ᐅ Floor plan for a narrow semi-detached house – basement plus two full floors, attic without knee wall
Created on: 26 May 2021 11:30
M
mrtnsbr
Hello everyone, I’ve been reading here for a long time, and we have been searching for a suitable house/plot in the Stuttgart area for years. Now, it’s about to happen.
- It will be a semi-detached house, and the external shape and the exterior wall thickness are practically fixed. Inside, I can change almost anything.
- The furniture shown in the plans is mainly for layout purposes (but corresponds to our current furniture).
- The kitchen was quickly planned in about 5 minutes – it might be completely different later.
- The attic (parents’ bedroom and bathroom) is a work in progress. If anyone has tips on how to nicely fit the bathroom there, I’d appreciate it. I’m currently struggling especially with the planning of the soil pipes.
- In the attic -> The walls are exactly at 1m (3 feet 3 inches) height. The wall in the bathroom, which stands oddly next to the shower, is at the 2m (6 feet 7 inches) line.
- We plan to install glass doors in several places – otherwise, the stairwell would be very dark.
- Photovoltaic panels are planned on the south side -> only a few roof windows are desired.
A few questions:
- The stairs from the ground floor to the first floor -> quarter turn. Otherwise, half-turn stairs. Has anyone used this and would advise against it, or is this fine?
- I just had the idea to build the staircase with masonry on both sides. The niche in the stairwell (U-shaped) would then be used as a service shaft (e.g., for underfloor heating). Is this possible? Does anyone do this? Basically, a drywall tunnel from the basement to the attic (with suitable fastening at each floor slab – of course, I can’t stack drywall over 4 floors without support).
Building Regulations / Restrictions
Plot size: 320 sqm (3445 sqft)
Slope: no
Plot ratio / floor area ratio / building envelope, building line and boundary: exactly specified. The house is positioned exactly within the building envelope according to the zoning plan. The external dimensions cannot be adjusted.
Adjacent buildings: west - semi-detached neighbor, south - access road, north - cul-de-sac, east - municipal green area
Parking spaces: we have one car and about 8 bicycles – a double garage is possible and planned, mainly to be used as a bike workshop.
Number of floors – attic without knee walls, dormers not possible
Roof type – gable, 35 degrees (no alternatives allowed)
Style – rather modern / standard
Orientation – fixed
Maximum height/limits – fixed due to semi-detached design
Owners’ Requirements
Number of people, ages – 4 (2 adults, 2 elementary school children)
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floors – large living area on one floor, then children’s floor, then parents’ floor
Office: family use or home office? Mainly home office, both of us work at least 50% from home (even outside of the pandemic)
Guests per year – grandparents regularly stay up to a week
Open or closed architecture – living area should be clearly separated from children’s floor
Traditional or modern construction – good question, I think we are rather traditional
Open kitchen, kitchen island – open to closed; currently open in the plan
Number of dining seats – 6
Fireplace – would be nice but absolutely a nice-to-have. Space will likely be too tight.
Balcony, roof terrace – no
Garage, carport – planned
Utility garden, greenhouse – no
House Design
Who designed the plan:
- Do-it-Yourself
What do you like most? Why?
- Separation from living room to stairs: we currently find the open design annoying every evening – because of the kids.
- The pantry (as small as it is).
- The stairs to the basement: we all cycle a lot, including in muddy conditions. Access via the basement and an extra shower there is great.
- Parents' bedroom in the attic is on the north side (a bit cooler and away from the street).
What do you dislike? Why?
- The side with the basement stairs and light wells is useful, but it’s not very nice with the railing and so on.
Price estimate according to the architect/planner: 850,000
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment: not quite sure yet.
Preferred heating system: heat pump. We would possibly like a ventilation system, but the general contractor is reluctant, and I don’t trust their planning. I lack enough knowledge myself.
If you have to give up something, on which details/additions?
- can give up: open kitchen
- cannot give up: closed living room
Why has the design ended up like it is now? For example:
There is a standard semi-detached house plan for narrow houses, with half-turn stairs on every floor, narrow kitchen next to the main entrance.
This is what I planned with a tool. We already live in a similar floor plan (terraced house) but with one floor less. So at least I knew what I don’t want anymore (everything open via the stairwell).
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Is there any obvious nonsense that should not be done like this?
- It will be a semi-detached house, and the external shape and the exterior wall thickness are practically fixed. Inside, I can change almost anything.
- The furniture shown in the plans is mainly for layout purposes (but corresponds to our current furniture).
- The kitchen was quickly planned in about 5 minutes – it might be completely different later.
- The attic (parents’ bedroom and bathroom) is a work in progress. If anyone has tips on how to nicely fit the bathroom there, I’d appreciate it. I’m currently struggling especially with the planning of the soil pipes.
- In the attic -> The walls are exactly at 1m (3 feet 3 inches) height. The wall in the bathroom, which stands oddly next to the shower, is at the 2m (6 feet 7 inches) line.
- We plan to install glass doors in several places – otherwise, the stairwell would be very dark.
- Photovoltaic panels are planned on the south side -> only a few roof windows are desired.
A few questions:
- The stairs from the ground floor to the first floor -> quarter turn. Otherwise, half-turn stairs. Has anyone used this and would advise against it, or is this fine?
- I just had the idea to build the staircase with masonry on both sides. The niche in the stairwell (U-shaped) would then be used as a service shaft (e.g., for underfloor heating). Is this possible? Does anyone do this? Basically, a drywall tunnel from the basement to the attic (with suitable fastening at each floor slab – of course, I can’t stack drywall over 4 floors without support).
Building Regulations / Restrictions
Plot size: 320 sqm (3445 sqft)
Slope: no
Plot ratio / floor area ratio / building envelope, building line and boundary: exactly specified. The house is positioned exactly within the building envelope according to the zoning plan. The external dimensions cannot be adjusted.
Adjacent buildings: west - semi-detached neighbor, south - access road, north - cul-de-sac, east - municipal green area
Parking spaces: we have one car and about 8 bicycles – a double garage is possible and planned, mainly to be used as a bike workshop.
Number of floors – attic without knee walls, dormers not possible
Roof type – gable, 35 degrees (no alternatives allowed)
Style – rather modern / standard
Orientation – fixed
Maximum height/limits – fixed due to semi-detached design
Owners’ Requirements
Number of people, ages – 4 (2 adults, 2 elementary school children)
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floors – large living area on one floor, then children’s floor, then parents’ floor
Office: family use or home office? Mainly home office, both of us work at least 50% from home (even outside of the pandemic)
Guests per year – grandparents regularly stay up to a week
Open or closed architecture – living area should be clearly separated from children’s floor
Traditional or modern construction – good question, I think we are rather traditional
Open kitchen, kitchen island – open to closed; currently open in the plan
Number of dining seats – 6
Fireplace – would be nice but absolutely a nice-to-have. Space will likely be too tight.
Balcony, roof terrace – no
Garage, carport – planned
Utility garden, greenhouse – no
House Design
Who designed the plan:
- Do-it-Yourself
What do you like most? Why?
- Separation from living room to stairs: we currently find the open design annoying every evening – because of the kids.
- The pantry (as small as it is).
- The stairs to the basement: we all cycle a lot, including in muddy conditions. Access via the basement and an extra shower there is great.
- Parents' bedroom in the attic is on the north side (a bit cooler and away from the street).
What do you dislike? Why?
- The side with the basement stairs and light wells is useful, but it’s not very nice with the railing and so on.
Price estimate according to the architect/planner: 850,000
Personal price limit for the house, including equipment: not quite sure yet.
Preferred heating system: heat pump. We would possibly like a ventilation system, but the general contractor is reluctant, and I don’t trust their planning. I lack enough knowledge myself.
If you have to give up something, on which details/additions?
- can give up: open kitchen
- cannot give up: closed living room
Why has the design ended up like it is now? For example:
There is a standard semi-detached house plan for narrow houses, with half-turn stairs on every floor, narrow kitchen next to the main entrance.
This is what I planned with a tool. We already live in a similar floor plan (terraced house) but with one floor less. So at least I knew what I don’t want anymore (everything open via the stairwell).
What is the most important/fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Is there any obvious nonsense that should not be done like this?
The building envelope is very unusual. My general urgent recommendation for joint planning of semi-detached houses extends especially to a joint construction if there is an inconsistent approach regarding the presence or absence of basements.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
11ant schrieb:
The building envelope is quite unusual. My general strong recommendation for joint planning of semi-detached houses especially extends to joint construction if there is a plan to build inconsistently with or without basements. The building envelope is like this because it was originally a single house. Now that the plot has been divided, for it to make reasonable sense for both of us, I only get this (smaller) part of the building envelope on my (larger) plot. But the neighbor can only build the exact same way; otherwise, the floor area ratio wouldn’t match. It’s a development plan from 1963 – I also find it strange to define a floor area ratio and then fix a building envelope so strictly to the plot. Otherwise, we would build wider.
We are building together with the same developer, both with basements, the same roof, etc. The neighbor’s garage will be positioned directly next to their house because there is only 5 m (16 feet) distance to the property boundary. If I could afford it, I would have bought both plots and built one nice detached house on it 🙂
vonBYnachSH26 May 2021 13:04Definitely reconsider having no toilet on the ground floor. Friends of ours have their house like that, and to put it mildly: it’s really inconvenient! They say the same themselves, by the way.
If you ever want to sell the house again, that will become a problem.
If you ever want to sell the house again, that will become a problem.
vonBYnachSH26 May 2021 13:09You don’t have to slope the entire south side and can extend the terrace from the east to the south... Then the guest room will just have to make do with one window.
vonBYnachSH schrieb:
Definitely reconsider having no bathroom on the ground floor. Some friends of ours have it that way, and to put it bluntly: it’s really inconvenient!! They say so themselves, by the way.
If you ever want to sell the house, this will become an issue. I honestly don’t think it’s okay that everyone here is taking my wife’s side. That wasn’t the plan 😀
But you have to keep in mind: currently, we live in a terraced house on a slope, with entrance through the basement level, where we have the guest bathroom. On the ground floor, there is the living room, kitchen, and pantry. It’s not ideal, but it doesn’t really bother us much either.
That said, I understand the point: you want a bathroom on the ground floor — I will revise the plans accordingly 🙂
Regarding building envelopes and such:
Often, the limits can be exceeded for secondary structures like stairs (for exterior stairs, this is usually already the case, right?!) as well as for conservatories and bay windows. This way, you could extend your dining room with a bay window, but in return, you would have to forgo the window on the top edge of the plan in the basement office.
Often, the limits can be exceeded for secondary structures like stairs (for exterior stairs, this is usually already the case, right?!) as well as for conservatories and bay windows. This way, you could extend your dining room with a bay window, but in return, you would have to forgo the window on the top edge of the plan in the basement office.
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