ᐅ Floor Plan Design for a Single-Family House, Solid Wood Construction, 140 sqm in Lower Saxony
Created on: 2 Jan 2023 15:30
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-LotteS-
Hello dear house building forum!
Here are some details—based on our best knowledge and judgment—about our house construction project...
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size 576 sqm (approx. 6195 sq ft) - parcel 17/28 (see cadastral map)
Slope no – the plot has only a few centimeters (inches) of elevation difference
Floor area ratio (FAR) 0.3 = 172.8 sqm (1861 sq ft)
Plot ratio not defined
Building envelope, building line and boundary 24x24 meter (79x79 feet) plot = N-E-S-W 16x18x16x18 meter (52x59x52x59 feet) building envelope
Edge development no, exceptions possibly according to Lower Saxony Building Regulations
Required number of parking spaces not specified
Number of floors single storey
Roof shape gable/hip/half-hip with 35-50 degree pitch
Architectural style classic detached house
Ridge direction specified = ridge line running west-east
Max height limits ridge height 4.0 m (13 ft), eaves height 8.5 m (28 ft)
Additional rules no oil heating, 50% of the south-facing roof must have solar panels, no building allowed between house and street (e.g., no parking or similar in front yard)
The plot has been purchased and the utility infrastructure in the new development area is already completed (our plot is even located on a pre-asphalted road).
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type solid wooden house made of massive log beams inside, blown insulation, and exterior cladding
Basement, floors no basement – only ground floor + upper floor
Number of occupants, ages three, aged 36, 29, and five and a half
Space requirements on ground and upper floors standard single-family home with 3 bedrooms plus bathroom upstairs, open-plan living area downstairs, guest WC, and large utility/housekeeping room
Office: family use or home office? One room currently usable as office/guest room (backup for future child needs), currently neither of us have jobs with home office option
Open or closed layout living/dining/kitchen preferably open
Conservative or modern construction style conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island open kitchen yes, kitchen island currently not planned
Number of dining seats daily use for 3, but dining nook should be sufficient for more people
Fireplace planned is a masonry stove
Music/stereo wall no
Balcony, roof terrace no
Garage, carport carport with workshop
Utility garden, greenhouse no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons why some things are included or excluded
House Design
Who designed the plan: plan based on our principles, then optimized with the manufacturer’s in-house architect
What do you particularly like? Why? We really like the extended dining nook with the surrounding bench; overall, our ideas about room sizes have been well implemented – whether everything will really work as we imagine, we would like to ask here.
What do you dislike? Why? The chimney’s position might be bothersome in the children's room? Or is that negligible in daily life? We are still not satisfied with the kitchen and bathroom upstairs and are currently looking for a good furnishing/decorating solution.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: Since we are not working with a general contractor but will handle contracts ourselves after the shell is built and do a lot of work ourselves, we don’t have all numbers yet. The following trades are currently being costed.
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 400,000 up to move-in ready, excluding everything outside the building itself, plot is paid
Preferred heating technology: heat pump with underfloor heating plus photovoltaics with possible storage
If you have to give up something, which details/extensions
- can you do without: We have tried to adapt our demands to the budget as much as possible – does anyone see further savings potential?
- can you not do without: As an absolute last resort, we would remove the dining nook and redesign the ground floor – also, the masonry stove is fixed for us (we just love this cozy atmosphere).
Why is the design the way it is now?
Standard plan from planner? The manufacturer does not offer standard houses; everything is individually designed
Which of your wishes were implemented by the architect? The current plan reflects our wishes quite well. Now we just need fine-tuning, and we hope for your assessments, ideas, and experiences.
A mix of many examples from various magazines... Of course, our inspirations come from many different sources (good and bad…) 😀
What makes it particularly good or bad in your opinion? It feels good to us so far – all our furniture fits, and the things that bother us in our current rented house have been eliminated in the design.
What is the most important/basic question about the layout, summarized in 130 characters?
- Does the layout work as it is, or are there specific arrangements that don’t work?
- Is the position and number of windows sufficient?
- Do the children's rooms upstairs need two roof windows or is one enough each?
- Have we missed or overlooked anything important?
- Can a U-shaped kitchen be sensibly planned in the existing space, or do we need to adjust walls downstairs first?
- Are the door positions appropriate regarding width, wall distance, and opening direction?
- Is the utility room (unfurnished room behind the laundry on the north/east side of the ground floor) dimensionally adequate?
- What knee wall height is recommended upstairs? Currently at 40 cm (16 in), we plan to raise it because otherwise, especially the upstairs bathroom will be problematic (though we don’t want a large bathroom, just “as big as necessary” – we would probably place the bathtub in the northeast corner of the room – would that fit?
- We’d like to add a laundry chute from the upstairs bathroom to the utility room – does anyone have a good idea for the best location?
One final note on our general concept:
We intend to buy the house from the manufacturer including insulation, cladding, and roof structure. Assembly will follow the “master carpenter assembly” principle (the company provides two experienced workers, plus 4-5 helpers from us – full warranty and savings of around 15,000-20,000 euros, about three to four weeks of hard work). The manufacturer’s “basic package” also includes windows and the front door, as they must be specially installed due to the house settling.
We plan to contract the foundation slab, roofing, and plumbing work separately. Electrical work (in consultation with the local master electrician), interior finishing (room doors, screed, underfloor heating, floor covering), and small tasks can be done by my partner (trained electrician, highly interested in almost everything, skilled and experienced with wood). I work professionally in an office of a building materials supplier, so I have access to good conditions, storage capacity, and established contacts in the industry. We also have great friends and a large family who are all enthusiastic about our project and willing to support us. We know this will require a lot of work, strain our time, nerves, and budget—but we want to give it a try.
We are now looking forward to suggestions, critical comments, and anything that can help us avoid as many mistakes as possible during the process.
Thank you very much in advance!
Here are some details—based on our best knowledge and judgment—about our house construction project...
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size 576 sqm (approx. 6195 sq ft) - parcel 17/28 (see cadastral map)
Slope no – the plot has only a few centimeters (inches) of elevation difference
Floor area ratio (FAR) 0.3 = 172.8 sqm (1861 sq ft)
Plot ratio not defined
Building envelope, building line and boundary 24x24 meter (79x79 feet) plot = N-E-S-W 16x18x16x18 meter (52x59x52x59 feet) building envelope
Edge development no, exceptions possibly according to Lower Saxony Building Regulations
Required number of parking spaces not specified
Number of floors single storey
Roof shape gable/hip/half-hip with 35-50 degree pitch
Architectural style classic detached house
Ridge direction specified = ridge line running west-east
Max height limits ridge height 4.0 m (13 ft), eaves height 8.5 m (28 ft)
Additional rules no oil heating, 50% of the south-facing roof must have solar panels, no building allowed between house and street (e.g., no parking or similar in front yard)
The plot has been purchased and the utility infrastructure in the new development area is already completed (our plot is even located on a pre-asphalted road).
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type solid wooden house made of massive log beams inside, blown insulation, and exterior cladding
Basement, floors no basement – only ground floor + upper floor
Number of occupants, ages three, aged 36, 29, and five and a half
Space requirements on ground and upper floors standard single-family home with 3 bedrooms plus bathroom upstairs, open-plan living area downstairs, guest WC, and large utility/housekeeping room
Office: family use or home office? One room currently usable as office/guest room (backup for future child needs), currently neither of us have jobs with home office option
Open or closed layout living/dining/kitchen preferably open
Conservative or modern construction style conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island open kitchen yes, kitchen island currently not planned
Number of dining seats daily use for 3, but dining nook should be sufficient for more people
Fireplace planned is a masonry stove
Music/stereo wall no
Balcony, roof terrace no
Garage, carport carport with workshop
Utility garden, greenhouse no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons why some things are included or excluded
House Design
Who designed the plan: plan based on our principles, then optimized with the manufacturer’s in-house architect
What do you particularly like? Why? We really like the extended dining nook with the surrounding bench; overall, our ideas about room sizes have been well implemented – whether everything will really work as we imagine, we would like to ask here.
What do you dislike? Why? The chimney’s position might be bothersome in the children's room? Or is that negligible in daily life? We are still not satisfied with the kitchen and bathroom upstairs and are currently looking for a good furnishing/decorating solution.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: Since we are not working with a general contractor but will handle contracts ourselves after the shell is built and do a lot of work ourselves, we don’t have all numbers yet. The following trades are currently being costed.
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 400,000 up to move-in ready, excluding everything outside the building itself, plot is paid
Preferred heating technology: heat pump with underfloor heating plus photovoltaics with possible storage
If you have to give up something, which details/extensions
- can you do without: We have tried to adapt our demands to the budget as much as possible – does anyone see further savings potential?
- can you not do without: As an absolute last resort, we would remove the dining nook and redesign the ground floor – also, the masonry stove is fixed for us (we just love this cozy atmosphere).
Why is the design the way it is now?
Standard plan from planner? The manufacturer does not offer standard houses; everything is individually designed
Which of your wishes were implemented by the architect? The current plan reflects our wishes quite well. Now we just need fine-tuning, and we hope for your assessments, ideas, and experiences.
A mix of many examples from various magazines... Of course, our inspirations come from many different sources (good and bad…) 😀
What makes it particularly good or bad in your opinion? It feels good to us so far – all our furniture fits, and the things that bother us in our current rented house have been eliminated in the design.
What is the most important/basic question about the layout, summarized in 130 characters?
- Does the layout work as it is, or are there specific arrangements that don’t work?
- Is the position and number of windows sufficient?
- Do the children's rooms upstairs need two roof windows or is one enough each?
- Have we missed or overlooked anything important?
- Can a U-shaped kitchen be sensibly planned in the existing space, or do we need to adjust walls downstairs first?
- Are the door positions appropriate regarding width, wall distance, and opening direction?
- Is the utility room (unfurnished room behind the laundry on the north/east side of the ground floor) dimensionally adequate?
- What knee wall height is recommended upstairs? Currently at 40 cm (16 in), we plan to raise it because otherwise, especially the upstairs bathroom will be problematic (though we don’t want a large bathroom, just “as big as necessary” – we would probably place the bathtub in the northeast corner of the room – would that fit?
- We’d like to add a laundry chute from the upstairs bathroom to the utility room – does anyone have a good idea for the best location?
One final note on our general concept:
We intend to buy the house from the manufacturer including insulation, cladding, and roof structure. Assembly will follow the “master carpenter assembly” principle (the company provides two experienced workers, plus 4-5 helpers from us – full warranty and savings of around 15,000-20,000 euros, about three to four weeks of hard work). The manufacturer’s “basic package” also includes windows and the front door, as they must be specially installed due to the house settling.
We plan to contract the foundation slab, roofing, and plumbing work separately. Electrical work (in consultation with the local master electrician), interior finishing (room doors, screed, underfloor heating, floor covering), and small tasks can be done by my partner (trained electrician, highly interested in almost everything, skilled and experienced with wood). I work professionally in an office of a building materials supplier, so I have access to good conditions, storage capacity, and established contacts in the industry. We also have great friends and a large family who are all enthusiastic about our project and willing to support us. We know this will require a lot of work, strain our time, nerves, and budget—but we want to give it a try.
We are now looking forward to suggestions, critical comments, and anything that can help us avoid as many mistakes as possible during the process.
Thank you very much in advance!
-LotteS- schrieb:
The shape of the kitchen and the layout are not finalized yet. We are considering options like an L-shape and a kitchen island – we’re still unsure about the best solution. Without moving the dining area, we can’t bring the patio door closer to the kitchen – and if we did move it, the gable end would end up inside a child’s bedroom. Leaving the gable centered above the dining area is not possible due to the construction; we initially planned that but discarded it because it wouldn’t be very practical for the children’s rooms. Do you maybe have a good idea for this?
With this house size, there is hardly any room for major changes without redesigning the entire floor plan. The tighter the space, the more precise you have to be. Here is a suggestion with a cooking island and a captain’s gable in the children’s room. The seating nook is removed, see the related comments by @Climbee in #19. Instead, a window seat will be added – these are very popular right now (or is there something newer? 🙂).
But, as I said, these are rough sketches from an amateur and may not work for log construction. I’m not familiar with that. Knee wall height was assumed to be 1 meter (3 feet 3 inches) – I don’t see anything against that.
ypg schrieb:
I still don’t see any mention of a desire for an island. See the second sentence in the above quote from #43.
K a t j a schrieb:
See the second sentence in the above quote from #43.Hmm… so now insisting on an island style for something wanted to be conservative and old-fashioned… I’m not sure if that would really do Lotte any favors if you stamped your, my, or Mister DX’s taste on it 😕
-LotteS- schrieb:
Bringing together the conditions of the plot with the zoning plan and our house design plan now seems to be our very first and most important task – am I correct in understanding this?Correct / see sketch: you need to find out this finished height. i_b_n_a_n schrieb:
I read somewhere that the planning absolutely has to start with the upper floor, meaning I suggest throwing everything out and first carefully reviewing and writing down the room program.ypg schrieb:
Yes, that was suggested by @11ant. I now do the same for row/townhouses and problems with stairs under pitched ceilings – a very helpful tip!I explained the principle in a post titled "The Upper Floor Has Priority," although the title obviously simplifies the concept. It should be interpreted accordingly for sloped plots as well as "urban villas" with truss roofs. The title applies exactly to detached homes with a classic layout of living and entrance level on the ground floor, where the upper floor also contains load-bearing walls – otherwise in a milder form (see bauen-jetzt). The planning sequence is: 1. Create the room program; 2. Refine the room program (i.e., roughly weight the areas in square meters); 3. Divide the upper floor; 4. Derive the ground floor layout from it (coordinate stairs / ceiling openings / drain pipes). At the end of step 2, the “load bearing” distribution of upper and ground floor areas is ideally 50:50 (for "urban villas") or approximately 35:65 (for one-and-a-half-story homes with a sensible knee wall, see further post in the same thread). You can see the importance of determining the exact potential knee wall height before finishing step 2. Single-story bay windows and open spaces affect the calculation accordingly.https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
ypg schrieb:
hm… so now forcing an island with a wanted conservative and old-fashioned style… I wouldn’t know if that would really do Lotte any favors by stamping your or my or Mr. DX’s taste on it 😕 I wouldn’t describe it as forced. The original poster asks – the original poster gets an answer, nothing more.
I rather feel that the connection between the floor plan and possible furnishing isn’t fully clear yet. If you want old-fashioned, you’ll get old-fashioned. That’s not necessarily bad, but later on, you shouldn’t be surprised if none of the kitchen showroom island solutions fit this house.
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