ᐅ Sample floor plans for long, narrow houses?

Hello,

that won’t work. Out of your 6 meters (20 feet) width, only 5.2 meters (17 feet) remain inside after subtracting the walls. If you add a partition wall, each room would have about 2.5 meters (8 feet) of usable width. That’s not feasible. Therefore, the floor plan will have to allocate one side for the hallway and staircase, while the other side and the gable ends are reserved for the rooms.

With the required number of rooms, a basement with light wells is necessary. This way, upstairs could accommodate two children’s bedrooms, a master bedroom, and either two bathrooms or one bathroom and a dressing room. The offices must be located in the basement.

A plot like this is really only interesting if other outstanding features compensate for the disadvantage of the limited width (city center location, view, upscale neighborhood, lake view, etc.).

Best regards

Do you need "proper" home offices (8 sqm (86 sq ft) or more per room, possibly tax-deductible if it’s your main workplace, etc.), or is less sufficient? As far as I know, the requirements for "remote work" are often lower, and in theory, working from the kitchen or living room is possible. Although having a separate room is usually more practical, especially considering phone calls and such (and possibly being able to lock work-related items). We’re still not entirely sure, but we have a small storage room of 4.5 sqm (48 sq ft) that could potentially become my office sooner or later. Would something like that be an option for you, or not really?

If you need a standard-sized office, you probably have little choice but to assign at least one room on another floor based on the space available in square meters.

derdietmar schrieb:

If a partition wall is added, there will be 2.5 meters (8 feet) of room width per space.

There’s no need to design narrow houses with central partition walls. They should be planned differently than dividing them right in the middle.

Proeter schrieb:

Well, a family of four with parents working from home isn’t that rare. But maybe it is for this particular building plot.

No, they aren’t rare. What’s rare is those who set themselves on certain fixed ideas.

Proeter schrieb:

I have done that. None of the plans I found have more than 4 rooms on the upper floor.

Because those are aimed at a broad target group without individual customizations. As mentioned before, if you want more, you have to either approach a builder for a custom plan or hire an architect to design the house with your individual requirements.

Proeter schrieb:

Specifically, upstairs we need: 2 kids’ rooms, 2 home offices, 1 bedroom

I would seriously question that specific layout. Why do you absolutely need 2 home office spaces upstairs? Ultimately, you need a balanced ratio of square meters for the ground floor and upper floor. With your wish for 5 rooms plus stairs, hallway, and bathroom, even a standard model home or architect-designed house will have difficulty because you need about one-third more floor area upstairs than on the ground floor. You would need roughly 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) upstairs! If budget is not an issue, it’s possible to build that way (with a different plot), resulting in about 200 square meters (2,153 square feet) total including a 70sqm (753 sq ft) open living area. If you can afford that, you might as well invest in a better plot.

kbt09 schrieb:

However, stating something like “5 rooms upstairs is just rubbish” is obviously harsh.

That’s why inflexible specification, clinging to outdated ideas or mental blocks—without ever breaking free from the subconscious mindset of the “everyman” (just a saying, nothing personal)—is more than harmful when it comes to cost-efficient building on a plot that isn’t ordinary but requires a bit more creative freedom. You adapt the house to the land, not the other way around.

Proeter schrieb:

whether it would even be sensible,

Of course, it’s sensible to consider this. What isn’t sensible are requirements that aren’t feasible at all. And if you want a bathtub in the bathroom and a long island in the kitchen, then you’ll have to accept compromises or look for a more expensive option.

kbt09 schrieb:

Why? The maximum height would allow more. Then just a roof with a shallow pitch.

Building regulations?

Proeter schrieb:

since even a single dormer would exceed the two-thirds rule for the full story.

Please explain that to us! I suspect there has been a misunderstanding on either the authority’s or your side.

Proeter schrieb:

The building plan specifies 45° roof pitch, 1 full story, and a maximum knee wall height of 1.8 meters (5 ft 11 in).

You’re forgetting that besides the building plan, the site location (site plan), especially orientation and street position, parking regulations, as well as ridge and gable directions are important. There may also be height limits. The building plot size and dimensions and other conditions are not mentioned here at all. If the plot is suitable, you can sometimes build beyond the defined building envelope. This must be examined individually by an architect and can’t be judged here without knowledge of the plot. Sometimes an extra 20 centimeters (8 inches) can make a huge difference that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.

Proeter schrieb:

long, narrow, roof slope

With 180 mm (7 inches) thick sand-lime bricks permitted, you don’t need to talk about roof slope as much anymore. That’s full standing height.

Proeter schrieb:

We don’t even have a house yet. I just wanted to see a random example,

Random, 6 x 15.5 meters (20 x 51 feet):

Proeter schrieb:

I understand the rules here to mean that if you want full floor plan advice with a questionnaire, you need to provide your own draft – not just have one drawn for you.

What rules? Without a questionnaire we don’t know the person asking or their needs, so a design isn’t possible. Whether you get answers or help here depends individually on those willing and able to contribute. This is not a club, and no one here gets paid.

Proeter schrieb:

Occasionally, the forum suggests looking at catalog models from prefabricated house manufacturers as the first inspiration for floor plans. I already struggle at this point because, despite thorough research, I cannot find anything suitable.

I often give that advice, but not to people with especially unusual, narrow building lots. In your specific case, you simply won’t find anything because manufacturers prefer to fill their catalogs with design proposals that appeal to a broad audience in sufficient quantities. Even in Hanseatic or Dutch merchant cities, you only find examples fitting this aspect ratio, but not these absolute dimensions.

Proeter schrieb:

Specifically, I’m looking for example floor plans with the following rough parameters:

• Building lot 6 x 15.5 m (20 x 51 ft)
• One full story
• Gable roof 45°, ridge running lengthwise
• Maximum height 8 m (26 ft)
• At least 6 rooms, with minimum 5 rooms on the upper floor

[...] The zoning plan / building permit specifies a 45° roof pitch, one full story, and a knee wall height max. 1.8 m (6 ft). This practically fixes the volume for maximum living space.

Your building lot format is almost never found for detached houses. If you cannot go below a 45° roof pitch, maximizing the knee wall height at 1.8 m (6 ft) indeed makes it difficult to avoid a full story; yes, this explains the decision to forgo dormers. However, I believe the near guarantee of no viable solution primarily stems from your requirement to have more rooms upstairs than downstairs at the same time.

Where do these highly unusual restrictions come from: does your plot suffer from inherited setback regulations? Please mention (without link!) the zoning plan name! (e.g., "Posemuckel No. 123 on the hopeless endeavor").

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Is the plot located on a slope?
Are there any reference elevation levels?
Is the roof pitch really fixed at 45 degrees?
How is the knee wall height defined?

Because if there is a clear height of at least 2.3 m (7.5 feet) over more than three-quarters of the floor area below, then it counts as two stories. This should be the case with a 45-degree roof pitch and a knee wall height of 1.85 m (6.1 feet).

So, you can’t fully utilize the knee wall height?

Without the specific building plan or zoning regulations (building permit/planning permission), it’s difficult to say much here.

The suggestion from [USER=12491]@ypg is already heading in the right direction: approximately 150 m2 (1,615 square feet). One room too many.

hanghaus2023 schrieb:

1 room too many.

Well, well.

I tend to recommend—just to repeat—a competent architect who knows the building authorities. If necessary, 160 cm (63 inches) knee wall height will do to get a dormer.