ᐅ Floor Plan: 1.5-Story Gable Roof House Without Basement – Feedback or Suggestions?
Created on: 3 Oct 2021 21:29
C
ChristianAusN
Development Plan / Restrictions
Plot size: Approx. 28x23m (92x75 ft), 644m² (6,931 ft²)
Slope: No
Floor space index (FSI): 0.35
Plot ratio: 0.5
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: See image, plot P53
Edge development: Garage, max. 9m (30 ft) per side, max. 15m (49 ft) total
Number of parking spaces
Number of floors: 1.5
Roof type: Gable roof, 42-48°
Style: "Classic"(?)
Orientation: 16° east, see also floor plan drawing
Maximum heights/limits: Max. wall height (from top plate to roof covering) = 4.2m (14 ft)
Additional requirements: Ridge running parallel to the street
Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: See above
Basement, floors: No basement, 1.5 floors
Number and ages of occupants: 2 adults in their mid-30s, teenager 15 years old, girl 2 years old, possibly one more child planned
Space requirements on ground floor (GF) and upper floor (UF): As per plan, shower option on GF is important, study on GF should be adaptable as master bedroom in later years
Office: Family use or home office? Regular home office use by "him", room on GF additionally used as sewing room by "her"
Guest bedrooms per year: Few or none
Open or closed layout: Open living-dining-kitchen area, but without stairs in the living room
Traditional or modern construction: Somewhere in between
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Open, preferably a freestanding island
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: No
Music/surround sound wall: Speakers for 5.1 system should be possible in the living room
Balcony, roof terrace: Not needed
Garage, carport: Double garage with space for workbench/bicycles
Utility garden, greenhouse: No
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, reasons for choices:
- Mandatory secondary bathroom with shower on GF
- Upper floor passage to garage roof desired: quick transfer of winter/summer clothes, for example
- Good sound insulation between rooms on UF
- Planning aimed to keep as much distance as possible from the street to the south and neighbor to the west (when sitting on the terrace)
- Dormer in the middle room on UF to have at least one room without a sloped ceiling
House Design
Designer: Do-it-yourself
What is liked most?
- Open living-dining-kitchen area
- With view over (almost) the entire plot (garden, driveway)
- Lots of storage / expansion options in attic of house and garage roof (to be accessible directly from UF)
- Dressing room as a passage into bathroom on UF
What is disliked?
All mostly small compromises in our eyes:
- Slightly longer route from kitchen to terrace
- Slightly longer route from entrance to pantry (groceries can also be delivered from front of kitchen)
- Upper floor hallway gets little natural daylight
- If entrance is separated as a windbreak, it is only about 1.8m (6 ft) deep (but we’d initially keep it open)
- Bathroom light on UF only from double casement window (above toilet)
Estimated price fromarchitect/planner for own planning: Based on relatively recent offers – depending on self-work 440,000 - 500,000€ including plot
Personal price limit for house including fittings: +50k
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump
If you had to give up something, which details/expansions
- Could give up: Walk-in shower on UF (if necessary with glass door is OK), dormer on middle room UF, passage on UF to garage (with major regrets...)
- Cannot give up: Study on GF, shower bathroom on GF
Why did the design turn out the way it did? e.g.
Standard design from planner?
No, inspired by found floor plans, houses of acquaintances, many discussions between us.
Standard plans usually have an entrance on the north side, which makes no sense with access from the south as in our case. Since it wasn’t possible to sensibly integrate an entrance on the south side, it was moved to the side – aligned between house and garage.
At the same time, we wanted to keep as much garden as possible. Neither passersby in the south, nor the neighbor on the west “on top of us” when we sit on the terrace.
A small rule when planning the rooms was: “no walls shorter than 3 meters (10 ft).”
We also did not want a landing or half-turn staircase, as it could no longer be covered under the gable roof on the UF if the attic should ever be converted.
The staircase should be separated from the living area – optionally by a large sliding door. When our son heads out with friends on a Saturday evening, we don’t want the whole group walking through the living room.
The lady of the house placed great importance on access from the dressing room to the bathroom – which was not easy to plan, especially combined with the sloped ceiling.
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
No specific question. Our biggest concerns are the L-shaped staircase and the small overhang on the UF. The hallway on UF is also quite narrow at 1.13m (3 ft 8 in) in front of the bathroom. A straight staircase would take space from the master bedroom in the northwest, so we’d probably accept the current version with reservations.
We also debated for a long time how to unify the garage door position and passage door on UF. Currently, there is an open passage below, but the garage is attached to the house above. You want to be able to push a bike or scooter out of the garage without moving a car.
We are unsure about the window behind the couch: visually it seems almost necessary, direct sunlight should be blocked by the terrace roof, but in the evening you would have the entire property and street behind you. The couch also must be directly opposite the TV/wall unit (home cinema).
I’m afraid that was more than 130 characters...
Looking forward to your opinions!
Best regards
Plot size: Approx. 28x23m (92x75 ft), 644m² (6,931 ft²)
Slope: No
Floor space index (FSI): 0.35
Plot ratio: 0.5
Building envelope, building line, and boundary: See image, plot P53
Edge development: Garage, max. 9m (30 ft) per side, max. 15m (49 ft) total
Number of parking spaces
Number of floors: 1.5
Roof type: Gable roof, 42-48°
Style: "Classic"(?)
Orientation: 16° east, see also floor plan drawing
Maximum heights/limits: Max. wall height (from top plate to roof covering) = 4.2m (14 ft)
Additional requirements: Ridge running parallel to the street
Client Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: See above
Basement, floors: No basement, 1.5 floors
Number and ages of occupants: 2 adults in their mid-30s, teenager 15 years old, girl 2 years old, possibly one more child planned
Space requirements on ground floor (GF) and upper floor (UF): As per plan, shower option on GF is important, study on GF should be adaptable as master bedroom in later years
Office: Family use or home office? Regular home office use by "him", room on GF additionally used as sewing room by "her"
Guest bedrooms per year: Few or none
Open or closed layout: Open living-dining-kitchen area, but without stairs in the living room
Traditional or modern construction: Somewhere in between
Open kitchen, kitchen island: Open, preferably a freestanding island
Number of dining seats: 8
Fireplace: No
Music/surround sound wall: Speakers for 5.1 system should be possible in the living room
Balcony, roof terrace: Not needed
Garage, carport: Double garage with space for workbench/bicycles
Utility garden, greenhouse: No
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, reasons for choices:
- Mandatory secondary bathroom with shower on GF
- Upper floor passage to garage roof desired: quick transfer of winter/summer clothes, for example
- Good sound insulation between rooms on UF
- Planning aimed to keep as much distance as possible from the street to the south and neighbor to the west (when sitting on the terrace)
- Dormer in the middle room on UF to have at least one room without a sloped ceiling
House Design
Designer: Do-it-yourself
What is liked most?
- Open living-dining-kitchen area
- With view over (almost) the entire plot (garden, driveway)
- Lots of storage / expansion options in attic of house and garage roof (to be accessible directly from UF)
- Dressing room as a passage into bathroom on UF
What is disliked?
All mostly small compromises in our eyes:
- Slightly longer route from kitchen to terrace
- Slightly longer route from entrance to pantry (groceries can also be delivered from front of kitchen)
- Upper floor hallway gets little natural daylight
- If entrance is separated as a windbreak, it is only about 1.8m (6 ft) deep (but we’d initially keep it open)
- Bathroom light on UF only from double casement window (above toilet)
Estimated price from
Personal price limit for house including fittings: +50k
Preferred heating technology: Heat pump
If you had to give up something, which details/expansions
- Could give up: Walk-in shower on UF (if necessary with glass door is OK), dormer on middle room UF, passage on UF to garage (with major regrets...)
- Cannot give up: Study on GF, shower bathroom on GF
Why did the design turn out the way it did? e.g.
Standard design from planner?
No, inspired by found floor plans, houses of acquaintances, many discussions between us.
Standard plans usually have an entrance on the north side, which makes no sense with access from the south as in our case. Since it wasn’t possible to sensibly integrate an entrance on the south side, it was moved to the side – aligned between house and garage.
At the same time, we wanted to keep as much garden as possible. Neither passersby in the south, nor the neighbor on the west “on top of us” when we sit on the terrace.
A small rule when planning the rooms was: “no walls shorter than 3 meters (10 ft).”
We also did not want a landing or half-turn staircase, as it could no longer be covered under the gable roof on the UF if the attic should ever be converted.
The staircase should be separated from the living area – optionally by a large sliding door. When our son heads out with friends on a Saturday evening, we don’t want the whole group walking through the living room.
The lady of the house placed great importance on access from the dressing room to the bathroom – which was not easy to plan, especially combined with the sloped ceiling.
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan, summarized in 130 characters?
No specific question. Our biggest concerns are the L-shaped staircase and the small overhang on the UF. The hallway on UF is also quite narrow at 1.13m (3 ft 8 in) in front of the bathroom. A straight staircase would take space from the master bedroom in the northwest, so we’d probably accept the current version with reservations.
We also debated for a long time how to unify the garage door position and passage door on UF. Currently, there is an open passage below, but the garage is attached to the house above. You want to be able to push a bike or scooter out of the garage without moving a car.
We are unsure about the window behind the couch: visually it seems almost necessary, direct sunlight should be blocked by the terrace roof, but in the evening you would have the entire property and street behind you. The couch also must be directly opposite the TV/wall unit (home cinema).
I’m afraid that was more than 130 characters...
Looking forward to your opinions!
Best regards
Tolentino schrieb:
And especially if the price was contractually fixed beforehand based on a turnkey delivery, but the credits for underperformance were not... With this post, you’re opening up a wide range of topics that could fill entire chapters. Here, I will focus only on the introduction: fundamentally, the future homeowner must understand that a general contractor (GC) is the ideal partner precisely when the basis of the agreement is: “I don’t want to worry about how many different parts make up the whole; you build the entire house for me.” If this is selectively changed — “where my buddy offers a better price, I want to exclude that part” — the mutual win-win aspect for the GC loses its appeal. And I want to strongly warn against—especially without detailed planning!—ignoring my usual advice regarding tiles, brickwork, heating systems, or similar trades, and removing scopes of work to create special arrangements deviating from the GC’s standard. A house—especially when planned with tight coordination between disciplines—is a system in the sense of a whole that you cannot simply cut apart!
Maybe I should write a book called “Villa Watzlawick – Guide to a Building Ruin” 🙂 🙂 🙂
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
This often applies to mailbox general contractors, at least during times of volatile price fluctuations. This is not a "mailbox general contractor," so not a GC, but a design-build contractor.
By the way, one who did not adjust the November 2020 bid price to now despite there being no fixed-price agreement or similar clause. Simply a reputable company specializing in shell construction and therefore not upset if you subcontract other trades yourself 😉
Nemesis schrieb:
It’s not a “mailbox general contractor,” so not a GC,I didn’t mean to imply that your general contractor is a mailbox GC, but rather to point out in general that the willingness to separate contracts or trades also depends on how deeply the GC is involved in performing the work themselves.By the term mailbox GC, I specifically refer to those general contractors who are often miles away from a “commercially organized business operation.” A typical mailbox GC has a ten-hours-per-week secretary (not a “secretary,” since those who can at least spell their job title correctly are often qualified professionals) and otherwise, as the owner of a rickety mortar bucket transport van, employs only one or two drywall finishers depending on the contract workload. A GC may well have no in-house masons, but on the other hand maintains top-notch, audit-proof, separate accounts receivable and payable bookkeeping, a first-class, sky-blue credit line, and so on. There are even some who own not a single piece of construction machinery but do have capital. A GC can therefore operate a large company and act more professionally than a mailbox GC. Moreover, being a GC or general contractor is not a matter of size, but rather a matter of principle—whether you prefer to move money or construction equipment.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
ChristianAusN schrieb:
Overall, I read your concerns mainly as: better to sacrifice some garden space and plan for a bigger house(?)No. You should plan together with the neighbors, not against them. They will become part of your life. -> You can’t isolate yourself, nor do you need to. And if you want, usually a hedge around the terrace or garden boundary is enough. And P.S. Children are meant to leave the nest, become independent, and live in their own homes one day. Or do you want to give the large bathroom to the kids and take the shower toilet yourself?
The room upstairs will be needed later anyway for new hobbies and grandchildren 😉