provides a living area of about 170 sqm (1,830 sqft) on the ground and upper floors.

We would really appreciate your critiques and suggestions for improvement, especially since neither of us are professionals and this area is new to us.

Unfortunately, the software split some wall sections into smaller parts unintentionally, which does not make it clearer;-(

Thank you very much in advance for reading and your feedback,

Best regards from today’s sunny Upper Bavaria!

Kiliani schrieb:

Our plot is located in the middle of the city and is surrounded on three sides by other developed properties.

What does that look like? Are the houses lined up without any space between them, or is it a typical residential neighborhood layout? My question somewhat conflicts with the building setback area, but your description of the urban location confuses me a bit.

Well, basically, I wouldn’t like that endlessly long corridor; the living room also doesn’t need an extra door—nobody uses it. The small storage room is too small.

Kiliani schrieb:

Relatively small living room,

Where? At 28 square meters (300 square feet), it’s twice as large as many common house designs require. What do you plan to do there? For hobbies and sports, you have the basement. I typically exclude the basement from my comments, but I would be interested to know how and where you plan to store garden furniture, tools, and bicycles.

Upper floor: please keep in mind that drains and wastewater pipes require a vertical soil pipe downwards. Ideally, this should be near the toilet. So it makes sense to have one soil pipe serving two bathrooms. Two pipes are also possible, but it’s awkward if the sofa ends up squeezed between two soil pipes. A third shaft would be appropriate here for laundry.

It’s also problematic if a water leak occurs. Damage can be minimized if wet areas are stacked vertically. Ideally, load-bearing walls should align on top of each other.

A dressing room width of 180 centimeters (71 inches) with two opposing wardrobes is too narrow.

Basement windows have barred light wells. These do not exactly showcase the terrace above in the best light.

I would first give some serious thought to where the terrace should be located. At the moment, you have practically surrounded half the house out of desperation. If the neighboring buildings on the left are relatively close, then the area by the fence probably isn’t the most cozy spot.

How come the building envelope is only 9.5 meters (31 feet) wide? (17.8 - 6 = 11.8?)

I find a small living room of 28 m² (300 sq ft) quite generous. I once had an apartment that size.

So far, the layout feels rather uninviting. The long, narrow hallway makes the ground floor unattractive.

Does the staircase have to be straight?

ypg schrieb:

How should one imagine this? Are the houses built in a row without any gaps? Or is it a typical residential area? My question somewhat conflicts with the building window, but your city explanation confuses me a bit.

Hello Yvonne,
thank you for your feedback!
I wasn’t very clear earlier; this is a typical residential development (see attached map, our single-family house would be built at number 5 – where there is currently an old building to be removed).

ypg schrieb:

Well, basically I wouldn’t like that endlessly long hallway; the living room doesn’t need an extra door. No one uses it. The small storage room is too small.

By “small storage room,” I assume you mean the utility closet?

ypg schrieb:

Where? At 28sqm (300 sq ft) that’s twice as large as many common house designs require. What do you want to do there? For hobbies and sports, you have the basement. I’m ignoring the basement in my comments, but I’m curious where and how you plan to store garden furniture, equipment, and bicycles.

We plan to build a suitably sized shed behind the garage to store these items all year round.

ypg schrieb:

Upper floor: please make sure that drainage pipes also need a waste pipe running downwards. Ideally, this would be near the toilet. So it makes sense to have one waste pipe serving two bathrooms. Two pipes are possible too, but it’s awkward if the sofa ends up wedged between two waste pipes. A third shaft near here would also make sense for the laundry.
It’s also problematic if there’s ever water damage. You can minimize damage by planning wet areas directly above each other.

You’re right about the waste pipes. Our basic plan was to lead both pipes inside the wall towards the drainage in the basement (timber frame construction). But we will definitely discuss this again with the architect in light of your comment!

ypg schrieb:

180cm (70 in) for a walk-in closet with two opposing wardrobes is too narrow.
Basement windows have grating light shafts. These don’t exactly show the terrace above in the best light.

We definitely need to make the walk-in closet a bit wider, you’re right.
We also need to rethink the positioning of the light shafts and terrace, I agree with you on that.

Thank you for your points of critique! Wishing you a pleasant rest of your Sunday

kaho674 schrieb:

I would first carefully consider where the terrace should be. At the moment, you have almost surrounded half the house out of desperation. If the neighboring buildings on the left are relatively close, the area by the fence is probably not the cozy spot.

Good evening kaho,
thanks to you as well for your quick feedback!
You’re right, there definitely is a need to revise the terrace.
The left side (south side) is relatively close to the neighboring house for about half the length (7 meters (23 feet) distance between the two walls), so for the reasons mentioned, we will probably skip most of the terrace on that side.

kaho674 schrieb:

Why is the building envelope only 9.5 meters (31 feet) wide? (17.8 - 6 = 11.8?)

Unfortunately, there is a building setback agreement with the left neighbor, so about two meters (6.5 feet) must be deducted from your 11.8 meters (39 feet).

kaho674 schrieb:

I find a “small” living room of 28 m² (300 sq ft) quite extravagant as well. I once had an apartment that size.
So far, the design feels uninviting. The long narrow hallway makes the ground floor unattractive.
Does the staircase have to be straight?

You’re certainly right, my first apartment was even smaller.
We chose the straight staircase on the north side because, in our current opinion, with the elongated building dimensions (9 x 12 meters / 30 x 39 feet), this allows us to best implement the separated parents’ area on the upper floor, and also to avoid having the kitchen/dining area and the living room on the ground floor become too narrow compared to, for example, a U-shaped staircase placed in the center of the house.
Of course, this does not mean that our design is the only practical option to achieve these points; unfortunately, we have not yet found a better staircase position.
The long narrow hallway you mentioned is certainly not an advantage in our plan, you’re right about that.

Is it allowed for the terrace to be built on the property boundary? Often, it is not.

Kiliani schrieb:

By "small room," I assume you mean the storage room?

No, I mean the office. Unless it’s a house of around 109 sqm (1,173 sq ft), I wouldn’t plan anything less than 12 sqm (130 sq ft).

Kiliani schrieb:

We would build a suitably sized shed behind the garage where these items can be stored all year round.

Please add that to the plans.

Kiliani schrieb:

Timber frame construction

Especially with timber, I would zone the wet areas. Wood rot is unpleasant.