ᐅ Once again, the floor plan – prefabricated house just before submitting the building permit application
Created on: 23 Jun 2016 08:48
H
HB-NH2015
Hello everyone,
We would like to share our planned floor plans and elevations from the preliminary drafts to get some final feedback before we return the drafts early next week and proceed with the building permit / planning permission application.
We are building a detached single-family house for a family with one child so far (second child planned) with 142 sqm (1,526 sq ft) of living space, a gable roof with a 1.30 m (4 ft 3 in) knee wall, an air-to-water heat pump, and integrated controlled mechanical ventilation, from a large prefabricated house supplier in Northern Hesse. The building site is an infill plot on the outskirts of a village in Northern Hesse.
Documents attached.
Site Plan
- Building limits -> exemptions expected
- Large garden, house frontage aligned with neighbors (hence not set further back)
- Sewer connection needs to be extended in the street.
Elevations / Base Wall
- South side faces the (less important) neighbors
- North side faces the parents-in-law
- Achieving symmetry on the outside/fenestration was difficult. Everything is a compromise. We really like the east and west elevations. North and south are suboptimal, but we accept this because we do not want to give up the desired internal window positions.
- According to the architect, we unfortunately need a base wall / retaining wall because on the highest point under the house (southwest), we have to build up the ground by over 1 m (3 ft 3 in). Our house builder (who is also responsible for the foundation slab according to the construction and service description) wants to install about 13 linear meters of this wall for just under 8,000€ (without perimeter insulation). We were told that if we get a good soil report certifying sufficient bearing capacity, we could avoid the base wall and instead slope the ground. Is this realistic, or are they just trying to charge us extra and we should expect these additional costs for sure?
Yes, sloping the ground up to 3 m (10 ft) high is also not ideal, but neither are the 8,000€ costs we had not planned for.
Ground Floor Plan
Departing from the displayed plan, we are considering the following changes:
- Guest WC door to open towards the hallway
- The two fixed light bands in the living room will have roller shutters (even though they cannot be cleaned from the inside)
- The study window will be slightly shifted to be centered more universally in the wall.
In the utility room, I need space for a network cabinet. However, I don’t want to use the wall next to the house connections for this, as we want a shelf there. Any ideas on how to better organize this without reducing the wall space for the coat rack?
Upper Floor Plan
Departing from the displayed plan, we are considering the following changes:
- The partition wall between shower and wash basin will not go all the way to the ceiling except for a support beam; it will be left open by 30 cm (12 in) at the top for steam ventilation and daylight.
- The toilet will be moved to the far left bottom corner, with the bathtub next to it. A privacy wall (screen) between. Tiled shelves around the bathtub.
Any other opinions?
I know everyone builds for themselves (and will probably disregard some feedback), but maybe there are some major flaws in our plan. More eyes mean better input.
Thank you very much.
We would like to share our planned floor plans and elevations from the preliminary drafts to get some final feedback before we return the drafts early next week and proceed with the building permit / planning permission application.
We are building a detached single-family house for a family with one child so far (second child planned) with 142 sqm (1,526 sq ft) of living space, a gable roof with a 1.30 m (4 ft 3 in) knee wall, an air-to-water heat pump, and integrated controlled mechanical ventilation, from a large prefabricated house supplier in Northern Hesse. The building site is an infill plot on the outskirts of a village in Northern Hesse.
Documents attached.
Site Plan
- Building limits -> exemptions expected
- Large garden, house frontage aligned with neighbors (hence not set further back)
- Sewer connection needs to be extended in the street.
Elevations / Base Wall
- South side faces the (less important) neighbors
- North side faces the parents-in-law
- Achieving symmetry on the outside/fenestration was difficult. Everything is a compromise. We really like the east and west elevations. North and south are suboptimal, but we accept this because we do not want to give up the desired internal window positions.
- According to the architect, we unfortunately need a base wall / retaining wall because on the highest point under the house (southwest), we have to build up the ground by over 1 m (3 ft 3 in). Our house builder (who is also responsible for the foundation slab according to the construction and service description) wants to install about 13 linear meters of this wall for just under 8,000€ (without perimeter insulation). We were told that if we get a good soil report certifying sufficient bearing capacity, we could avoid the base wall and instead slope the ground. Is this realistic, or are they just trying to charge us extra and we should expect these additional costs for sure?
Yes, sloping the ground up to 3 m (10 ft) high is also not ideal, but neither are the 8,000€ costs we had not planned for.
Ground Floor Plan
Departing from the displayed plan, we are considering the following changes:
- Guest WC door to open towards the hallway
- The two fixed light bands in the living room will have roller shutters (even though they cannot be cleaned from the inside)
- The study window will be slightly shifted to be centered more universally in the wall.
In the utility room, I need space for a network cabinet. However, I don’t want to use the wall next to the house connections for this, as we want a shelf there. Any ideas on how to better organize this without reducing the wall space for the coat rack?
Upper Floor Plan
Departing from the displayed plan, we are considering the following changes:
- The partition wall between shower and wash basin will not go all the way to the ceiling except for a support beam; it will be left open by 30 cm (12 in) at the top for steam ventilation and daylight.
- The toilet will be moved to the far left bottom corner, with the bathtub next to it. A privacy wall (screen) between. Tiled shelves around the bathtub.
Any other opinions?
I know everyone builds for themselves (and will probably disregard some feedback), but maybe there are some major flaws in our plan. More eyes mean better input.
Thank you very much.
HB-NH2015 schrieb:
However, this wall can still be shortened or extended after the building permit / planning permission during the final selection phase. I would get that confirmed in writing beforehand. Once the wall has been taken into account in the structural calculations, it is not so easy to shorten it.
HB-NH2015 schrieb:
Jochen We will have an outdoor water tap. That’s good then.
Only, there are just 563 cm (222 inches) from the utility room wall to the terrace. If there is a U-shaped kitchen with 60 cm (24 inches), 130 cm (51 inches) on the right side, and a peninsula 100 cm (39 inches) deep, then about 273 cm (107 inches) remain for the dining table, including the passage area in front of the peninsula.
For this kind of arrangement, I find 120x80 cm (47x31 inches) a bit small after all… but well… I tried it without mirroring and the idea is to show the kitchen and two children’s bedrooms facing south.
EDIT:
OOPS, just noticed. The kitchen only has a strip window. Phew… have you ever seen such rooms? It really feels like a basement.
For this kind of arrangement, I find 120x80 cm (47x31 inches) a bit small after all… but well… I tried it without mirroring and the idea is to show the kitchen and two children’s bedrooms facing south.
EDIT:
OOPS, just noticed. The kitchen only has a strip window. Phew… have you ever seen such rooms? It really feels like a basement.
HB-NH2015 schrieb:
I don’t quite understand your feedback regarding the orientation towards the sky.
For us, orienting the terrace to the south was not an option.I wasn’t talking about the terrace. It’s solely about the room orientations concerning the window areas in the directions where more or less natural light is needed.
HB-NH2015 schrieb:
The living room gets light from the first light strip starting at noon, and through the western window front starting in the afternoon, plus the lovely evening sun over the fields.HB-NH2015 schrieb:
If I were to rotate anything, it would only be the plot—but as we know, that’s not possible.However, you won’t really see any of that in winter because the sun sets around the southwest then, meaning it stays relatively low in the south.
Based on experience, a larger window on the south side is necessary. Since a large window is not needed in the living room but rather in the dining area, and less so in the bathroom and toilet, flipping the house plan (mirroring rather than rotating) is a sensible solution that achieves the desired daylight gain without major changes to the design.
HB-NH2015 schrieb:
I also think the windows in the living/dining area and kitchen should be sufficient.I didn’t claim otherwise. It will still be darker in winter, as mentioned above.
HB-NH2015 schrieb:
And where exactly should we increase the window sizes upstairs?
They are all floor-to-ceiling windows with a fixed pane at the bottom.Exactly where they currently are. The areas under the sloped ceilings remain comparatively darker. Even if the windows are floor-to-ceiling, the amount of daylight entering a room through a window only 1 meter (3 feet) wide is less than that through a wider opening. You can easily sketch this on paper if it’s not immediately obvious.
kbt09 schrieb:
Ypg thinks, as I do, that mainly the upper floor could be mirrored,Nope
HB-NH2015 schrieb:
But I believe we won’t change such fundamental things at this stage and will just have to accept the darker children’s rooms.HB-NH2015 schrieb:
But maybe we have some major flaws in the plan.Just my two cents... You wanted the flaws to be pointed out, right?
H
HB-NH201523 Jun 2016 14:50Of course, I wanted to mention them—I want to know everything.
I’m not upset about any feedback; I already know how things usually go in forums.
I just have to weigh for myself whether I want to reopen certain topics.
With all the constants, variables, and wishes, planning feels a bit like patching a bicycle tire while someone is poking at it.
We’re not at the beginning of the journey; the current floor plan has already been developed from our ideas and has been changed and revised dozens of times. Originally, for example, we signed for a completely different house model with a different staircase design.
During this process, we often faced situations where I had imagined certain solutions to address specific issues (like natural light, circulation paths, etc.), but when these were incorporated into the plan, new disadvantages of those solutions became apparent.
The question at each point is whether the positives or negatives outweigh the other (subjective for the homeowners) and whether there are dependencies with other areas of the house that might be “dragged along” by the decision.
It will never be perfect.
Unless there is unlimited budget and space—
and no conflicting opinions within the homeowner family...
We just have to carefully weigh every detail, and so far, we have actually been quite happy with our floor plan.
Feedback in the forum can hardly be more honest, yet of course, sometimes it is completely opposite to our own opinion.
I think if we take some points into account, for example wider windows on the upper floor so that a wardrobe just fits, a larger door in the attic bathroom, rethinking the light strip in the kitchen, or adjusting the distances for circulation paths in the kitchen, then asking was already worth it for me—even though we’re hesitant to mirror parts of the floor plan now.
I’m not upset about any feedback; I already know how things usually go in forums.
I just have to weigh for myself whether I want to reopen certain topics.
With all the constants, variables, and wishes, planning feels a bit like patching a bicycle tire while someone is poking at it.
We’re not at the beginning of the journey; the current floor plan has already been developed from our ideas and has been changed and revised dozens of times. Originally, for example, we signed for a completely different house model with a different staircase design.
During this process, we often faced situations where I had imagined certain solutions to address specific issues (like natural light, circulation paths, etc.), but when these were incorporated into the plan, new disadvantages of those solutions became apparent.
The question at each point is whether the positives or negatives outweigh the other (subjective for the homeowners) and whether there are dependencies with other areas of the house that might be “dragged along” by the decision.
It will never be perfect.
Unless there is unlimited budget and space—
and no conflicting opinions within the homeowner family...
We just have to carefully weigh every detail, and so far, we have actually been quite happy with our floor plan.
Feedback in the forum can hardly be more honest, yet of course, sometimes it is completely opposite to our own opinion.
I think if we take some points into account, for example wider windows on the upper floor so that a wardrobe just fits, a larger door in the attic bathroom, rethinking the light strip in the kitchen, or adjusting the distances for circulation paths in the kitchen, then asking was already worth it for me—even though we’re hesitant to mirror parts of the floor plan now.
H
HB-NH201523 Jun 2016 16:48The setback boundary issue has been discussed with the building authority.
This mainly stems from the fact that the city created a development plan based on much larger and wider plots back in 1972. After the development plan was approved, they realized they also wanted to include a playground in the area. A plot of normal size was too big and thus seen as wasted capital for that purpose. So, they simply made the other plots slightly larger without officially amending the development plan afterwards. For example, it specifies a minimum plot size of 750 sq meters (8073 sq ft). Ours is 638 sq meters (6868 sq ft), and the city sold it to us with a building obligation.
Regarding the setback boundaries, they quickly indicated that an exemption would be possible.
We did not want a narrow, elongated house, so we are glad to get this exemption here. We wanted the house oriented roughly to the west (with a slight southern inclination) with the full width for the living and dining areas.
Regarding the knee wall height (1.30 m [4 ft 3 in] instead of the allowed 0.50 m [1 ft 8 in]), I am more pessimistic, but we have already received verbal assurances from the city and district and instructions to submit the building application reflecting these exemptions.
Basically, though, we did not choose the plot because of its values or orientation but because it allows us to offer the children the possibility to have their grandmother next door.
This mainly stems from the fact that the city created a development plan based on much larger and wider plots back in 1972. After the development plan was approved, they realized they also wanted to include a playground in the area. A plot of normal size was too big and thus seen as wasted capital for that purpose. So, they simply made the other plots slightly larger without officially amending the development plan afterwards. For example, it specifies a minimum plot size of 750 sq meters (8073 sq ft). Ours is 638 sq meters (6868 sq ft), and the city sold it to us with a building obligation.
Regarding the setback boundaries, they quickly indicated that an exemption would be possible.
We did not want a narrow, elongated house, so we are glad to get this exemption here. We wanted the house oriented roughly to the west (with a slight southern inclination) with the full width for the living and dining areas.
Regarding the knee wall height (1.30 m [4 ft 3 in] instead of the allowed 0.50 m [1 ft 8 in]), I am more pessimistic, but we have already received verbal assurances from the city and district and instructions to submit the building application reflecting these exemptions.
Basically, though, we did not choose the plot because of its values or orientation but because it allows us to offer the children the possibility to have their grandmother next door.
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