ᐅ Building a Pre-Designed House – Minor Changes and Unintended Consequences
Created on: 28 Mar 2022 13:38
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VrumfondelV
Vrumfondel28 Mar 2022 13:38Hello everyone,
this thread is meant to be a collection of experiences from how we built a production house and made a few changes during the (floor plan) design phase, and now want to share the results and some unexpected side effects. This might serve as a reference for future homeowners in similar cases or at least provide some ideas to go through your own requested changes a couple of times in your head to make sure everything is thoroughly thought through. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, and you might end up making “different” mistakes later on – but perhaps this list can still be helpful for some.
I’ll start:
We built a Town & Country Flair 125, in the version with a “guest bathroom with shower and an additional study” (no external links allowed, but easily found on the Town & Country homepage).
During the architect meeting, we discussed the following changes:
1. Front door extended with a fixed window panel in front of the stairs
2. Storage room removed, utility/technical room (HAR) enlarged by moving the partition wall between the hallway and utility room from the exterior wall to the kitchen wall
3. Door to the open-plan living area moved and replaced with a door featuring a glass panel, positioned flush with the front door
4. Relocated the pull-down attic staircase by about one meter (3 feet), and reversed its direction so that the stairs now lead towards the bathroom door, allowing a continuous path through the ground floor, upper floor, and attic.
Here are the “side effects”:
1. The light switches at the stairway are now about at the fourth or fifth step instead of above the first step. Since they were installed in the “standard” installation zone, they seem a bit low in that position. This takes some getting used to—at first it felt odd, but by now you don’t even notice it.
2. Good decision: the square footage in front of the storage/utility room would otherwise have been unused space in the hallway.
3. Two side effects: the space originally planned for a coat closet (even a small one) no longer exists. We now have a wall-mounted coat rack where the door to the open-plan living area used to be, which works for three people. The partition wall separating the kitchen countertop remained in its original position. It’s not 100% practical there and in hindsight, we might have moved or removed it altogether. Now a sideboard goes there, which at least makes it look reasonable. Looking back, this is a decision we would probably change.
4. No downsides.
Additionally, a few general notes about the Flair 125 (no changes here, but still worth sharing):
- The window sill height in the study is 1.27 meters (4 feet 2 inches). This likely comes from the L-shaped open-plan variant where this would be a kitchen window, and the height fits that purpose. In the study, this means that when sitting, you’re basically looking at a wall instead of out the window. Definitely something worth checking! A small consolation: with more and larger monitors these days, it’s easy to open the window above the desk without major modifications.
- We initially considered installing a stove with an external chimney pipe later on. In hindsight, I’m very happy we didn’t and won’t do so. In exactly that spot (in the pictures on the Town & Country page where the couch and TV furniture are) I would definitely plan for a window next time. That wall faces west, and getting more natural light there would definitely be worth losing some decoratable wall space.
- For the detail enthusiasts: we originally planned to mount the light switch in the upstairs hallway (on the small wall in the guest room) in the middle, so it would be equally accessible from the guest room and the bedroom (in our case, a child’s room). In reality, there is a stud profile right there in the wall. We saved some money and the guest just has to stretch their hand a little further until the light comes on.
- On every side of the house where there is an external wall outlet for an outdoor light (on our lot with the street lamp that’s only two sides; elsewhere it might be all four sides), we also had an outdoor electrical outlet installed. Although 25-meter (82-foot) extension cords can do the job, shorter cable runs are usually more convenient.
Those are my experiences—I’m curious if this topic sparks any interest here.
this thread is meant to be a collection of experiences from how we built a production house and made a few changes during the (floor plan) design phase, and now want to share the results and some unexpected side effects. This might serve as a reference for future homeowners in similar cases or at least provide some ideas to go through your own requested changes a couple of times in your head to make sure everything is thoroughly thought through. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, and you might end up making “different” mistakes later on – but perhaps this list can still be helpful for some.
I’ll start:
We built a Town & Country Flair 125, in the version with a “guest bathroom with shower and an additional study” (no external links allowed, but easily found on the Town & Country homepage).
During the architect meeting, we discussed the following changes:
1. Front door extended with a fixed window panel in front of the stairs
2. Storage room removed, utility/technical room (HAR) enlarged by moving the partition wall between the hallway and utility room from the exterior wall to the kitchen wall
3. Door to the open-plan living area moved and replaced with a door featuring a glass panel, positioned flush with the front door
4. Relocated the pull-down attic staircase by about one meter (3 feet), and reversed its direction so that the stairs now lead towards the bathroom door, allowing a continuous path through the ground floor, upper floor, and attic.
Here are the “side effects”:
1. The light switches at the stairway are now about at the fourth or fifth step instead of above the first step. Since they were installed in the “standard” installation zone, they seem a bit low in that position. This takes some getting used to—at first it felt odd, but by now you don’t even notice it.
2. Good decision: the square footage in front of the storage/utility room would otherwise have been unused space in the hallway.
3. Two side effects: the space originally planned for a coat closet (even a small one) no longer exists. We now have a wall-mounted coat rack where the door to the open-plan living area used to be, which works for three people. The partition wall separating the kitchen countertop remained in its original position. It’s not 100% practical there and in hindsight, we might have moved or removed it altogether. Now a sideboard goes there, which at least makes it look reasonable. Looking back, this is a decision we would probably change.
4. No downsides.
Additionally, a few general notes about the Flair 125 (no changes here, but still worth sharing):
- The window sill height in the study is 1.27 meters (4 feet 2 inches). This likely comes from the L-shaped open-plan variant where this would be a kitchen window, and the height fits that purpose. In the study, this means that when sitting, you’re basically looking at a wall instead of out the window. Definitely something worth checking! A small consolation: with more and larger monitors these days, it’s easy to open the window above the desk without major modifications.
- We initially considered installing a stove with an external chimney pipe later on. In hindsight, I’m very happy we didn’t and won’t do so. In exactly that spot (in the pictures on the Town & Country page where the couch and TV furniture are) I would definitely plan for a window next time. That wall faces west, and getting more natural light there would definitely be worth losing some decoratable wall space.
- For the detail enthusiasts: we originally planned to mount the light switch in the upstairs hallway (on the small wall in the guest room) in the middle, so it would be equally accessible from the guest room and the bedroom (in our case, a child’s room). In reality, there is a stud profile right there in the wall. We saved some money and the guest just has to stretch their hand a little further until the light comes on.
- On every side of the house where there is an external wall outlet for an outdoor light (on our lot with the street lamp that’s only two sides; elsewhere it might be all four sides), we also had an outdoor electrical outlet installed. Although 25-meter (82-foot) extension cords can do the job, shorter cable runs are usually more convenient.
Those are my experiences—I’m curious if this topic sparks any interest here.
Vrumfondel schrieb:
Those were my experiences – I’m curious to see if this topic will generate interest here.... I just suggested to the moderators to pin this thread near my “Mess-Up” thread (new name https://www.hausbau-forum.de/threads/grundriss-fails-sammelthread-grundrisse-die-keiner-wollte.30156/).
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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Pinkiponk28 Mar 2022 15:54I find this thread very interesting and will contribute once our house is built and we have moved in.
So far, the only thing I can think of is that instead of a single-leaf door to the living room, we wanted a double-leaf door, which now partially sits under the stairs. I’m not yet sure how it looks or works in practice. Perhaps once we have moved in, I can share a photo here to illustrate.
So far, the only thing I can think of is that instead of a single-leaf door to the living room, we wanted a double-leaf door, which now partially sits under the stairs. I’m not yet sure how it looks or works in practice. Perhaps once we have moved in, I can share a photo here to illustrate.
I would also like to see the revised floor plan compared to the original 🙂 That would make it easier to understand.
Vrumfondel schrieb:That sounds familiar to me 😉 it’s similar in our case.
1. The light switches in the stairwell are now positioned around the fourth or fifth step instead of above the first step. However, since they were installed within the usual installation zone, they now seem somewhat low. It takes some getting used to—in other words, it feels unusual at first, but by now you hardly notice it anymore.
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Vrumfondel30 Mar 2022 15:07Hoping not to infringe any copyrights, I’m sharing the before-and-after comparison as discussed. I no longer have the original plan, so I’m using the catalog image from Town & Country instead. As you can see, the room layout in our case is mirrored. And before anyone notices, the light switches are not exactly above step 5 as I initially wrote; they are actually a bit closer to the bottom of the stairs ;-)
Looking again at the attic floor compared to before, I’m still glad we rotated/moved the fold-down attic ladder—I can’t think of any reason why the original position would have been better. But surely there must be a reason, right? I’d be really curious, so if any of you have thoughts on that, please share!
Looking again at the attic floor compared to before, I’m still glad we rotated/moved the fold-down attic ladder—I can’t think of any reason why the original position would have been better. But surely there must be a reason, right? I’d be really curious, so if any of you have thoughts on that, please share!