ᐅ Floor Plan Design for a Single-Family House with Basement and Double Garage on a 540 sqm Plot
Created on: 13 Sep 2019 22:44
M
MakeNBreak
Hello everyone,
we need help planning our house. We have purchased a 540 sqm (5810 sq ft) plot and want to build a single-family home with a basement, two full floors, and a double garage. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attach PDFs, but I hope the quality of the mysweethome snapshot is sufficient.
Details on the floor plan below...
Development plan/restrictions:
Plot size: 540 sqm (5810 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.6
Building line, building boundary, and building zone: see plan
Edge development: detached housing
Number of floors: no restriction
Maximum height: 8.5 m (natural ground to ridge)
A 5 m (16 ft) wide protected buffer zone along the water must be planted and cannot be built on.
Client requirements:
Building type: single-family house with double garage
Roof shape: gable roof
Basement ceiling height: 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in), ground floor ceiling height: 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in), upper floor ceiling height: 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)
Number and age of occupants: 2 adults (mid-30s), 2 children (<3 years)
Living area: 160-180 sqm (1720-1940 sq ft)
Basement with waterproofing “black tank” system
We want to combine the following:
- No kitchen-dining-living room corridor; instead, an L-shaped layout with the living room somewhat separated
- Office/guest room on the ground floor (double bed and desk); home office once a week, guests about ten times a year; also usable as a bedroom later in life (space for double bed and wardrobe)
- Ground floor toilet with shower
- Direct access from the garage to the house or at least a dry path from the garage to the house
- Half-landing staircase
- Gable roof
- House oriented lengthwise (gable side) towards the street to preserve as much garden space as possible on the west side
- Pantry would be nice but can be omitted if the kitchen is large; a storage room for food is planned in the basement
- Open kitchen
- Seating for 6 people
- No balcony
House design:
The current design is our own. After visiting many show homes and working through various planning drafts, we gradually became clear about what we want. The current design incorporates the above wishes.
What do we not like? Why?
If you had to give up some details/extensions, which ones would they be?
What we cannot do without:
- Living/dining area should be spacious and feel open
- We do not want a kitchen-dining-living corridor; the living room should be somewhat separated/offset.
Why did the design turn out this way?
Optimal use of the plot, placing the double garage and house towards the street to have enough garden space at the back. Kitchen faces the street, living and dining area face the garden/terrace. Simple house shape (no bay window because of the waterproof basement “black tank,” cost savings, etc.). After much trial and error, this layout made the most sense.
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Are there other options to meet our requirements? What are the main criticisms or improvement suggestions for the current design?
we need help planning our house. We have purchased a 540 sqm (5810 sq ft) plot and want to build a single-family home with a basement, two full floors, and a double garage. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attach PDFs, but I hope the quality of the mysweethome snapshot is sufficient.
Details on the floor plan below...
Development plan/restrictions:
Plot size: 540 sqm (5810 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.4
Floor area ratio: 0.6
Building line, building boundary, and building zone: see plan
Edge development: detached housing
Number of floors: no restriction
Maximum height: 8.5 m (natural ground to ridge)
A 5 m (16 ft) wide protected buffer zone along the water must be planted and cannot be built on.
Client requirements:
Building type: single-family house with double garage
Roof shape: gable roof
Basement ceiling height: 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in), ground floor ceiling height: 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in), upper floor ceiling height: 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)
Number and age of occupants: 2 adults (mid-30s), 2 children (<3 years)
Living area: 160-180 sqm (1720-1940 sq ft)
Basement with waterproofing “black tank” system
We want to combine the following:
- No kitchen-dining-living room corridor; instead, an L-shaped layout with the living room somewhat separated
- Office/guest room on the ground floor (double bed and desk); home office once a week, guests about ten times a year; also usable as a bedroom later in life (space for double bed and wardrobe)
- Ground floor toilet with shower
- Direct access from the garage to the house or at least a dry path from the garage to the house
- Half-landing staircase
- Gable roof
- House oriented lengthwise (gable side) towards the street to preserve as much garden space as possible on the west side
- Pantry would be nice but can be omitted if the kitchen is large; a storage room for food is planned in the basement
- Open kitchen
- Seating for 6 people
- No balcony
House design:
The current design is our own. After visiting many show homes and working through various planning drafts, we gradually became clear about what we want. The current design incorporates the above wishes.
What do we not like? Why?
- Where could shelves be integrated in the living area?
- Is the size of the dining and living area proportionate to the house?
- The hallway on the ground floor is quite wide – seems like wasted space
- It would be nice if the living room felt a bit more separated
If you had to give up some details/extensions, which ones would they be?
- Pantry (we haven’t managed to integrate it yet)
- Half-landing staircase is practical and attractive but takes up a lot of space (alternative: straight staircase or two-flight angled staircase)
- Kitchen orientation facing the street
What we cannot do without:
- Direct access from the garage
- Living/dining area should be spacious and feel open
- We do not want a kitchen-dining-living corridor; the living room should be somewhat separated/offset.
Why did the design turn out this way?
Optimal use of the plot, placing the double garage and house towards the street to have enough garden space at the back. Kitchen faces the street, living and dining area face the garden/terrace. Simple house shape (no bay window because of the waterproof basement “black tank,” cost savings, etc.). After much trial and error, this layout made the most sense.
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Are there other options to meet our requirements? What are the main criticisms or improvement suggestions for the current design?
MakeNBreak schrieb:
This is the current width we have for our parking space. However, a parking space does not have walls around it, which means you can open the doors within the 5.5m (18 feet) width. This is not possible in a garage. It’s better to build a single garage with enough space plus an additional parking spot. Alternatively, you can skip the garage altogether and build a double carport instead. This is sufficient to avoid scraping ice in winter, and since carports also lack side walls, they require less space than a garage.
MakeNBreak schrieb:
Another comment regarding the orientation of the house.
- The neighbor’s garage will be located to the south.
- To the west is a quiet area of the property (toward the stream). There are no houses directly on the other side of the stream.
- It should be considered that the stream buffer zone (west side – 5m (16.4 ft)) is planted and cannot be changed, and we want to maintain enough lawn space between the terrace and the stream buffer. That is why the house has so far been oriented north/south. What is the point of a large space facing south if all you see is the neighbor’s garage? However, the distance to the neighbor should not be too small—at least 4–5m (13–16.4 ft). This whole set of details is hard for anyone to remember. It’s best to put this in a labeled sketch: Where is the stream, where are boundary buildings, where is the terrace, etc.?
I would first be interested in the budget—is that mentioned somewhere and I missed it? 180m² (1,938 sq ft), a basement, double garage, plus the usual additional construction costs... that easily puts you well above 500K. Has that been planned for?
M
MakeNBreak8 Oct 2019 22:52Grantlhaua schrieb:
Why the huge office then? Design the living space so that the living room can be separated later in life (which is already possible with the current floor plan anyway) As I said, the office will be made smaller. Separating the living room is a good idea. We hadn’t considered that yet.
Climbee schrieb:
A parking space doesn’t have walls around it, meaning the doors can be opened over 5.5m (18 feet) wide. That’s not possible in a garage. Better to build a single garage with enough space plus a parking spot. Or skip the garage entirely and build a double carport instead. That’s enough to avoid scraping ice in winter, and since it also lacks sidewalls, it takes up less space than a garage. We currently have a medium-sized parking space. I meant and have measured the distance from our car to the neighboring parked car. But I agree with you that it’s tight.
kaho674 schrieb:
All this stuff is hard for most people to remember. It’s best to put it all into a labeled sketch.
You’re right... sketch attached. Please note! The site plan is now oriented north! As an example, the 9x11m (30x36 feet) house is marked with a double garage 9x6m (30x20 feet).
With the double garage (5.8m / 19 feet wide) and 11m (36 feet) house, there are 4m (13 feet) left toward the south.
kaho674 schrieb:
I’d be interested in the budget first — did I miss that? 180m² (1,940 sq ft), basement, double garage plus usual additional construction costs… you’re well over 500K. Is that accounted for?
We’re calculating with a maximum of 600K for house, additional construction costs, double garage, landscaping, and kitchen. We do have some financial leeway. I don’t want to go into details here — that would be a separate topic in the construction costs forum. At the moment, I also see the house ending up smaller than 180m² (1,940 sq ft).
Whether it’s a 3m (10 feet) or 4m (13 feet) distance to the neighbor doesn’t make much difference. I would choose 3m (10 feet) and instead increase the size of the garage. Even 6m (20 feet) is still quite tight. You also have to account for the thickness of the walls and possibly the driveway entrance.
G
Grantlhaua10 Oct 2019 07:01What is in the north? Maybe you could post an aerial photo?
M
MakeNBreak12 Oct 2019 13:49danixf schrieb:
Whether the distance to the neighbor is 3 or 4 meters (10 or 13 feet) doesn’t make much difference. I would go with 3 meters (10 feet) and use the extra space to enlarge the garage. Even 6 meters (20 feet) is still quite tight. You also have to account for the thickness of the walls and possibly some driveway space. The advantage of having a bit of distance would be that you could extend the terrace around the corner to have breakfast there on summer weekends…
Grantlhaua schrieb:
What’s on the north side? Maybe you could share an aerial photo? We’re building in a new development. New houses are being built both to the north and south. I actually thought that the development to the north wouldn’t be very relevant for us. The plot to the south is relatively narrow, and the neighbors are planning to build a carport/garage right on the property line.
If an aerial photo still makes sense, I could ask a friend with a drone to take one.
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