ᐅ Single-Family Home Floor Plan Nearly Ready for Detailed Design – Requesting Tips and Advice
Created on: 12 Aug 2022 00:10
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xanthippa
Hello dear forum members,
We are about to start the detailed planning phase for our new house.
When we planned the house last year, we were unable to focus much on the floor plan due to our two small children.
Now that the detailed planning is approaching, we are wondering if and what improvements we could still make to the floor plan.
Therefore, we would like to share our house floor plan for discussion and ask for tips and advice.
The building permit / planning permission has been applied for. Fortunately, we still received confirmation for KFW funding. However, this means we should not change the dimensions of the exterior walls anymore, as otherwise there is a risk of losing the funding.
The ground floor is planned to include a second residential unit, but this will not be built initially (possibly later for our parents).
Since the storage room does not have a window, we want to omit it to create a more spacious feel at the stairway leading to the upper floor. Instead, tall cabinets with pull-out drawers will be placed on the wall between the kitchen and dining area. We might also separate the kitchen with double sliding glass doors.
The kitchen is planned in the upper left area because that is where the main access to the terrace is intended (west/north around the corner of the house).
Thank you very much in advance!
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 1000 sqm (approx. 0.25 acres)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: aligned with neighboring buildings
Building line: aligned with neighboring buildings
Number of parking spaces: 4
Number of floors: 2 full stories
Roof type: gable roof
Orientation:
Maximum heights/limits: no requirements (no development plan)
Owners’ requirements
Style: simple and straightforward
Basement, floors: basement yes, 2 full stories
Number of occupants, ages: 4 people (2 adults + 2 toddlers)
Space requirements on ground floor: office, shower, large living/dining area
Space requirements on upper floor: small office/storage room, 2 normally sized children’s rooms, large bathroom, bedroom
Office: as we both work from home, we need 2 offices
Guest stays per year: regularly 1 person
Open or closed architecture: ideally the kitchen should be separable by a (sliding) door; the hallway should be separable from the living/dining area
Traditional or modern construction: rather traditional
Open kitchen, kitchen island: no kitchen island, one work island with 2 small seating places
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: planned
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage (prefabricated garage), possibly a third prefabricated garage as a tool/bike room
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons why something is or isn’t desired: -
House design
Planned by:
- designer from a construction company
What do you like most? Why?
- large living/dining area, large office with garden access, size of the children’s rooms
What do you not like? Why?
- kitchen layout is difficult despite its size of 16 sqm (172 sq ft)
- layout of the bathroom on the upper floor
- small entrance area
Price estimate according to architect/designer:
- about 600k
Personal budget for house including fittings:
- about 650k
Preferred heating system:
- air source heat pump
If you had to give up something, which details/features
- could give up: smaller bedroom, smaller living/dining area
- cannot give up: 2 offices, size of the children’s rooms
Why did the design turn out this way? E.g.
Standard design from the planner?
- no
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
- office, 2 residential units, 2 bathrooms, size of the children’s rooms
What is the main question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
We would appreciate tips, suggestions for improvement, and general feedback. Thank you very much!
We are about to start the detailed planning phase for our new house.
When we planned the house last year, we were unable to focus much on the floor plan due to our two small children.
Now that the detailed planning is approaching, we are wondering if and what improvements we could still make to the floor plan.
Therefore, we would like to share our house floor plan for discussion and ask for tips and advice.
The building permit / planning permission has been applied for. Fortunately, we still received confirmation for KFW funding. However, this means we should not change the dimensions of the exterior walls anymore, as otherwise there is a risk of losing the funding.
The ground floor is planned to include a second residential unit, but this will not be built initially (possibly later for our parents).
Since the storage room does not have a window, we want to omit it to create a more spacious feel at the stairway leading to the upper floor. Instead, tall cabinets with pull-out drawers will be placed on the wall between the kitchen and dining area. We might also separate the kitchen with double sliding glass doors.
The kitchen is planned in the upper left area because that is where the main access to the terrace is intended (west/north around the corner of the house).
Thank you very much in advance!
Development plan/restrictions
Plot size: 1000 sqm (approx. 0.25 acres)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: aligned with neighboring buildings
Building line: aligned with neighboring buildings
Number of parking spaces: 4
Number of floors: 2 full stories
Roof type: gable roof
Orientation:
Maximum heights/limits: no requirements (no development plan)
Owners’ requirements
Style: simple and straightforward
Basement, floors: basement yes, 2 full stories
Number of occupants, ages: 4 people (2 adults + 2 toddlers)
Space requirements on ground floor: office, shower, large living/dining area
Space requirements on upper floor: small office/storage room, 2 normally sized children’s rooms, large bathroom, bedroom
Office: as we both work from home, we need 2 offices
Guest stays per year: regularly 1 person
Open or closed architecture: ideally the kitchen should be separable by a (sliding) door; the hallway should be separable from the living/dining area
Traditional or modern construction: rather traditional
Open kitchen, kitchen island: no kitchen island, one work island with 2 small seating places
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: planned
Music/stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: double garage (prefabricated garage), possibly a third prefabricated garage as a tool/bike room
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/special features/daily routine, including reasons why something is or isn’t desired: -
House design
Planned by:
- designer from a construction company
What do you like most? Why?
- large living/dining area, large office with garden access, size of the children’s rooms
What do you not like? Why?
- kitchen layout is difficult despite its size of 16 sqm (172 sq ft)
- layout of the bathroom on the upper floor
- small entrance area
Price estimate according to architect/designer:
- about 600k
Personal budget for house including fittings:
- about 650k
Preferred heating system:
- air source heat pump
If you had to give up something, which details/features
- could give up: smaller bedroom, smaller living/dining area
- cannot give up: 2 offices, size of the children’s rooms
Why did the design turn out this way? E.g.
Standard design from the planner?
- no
Which wishes were implemented by the architect?
- office, 2 residential units, 2 bathrooms, size of the children’s rooms
What is the main question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
We would appreciate tips, suggestions for improvement, and general feedback. Thank you very much!
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xanthippa12 Aug 2022 16:19kbt09 schrieb:
A clear room height of 260 cm (102 inches) cannot be achieved with a floor-to-floor height of 275 cm (108 inches). You have to add the entire floor construction and ceiling thickness to the clear room height. So typically, at least 25 to 30 cm (10 to 12 inches) must be added to the desired clear room height. The staircase must then be able to cover the floor-to-floor height.The specifications state a clear raw construction height of 275 cm (108 inches). If I understand you correctly, we need to subtract 25 cm (10 inches) from that, which leaves us with 250 cm (98 inches). In the cross-sectional drawing, there is a measurement of about 262 cm (103 inches), which is probably the height including the screed but without the floor construction.
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xanthippa12 Aug 2022 16:25@kbt09 Here is the cross-sectional view
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xanthippa14 Aug 2022 22:06kbt09 schrieb:
The floor-to-floor height is from 0.00 to 2.96 meters (9 ft 9 in) ...
Clear room height from finished floor is 2.76 - 0.14 meters (9 ft 1 in - 5.5 in) - planned floor coveringThanks for the clarification 🙂 This is more or less what we wanted, a slightly higher ground floor.Hmm... I would seriously consider revising your plans, even if that means risking the loss of any funding. I’m not familiar with the building boundaries, but you have oriented the house and living spaces towards the southwest, and the house itself is pushed right up to the street on the south side by about 3 m (10 feet). On the west side, there’s only about 8.5 m (28 feet) of space to the neighbor. At the same time, you are wasting a lot of space on the east side with the double garage, passageway (?), and the extension for the granny flat.
Take a look at how much larger the garden on the west side could be if you remove the passageway and reposition the granny flat extension. If it’s allowed to move the house further north, I would definitely do that.
In general, I would orient the open plan living area toward the southwest and north, meaning you should definitely include the north side since the garden is located there. For me, having just a patio door in the kitchen wouldn’t be enough. I would probably put the living room on the north side (because it’s the most private area and needs less sun), place the kitchen on the south side, and have the dining area in between.
Take a look at how much larger the garden on the west side could be if you remove the passageway and reposition the granny flat extension. If it’s allowed to move the house further north, I would definitely do that.
In general, I would orient the open plan living area toward the southwest and north, meaning you should definitely include the north side since the garden is located there. For me, having just a patio door in the kitchen wouldn’t be enough. I would probably put the living room on the north side (because it’s the most private area and needs less sun), place the kitchen on the south side, and have the dining area in between.
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