ᐅ Floor Plan for a Single-Family Home, 240 m², with Partially Built-Over Garage

Hello everyone,

My wife and I are currently favoring the attached design for our house project. It is our own concept, inspired by forum discussions, catalogs, and model homes, but also discussed with architects and now unrecognizable compared to the first drafts.

A first detailed drawing is in progress (which may include structural and building services adjustments), so general criticism is welcome, but especially suggestions on potential problem areas or ways to achieve essential improvements through small changes: After all, we don’t want to build an expensive house only to regret it later, but rather invest in meaningful improvements (e.g., bay windows). At the bottom, I have listed some specific concerns.

Framework conditions:

• Planned residents: two adults (working days home/office: 2/3 and 3/2), two (initially small) children, two cats, guests staying several weeks per year.
• Conditions: Small-town new development area in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, site coverage ratio 0.35, maximum one full story, eaves height max. 5m (16 ft 5 in), gable or half-hipped roof with 20°–50° pitch, minimum distance to street 5m (16 ft 5 in), to neighbors 3m (10 ft).
• Plot: 938 m² (10,094 sq ft), essentially flat, with utility garden and play lawn.
• Neighboring plots: Northeast (“right”) already developed (close to road and at distance from us, since their garage is on the side facing away from us), southwest (“left”) not yet sold.

Design:

• Footprint: approx. 15.5m×11m (51 ft × 36 ft) + garage overhang 2m×8m (6 ft 7 in × 26 ft), garage-boundary distance 1m (3 ft 3 in)
• Living and utility space: ground floor approx. 115 m² (1,238 sq ft), upper floor approx. 125 m² (1,345 sq ft), garage approx. 40 m² (430 sq ft)
• Ceiling height: ground floor approx. 2.60m (8 ft 6 in), upper floor approx. 2.50m (8 ft 2 in)
• Building services: ventilation system, photovoltaic panels on southeast roof, underfloor heating powered by air-source heat pump everywhere except garage/attic.
• Location: the house should be as close to the street as possible (see plan) with the main entrance facing it (southeast), to maximize garden space.
• Gable roof: rather flat (25°) to allow for a high knee wall (>1.20m (3 ft 11 in)), attic therefore only used for storage.
• We are foregoing a basement in favor of a larger footprint, which also enables a barrier-free guest area.
• Ground floor: the living area should get both sunlight and garden views, so it must be on the west side.
• Upper floor: usability of space is the priority, so we accept the narrow corridor (approx. 1.5m×8m (4 ft 11 in × 26 ft)). Still, generous dormers, including in the stairwell, should provide enough daylight.
• Exterior walls are brick-clad, interior rather modern: white walls/kitchen fronts, tiled floors on the ground floor, PVC on the upper floor.

Notes on the floor plans:

• Area measurements do not account for sloping ceilings on the upper floor.
• ⚡ means high-voltage electricity, W (waste) water

Development:

We had several designs, including with a basement, without construction over the garage (which was recently confirmed as possible), with open space, guest rooms on different sides, a 180° half-landing staircase, etc. – the current approach now seems quite logical to us and despite the naturally high costs, not extravagant. I grew up in a house with a full basement and converted attic, and the plan tries to provide similar spaces over two floors.

• What we like: the bright living room, purely functional generous sizing everywhere, especially for guests and thanks to the large room upstairs, the access from the garage.
• What we don’t like: see also the “Concerns” listed at the bottom. Otherwise, the “very generous” house (architect’s comment) might have few ‘eye-catchers’ for its price, e.g., no gallery or two bathrooms upstairs instead of one large. Therefore, general suggestions are welcome on how to enhance the design beyond the floor plan, for instance through lighting, mirrors, windows, external design.

Ground floor details:

• Living room with window fronts each with a door leading to terraces in the southwest (for sunlight) and northwest (toward the garden).
• Kitchen open to the living area; appliances located in a central niche—therefore, to minimize noise, the oven/microwave are there instead of the refrigerator.
• Room behind kitchen (separated by a slightly hidden door) serves as storage and a place for some kitchen appliances and an additional worktop.
• From the hallway, a doorless passage to the living room, doors to guest room, guest toilet, and utility room, also from there access to the garage.
• Large guest room with barrier-free bathroom and external access, potentially a one-room separate apartment.
• Garage for one car, e-scooter/bicycles and as a workshop/storage room, for example for garden tools.

Upper floor details:

• Children’s rooms on the sunnier gable side.
• Children’s bathroom with bathtub, master bathroom with washing machine/dryer (but space in utility room to allow for changes).
• Long dormers above bathrooms/stairwell and fitness/hobby room; no other roof windows.
• Access to attic via fitness/hobby room.

Concerns / Questions

• The (currently half-landing) staircase may need to be spiral to allow doors to fit under its end. Is preserving the half-landing for climbing safety worth a bay window?
• Prefabricated houses often have bay windows, although they might be energetically disadvantageous. Are they mainly for aesthetics, or have we missed practical opportunities by not including any?
• Is the staircase too close to the entrance, e.g., regarding dirt distribution?
• We would like remote/central control for roller shutters on all burglary-relevant windows. Would narrow windows be acceptable in the utility room, guest bathroom, and ground floor toilet, to prevent break-ins? Does anyone have experience with this?
• With a 25° pitch and 1.20m (3 ft 11 in) knee wall, is an overhanging roof suitable as a cover for the entrance and/or terrace without causing too much shading? What other canopy options would make sense, especially since the terrace is on the exposure-prone side?
• To prevent bicycles from scratching the car in the garage, should it be widened? This would reduce the remaining strip on the southwest side, where the tightest boundary distance (at the west corner, “top left”) is currently about 5m (16 ft 5 in).
• Is a TV placed directly next to the window front a problem due to the northwest orientation?
• Should the pantry behind the kitchen have a second sink?
• Would it be better to fill the garden-facing dormer entirely with windows rather than leaving corners open as planned?
• Which windows should be included in the bathroom dormer considering there are houses on the opposite side of the street?

We look forward to your comments!

My main concerns at this point are:

• Budget?
• Structural engineering, especially the exterior wall above the garage. How will it be supported? With a 9m (30 ft) long beam?

I would wait to hear from the specialists first before you get into the details.

Have you already purchased the plot?

Is there a slope?

Is it allowed for the garage to be so close to the street? Usually, at least 5 m (16 feet) is required.

I also noticed the wall right in the middle of the garage.

Is the 1 m (3 feet) distance from the garage mandatory?

Is there a zoning plan / development plan?

Which state / county?

I find the sofa area extremely uncomfortable. From the front door, you can see directly onto the sofa, and I wouldn’t want to sit with my back to the open passage.

Even though you mention that the guest room is occupied for several weeks each year, it still seems too large in proportion. It has more square meters than the children’s rooms, which will be permanently occupied for the next few years. I would rather allocate a bit more space to the living room and then consider a different arrangement for the sofa area. However, that would no longer work with the staircase and access to the guest room.

Haus 42 schrieb:

My wife and I currently favor the attached design for our house project. It is our own creation, inspired by forum discussions, catalogs, and model homes, but it has also been discussed with architects and is unrecognizable compared to the initial drafts.

Since we are not familiar with your first 41 designs, we cannot understand this comparison. Which architects are you referring to: independent architects from your circle of friends, or “architects” working for some home builders?[/QUOTE]

Haus 42 schrieb:

A first final draft is currently in progress (which may then include structural and building services corrections),

I still see you in the preliminary design phase, which is far from incorporating building services corrections.

Haus 42 schrieb:

Apart from that, the “very spacious” house (architect’s comment) might have few ‘eye-catchers’ for its price,

I don’t see any spaciousness (that would already be absorbed by the wall indents), and eye-catchers tend to be overrated.

Haus 42 schrieb:

Is preserving the landing characteristic (for ladder safety reasons) worth a bay window?

To amuse me, it is far more valuable to orient the living area to the north because of the sun.

If you ever wanted to demonstrate that house designing is better left to professionals, this could serve as an excellent example. Otherwise, this painted study is more like a plaything.

I would never build a new house that looks like a “didn’t turn out any better” raised bungalow from around 1980. A maximum eaves height of 5m (from where exactly?) clearly leads to a one-story house design. The complex arrangement of house and garage in the floor plan rather looks like a (pseudo) Bauhaus style—and no dormers in the world can turn it into a one-and-a-half-story design without the result being as described.

Pleasant variations from the otherwise usual amateur planning are finally the non-sliding patio doors and the omission of a relentlessly sun-drenched south-facing garden. Hopefully, next year you will be able to laugh at everything else yourselves.

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Costruttrice schrieb:

I find the sofa area extremely uninviting. You can see the sofa directly from the front door, and I wouldn’t like sitting with my back to the open passage.

I agree, I would swap the kitchen area with the sofa area. The current space between the sofa and the open-plan entrance basically feels like a hallway and is somewhat uncomfortable for anyone sitting on the sofa.

Haus 42 schrieb:

The bright living room, the purely functional spacious dimensions everywhere,

I miss southeast sunlight in the living area… there is the pantry. The question is whether this storage area (it’s not cooler than the rest of the house) could be integrated into the utility room, making it slightly larger. Then the staircase would move more to the left, the guest toilet would be located in front of the utility room, and the master and children’s bathrooms upstairs could be next to each other… something like that. It would need some detailed planning.