ᐅ Floor plan, KfW55EE semi-detached house, 150 m² living space, 380 m² plot, second row

Hello experienced home builders. We are planning the construction of a KfW55EE semi-detached house attached to an existing building and would greatly appreciate your feedback. Thank you very much in advance!

Development Plan / Restrictions

• Plot size: 380 m² (4090 sq ft)
• Slope: no, almost flat
• Site occupancy index (floor area ratio): 0.4
• Floor space index (floor area ratio): 0.6
• Building window, building line and boundary: see attached sketch
• Edge development: semi-detached house attached to existing building
• Number of parking spaces: 1
• Number of floors: 1 full floor
• Roof type: gable roof 40°
• Style: country house
• Orientation: lighting is challenging, see attached sketch
• Maximum heights / limits: wall height 3.5 - 4.5 m (11.5 - 15 ft), base height 0.3 - 1 m (1 - 3 ft), height must be adapted to the neighboring house. For cost reasons, the fire protection wall to the neighbor must not exceed the gable wall dimensions of the neighbor (cannot be a weather-exposed wall).
• Additional requirements:
• Exceeding the site occupancy index by 20 m² (215 sq ft) allowed.
• If no easement area is available on the front plot (for access and parking for the front house), transfer to the rear plot possible using a land-use easement.
• No ancillary structures allowed on garden area.
• Neighbor’s house must be underpinned. The neighbor’s basement is set back 1.5 m (5 ft) from the boundary where the attachment will be made. In this area, concrete supports of 3 - 3.5 m (10 - 11.5 ft) depth serve as underpinning for a former terrace and shed.
• Sketch:




• Neighbor’s gable wall to be attached:

Homeowners’ Requirements

• Style, roof type, building type: wooden house / country house
• Basement, floors: A basement for utility purposes would be ideal to accommodate building services, (food) storage, space for 1-4 sports bikes, and workshop, but it most likely exceeds our budget (we have a local contractor’s offer and several rough estimates from prefabricated basement manufacturers). Therefore, we plan to add a garage on the right side, even though this means sacrificing a kitchen window facing northeast. Ideally, we want to integrate building services, a workbench, and a small food storage in the garage. Bikes (e.g., sports bikes mounted on walls and city bikes on the floor) should be stored there as well. The garage should be accessible for a trailer and small excavator, so it needs front and rear doors. Ideally, it should also have doors for easy access to the garden. If no car parking space remains, that would not be a major issue. However, we do not fully understand the development plan regarding the garage…
• Number of people, ages: 2 adults and 2 children (3, 6)
• Space requirements on ground floor (GF) and upper floor (UF):
• GF:
• Should be suitable for use in old age with bedroom and small bathroom (to minimize stairs)
• Office / guest room combo
• Small shower bathroom
• Living / dining / kitchen area
• UF:
• 2 children’s rooms
• Bedroom
• Bathroom
• Attic: storage, possibly later conversion
• Office: family use or home office?: Home office, about 70% even after the pandemic. Also, the workspace should serve as a private small home studio / home recording room. Possibly a second workspace may need to be integrated. For overnight stays, a sofa bed is planned. Later (in old age), the office should be convertible into a bedroom since most daily living will be on the ground floor.
• Overnight guests per year: at least once per month 1-2 people, possibly 3-4 times a year a 3-5 person family with small children (improvising with children’s room use is easily possible)
• Open or closed architecture (see initial draft)
• Conservative or modern construction: Home builder and construction method are fixed: Hagemann wooden house including wooden facade
• Open kitchen, cooking island: Yes, a cooking island with stove is desired. We plan to buy a used kitchen (private or used kitchen suppliers) once dimensions are fixed and adapt accordingly.
• Number of dining seats: 4-6 daily, extendable to about 10
• Fireplace: yes, due to well-insulated house and underfloor heating, rather a small freestanding storage stove (about 4-6 kW)
• Music / stereo wall: current system is classic 2.0 stereo, no new plans yet. We do not have a TV. However, having an option for family movie nights without major alterations would be good, e.g., space for a hidden monitor to connect a laptop and suitable stereo system arrangement…
• Balcony, roof terrace: wooden terrace with gaps for water infiltration desired
• Garage, carport: not absolutely needed for parking, but a garage as basement replacement (see basement). However, we are not 100% sure if this is even permitted under the development plan.
• Kitchen garden, greenhouse: garden currently has a walnut tree and we want to plant 1-2 smaller fruit trees. We also plan to grow vegetables, berry bushes, etc.
• Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, including reasons for choosing or excluding certain options:
• Big challenge is the orientation and lighting; however, for financial reasons, we have to make compromises (e.g., sacrifice the kitchen window for the garage as a basement replacement or limit the number and size of windows).

House Design

• Who designed the plan: We are building with Hagemann Haus. The design comes from the architect commissioned through Hagemann. We have two drafts so far:
• Without basement and with utility room
• With basement where the kitchen has more space by removing the utility room
• What do you particularly like? Why?
• We prefer the layout with the larger kitchen, especially since we want the kitchen slightly recessed to visually separate it better from the living/dining area and gain more space. As we cannot afford the basement, we hope to integrate the heating system into the attached garage. According to our energy advisor, this should be possible. We have not yet discussed this with the architect.
• What do you dislike? Why?
• The kitchen island is missing in the plan so far.
• Price estimate by architect/planner: for the house (excluding most additional costs) currently 290k. This includes all trades (plumbing, electrical, heating, etc.) except floors, internal doors, and painting. Some details aren’t included yet, such as extra windows beyond the standard—further recalculation with the architect’s draft needed. Current personal estimate including all building-related costs is about 435k.
• Personal price limit for the complete house: 450k
• Preferred heating technology: air-to-water heat pump, plus photovoltaic system with about 6.5 kWP (prepared for a later battery storage retrofit)
• Driveway will be shared up to the property boundary with the owner of the front house, as they want to place their parking in the rear area. The plan is to pave two drive lanes with a green strip in the middle. If finances are tight, possibly just gravel.
• Current two drafts:
• External appearance largely identical:









• Floor plans (furniture shown is only illustrative; our actual furniture looks different):
• VERSION 1) with externalised building services, shown with basement, idea is to build with garage. Currently, a carport is planned but will not be realized. Instead, ideally the garage:
• GF:



• UF:



• Section: height is fixed, it is just slightly (about 2 cm [1 inch]) below the neighbor’s height. Attic accessible either by stairs or ladder/fold-down stairs (staircase shown in version without basement):



• VERSION 2) with integrated utility room, if garage is for some reason not feasible:
• GF:



• Upper floor identical.
• Section, here with stairs to attic:




If you had to give up, which details or additions would you sacrifice

• You could waive:
• Floor-to-ceiling windows on the upper floor
• In theory (though we don’t really want to):
• Fireplace (estimated at around 10k with chimney)
• Open wooden beam ceiling (10k)
• You could not give up:
• Garage for building services, workbench and storage

Why is the design as it is now? For example

• We communicated our room needs, lifestyle for old age, etc., to the architect, and this draft resulted.
• What do you think makes it particularly good or bad? Almost all needs are met, except for space for workbench, sports bikes, drink crates, etc. in the no-basement version.

What is the most important fundamental question about the floor plan in 130 characters or less?
How do we manage without a basement? Feedback on the floor plan and design welcome!

Many thanks in advance to everyone who has read this far and for all tips, suggestions, and comments!

I would like to remove the links to Hagemann and the development plan that I accidentally included. Unfortunately, I can no longer edit my post, probably because it was locked due to the link warning. What should I do now?

Wolfson schrieb:

Building type: timber house / country house [...] However, I don’t fully understand the zoning plan regarding the garage...

Then please name the plan (careful, no links!). I’m a bit confused: the floor plans show opening dimensions more typical for masonry construction, but the elevations suggest a cladded house (?)

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https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

Development plan: 819 building block bounded by Mitteltor, Alte Friedrich, Teutschneureuter, and Pfarrer-Graebener streets. Available in the Karlsruhe Geoportal.

Wolfson schrieb:

Development plan: 819 building block Mitteltor-, Alte Friedrich-, Teutschneureuter, and Pfarrer-Graebener streets.

Oh, I had already forgotten about the old thread 🙂

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https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

Just a quick note…

with only 39 sqm (420 sq ft) for living/dining/kitchen on the ground floor, the other rooms have to be smaller in order to make the living/dining/kitchen area larger…