ᐅ Floor Plan Conversion: Part of a Barn into a Single-Family Home with the Option to Convert into a Two-Family Home
Created on: 8 Jun 2021 21:40
S
Scheune20
Hello everyone,
Thank you to all who are active in this informative forum!
Now I’d like to give it a try as well. Just a brief introduction: My partner and I would like to convert part of the barn on his parents’ farm into a residential home. This means we are not as free in terms of dimensions, style, design, etc. as with a new build and have to work with the existing conditions. The goal is to convert the barn section into a single-family house for a family with presumably three children. However, the house should later, if needed, also be rentable as two separate apartments. The reason is that the existing farmhouse, where my partner’s parents currently live, is not very suitable for rental, so a move there in the future is not excluded. The potential for later rental, along with the constraints of the existing building, imposes further limitations.
We are therefore looking for the best and most practical compromise. Our first ideas are shown in the attached floor plans. Please excuse the hand-drawn nature and the partly missing dimensions, etc. Our main focus is on the general layout of the rooms! We welcome criticism and suggestions that maybe we haven’t thought of yet. Thank you very much!
Questionnaire Regarding Your Floor Plan
Building plan / restrictions
Plot size: /
Slope: No
Site coverage ratio: Not applicable
Floor area ratio: Not applicable
Building envelope, building line, and boundaries: Existing
Adjacent building: None
Number of parking spaces: Sufficient space available on the farm
Number of stories: Oriented to existing building (2 full floors plus attic)
Roof type: Gable roof
Style: Oriented to existing building
Orientation: Defined by existing building
Maximum height/limits: Existing ridge height 9.2m (30 ft), eaves height 4.5m (15 ft)
Additional requirements:
Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: dictated by existing structure
Stories: Ground floor (GF), first floor (FF), attic
Number of occupants, ages 28, 25, desired: approximately 3 children
Room requirements:
GF: Living room, kitchen + dining, pantry (utility room if rented), office / guest room (bedroom if rented), bathroom
FF: Bedroom (dressing room if possible), family bathroom with separate toilet, 2 children’s rooms (dining and living if rented), laundry room (kitchen if rented)
Attic: small storage room, children’s room, hobby room
→ Rooms can also be arranged differently if a better proposal arises (e.g., additional child’s room in attic, hobby room on FF, utility room on GF, etc.)
Office: partial home office for both
Guest sleepers per year: 5
Open or closed architecture: rather closed
Traditional or modern construction: preferably as modern as possible but with traditional elements due to the existing building and closed floor plan
Open kitchen, kitchen island: island preferred, probably setup as a cleaning/prep island
Number of dining seats: 8 expandable to at least 10 (preferably more, large families on both sides)
Fireplace: yes
Music/sound wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: balcony planned on FF
Garage, carport: no
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be:
- Direct access to the rest of the barn is strongly desired (both of us are used to this at home; it is the main entrance we use there, where lots of work clothes, a mudroom, etc. are stored – extremely valuable on the farm)
- Open-plan living area is not desired (a door between dining and living room) but visual connection wanted (double door)
- Heating and other technical installations will be centralized in another barn for both houses, so no need to house them in the building itself (only necessary utility boxes etc., also for future rental)
House Design
Who designed it:
- Do-it-yourself
What do you like most? Why?
- All elements included, large kitchen/dining/living area
- Tunnel fireplace
- Large children’s rooms
- All rooms with windows (challenge due to fire wall)
What do you dislike? Why?
- Narrow entrance?
- Wardrobe only possible under the stairs
- Staircase start unfortunately right at the entrance due to future rental considerations
- Slanted wall as kitchen entrance may not be very contemporary?
- Bathroom and guest room (later bedroom) on the ground floor not next to each other
- Dressing room not always available (two variants on FF)
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: /
Personal upper budget limit for house including fittings: /
Preferred heating technology: /
If you had to give up, which features/rooms could you live without?
- Could do without: dressing room, hobby room
- Cannot do without: minimum 3 children’s rooms + 1 office
Why is the design as it is now?
For example:
We have planned the design ourselves so far, based on the many existing conditions and our wishes, trying to find the best possible compromise.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Less direct questions but rather a wish for independent feedback. We feel the space could be used more effectively/better or that more creative/modern solutions exist despite our constraints.
Thank you to all who are active in this informative forum!
Now I’d like to give it a try as well. Just a brief introduction: My partner and I would like to convert part of the barn on his parents’ farm into a residential home. This means we are not as free in terms of dimensions, style, design, etc. as with a new build and have to work with the existing conditions. The goal is to convert the barn section into a single-family house for a family with presumably three children. However, the house should later, if needed, also be rentable as two separate apartments. The reason is that the existing farmhouse, where my partner’s parents currently live, is not very suitable for rental, so a move there in the future is not excluded. The potential for later rental, along with the constraints of the existing building, imposes further limitations.
We are therefore looking for the best and most practical compromise. Our first ideas are shown in the attached floor plans. Please excuse the hand-drawn nature and the partly missing dimensions, etc. Our main focus is on the general layout of the rooms! We welcome criticism and suggestions that maybe we haven’t thought of yet. Thank you very much!
Questionnaire Regarding Your Floor Plan
Building plan / restrictions
Plot size: /
Slope: No
Site coverage ratio: Not applicable
Floor area ratio: Not applicable
Building envelope, building line, and boundaries: Existing
Adjacent building: None
Number of parking spaces: Sufficient space available on the farm
Number of stories: Oriented to existing building (2 full floors plus attic)
Roof type: Gable roof
Style: Oriented to existing building
Orientation: Defined by existing building
Maximum height/limits: Existing ridge height 9.2m (30 ft), eaves height 4.5m (15 ft)
Additional requirements:
Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: dictated by existing structure
Stories: Ground floor (GF), first floor (FF), attic
Number of occupants, ages 28, 25, desired: approximately 3 children
Room requirements:
GF: Living room, kitchen + dining, pantry (utility room if rented), office / guest room (bedroom if rented), bathroom
FF: Bedroom (dressing room if possible), family bathroom with separate toilet, 2 children’s rooms (dining and living if rented), laundry room (kitchen if rented)
Attic: small storage room, children’s room, hobby room
→ Rooms can also be arranged differently if a better proposal arises (e.g., additional child’s room in attic, hobby room on FF, utility room on GF, etc.)
Office: partial home office for both
Guest sleepers per year: 5
Open or closed architecture: rather closed
Traditional or modern construction: preferably as modern as possible but with traditional elements due to the existing building and closed floor plan
Open kitchen, kitchen island: island preferred, probably setup as a cleaning/prep island
Number of dining seats: 8 expandable to at least 10 (preferably more, large families on both sides)
Fireplace: yes
Music/sound wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: balcony planned on FF
Garage, carport: no
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be:
- Direct access to the rest of the barn is strongly desired (both of us are used to this at home; it is the main entrance we use there, where lots of work clothes, a mudroom, etc. are stored – extremely valuable on the farm)
- Open-plan living area is not desired (a door between dining and living room) but visual connection wanted (double door)
- Heating and other technical installations will be centralized in another barn for both houses, so no need to house them in the building itself (only necessary utility boxes etc., also for future rental)
House Design
Who designed it:
- Do-it-yourself
What do you like most? Why?
- All elements included, large kitchen/dining/living area
- Tunnel fireplace
- Large children’s rooms
- All rooms with windows (challenge due to fire wall)
What do you dislike? Why?
- Narrow entrance?
- Wardrobe only possible under the stairs
- Staircase start unfortunately right at the entrance due to future rental considerations
- Slanted wall as kitchen entrance may not be very contemporary?
- Bathroom and guest room (later bedroom) on the ground floor not next to each other
- Dressing room not always available (two variants on FF)
Cost estimate according to architect/planner: /
Personal upper budget limit for house including fittings: /
Preferred heating technology: /
If you had to give up, which features/rooms could you live without?
- Could do without: dressing room, hobby room
- Cannot do without: minimum 3 children’s rooms + 1 office
Why is the design as it is now?
For example:
We have planned the design ourselves so far, based on the many existing conditions and our wishes, trying to find the best possible compromise.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Less direct questions but rather a wish for independent feedback. We feel the space could be used more effectively/better or that more creative/modern solutions exist despite our constraints.
S
Scheune208 Jun 2021 22:57I will take some pictures tomorrow and upload them, as the ones I currently have do not clearly show the situation.
In principle, submitting a building pre-application would certainly be a sensible approach; however, our situation requires a slightly different procedure, so we want to focus on the floor plan first. In the coming days, we will also discuss the next steps regarding the building permit / planning permission with the architect mentioned earlier. To reduce costs, we would prefer to rely on the architect mainly for the building application and develop the floor plan ourselves as much as possible. I know this is often viewed negatively here since architects do have specialized training, but I hope you understand our reasoning.
In principle, submitting a building pre-application would certainly be a sensible approach; however, our situation requires a slightly different procedure, so we want to focus on the floor plan first. In the coming days, we will also discuss the next steps regarding the building permit / planning permission with the architect mentioned earlier. To reduce costs, we would prefer to rely on the architect mainly for the building application and develop the floor plan ourselves as much as possible. I know this is often viewed negatively here since architects do have specialized training, but I hope you understand our reasoning.
Scheune20 schrieb:
Just a brief introduction: My partner and I want to convert part of the barn on his parents' farm into a residential house. Therefore, we are not as free in terms of dimensions, style, design, etc. as with a new build and have to work with the existing conditions. The goal is to convert the barn section into a single-family home for a family with probably three children. However, the house should also be able to be rented out later, if necessary, as two separate apartments. The reason is that the existing house where my partner’s parents live is not very suitable for renting out, The reason I’m not responding as usual with a link to a similar case nearby is simply the current time. But you wouldn’t have to look back more than a year here.
Scheune20 schrieb:
To reduce costs, however, we would like to rely on the architect mainly for the building permit/planning permission application and try to develop the floor plan ourselves as much as possible. That is by far the worst place to try to save money – by the way, the architect’s work consists of only about three percent floor plan drawing.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
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nordanney9 Jun 2021 08:38Scheune20 schrieb:
In principle, a preliminary building inquiry would certainly be a sensible approach, but our situation requires a slightly different procedure,How can that be? What does the floor plan have to do with potential buildability or rezoning? For the preliminary inquiry, you only need one page of text plus maybe a photo of the existing structure, and then you will get clarity.H
hanghaus20009 Jun 2021 09:0811ant schrieb:
The reason I’m not linking to a similar case around the corner as usual is simply the current time. But you wouldn’t have to look back more than a year.
This is by far the worst place to save money – besides, architectural work only accounts for about three percent of floor plan drawing. Are you referring to this one?
https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/mehrgenerationenhaus-baut-alte-scheune-um-200m2-auf-3-5-ha-grund.38055/
That’s quite a different scale altogether.
In the OP’s case, the width of the barn seems to match the building requirements.
In my opinion, up to project phase 4, an architect is almost always the better choice. Especially since the architect mentioned is supposed to have experience with such conversions. When converting a barn, you probably won’t find a contractor who can cover the rest well either.
S
Scheune209 Jun 2021 09:10This is related to the fact that, according to our architect, we first need to partially restore the barn to a condition considered "worth preserving," as we likely would not obtain approval in its current state. Therefore, certain parts of the barn must be renovated first (which can be done without a building permit / planning permission) before it can be repurposed. For example, this involves the northern wall, which is made of timber framing that needs to be completely replaced. However, to avoid creating unnecessary obstacles for the later conversion during this renovation (for instance, regarding the arrangement of the timber framing), we would like to develop a rough idea of the final floor plan in advance. This requires a careful approach, of course coordinated with the architect...
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hanghaus20009 Jun 2021 09:12nordanney schrieb:
How is that possible? What does the floor plan have to do with a potential buildability or rezoning? For the preliminary inquiry, you only need one page of text plus maybe a photo of the existing building, and you will get clarity. In the case of rezoning in rural or greenbelt areas, I would recommend providing some professional arguments. That’s not the place to cut corners. 😉
@Scheune20 How steep is the roof pitch? The upper attic will hardly be usable. I have a 10m (33 ft) width, 45° roof pitch, and a 1m (3 ft) knee wall. That leaves about 1m (3 ft) with over 2m (6.5 ft) height usable. You could possibly plan technical equipment there. Storage space is also possible.
What about the budget? That question remained unanswered.
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