ᐅ Floor Plan Design for a Single-Family House, Solid Wood Construction, 140 sqm in Lower Saxony
Created on: 2 Jan 2023 15:30
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-LotteS-
Hello dear house building forum!
Here are some details—based on our best knowledge and judgment—about our house construction project...
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size 576 sqm (approx. 6195 sq ft) - parcel 17/28 (see cadastral map)
Slope no – the plot has only a few centimeters (inches) of elevation difference
Floor area ratio (FAR) 0.3 = 172.8 sqm (1861 sq ft)
Plot ratio not defined
Building envelope, building line and boundary 24x24 meter (79x79 feet) plot = N-E-S-W 16x18x16x18 meter (52x59x52x59 feet) building envelope
Edge development no, exceptions possibly according to Lower Saxony Building Regulations
Required number of parking spaces not specified
Number of floors single storey
Roof shape gable/hip/half-hip with 35-50 degree pitch
Architectural style classic detached house
Ridge direction specified = ridge line running west-east
Max height limits ridge height 4.0 m (13 ft), eaves height 8.5 m (28 ft)
Additional rules no oil heating, 50% of the south-facing roof must have solar panels, no building allowed between house and street (e.g., no parking or similar in front yard)
The plot has been purchased and the utility infrastructure in the new development area is already completed (our plot is even located on a pre-asphalted road).
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type solid wooden house made of massive log beams inside, blown insulation, and exterior cladding
Basement, floors no basement – only ground floor + upper floor
Number of occupants, ages three, aged 36, 29, and five and a half
Space requirements on ground and upper floors standard single-family home with 3 bedrooms plus bathroom upstairs, open-plan living area downstairs, guest WC, and large utility/housekeeping room
Office: family use or home office? One room currently usable as office/guest room (backup for future child needs), currently neither of us have jobs with home office option
Open or closed layout living/dining/kitchen preferably open
Conservative or modern construction style conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island open kitchen yes, kitchen island currently not planned
Number of dining seats daily use for 3, but dining nook should be sufficient for more people
Fireplace planned is a masonry stove
Music/stereo wall no
Balcony, roof terrace no
Garage, carport carport with workshop
Utility garden, greenhouse no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons why some things are included or excluded
House Design
Who designed the plan: plan based on our principles, then optimized with the manufacturer’s in-house architect
What do you particularly like? Why? We really like the extended dining nook with the surrounding bench; overall, our ideas about room sizes have been well implemented – whether everything will really work as we imagine, we would like to ask here.
What do you dislike? Why? The chimney’s position might be bothersome in the children's room? Or is that negligible in daily life? We are still not satisfied with the kitchen and bathroom upstairs and are currently looking for a good furnishing/decorating solution.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: Since we are not working with a general contractor but will handle contracts ourselves after the shell is built and do a lot of work ourselves, we don’t have all numbers yet. The following trades are currently being costed.
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 400,000 up to move-in ready, excluding everything outside the building itself, plot is paid
Preferred heating technology: heat pump with underfloor heating plus photovoltaics with possible storage
If you have to give up something, which details/extensions
- can you do without: We have tried to adapt our demands to the budget as much as possible – does anyone see further savings potential?
- can you not do without: As an absolute last resort, we would remove the dining nook and redesign the ground floor – also, the masonry stove is fixed for us (we just love this cozy atmosphere).
Why is the design the way it is now?
Standard plan from planner? The manufacturer does not offer standard houses; everything is individually designed
Which of your wishes were implemented by the architect? The current plan reflects our wishes quite well. Now we just need fine-tuning, and we hope for your assessments, ideas, and experiences.
A mix of many examples from various magazines... Of course, our inspirations come from many different sources (good and bad…) 😀
What makes it particularly good or bad in your opinion? It feels good to us so far – all our furniture fits, and the things that bother us in our current rented house have been eliminated in the design.
What is the most important/basic question about the layout, summarized in 130 characters?
- Does the layout work as it is, or are there specific arrangements that don’t work?
- Is the position and number of windows sufficient?
- Do the children's rooms upstairs need two roof windows or is one enough each?
- Have we missed or overlooked anything important?
- Can a U-shaped kitchen be sensibly planned in the existing space, or do we need to adjust walls downstairs first?
- Are the door positions appropriate regarding width, wall distance, and opening direction?
- Is the utility room (unfurnished room behind the laundry on the north/east side of the ground floor) dimensionally adequate?
- What knee wall height is recommended upstairs? Currently at 40 cm (16 in), we plan to raise it because otherwise, especially the upstairs bathroom will be problematic (though we don’t want a large bathroom, just “as big as necessary” – we would probably place the bathtub in the northeast corner of the room – would that fit?
- We’d like to add a laundry chute from the upstairs bathroom to the utility room – does anyone have a good idea for the best location?
One final note on our general concept:
We intend to buy the house from the manufacturer including insulation, cladding, and roof structure. Assembly will follow the “master carpenter assembly” principle (the company provides two experienced workers, plus 4-5 helpers from us – full warranty and savings of around 15,000-20,000 euros, about three to four weeks of hard work). The manufacturer’s “basic package” also includes windows and the front door, as they must be specially installed due to the house settling.
We plan to contract the foundation slab, roofing, and plumbing work separately. Electrical work (in consultation with the local master electrician), interior finishing (room doors, screed, underfloor heating, floor covering), and small tasks can be done by my partner (trained electrician, highly interested in almost everything, skilled and experienced with wood). I work professionally in an office of a building materials supplier, so I have access to good conditions, storage capacity, and established contacts in the industry. We also have great friends and a large family who are all enthusiastic about our project and willing to support us. We know this will require a lot of work, strain our time, nerves, and budget—but we want to give it a try.
We are now looking forward to suggestions, critical comments, and anything that can help us avoid as many mistakes as possible during the process.
Thank you very much in advance!
Here are some details—based on our best knowledge and judgment—about our house construction project...
Development Plan/Restrictions
Plot size 576 sqm (approx. 6195 sq ft) - parcel 17/28 (see cadastral map)
Slope no – the plot has only a few centimeters (inches) of elevation difference
Floor area ratio (FAR) 0.3 = 172.8 sqm (1861 sq ft)
Plot ratio not defined
Building envelope, building line and boundary 24x24 meter (79x79 feet) plot = N-E-S-W 16x18x16x18 meter (52x59x52x59 feet) building envelope
Edge development no, exceptions possibly according to Lower Saxony Building Regulations
Required number of parking spaces not specified
Number of floors single storey
Roof shape gable/hip/half-hip with 35-50 degree pitch
Architectural style classic detached house
Ridge direction specified = ridge line running west-east
Max height limits ridge height 4.0 m (13 ft), eaves height 8.5 m (28 ft)
Additional rules no oil heating, 50% of the south-facing roof must have solar panels, no building allowed between house and street (e.g., no parking or similar in front yard)
The plot has been purchased and the utility infrastructure in the new development area is already completed (our plot is even located on a pre-asphalted road).
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type solid wooden house made of massive log beams inside, blown insulation, and exterior cladding
Basement, floors no basement – only ground floor + upper floor
Number of occupants, ages three, aged 36, 29, and five and a half
Space requirements on ground and upper floors standard single-family home with 3 bedrooms plus bathroom upstairs, open-plan living area downstairs, guest WC, and large utility/housekeeping room
Office: family use or home office? One room currently usable as office/guest room (backup for future child needs), currently neither of us have jobs with home office option
Open or closed layout living/dining/kitchen preferably open
Conservative or modern construction style conservative
Open kitchen, kitchen island open kitchen yes, kitchen island currently not planned
Number of dining seats daily use for 3, but dining nook should be sufficient for more people
Fireplace planned is a masonry stove
Music/stereo wall no
Balcony, roof terrace no
Garage, carport carport with workshop
Utility garden, greenhouse no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons why some things are included or excluded
House Design
Who designed the plan: plan based on our principles, then optimized with the manufacturer’s in-house architect
What do you particularly like? Why? We really like the extended dining nook with the surrounding bench; overall, our ideas about room sizes have been well implemented – whether everything will really work as we imagine, we would like to ask here.
What do you dislike? Why? The chimney’s position might be bothersome in the children's room? Or is that negligible in daily life? We are still not satisfied with the kitchen and bathroom upstairs and are currently looking for a good furnishing/decorating solution.
Price estimate according to architect/planner: Since we are not working with a general contractor but will handle contracts ourselves after the shell is built and do a lot of work ourselves, we don’t have all numbers yet. The following trades are currently being costed.
Personal price limit for the house including fittings: 400,000 up to move-in ready, excluding everything outside the building itself, plot is paid
Preferred heating technology: heat pump with underfloor heating plus photovoltaics with possible storage
If you have to give up something, which details/extensions
- can you do without: We have tried to adapt our demands to the budget as much as possible – does anyone see further savings potential?
- can you not do without: As an absolute last resort, we would remove the dining nook and redesign the ground floor – also, the masonry stove is fixed for us (we just love this cozy atmosphere).
Why is the design the way it is now?
Standard plan from planner? The manufacturer does not offer standard houses; everything is individually designed
Which of your wishes were implemented by the architect? The current plan reflects our wishes quite well. Now we just need fine-tuning, and we hope for your assessments, ideas, and experiences.
A mix of many examples from various magazines... Of course, our inspirations come from many different sources (good and bad…) 😀
What makes it particularly good or bad in your opinion? It feels good to us so far – all our furniture fits, and the things that bother us in our current rented house have been eliminated in the design.
What is the most important/basic question about the layout, summarized in 130 characters?
- Does the layout work as it is, or are there specific arrangements that don’t work?
- Is the position and number of windows sufficient?
- Do the children's rooms upstairs need two roof windows or is one enough each?
- Have we missed or overlooked anything important?
- Can a U-shaped kitchen be sensibly planned in the existing space, or do we need to adjust walls downstairs first?
- Are the door positions appropriate regarding width, wall distance, and opening direction?
- Is the utility room (unfurnished room behind the laundry on the north/east side of the ground floor) dimensionally adequate?
- What knee wall height is recommended upstairs? Currently at 40 cm (16 in), we plan to raise it because otherwise, especially the upstairs bathroom will be problematic (though we don’t want a large bathroom, just “as big as necessary” – we would probably place the bathtub in the northeast corner of the room – would that fit?
- We’d like to add a laundry chute from the upstairs bathroom to the utility room – does anyone have a good idea for the best location?
One final note on our general concept:
We intend to buy the house from the manufacturer including insulation, cladding, and roof structure. Assembly will follow the “master carpenter assembly” principle (the company provides two experienced workers, plus 4-5 helpers from us – full warranty and savings of around 15,000-20,000 euros, about three to four weeks of hard work). The manufacturer’s “basic package” also includes windows and the front door, as they must be specially installed due to the house settling.
We plan to contract the foundation slab, roofing, and plumbing work separately. Electrical work (in consultation with the local master electrician), interior finishing (room doors, screed, underfloor heating, floor covering), and small tasks can be done by my partner (trained electrician, highly interested in almost everything, skilled and experienced with wood). I work professionally in an office of a building materials supplier, so I have access to good conditions, storage capacity, and established contacts in the industry. We also have great friends and a large family who are all enthusiastic about our project and willing to support us. We know this will require a lot of work, strain our time, nerves, and budget—but we want to give it a try.
We are now looking forward to suggestions, critical comments, and anything that can help us avoid as many mistakes as possible during the process.
Thank you very much in advance!
I also find it quite old-fashioned – but some people do like that style. The rounded arch leading into the cloakroom is a typical feature from the 1970s – do you really want that? In my opinion, it doesn’t really fit a wooden house, where the interior walls remain as visible planks. That would mean milling a rounded arch into the horizontal plank structure – which, to be honest, I think looks awful. Rounded arches in a white wall are not necessarily a design element that excites me either, but at least it doesn’t work against the linear structure of a wooden wall there. Think it over carefully; I believe it will look quite dreadful.
The kitchen might be from the 1980s, but not much more than that – there is definitely room for improvement. I personally wouldn’t choose it as it is.
The seating nook looks cozy, but in real life, it’s a disaster. I speak from experience – my parents had something like that. Expensive custom cabinetry; we moved in in 1974, and my parents were very proud of the seating area. In the end, the kids always sat at the back of the bench because they could easily climb out if someone needed to leave for the bathroom during the meal. And climbing out meant: standing on the bench and walking behind everyone’s back until you were outside. Otherwise, everyone had to get up until the person in the middle at the back was out. That’s no fun either – try it yourself in a furniture store: take a conventional corner bench and slide all the way from one end to the other around the table while sitting. That’s roughly what you have to do if you sit at the back of the bench and want to get in or out. It’s annoying! I would strongly advise against it! But it fits well into the style of the 1970s–1980s – that’s what people had back then. So in principle, it’s consistent. But not practical.
Take a normal table with chairs/bench/benches and turn the window into a patio door; then the path from the kitchen to the terrace won’t be a long journey anymore.
Everything else I noticed has already been mentioned, so I won’t repeat it, but I agree with those points.
The kitchen might be from the 1980s, but not much more than that – there is definitely room for improvement. I personally wouldn’t choose it as it is.
The seating nook looks cozy, but in real life, it’s a disaster. I speak from experience – my parents had something like that. Expensive custom cabinetry; we moved in in 1974, and my parents were very proud of the seating area. In the end, the kids always sat at the back of the bench because they could easily climb out if someone needed to leave for the bathroom during the meal. And climbing out meant: standing on the bench and walking behind everyone’s back until you were outside. Otherwise, everyone had to get up until the person in the middle at the back was out. That’s no fun either – try it yourself in a furniture store: take a conventional corner bench and slide all the way from one end to the other around the table while sitting. That’s roughly what you have to do if you sit at the back of the bench and want to get in or out. It’s annoying! I would strongly advise against it! But it fits well into the style of the 1970s–1980s – that’s what people had back then. So in principle, it’s consistent. But not practical.
Take a normal table with chairs/bench/benches and turn the window into a patio door; then the path from the kitchen to the terrace won’t be a long journey anymore.
Everything else I noticed has already been mentioned, so I won’t repeat it, but I agree with those points.
Holzhäuschen3 Jan 2023 12:52WilderSueden schrieb:
Are you by any chance building with Fullwood like @Holzhäuschen?
I also briefly considered that, especially since the floor plan looks quite similar in design.
-LotteS- schrieb:
The wall construction might be relevant here: inside 100mm (4 inches) log board, 200mm (8 inches) blown-in cellulose insulation, 55mm (2 inches) log board as exterior cladding. Visually more like a Swedish house, so not full logs.
But in my opinion, they don’t offer that kind of exterior walls. For us, there was only a combo log: 900mm (35 inches) log board, 1200mm (47 inches) frame with insulation, 400mm (16 inches) installation layer, possibly insulated, and then log board (210mm / 8 inches) or drywall / clay plaster or whatever. Or full log with 2100 - 2700mm (83 - 106 inches) wood.
Anyway, if you do go with Fullwood, be sure to pay attention to your bathroom if you have knee walls. Fullwood can’t handle that.
Holzhäuschen schrieb:
Anyway, if it is going to be Fullwood, be sure to pay close attention to your bathroom if it has knee walls. Fullwood can’t handle that. What exactly can they not do there? – In this case, there will probably be a vacuum knee wall, so it might be necessary to work with an additional short wall section in parts. That also reminds me,
Climbee schrieb:
In my opinion, that doesn’t really suit a wooden house whose interior walls remain exposed plank walls. How would you design the plumbing bulkheads there (?)
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Holzhäuschen3 Jan 2023 16:0211ant schrieb:
What exactly can’t they do there? – It looks like there will be a vacuum pipe chase, so it might be necessary to use an additional knee wall in some areas. I know of at least five building families where the bathroom was completely misplanned. In our case, the 2-meter (6 ft 7 in) height line was marked incorrectly (we even asked last June if that could be right), which meant that the headroom around the toilet was only 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) instead of the planned nearly 2 meters. Luckily, we’re both short. The door didn’t fit the slope either, so the shower had to be redesigned to ensure at least 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) of head clearance, and the door frame might need to be trimmed slightly.
Others had similar issues, even in different branches.
I don’t fully understand the general concerns regarding the knee wall yet. The eave height is 4m (13 ft). That means roughly 1m (3 ft) of knee wall – in houses this small, often even more depending on the ceiling height. The marked 40cm (16 inches) or whatever it was doesn’t seem necessary, does it?
K a t j a schrieb:
I don’t quite understand the general concerns about knee walls yet. The eave height is 4m (13 feet). That means about 1m (3 feet) knee wall – for such small houses, usually even more depending on ceiling height. The drawn 40cm (16 inches) or whatever it was doesn’t seem necessary, does it? I tend to agree with "or." Because between the unfavorable reference point
-LotteS- schrieb:
The lower reference level for the eave and ridge height is the finished road surface level of the adjacent access road at the center of the property’s street frontage (street side from which the access is provided). and the eave height
-LotteS- schrieb:
The upper reference point when determining the maximum height is the intersection of the exterior wall on the eave side with the roof covering (eave height) or the highest point of the roof covering of a building structure (ridge height). there seems to be enough difference, but a significant portion of that is already used up getting from the street to the house, where the rainproof sill height of the timber frame house is a critical point. By the time we have actually reached the more familiar reference height—the top edge of the finished ground floor slab—the climber on this little hillwill already have half a dozen drops of sweat on their forehead. The initially mentioned worst-case of a 40cm (16 inches) knee wall will probably be exceeded, but unfortunately only marginally, likely just symbolically.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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