Hello,
We are currently in the planning phase for our single-family house with a pitched roof and have a dormer with 2 windows included in the offer for the upper floor. Unfortunately, according to the architect, this has to be removed because we decided on a knee wall height of 1.15 m (3 ft 9 in), which makes the windows too small. (With a roof pitch of 45°)
Since we find the appearance of the house a bit "bare" and there would otherwise be no windows in that space, I am wondering what alternatives exist that would not significantly impact the budget?
If you need any further information, please let me know.
Best regards,
Jens
We are currently in the planning phase for our single-family house with a pitched roof and have a dormer with 2 windows included in the offer for the upper floor. Unfortunately, according to the architect, this has to be removed because we decided on a knee wall height of 1.15 m (3 ft 9 in), which makes the windows too small. (With a roof pitch of 45°)
Since we find the appearance of the house a bit "bare" and there would otherwise be no windows in that space, I am wondering what alternatives exist that would not significantly impact the budget?
If you need any further information, please let me know.
Best regards,
Jens
Since these terms appear regularly here, I’ll say a few words in a thread that has been quiet for some time:
Misunderstandings often come from a "Babylonian confusion of languages," meaning the use of terms that have different regional meanings:
The dormer is technically only called that when it is set into the roof surface, meaning it still has roof area "below" it, which is sometimes overlooked in everyday language. When its front aligns flush with the facade, it is actually called a cross house (and with a pointed front, i.e., a small ridge roof perpendicular to the main roof surface, even more specifically a cross gable).
The classic "dormer" usually sits on an (inner) knee wall, and that brings us to the second term:
To avoid having "zero headroom" at the eaves end of rooms, two related methods are commonly used. One is to create an inner recess by setting a wall parallel to the eaves back into the room. The space in between is called a storage niche, sometimes accessible through small hatches for use as storage. The wall set forward is called a knee wall.
Sometimes, however, another method is preferred, which is to instead raise the exterior wall at the eaves—on which the foot purlin of each eaves side typically rests. This variant is actually called a kneewall.
The terms "inner" versus "outer knee wall" are less commonly used, mainly because one of these methods tends to be much more popular regionally, so the distinction is often omitted. This explains why in some regions the kneewall is called a knee wall (Drempel) and it’s not clear to outsiders why this is confusing.
Hopefully, this makes the following question clearer:
If the original poster had meant an inner knee wall here, that would indeed be a practical suggestion: in the area of the dormers, the knee wall could be made lower (i.e., almost up to the intersection with the roof slope), bringing the sill height back to a normal level. However, in this specific case, it is an outer knee wall (kneewall). Since the roof only begins at 1.15 m (3 ft 9 in) here (and a classic dormer rises even higher), the possible window sill heights in these dormers logically end up more or less "at chin level."
So the advice makes sense, but understanding it requires the differentiation of terms—to replace dormers with cross houses (which, regardless of the knee wall height, allows for even floor-to-ceiling windows).
Unfortunately, not every zoning plan permits this choice. Then, roof windows remain an option for daylight, but since they do not create a roof projection, they have less impact on the house’s architectural character.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Misunderstandings often come from a "Babylonian confusion of languages," meaning the use of terms that have different regional meanings:
BeHaElJa schrieb:
If it’s on the exterior wall, it’s called a cross gable, right?
The dormer is technically only called that when it is set into the roof surface, meaning it still has roof area "below" it, which is sometimes overlooked in everyday language. When its front aligns flush with the facade, it is actually called a cross house (and with a pointed front, i.e., a small ridge roof perpendicular to the main roof surface, even more specifically a cross gable).
The classic "dormer" usually sits on an (inner) knee wall, and that brings us to the second term:
garfunkel schrieb:
The knee wall is mainly for aesthetic and practical purposes, and the kneewall contains structural elements? (At least that’s how I understand it)
To avoid having "zero headroom" at the eaves end of rooms, two related methods are commonly used. One is to create an inner recess by setting a wall parallel to the eaves back into the room. The space in between is called a storage niche, sometimes accessible through small hatches for use as storage. The wall set forward is called a knee wall.
Sometimes, however, another method is preferred, which is to instead raise the exterior wall at the eaves—on which the foot purlin of each eaves side typically rests. This variant is actually called a kneewall.
The terms "inner" versus "outer knee wall" are less commonly used, mainly because one of these methods tends to be much more popular regionally, so the distinction is often omitted. This explains why in some regions the kneewall is called a knee wall (Drempel) and it’s not clear to outsiders why this is confusing.
Hopefully, this makes the following question clearer:
garfunkel schrieb:
Then, could you plan some rooms with dormers with or without knee walls and the others as originally intended?
If the original poster had meant an inner knee wall here, that would indeed be a practical suggestion: in the area of the dormers, the knee wall could be made lower (i.e., almost up to the intersection with the roof slope), bringing the sill height back to a normal level. However, in this specific case, it is an outer knee wall (kneewall). Since the roof only begins at 1.15 m (3 ft 9 in) here (and a classic dormer rises even higher), the possible window sill heights in these dormers logically end up more or less "at chin level."
So the advice makes sense, but understanding it requires the differentiation of terms—to replace dormers with cross houses (which, regardless of the knee wall height, allows for even floor-to-ceiling windows).
Unfortunately, not every zoning plan permits this choice. Then, roof windows remain an option for daylight, but since they do not create a roof projection, they have less impact on the house’s architectural character.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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