ᐅ Two Narrow Single-Family Homes vs. a Duplex – Are There Other Options?
Created on: 21 Dec 2020 18:41
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Daniel55Hello everyone,
My sister and I share a plot of land (approximately 11 ares), which we want to divide equally.
My wish is to build a narrow detached single-family house on my half, while my sister prefers to build a semi-detached house. For me, greater privacy is the most important factor, whereas my sister does not want to give up on the “width.”
Do you have any ideas on how we can both achieve our goals? We have already considered various options, from staggered semi-detached houses to two detached houses—but neither party has ever been really satisfied. I would appreciate any suggestions. Perhaps someone here has faced a similar decision? Can you imagine a terraced house?
Regarding the floor plan, I have not thought much about it yet. It is important that the living/dining area faces west at the rear and has a full glass facade.
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: total 1,069 m2 (approximately 11,500 ft2)
Slope: no
Site coverage ratio: 0.6
Floor area ratio: ? – unfortunately, I cannot find this anywhere
Building window, building line, and boundary: see graphic
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: gable roof (according to the development plan) – ridge direction north to south
Architectural style
Orientation
Maximum height/limits
Other requirements
Client Requirements
Style, roof type, building type
Basement, number of floors
Number of occupants, age: male 34, female 29, possibly 2 children in the future
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor: ground floor for living, upper floor for bedrooms + office
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Overnight guests per year: -
Open or closed layout: open
Conservative or modern construction: conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen to dining area, kitchen island if possible
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: yes
Music/stereo wall: TV only
Balcony, roof terrace: none
Garage, carport: both possible
Utility garden, greenhouse: no utility garden, only lawn (possibly swimming pond)
Additional wishes/special features/daily routine, also reasons why certain things should or should not be included
We also asked the building authority whether we could build outside the permitted building window, but this was immediately rejected.
Thank you very much for your replies.
Best regards,
Daniel
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hampshire22 Dec 2020 09:11If you build the semi-detached house well, you won’t hear anything from your neighbour. That would be the only fundamental privacy issue. Outside, you won’t notice any difference compared to two detached houses on the plot – you will live just as privately and separately in a semi-detached house as in two separate houses. The semi-detached house even offers the possibility for each household to have a slightly larger garden.
I can only agree with the previous speakers. Build a duplex. When houses are spaced so close together, with a 3-meter (10 feet) setback from the property line on each side, you’ll always have curtains or similar closed, and hardly any sunlight will get in. Also, for planning structures like a carport, you’ll have more flexibility because you won’t need a setback on one side. In return, there will be more space on the other side.
Thank you all for your responses!
@nordanney: We want to subdivide the plot before building. Yes, by "terraced house" I meant garage/house/garage/house. Access is definitely from Sportplatzstraße.
@Hausbautraum20: I considered your point about people looking through the windows before I posted. You’re right that it may not be the ideal solution. My idea was just that with a single-family home you have your own four walls—and around that, your own property.
@ypg: Yes, my sister can definitely imagine a semi-detached house with me. She was thinking about a width between 8 and 9 m (26 and 30 feet).
@11ant: Unfortunately, I’m not an expert. I googled and found that in villages the floor area ratio is usually 0.6. That may have been wrong information or I misunderstood it—I can’t rule that out. The plot is really great, especially since you can nicely separate the garden. To the west there is a bike path, and right behind it is a very quiet dead-end street with a turning circle. You definitely have peace there. The plot is between Freiburg and Karlsruhe—it takes a lot of luck to even be able to buy such a plot in this area. Do you need any more info?
@hampshire and @Teilung: Thank you—I fully understand your arguments.
Maybe I just didn’t want to accept it, but it seems to me that a semi-detached house is the most sensible solution.
I always thought you could build a standard single-family home on about 550 m² (5920 sq ft), but our plot is too narrow for that.
Thanks again for all your suggestions—I appreciate every post.
Best regards,
Daniel
@nordanney: We want to subdivide the plot before building. Yes, by "terraced house" I meant garage/house/garage/house. Access is definitely from Sportplatzstraße.
@Hausbautraum20: I considered your point about people looking through the windows before I posted. You’re right that it may not be the ideal solution. My idea was just that with a single-family home you have your own four walls—and around that, your own property.
@ypg: Yes, my sister can definitely imagine a semi-detached house with me. She was thinking about a width between 8 and 9 m (26 and 30 feet).
@11ant: Unfortunately, I’m not an expert. I googled and found that in villages the floor area ratio is usually 0.6. That may have been wrong information or I misunderstood it—I can’t rule that out. The plot is really great, especially since you can nicely separate the garden. To the west there is a bike path, and right behind it is a very quiet dead-end street with a turning circle. You definitely have peace there. The plot is between Freiburg and Karlsruhe—it takes a lot of luck to even be able to buy such a plot in this area. Do you need any more info?
@hampshire and @Teilung: Thank you—I fully understand your arguments.
Maybe I just didn’t want to accept it, but it seems to me that a semi-detached house is the most sensible solution.
I always thought you could build a standard single-family home on about 550 m² (5920 sq ft), but our plot is too narrow for that.
Thanks again for all your suggestions—I appreciate every post.
Best regards,
Daniel
Daniel55 schrieb:
@11ant: Unfortunately, I’m not a professional. I had searched online and found that in villages the floor area ratio is generally 0.6. So that was probably incorrect information or I simply misunderstood it – I don’t want to rule that out. [...] The plot is located between Freiburg and Karlsruhe; you really need a lot of luck to even be able to buy such a plot.
Do you need any more information? The indicated building envelope – which honestly surprises me a lot – certainly never uses 60% of the plot area.
Additional information that is always helpful includes the following: first, a cadastral extract that does NOT just show a close-up behind the own fence, but includes two rows of neighboring plots; second, the zoning plan (in this forum not as a link, but e.g. "Posemuckel No. 234 Alte Gärten"). Third, aerial photos are also useful, as well as other photos. Scale-indicating details are helpful here (many people show gigapixel zooms of scratches in their door frames, unfortunately without something like a ruler or a disposable lighter in the picture to give an indication of the scale you are seeing). So: never retouch rusty caravans out of property photos!
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Daniel55 schrieb:
I always thought you could build a standard single-family house on about 550 m2 (5920 sq ft), but our plot is too narrow for that.Standard... what does standard mean? In the past, single-family houses were built offset with garages touching each other to comply with zoning regulations – you would never guess these are actually semi-detached houses.
Divide the plot so that each section gets roughly the same amount of the building envelope, and ensure equal quality in orientation, meaning facing east to west. Keep in mind that a garage can also be used for boundary construction on the north side.
When living side by side in terraced houses or semi-detached houses, this is the building arrangement that offers the least chance of overlooking each other’s homes.
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