Dear forum members,
We bought a plot of land last autumn and are currently deep into the floor plan design. We would like to share our current draft with you and welcome any comments and opinions.
[F]irst some preliminary information about the plot and its buildability:[/F]
Best regards
We bought a plot of land last autumn and are currently deep into the floor plan design. We would like to share our current draft with you and welcome any comments and opinions.
[F]irst some preliminary information about the plot and its buildability:[/F]
- 1000 m² (10,764 sq ft) rear plot, southwest facing (so southwest is on the left side of the site plan)
- Building boundary up to approx. 16 m (52 ft) behind the property line (up to the dashed line on the site plan)
- No zoning plan (construction according to § 34 of the Building Code)
- Groundwater at surface level and peaty soil (exact geotechnical report pending), so piled foundation required and no basement
- Affordable! (Our maximum budget for the house including foundation slab is €230,000)
- Country house style
- Bright, large windows facing south/garden
- Open living/dining/kitchen area
- Family of four, 1 bedroom and 2 children’s rooms
- Not oversized, max 150 m² (1,615 sq ft), preferably less
- Solid construction using Ytong blocks (for us the most cost-effective option, although we would have liked to build with wood as well).
- Developed ourselves after studying various floor plans (including from the book "Affordable Building with a Small Budget" by Achim Linhardt) with support from architect friends and our planner (an independent civil engineer).
- Dimensions 12.50 x 7.50 m (41 x 25 ft) (the measurements shown on the site plan are from an earlier draft).
- What we like: open living area, all main rooms have large windows facing the garden, efficient size, although the children’s and bedroom could be smaller, sewing/work nook behind the stairs upstairs, plenty of wall space for large wardrobes in the upstairs bedroom and hallway on the ground floor, light shaft in the stairwell, staircase (we originally wanted a straight run staircase but it would have taken too much space; the one with three quarter turns is also fine with us).
- What we don’t like 100% yet: the height of the house from the outside. It is currently planned as a two-story house with an eaves height of 6.2 m (20 ft), with the ground floor 2.84 m (9 ft 4 in) high and the upper floor 2.60 m (8 ft 6 in) high. The gable roof will be an uninsulated, unfinished cold roof, mainly because of the economical prefabricated truss construction method. This is a bit disappointing because I really like sloped ceilings and did not want the character of a townhouse. Lowering the roof with a knee wall of about 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) and an insulated roof with open sloped ceilings would probably be more expensive due to the rafter/beam construction. We would also lose the garden view through the floor-to-ceiling bedroom windows.
- Simple: What do you think about the floor plan?
- Can you still imagine the relatively tall two-story house having a country house character? Maybe it depends on the facade design and choice of materials? Do you think it looks too “blocky,” especially from the front entrance side? Or would a lower eaves height with an attic conversion including a knee wall be preferable?
- We are still unsure how to arrange the windows on the garden side. The drawing with the elevations shows two possible versions. We actually prefer it when the upper floor window is centered over the lower window front. However, this does not align the interior line of sight from the entrance door to the garden/patio door (see ground floor plan). This represents version two; for version one, the window front would have to be shifted about one window width to the right, so that the patio door is behind the dining table. With the window front shifted left, the interior looks better to us, but from the outside it looks strange if it is offset from the upper floor window, right? What do you think?
Best regards
S
Sparfuchs779 Mar 2020 13:53FloHB123 schrieb:
That’s quite optimistic.
Do you really think your helpers will have 10 hours available for you on weekends every time?
And that you will actually spend 10 hours each day of your vacation there? Read the earlier posts... Kaho mentioned that with 6 helpers they needed their entire annual vacation plus several weekends. I just roughly estimated how many working hours that might be.
But yes, IF I take time off work to build, then I stay at the construction site until the very end. If it’s noisy, as long as I’m allowed; if it’s not noisy, as long as I can.
Sparfuchs_ schrieb:
Read the previous posts... Kaho said that with 6 helpers, they needed their entire annual vacation and several weekends. I just did a rough calculation of how many working hours that could be
That’s nonsense. Even with the strongest motivation, no one works 10 hours straight without a break. Especially unfamiliar tasks are exhausting, require practice, and need pauses. Try painting a ceiling three times. I’ll time you until you say “phew” for the first time.
The risk of injury is also not to be underestimated. What if the father-in-law or friend, who are crucial for those 2 key weeks, suddenly can’t make it? The high workload also leads to more illnesses. Not rarely, it’s the homeowner who ends up sick in bed with “Corona.”
But I don’t want to be a pessimist. The plot of land is purchased — now it’s only possible to look forward. So let’s all hope for the best for the original poster.
Sparfuchs_ schrieb:
30 days vacation for the builder and builder’s wifeWhere exactly do you live? My husband has 26 days off per year, and we didn’t work on Christmas or New Year’s Eve. I am self-employed and basically never have time off. When you’re building, the days just melt away like butter in the sun.
la.schnute schrieb:
Of course, that is THE core of the design, Not the design itself, but the design learning process for the non-professional planner. The floor plan is the part of the planning that is most intensely experienced, just as the shell construction is felt as the most defining phase. The knowledge that as a co-planner you will later be the occupant adds a lot of emotional weight. But this varies individually: the type of co-planner/homebuilder who puts their heart into choosing the heating system will spend somewhat less time fussing over floor plan details.
la.schnute schrieb:
Additionally, our building envelope is not fully used yet, and if we want to, we could still add an extension later. Then go ahead and draw the extension interface(s) into the design.
kaho674 schrieb:
Whereas no work was done on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Lazy slackers. Having Christmas or New Year’s Eve off should be enough.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
kaho674 schrieb:
So, where do you live? My husband has 26 days off per year, with Christmas and New Year's Eve not counted as workdays. I am self-employed and basically never have any time off.It varies, and there are plenty of employment arrangements (including in Leipzig) where 40-50 days of vacation is quite common. If you choose to be self-employed, you should also be able to take 30-40 days off per year (if you want to).
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