ᐅ Advice and Tips for House Floor Plans (1.5-Story Single-Family Homes)
Created on: 28 Jun 2015 18:57
C
Cinderella77
Hello fellow homeowners and experts,
After some time of quietly reading and learning, I have now registered and would like to discuss our floor plan design for our dream house.
It has been about six months since we bought our plot, and we have looked at what feels like thousands of floor plans and discarded them, ultimately designing one ourselves because none of the standard plans from homebuilders fit our needs. We have already sent the floor plan to various homebuilders to check and price it. The offers surprisingly didn’t differ much in price, but none gave constructive feedback on whether everything is feasible or practical in the end. As I have read before, every company praised the plan without any criticism, saying what a nice floor plan it is.
Before we sign a homebuilding contract, we would like to hear honest criticism and would be very grateful for advice, tips, ideas, and suggestions for improvement.
About the location of the plot: It is parcel 9 in a small new residential development with 11 plots, at the end of a private dead-end street (which still has to be built).
Unfortunately, the north arrow got lost on the attached graphics; north is at the top, east on the right, south at the bottom, and west on the left. Due to the drinking water protection zone, no further development is allowed to the east. Behind our garden is a northern neighbor’s garden, a stream, and then an open green area with a small path where dogs are walked.
The house elevations still need to be revised carefully in terms of window symmetry.
Now to the list of questions:
Zoning plan/restrictions: Yes
Plot size: 796 sqm (8570 sq ft)
Slope: No
Building coverage ratio: No (only 1 full storey permitted)
Floor area ratio: 0.25
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see below
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 1 full storey
Roof type: All permitted
Architectural style: All permitted
Orientation: East-West
Maximum height/limits: Ridge height max. 75.5 m above sea level, which for us is about 9 m (30 ft)
Other landscaping requirements: Shrubs along the northern plot boundary, 4 trees
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof form, building type: Classic single-family house, gable and half-hip roof
Basement/storeys: 1½ storeys without basement (high groundwater and drinking water protection zone), instead a converted attic
Number of residents, ages: 3 (39, 38, 2) + 3 cats
Space requirements ground floor, upper floor: approx. 140 - 150 sqm (1506 - 1615 sq ft). Ground floor: entrance hall, guest WC, utility/laundry room, kitchen, living room. Upper floor: bedroom, 1 child’s room, 1 study, bathroom
Office: Family use, not home office
Overnight guests per year: few, usually only for celebrations and so far accommodated in hotels
Open or closed architecture: Closed
Conservative or modern building style: Classic-conservative
Open kitchen with island: No
Number of dining places: Small prep and quick snack area in the kitchen, plus a separate dining area
Fireplace: Yes
Music/sound system wall: Yes
Balcony, roof terrace: Balcony
Garage, carport: Carport
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: No
Other wishes/features/daily routine: Entrance hall as a barrier for dirt and cats, a well-accessible staircase, pantry in the kitchen
House design
Who designed the plan:
- Planner from a construction company
- DIY by us
What do you especially like? Everything we wished for is included, bay window and balcony, large utility room
What do you dislike? Upper floor layout not yet optimal,
Bathroom layout (large bathroom but difficult to furnish),
House elevations need improvement,
We are debating the position of the window on the north side in the living room (whether it is necessary at all and if so, where best),
Possibly swapping the guest WC and entrance hall?
Possibly better without pantry in the kitchen?
Price estimate by architect/planner: 230,000 - 240,000
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 250,000
Preferred heating system: Gas boiler and solar, geothermal not possible because of drinking water protection zone 3
If you had to give up certain details/extensions
- What could you do without: Basically nothing, maybe the pantry the most
- What could you not do without: Entrance hall
After some time of quietly reading and learning, I have now registered and would like to discuss our floor plan design for our dream house.
It has been about six months since we bought our plot, and we have looked at what feels like thousands of floor plans and discarded them, ultimately designing one ourselves because none of the standard plans from homebuilders fit our needs. We have already sent the floor plan to various homebuilders to check and price it. The offers surprisingly didn’t differ much in price, but none gave constructive feedback on whether everything is feasible or practical in the end. As I have read before, every company praised the plan without any criticism, saying what a nice floor plan it is.
Before we sign a homebuilding contract, we would like to hear honest criticism and would be very grateful for advice, tips, ideas, and suggestions for improvement.
About the location of the plot: It is parcel 9 in a small new residential development with 11 plots, at the end of a private dead-end street (which still has to be built).
Unfortunately, the north arrow got lost on the attached graphics; north is at the top, east on the right, south at the bottom, and west on the left. Due to the drinking water protection zone, no further development is allowed to the east. Behind our garden is a northern neighbor’s garden, a stream, and then an open green area with a small path where dogs are walked.
The house elevations still need to be revised carefully in terms of window symmetry.
Now to the list of questions:
Zoning plan/restrictions: Yes
Plot size: 796 sqm (8570 sq ft)
Slope: No
Building coverage ratio: No (only 1 full storey permitted)
Floor area ratio: 0.25
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see below
Edge development
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of storeys: 1 full storey
Roof type: All permitted
Architectural style: All permitted
Orientation: East-West
Maximum height/limits: Ridge height max. 75.5 m above sea level, which for us is about 9 m (30 ft)
Other landscaping requirements: Shrubs along the northern plot boundary, 4 trees
Homeowners’ requirements
Style, roof form, building type: Classic single-family house, gable and half-hip roof
Basement/storeys: 1½ storeys without basement (high groundwater and drinking water protection zone), instead a converted attic
Number of residents, ages: 3 (39, 38, 2) + 3 cats
Space requirements ground floor, upper floor: approx. 140 - 150 sqm (1506 - 1615 sq ft). Ground floor: entrance hall, guest WC, utility/laundry room, kitchen, living room. Upper floor: bedroom, 1 child’s room, 1 study, bathroom
Office: Family use, not home office
Overnight guests per year: few, usually only for celebrations and so far accommodated in hotels
Open or closed architecture: Closed
Conservative or modern building style: Classic-conservative
Open kitchen with island: No
Number of dining places: Small prep and quick snack area in the kitchen, plus a separate dining area
Fireplace: Yes
Music/sound system wall: Yes
Balcony, roof terrace: Balcony
Garage, carport: Carport
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: No
Other wishes/features/daily routine: Entrance hall as a barrier for dirt and cats, a well-accessible staircase, pantry in the kitchen
House design
Who designed the plan:
- Planner from a construction company
- DIY by us
What do you especially like? Everything we wished for is included, bay window and balcony, large utility room
What do you dislike? Upper floor layout not yet optimal,
Bathroom layout (large bathroom but difficult to furnish),
House elevations need improvement,
We are debating the position of the window on the north side in the living room (whether it is necessary at all and if so, where best),
Possibly swapping the guest WC and entrance hall?
Possibly better without pantry in the kitchen?
Price estimate by architect/planner: 230,000 - 240,000
Personal price limit for the house, including fittings: 250,000
Preferred heating system: Gas boiler and solar, geothermal not possible because of drinking water protection zone 3
If you had to give up certain details/extensions
- What could you do without: Basically nothing, maybe the pantry the most
- What could you not do without: Entrance hall
milkie schrieb:
Am I the only one who doesn’t like the layout with the northeast-facing living room? No sunlight comes into the living areas from the south or west. The small kitchen window is negligible, and the kitchen would be too separated anyway to bring sunlight into the living space.
Certainly not: I also don’t want rooms without south and west sunlight.
But I usually don’t mention this anymore because orientation is the first thing to consider (before buying the plot) – before any measurements or shapes are established, even before pencil sketches...
Therefore, I assume the person asking is aware of the orientation.
Regards, Yvonne
milkie schrieb:
Am I the only one who doesn’t like the layout with the northeast-facing living room? No sunlight at all enters the living spaces from the south and west. The small kitchen window is negligible, and the kitchen would be too separated anyway to let sunlight into the living area.
No idea. For example, we intentionally oriented our living-dining room to the northeast. On the south side, we do have a patio door, but it’s shaded by the extended roof. Previously, we had a southwest-facing room and cursed it all summer because we spent the whole time in dark rooms with the shutters down all day. Not to mention our troublesome west-facing window, where the low sun would almost blind us during dinner. Now we’re quite happy. While everyone around lowers their shutters on hot, sunny days, we keep ours open and enjoy natural daylight in our living room. Often, we even leave the window on the north side open, where there’s a pleasant, gentle breeze.
Manu1976 schrieb:
While all the shutters are rolled down on hot sunny days around us, we sit in our living room with the shutter open and daylight coming in. We often even have our window open on the north side, where there is always a nice, gentle breeze. Haha, that surprises me: on hot sunny days, we sit on the terrace as often as possible, rarely inside. Most daily activities are moved outdoors or postponed to bad weather days. The windows are always open... and yes, the heat comes in, but it’s a pleasant warmth when it cools down and we go inside.
A good balance is always important, but putting the bathroom and utility room on the sunny side???
The house is well supported along its central axis (I believe, from memory, even on both axes). The garage is certainly best placed on the southeast side to allow for short routes to the entrance. Rotating the house could also be an option...
Cinderella7728 Jun 2015 23:56accidentally double charged
Cinderella7729 Jun 2015 00:01@Manu: That was one of our considerations as well. We’re not really sun lovers.
We hadn’t even thought about the possibility of placing the carport somewhere else. It’s already difficult enough to turn our cars around on the small area. Wouldn’t that block or reduce the garden space?
We hadn’t even thought about the possibility of placing the carport somewhere else. It’s already difficult enough to turn our cars around on the small area. Wouldn’t that block or reduce the garden space?
Cinderella77 schrieb:
We didn’t plan the dining table to be 1 x 2 meters (3 ft 3 in x 6 ft 7 in), that’s correct. Right now, it’s 0.6 x 1.2 meters (2 ft x 3 ft 11 in). Very narrow, but it has already fit 6 people here. Of course, we want it a bit bigger, but 1 x 2 meters (3 ft 3 in x 6 ft 7 in) for everyday use by 3 people? For larger events, we could move the table elsewhere.Oh dear. For two people, we already fill half of the table while eating; with four guests, the whole one at 1.8 x 0.9 meters (5 ft 11 in x 3 ft). My neighbor, who lives alone, built her house around a 3-meter (9 ft 10 in) table. But 0.6 x 1.2 meters (2 ft x 3 ft 11 in): I don’t understand, even considering that not everyone enjoys cooking and serving as much as I or others do. Somewhere the bowls have to go, and with 2 x 28 cm (11 in) plates on 60 cm (2 ft) … And preferences can change. Then there are decorative items at the other end of the table, possibly a child doing homework, children’s drawings, hobby or craft projects, or a laptop — all those things that get pushed to the side. And nobody really wants to keep moving the table around the living room all the time, right? The point of building a house is to avoid that! I understand rearranging for a special occasion, but not for everyday space requirements. A proper dining area is essential — just like having enough room in the bedroom for a double bed. Even if just for resale value.
Similar topics