ᐅ Floor Plan Design for New Detached Two-Story House, Approximately 1,450 sq ft
Created on: 3 Aug 2021 11:32
A
Andreas_79
Hello everyone
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size = 1100 m² (11,840 sq ft)
Slope = slight downhill to the north
No formal development plan
Building area, building line and boundary all require 3 m (10 ft) setbacks on the right and left sides, and 5 m (16 ft) to the front street
Number of parking spaces = 2
Number of floors = 2
Roof style = shed roof
Architectural style = ?
Orientation = north
Maximum heights / limits = ?
Other requirements = none
Right neighbor: single-story bungalow
Left neighbor: 2.5 stories
Client Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type
Basement = no
Floors = 2
Number of occupants: 2 adults (42+39 years)
Space needs: approx. 72 m² (775 sq ft) on ground floor, approx. 45 m² (485 sq ft) upstairs
Office: occasional home office use
Guest overnight stays per year: few to none
Open-plan design
Open kitchen with island
Number of dining seats = 4-6
Fireplace = yes
Music/stereo wall = no
Balcony, roof terrace = no
Garage, carport = carport
Utility garden, greenhouse = lawn
Knee wall height 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) (Is this the correct term for a shed roof? The short side is 180 cm)
House Design
Designed by:
- Do-it-yourself (Sweet Home 3D)
What do you like most? Staircase in kitchen/dining area
What do you dislike? Storage room on ground floor is very narrow, when entering the house you look at the fireplace/wall instead of through to the garden
Estimated price according to architect/designer: €310,000 (prefabricated house provider)
Personal price limit for house including fittings: €350,000
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump
If you have to give up something, which details / features would you sacrifice?
- Can give up: carport
- Cannot give up: less living space
Why is the design the way it is now?
It is a mix of many examples from various magazines and visits to model home parks...
What do you consider particularly good or bad about it?
It contains everything we need and want. We don’t need it any bigger, and it shouldn’t be smaller either.
We would really appreciate overall feedback. We want to build our house, but I enjoy reading different opinions and maybe we have missed or overlooked something important?
Ground floor:
Upper floor:
Thank you for reading.
Best regards,
Andreas_79
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size = 1100 m² (11,840 sq ft)
Slope = slight downhill to the north
No formal development plan
Building area, building line and boundary all require 3 m (10 ft) setbacks on the right and left sides, and 5 m (16 ft) to the front street
Number of parking spaces = 2
Number of floors = 2
Roof style = shed roof
Architectural style = ?
Orientation = north
Maximum heights / limits = ?
Other requirements = none
Right neighbor: single-story bungalow
Left neighbor: 2.5 stories
Client Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type
Basement = no
Floors = 2
Number of occupants: 2 adults (42+39 years)
Space needs: approx. 72 m² (775 sq ft) on ground floor, approx. 45 m² (485 sq ft) upstairs
Office: occasional home office use
Guest overnight stays per year: few to none
Open-plan design
Open kitchen with island
Number of dining seats = 4-6
Fireplace = yes
Music/stereo wall = no
Balcony, roof terrace = no
Garage, carport = carport
Utility garden, greenhouse = lawn
Knee wall height 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) (Is this the correct term for a shed roof? The short side is 180 cm)
House Design
Designed by:
- Do-it-yourself (Sweet Home 3D)
What do you like most? Staircase in kitchen/dining area
What do you dislike? Storage room on ground floor is very narrow, when entering the house you look at the fireplace/wall instead of through to the garden
Estimated price according to architect/designer: €310,000 (prefabricated house provider)
Personal price limit for house including fittings: €350,000
Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump
If you have to give up something, which details / features would you sacrifice?
- Can give up: carport
- Cannot give up: less living space
Why is the design the way it is now?
It is a mix of many examples from various magazines and visits to model home parks...
What do you consider particularly good or bad about it?
It contains everything we need and want. We don’t need it any bigger, and it shouldn’t be smaller either.
We would really appreciate overall feedback. We want to build our house, but I enjoy reading different opinions and maybe we have missed or overlooked something important?
Ground floor:
Upper floor:
Thank you for reading.
Best regards,
Andreas_79
Andreas_79 schrieb:
My wife is really upset with me now because I posted this here, as she was already expecting this blunt, harsh, honest criticism. Looks like the kitchen will stay cold for me today :-(Oh, come on. She also benefits from identifying mistakes so that in the end a nice floor plan can be created 🙂Andreas_79 schrieb:
I took a Google Maps photo and marked the plot in red.Then please share it here with the measurements included.Andreas_79 schrieb:
@driver55, yes, that’s just how the plot is.
We are orienting the terrace entirely to the north.No! You placed the house on the plot like that yourself.You are pointing out some issues yourself (even if they are minor hurdles), so plan properly or have it planned professionally.
With this ground floor, you don’t even have to “deal with” the upper floor yet. It was already enough for me when I had a direct view of the toilet from the bathroom door when opened.
(Even if you are usually just two people in the house…)
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Andreas_793 Aug 2021 15:33@ypg, sorry, I forgot to upload the picture.
The length of the plot is 55 meters (180 feet).
The width at the street is 24 meters (79 feet).
After about 20 meters (66 feet), the plot has a bend where the width is approximately 19.5 meters (64 feet).
@haydee, landscaping, garage, and additional construction costs are not included? Exactly, we calculated those separately.
Basically, we are budgeting around 400,000 - 420,000 with the land already paid for.
@driver55, when you said:
I was already bothered when I had a direct view of the toilet from the bathroom door opening.
(Even if you usually only have two people in the house…)
Do you mean the bathroom upstairs? That also bothered me, and we’ve already discussed it here.
Regards,
Andreas
The length of the plot is 55 meters (180 feet).
The width at the street is 24 meters (79 feet).
After about 20 meters (66 feet), the plot has a bend where the width is approximately 19.5 meters (64 feet).
@haydee, landscaping, garage, and additional construction costs are not included? Exactly, we calculated those separately.
Basically, we are budgeting around 400,000 - 420,000 with the land already paid for.
@driver55, when you said:
I was already bothered when I had a direct view of the toilet from the bathroom door opening.
(Even if you usually only have two people in the house…)
Do you mean the bathroom upstairs? That also bothered me, and we’ve already discussed it here.
Regards,
Andreas
hanghaus2000 schrieb:
North-facing windows are energetically pointless.You can’t generalize that, but in this case, it’s valid. You won’t get around the energy-saving regulations (or whatever they are called now). That means: more windows on the south side than on the north. On the north side, windows should be smaller and fewer.Otherwise, it gets very expensive if you try to go against the energy flow. That’s not within the budget.
And I wouldn’t go to the opposite extreme just based on past experiences. You need light, you need sun, a square floor plan is nonsense, and basically, when designing on your own, you should always question whether it makes sense. Without background knowledge, such as where the load-bearing walls would be under a desired single-pitch roof, I wouldn’t even start.
So: just quickly sketched a few rectangles on the site:
On the south side, on the right could be the driveway and the entrance to the house. Large south- and west-facing windows where needed, and a view over the property with a corner terrace. And that with a single-pitch roof.
With this view, you also get something from the single-pitch design.
P.S. The angled position is taken from the neighboring property on the left – so it should be feasible 🙂
But why a single-pitch roof?
I would position the house further back so that you have a nice small south-facing patio that is visually screened from the street by a hedge. Large windows facing north would also be a must for me. The bedrooms should also face north to stay cool and quiet. I would also separate from the cube shape. For example, the Town & Country Stadthaus 125 Aura brings light into the house with a gallery above the dining area.
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Andreas_793 Aug 2021 16:59Thank you for the information about the windows. We were not aware that there need to be more or larger ones facing south than north. It makes sense, but it will be difficult to achieve on our plot.
The second issue is the house to the left, which is already a bit crooked and not very attractive, plus it is quite tall. It is situated slightly higher than our plot and has 2.5 floors. Our goal was/is to minimize the view of that house from our property. Even a tall hedge would only hide it poorly, so we have oriented everything towards the north.
@haydee, the next problem is the street. Although very few cars drive there since it is single-lane, hundreds of people walk along it in the summer. They come from Cologne and the surrounding area and walk through the nearby woods, always passing by our house and any potential terrace facing the street. A hedge won’t really help here either, especially since we know the view to the north is much nicer than to the south facing the street...
@ypg thanks for marking it out; it could be an alternative if the house were set a bit further back, assuming that’s allowed or possible. My wife is not at all happy with it, but we will have to consider it.
What would you recommend as the next steps? I have already met with several providers—Hanse Haus, Gussek Haus, Bien-Zenker, Schwörerhaus—and they all seemed competent and were appealing to me as far as I can judge. Should I start more detailed discussions with one or two of them without having a floor plan, just to get their proposals? Or should I go directly to an architect, although I expect it might be hard to find the right one… Or can a prefab house consultant (salesperson) keep an eye on the legal requirements? I assume that these salespeople are not architects…
Thank you very much
Andreas
The second issue is the house to the left, which is already a bit crooked and not very attractive, plus it is quite tall. It is situated slightly higher than our plot and has 2.5 floors. Our goal was/is to minimize the view of that house from our property. Even a tall hedge would only hide it poorly, so we have oriented everything towards the north.
@haydee, the next problem is the street. Although very few cars drive there since it is single-lane, hundreds of people walk along it in the summer. They come from Cologne and the surrounding area and walk through the nearby woods, always passing by our house and any potential terrace facing the street. A hedge won’t really help here either, especially since we know the view to the north is much nicer than to the south facing the street...
@ypg thanks for marking it out; it could be an alternative if the house were set a bit further back, assuming that’s allowed or possible. My wife is not at all happy with it, but we will have to consider it.
What would you recommend as the next steps? I have already met with several providers—Hanse Haus, Gussek Haus, Bien-Zenker, Schwörerhaus—and they all seemed competent and were appealing to me as far as I can judge. Should I start more detailed discussions with one or two of them without having a floor plan, just to get their proposals? Or should I go directly to an architect, although I expect it might be hard to find the right one… Or can a prefab house consultant (salesperson) keep an eye on the legal requirements? I assume that these salespeople are not architects…
Thank you very much
Andreas
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