ᐅ Who here has built a house with a mezzanine level and...

Chris29.2 schrieb:
... several disadvantages like heating, noise, and odor nuisance have to be accepted,...

I would like to address these points again:

I think it is now quite rare to build a fully enclosed staircase. Heat, sound, and odors also spread through a standard staircase without a gallery, though admittedly not as strongly.

Regarding heating: in well-insulated houses with underfloor heating, the entire building is heated. If you keep bedrooms very cool by not heating them, mold problems are likely to occur at some point. Of course, you can lower the heating a bit at the top near the gallery. Whether any heat loss caused by the gallery actually affects your wallet is something I doubt.

What about the higher ceilings now commonly built on the ground floor? I have read that 2.80 to 3 meters (9 ft 2 in to 9 ft 10 in) are preferred so that the large room doesn’t feel cramped. If you calculate the additional cubic meters built, it roughly compensates for a standard room height of 2.50 meters (8 ft 2 in) plus a small gallery!

On the subject of noise, I think it mainly comes down to upbringing. Those who use the open gallery for communication will probably shout between floors even without a gallery. The call “Dinner’s ready, kids” will likely be heard upstairs regardless of whether a friend is sitting in the kitchen drinking tea.

By the way, our utility room with washer and dryer is located upstairs next to the gallery: with the door closed, nothing can be heard from the open living area downstairs.

If someone considers the smell of delicious food a nuisance, they will likely build a kitchen with walls and doors anyway. Fried fish, for example, will be noticed even with closed rooms.

I feel the same way, even though I lack experience... whether an open staircase (which we already have) or a gallery probably doesn't make much difference. I'm really looking forward to it.

Nice discussion. But honestly: it’s completely pointless to weigh the rational pros and cons of a gallery against each other. There is no practical or objective reason for a gallery. At least, I can’t think of one. So what?
When I come home, I want to walk through the door with a smile, feel comfortable, and be happy to live here. That’s it!
Whether the house has energy efficiency class XY unresolved or is designed more efficiently and ergonomically than any open-plan office is, at least to me, completely irrelevant.

waldorf schrieb:
Nice discussion. But honestly: it’s completely pointless to weigh the pros and cons of a gallery against each other rationally. There’s no practical or objective reason for a gallery. At least, I can’t think of one. So what?
When I come home, I want to walk through the door with a smile, feel comfortable, and be happy that I get to live here. That’s it!
Whether the house has an energy efficiency rating of such-and-such or is designed more efficiently and ergonomically than any open-plan office is, frankly, I don’t care.

I mostly agree with you. What I do care about is when the kids can’t sleep upstairs because of noise from the dining area below. But perhaps this problem could be solved with an additional door to the hallway of the sleeping area?!

Best regards

I would definitely build without a mezzanine. We often had the pleasure of experiencing one at friends’ houses. Somehow, it always feels a bit "cold" and uncomfortable to me. And when the kids were in bed, we always had to be "quiet"... which annoyed both me and my friends. At that time, we were still renting, so I always had to be considerate of the neighbors. So it was clear to us from the start: an open, large living room/dining area and kitchen—but no mezzanine.

Good evening,

to me, the impression of a gallery is quite the opposite: open, spacious, airy, cozy.
However, noise levels are a very significant and decisive factor for me. Unfortunately...

Regards