ᐅ Floor Plan: Preliminary Draft from the Prefabricated House Supplier is Available
Created on: 20 Aug 2015 21:49
K
krachbumms
Hello dear experts!
We now have the 5th preliminary draft from our prefab house provider on the table, and the list of our correction requests is noticeably getting shorter.
It’s time to ask the true experts for their opinions.
We won’t (or can’t) change the basic floor plan concept anymore, as we want/need to submit the building permit/planning application soon. But maybe you still have tips, warnings, or new ideas regarding details.
Secretly, I hope this thing will be approved more or less favorably by you – but many here have hoped the same and were bitterly disappointed.
Important to know:
Child 2 will not have a children’s room but a combined dressing room, storage space, and guest room.
Up to this draft, we had planned a 3.75x1.50m (12.3x4.9 ft) bay window (external dimensions) in the dining area, which we wanted to furnish as a dining nook with built-in seating by a carpenter.
Since we fear the costs might spiral out of control, we wanted to see if and how this could also work without the bay window. The final decision for or against the bay will be made once we know how much savings dropping it would bring. My impression: not super spacious, but it works.
I am particularly interested in your feedback on the following details (besides anything else you might notice):
- Narrow doors for the guest toilet and utility room on the ground floor – problematic or totally okay?
- Staircase: better open for light transparency, or with risers and a front wall so you don’t have to look under the stairs every time you come from the living room? How practical or useless is the storage space under an open staircase (without a front wall) in reality?
- How and exactly where is the best way to design the access to the living room: front / middle? Single or double doors? No door at all, just a wide open passage (also to bring light into the hallway)?
- We chose an extremely wide kitchen layout, partly because with the open floor plan you can basically see from the street all the way to the living room sofa. Additionally, there is an option to install roller blinds (Raufstores) in the kitchen (the bay window or dining room window will definitely get Venetian blinds).
- We have worked a long time on the layout of the sanitary fixtures in the upstairs bathroom and were never 100% happy. What is your opinion on the current state? Any improvement suggestions?
- There are nicer things than the niche under the sloped ceiling in Child 1 - definitely. But it’s there, and we wonder how to use it more sensibly: in a children’s room (e.g., as a sleeping place, cozy corner, later maybe a desk) or in a dressing room?
- We originally did not want floor-to-ceiling windows facing the street, but we fear dark rooms even more... The alternative would be windows with a low parapet – but these have only about 2.5 sqm (27 sqft) of glass area instead of 3.3 sqm (36 sqft)...
By now, we are so blind from working on this that I can hardly judge whether this outdoor view is harmonious or not...
Many thanks for your interest and all feedback!
-------------------------------------------
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 500 sqm (5382 sqft)
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 15m (49 ft 3 in) deep (excluding extensions), setbacks 3m (9 ft 10 in) from street and sides
Other requirements: 70s style constraints
Homeowners’ requirements: 2 adults, 1 toddler. Office on the ground floor, shower on the ground floor, at least one large built-in closet, high ceilings (275cm (9 ft) on ground floor), entrance on the gable side, “sunny” (house and garden should face the sunny side)
Style, roof shape, building type: classic-modern, gable roof, single-family house
Basement, stories: no basement, 1.5 stories
Number of occupants, ages: 2 x approx. 40, 1 x under 5
Space requirements ground floor / upper floor: total 120-150 sqm (1292-1615 sqft)
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Guest sleepers per year: 1
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: rather modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes (option should exist to convert to closed kitchen in the future if needed)
Number of dining seats: 1
Garage, carport: prefab garage 4x9m (13x30 ft)
House design
Who designed it: customized prefab house (timber frame)
What do you particularly like? The implementation of our requirements
What do you not like? The sloped ceilings due to the low knee wall (building regulation), windowless staircase, narrow entrance hall, rooms on the garden side of ground floor (office and living room) are rather small, niche in Child 1 behind the stairwell, inspection shafts directly in front of the front door
Price estimate according to architect/designer: 230-250K (technical completion excluding sanitary, painting and flooring)
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 350-400K including additional construction costs, interior finishing, garden, kitchen & more
Preferred heating technology: gas condensing boiler, underfloor heating, mechanical ventilation with humidity recovery
If you had to give up on some details or extensions, which ones?
- Could be given up: possibly the bay window, possibly the shower on the ground floor
- Cannot be given up: built-in closet, office on the ground floor
We now have the 5th preliminary draft from our prefab house provider on the table, and the list of our correction requests is noticeably getting shorter.
It’s time to ask the true experts for their opinions.
We won’t (or can’t) change the basic floor plan concept anymore, as we want/need to submit the building permit/planning application soon. But maybe you still have tips, warnings, or new ideas regarding details.
Secretly, I hope this thing will be approved more or less favorably by you – but many here have hoped the same and were bitterly disappointed.
Important to know:
Child 2 will not have a children’s room but a combined dressing room, storage space, and guest room.
Up to this draft, we had planned a 3.75x1.50m (12.3x4.9 ft) bay window (external dimensions) in the dining area, which we wanted to furnish as a dining nook with built-in seating by a carpenter.
Since we fear the costs might spiral out of control, we wanted to see if and how this could also work without the bay window. The final decision for or against the bay will be made once we know how much savings dropping it would bring. My impression: not super spacious, but it works.
I am particularly interested in your feedback on the following details (besides anything else you might notice):
- Narrow doors for the guest toilet and utility room on the ground floor – problematic or totally okay?
- Staircase: better open for light transparency, or with risers and a front wall so you don’t have to look under the stairs every time you come from the living room? How practical or useless is the storage space under an open staircase (without a front wall) in reality?
- How and exactly where is the best way to design the access to the living room: front / middle? Single or double doors? No door at all, just a wide open passage (also to bring light into the hallway)?
- We chose an extremely wide kitchen layout, partly because with the open floor plan you can basically see from the street all the way to the living room sofa. Additionally, there is an option to install roller blinds (Raufstores) in the kitchen (the bay window or dining room window will definitely get Venetian blinds).
- We have worked a long time on the layout of the sanitary fixtures in the upstairs bathroom and were never 100% happy. What is your opinion on the current state? Any improvement suggestions?
- There are nicer things than the niche under the sloped ceiling in Child 1 - definitely. But it’s there, and we wonder how to use it more sensibly: in a children’s room (e.g., as a sleeping place, cozy corner, later maybe a desk) or in a dressing room?
- We originally did not want floor-to-ceiling windows facing the street, but we fear dark rooms even more... The alternative would be windows with a low parapet – but these have only about 2.5 sqm (27 sqft) of glass area instead of 3.3 sqm (36 sqft)...
By now, we are so blind from working on this that I can hardly judge whether this outdoor view is harmonious or not...
Many thanks for your interest and all feedback!
-------------------------------------------
Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 500 sqm (5382 sqft)
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 15m (49 ft 3 in) deep (excluding extensions), setbacks 3m (9 ft 10 in) from street and sides
Other requirements: 70s style constraints
Homeowners’ requirements: 2 adults, 1 toddler. Office on the ground floor, shower on the ground floor, at least one large built-in closet, high ceilings (275cm (9 ft) on ground floor), entrance on the gable side, “sunny” (house and garden should face the sunny side)
Style, roof shape, building type: classic-modern, gable roof, single-family house
Basement, stories: no basement, 1.5 stories
Number of occupants, ages: 2 x approx. 40, 1 x under 5
Space requirements ground floor / upper floor: total 120-150 sqm (1292-1615 sqft)
Office: family use or home office? Home office
Guest sleepers per year: 1
Open or closed architecture: open
Conservative or modern construction: rather modern
Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes (option should exist to convert to closed kitchen in the future if needed)
Number of dining seats: 1
Garage, carport: prefab garage 4x9m (13x30 ft)
House design
Who designed it: customized prefab house (timber frame)
What do you particularly like? The implementation of our requirements
What do you not like? The sloped ceilings due to the low knee wall (building regulation), windowless staircase, narrow entrance hall, rooms on the garden side of ground floor (office and living room) are rather small, niche in Child 1 behind the stairwell, inspection shafts directly in front of the front door
Price estimate according to architect/designer: 230-250K (technical completion excluding sanitary, painting and flooring)
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 350-400K including additional construction costs, interior finishing, garden, kitchen & more
Preferred heating technology: gas condensing boiler, underfloor heating, mechanical ventilation with humidity recovery
If you had to give up on some details or extensions, which ones?
- Could be given up: possibly the bay window, possibly the shower on the ground floor
- Cannot be given up: built-in closet, office on the ground floor
10% to 12.5% (depending on the state). You can also build the house with a 2.4 m (8 feet) ceiling height and only 10 electrical outlets in total... meaning, just because you meet the minimum requirements doesn’t mean you will actually like it (a bit of a polemic here).
That amount is certainly sufficient, with almost 25% even significantly more — which is why I asked about the view. If you have a 5 m (16 feet) garden and then the next townhouse in coal black right behind it, you obviously don’t need panoramic windows. But if there is a field or forest, it is really nice to be able to glance out while having breakfast or sitting on the sofa.
By the way: you can also have a large window area and still keep usable floor space. I wouldn’t necessarily sacrifice one for the other: keyword floor-to-ceiling windows in every room that end up being blocked by a dresser anyway.
That amount is certainly sufficient, with almost 25% even significantly more — which is why I asked about the view. If you have a 5 m (16 feet) garden and then the next townhouse in coal black right behind it, you obviously don’t need panoramic windows. But if there is a field or forest, it is really nice to be able to glance out while having breakfast or sitting on the sofa.
By the way: you can also have a large window area and still keep usable floor space. I wouldn’t necessarily sacrifice one for the other: keyword floor-to-ceiling windows in every room that end up being blocked by a dresser anyway.
B
Bauexperte21 Aug 2015 09:26krachbumms schrieb:
The exterior is being finished with brick cladding because it doesn’t increase the cost, and because we live in close proximity to a surface coal mine here in North Rhine-Westphalia. You can’t imagine the coal dust in the air and how much it damages the rendered houses in the neighborhood.Oh – I don’t live or work that far away; it’s not that bad anymore. In earlier years, yes, but nowadays—with all the regulations in place—it’s quite manageable.Best regards, Bauexperte
K
krachbumms21 Aug 2015 09:40@Bauexperte: Why swap the bathroom and bedroom 1?
Then the little one would be running around right above me, he would have the darker side of the house, and the bathroom would be huge...
I’ve sketched out the staircase with a landing. Given these house dimensions and without completely redesigning everything, I don’t think it actually improves much. (Maybe I’m just afraid that the architect and my wife will tear me apart if I scrap the current plan :P )
Our main issue with the current design is the staircase, or rather the space underneath it.
Question: open (for light) or closed (with risers / partition wall facing the hallway)?
How is access to the storage space under a closed staircase usually done? Do you leave the back of the stairs open, or is a door installed?
Windows in the living room:
From the outside, it looked better to plan a 3m (10 feet) glass door instead of 2m (6.5 feet). But since the living room is quite small, the couch would definitely be in front of the third panel, and we’re unsure if that would look odd or make you feel like you’re being watched automatically...?
Bathroom / upper floor:
What do you think about the layout, especially the shower facing the door? Can it be extended a bit toward the door without problems? At what depth might it be possible to skip a glass door altogether? Currently, the shower is 100x140cm (39x55 inches), but I think there’s still room to extend it?
And under the sloped ceiling: is a corner bathtub or a rectangular tub better there?
Then the little one would be running around right above me, he would have the darker side of the house, and the bathroom would be huge...
I’ve sketched out the staircase with a landing. Given these house dimensions and without completely redesigning everything, I don’t think it actually improves much. (Maybe I’m just afraid that the architect and my wife will tear me apart if I scrap the current plan :P )
Our main issue with the current design is the staircase, or rather the space underneath it.
Question: open (for light) or closed (with risers / partition wall facing the hallway)?
How is access to the storage space under a closed staircase usually done? Do you leave the back of the stairs open, or is a door installed?
Windows in the living room:
From the outside, it looked better to plan a 3m (10 feet) glass door instead of 2m (6.5 feet). But since the living room is quite small, the couch would definitely be in front of the third panel, and we’re unsure if that would look odd or make you feel like you’re being watched automatically...?
Bathroom / upper floor:
What do you think about the layout, especially the shower facing the door? Can it be extended a bit toward the door without problems? At what depth might it be possible to skip a glass door altogether? Currently, the shower is 100x140cm (39x55 inches), but I think there’s still room to extend it?
And under the sloped ceiling: is a corner bathtub or a rectangular tub better there?
K
krachbumms21 Aug 2015 09:44Bauexperte schrieb:
Oh – I don’t live or work that far away; it’s not that bad anymore. In earlier years, yes, but nowadays – with all the regulations – it’s quite manageable.
Best regards, BauexperteBy immediately, I meant immediately!
Not somewhere in NRW, but within sight of the excavator. Between the excavation pit and us lies a field plus a wooded hill – behind that, the steel giants loom...
K
krachbumms21 Aug 2015 09:58Are you referring to both potential staircase/floor plan options?
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