ᐅ Floor Plan Optimization for a Single-Family Home with Basement on a Small Plot
Created on: 16 Sep 2019 08:38
A
AnniSke
Hello everyone!
After reading here for quite some time (and checking out nearly all floor plan questions for similar lot sizes and building dimensions), we now have some questions about the preliminary design from our builder.
Our situation is similar to the forum post from Wednesday, but our main focus is on the basement J
This is the first draft based on a rough idea of what we envision and what is important to us (the design seems quickly done to me—see the projecting dormer—or is that common nowadays?), but overall all our requests have been considered. We see room for improvement especially in the basement level, the basement stairs/daylight wells, and the size of the living/dining area (probably only fixable with a larger house footprint). The upper floor works well for us.
Independently from the builder, we came up with a similar floor plan that meets our needs; it is nothing “special” but fits our ideas well.
We would appreciate it if some of you could share practical tips or suggestions for changes so that we can respond to the builder and discuss possible deviations.
Feel free to be thorough and please also point out any potentially major planning mistakes.
I have attached the following:
Development Plan / Restrictions
Lot size: approx. 360 m² (still not fully measured, as the plot is being subdivided)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio (FAR): 0.4
Floor space index (FSI): 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see site plan; 3 m (approx. 10 ft) on three sides, less on street side due to protected green strip with fruit trees (not our property); open building style
Edge development: no (usually allowed for townhouses, but specifically excluded for carports and garages in the development plan); edge development allowed for uncovered parking spaces
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of stories allowed: 1-2 full stories
Roof type: gable roof (up to 38°), shed roof, flat roof (up to 25°)
Architectural style: classic-modern?
Orientation: ridge line along the street
Maximum heights / limits: eaves height max. 7.50 m (24.6 ft) above the access road (lot lies slightly below street level)
Additional requirements: none
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: classic/modern detached single-family house, gable roof 38°, knee wall preferably raised to 1 m (3 ft)
Basement, number of floors: basement included, 1.5 floors
Number of people, ages: 2 (both 29), 1 child (1.5 years), at least 1 more (preferably 2) planned
Room requirements on ground floor (GF), upper floor (UF)
GF: kitchen (with sliding door, can be smaller, no separate dining area), living/dining area (currently about 32 m² (344 sq ft), our furniture is designed for this and we would like to keep it), future master bedroom, bathroom with shower (house should theoretically be usable on one level in an age-appropriate way)
UF: 3 children’s rooms, bathroom
Basement: utility room, technical room, workshop, office/guest room
Office (family use or home office?): office desired (in basement), home office at least once a week
Guests per year: about twice a month 2 people, every two weeks 1 person → guest room desired (can later be combined with office in the basement if a bedroom is needed on the ground floor)
Open or closed architecture: closed
Conservative or modern construction: rather conservative
Open kitchen, cooking island: no, smaller cooking area, separated by sliding door
Number of dining seats: permanently for 5 (current dining table has 8 seats)
Fireplace: yes, preferred
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: no
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: some vegetable garden, so we want to place the building close to the build boundary to maximize garden space
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be: none
House Design
Planner: planner from a building company; the second attached version is our own adjusted “solution” with the house widened by 0.5 m (approx. 1.6 ft) and furniture drawn in the living/dining and bedroom areas which we already own.
What do you especially like?: the solution with a coat area and shower niche on the ground floor, the stairs, level, masonry showers, spacious children’s rooms, fireplace location between living and dining areas, large home office/guest room in basement, where both “uses” can be nicely combined.
Why?: we had not thought of the coat and shower concept in the floor plan ideas, find it practical and reasonably age-appropriate (though the dimensions could be slightly wider), and had no clue where best to put a fireplace.
What don’t you like? Why?: living/dining area too small, at 22 m² (237 sq ft) we cannot fit our furniture, kitchen is too large, we don’t need a separate seating area in the kitchen (we currently eat all meals in the dining area), the exterior basement stairs with the bend take up too much space, and we don’t want a carport as it would have to be inside the building zone (uncovered parking is allowed as edge development), the concrete daylight wells in the basement.
Price estimate from architect/planner: not yet available, initial rough offer before planning (130 m² (1400 sq ft) with basement) was 315,000 including standard ancillary construction costs, but with a “standard basement”; we might need a waterproof concrete shell (“white tub”), estimated extra cost about 20,000 according to the builder
Personal price limit for the house: 340,000 (furniture is already owned from current large apartment (126 m² (1356 sq ft) living space), kitchen belongs to us and only needs minor changes, cost covered separately)
Preferred heating technology: we considered a ground source heat pump, but the builder has had problems twice in the building area with insufficient supply temperature and therefore recommends an air-to-water heat pump on the south side of the house. Has anyone had experience with this?
If you have to give up something, what details/features?
Can give up: dormer, large kitchen, fully heated basement
Cannot give up: basement (due to small lot and 3 children planned), bedroom on ground floor, bathroom with shower on ground floor
Why is the layout the way it is now?
Draft from planner after a brief initial discussion about our preferences (we did not provide a detailed list of requirements)
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? bedroom on ground floor, bathroom with shower, staircase design, bathroom with shower and tub on upper floor, basement with office
What do you think works well or poorly? we like the overall distribution of floors, but are not yet convinced by the basement layout.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Any ideas to improve the basement (e.g., no bent stairs, maybe no basement hallway at stairs, maybe no daylight wells)? Any improvements for other floors (e.g., larger living/dining area)? Is there any place to add a laundry chute (nice to have but not essential)?
We look forward to your ideas and feedback J
Best regards and many thanks in advance!
After reading here for quite some time (and checking out nearly all floor plan questions for similar lot sizes and building dimensions), we now have some questions about the preliminary design from our builder.
Our situation is similar to the forum post from Wednesday, but our main focus is on the basement J
This is the first draft based on a rough idea of what we envision and what is important to us (the design seems quickly done to me—see the projecting dormer—or is that common nowadays?), but overall all our requests have been considered. We see room for improvement especially in the basement level, the basement stairs/daylight wells, and the size of the living/dining area (probably only fixable with a larger house footprint). The upper floor works well for us.
Independently from the builder, we came up with a similar floor plan that meets our needs; it is nothing “special” but fits our ideas well.
We would appreciate it if some of you could share practical tips or suggestions for changes so that we can respond to the builder and discuss possible deviations.
Feel free to be thorough and please also point out any potentially major planning mistakes.
I have attached the following:
- Site plan assumed by the builder
- Builder’s planning (floor plans, section, exterior view)
- Our modified floor plans based on the builder’s draft (larger living/dining area, smaller kitchen, different basement stairs)
Development Plan / Restrictions
Lot size: approx. 360 m² (still not fully measured, as the plot is being subdivided)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio (FAR): 0.4
Floor space index (FSI): 0.8
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see site plan; 3 m (approx. 10 ft) on three sides, less on street side due to protected green strip with fruit trees (not our property); open building style
Edge development: no (usually allowed for townhouses, but specifically excluded for carports and garages in the development plan); edge development allowed for uncovered parking spaces
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of stories allowed: 1-2 full stories
Roof type: gable roof (up to 38°), shed roof, flat roof (up to 25°)
Architectural style: classic-modern?
Orientation: ridge line along the street
Maximum heights / limits: eaves height max. 7.50 m (24.6 ft) above the access road (lot lies slightly below street level)
Additional requirements: none
Homeowner Requirements
Style, roof shape, building type: classic/modern detached single-family house, gable roof 38°, knee wall preferably raised to 1 m (3 ft)
Basement, number of floors: basement included, 1.5 floors
Number of people, ages: 2 (both 29), 1 child (1.5 years), at least 1 more (preferably 2) planned
Room requirements on ground floor (GF), upper floor (UF)
GF: kitchen (with sliding door, can be smaller, no separate dining area), living/dining area (currently about 32 m² (344 sq ft), our furniture is designed for this and we would like to keep it), future master bedroom, bathroom with shower (house should theoretically be usable on one level in an age-appropriate way)
UF: 3 children’s rooms, bathroom
Basement: utility room, technical room, workshop, office/guest room
Office (family use or home office?): office desired (in basement), home office at least once a week
Guests per year: about twice a month 2 people, every two weeks 1 person → guest room desired (can later be combined with office in the basement if a bedroom is needed on the ground floor)
Open or closed architecture: closed
Conservative or modern construction: rather conservative
Open kitchen, cooking island: no, smaller cooking area, separated by sliding door
Number of dining seats: permanently for 5 (current dining table has 8 seats)
Fireplace: yes, preferred
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: no
Vegetable garden, greenhouse: some vegetable garden, so we want to place the building close to the build boundary to maximize garden space
Additional wishes / special features / daily routine, also reasons why some things should or should not be: none
House Design
Planner: planner from a building company; the second attached version is our own adjusted “solution” with the house widened by 0.5 m (approx. 1.6 ft) and furniture drawn in the living/dining and bedroom areas which we already own.
What do you especially like?: the solution with a coat area and shower niche on the ground floor, the stairs, level, masonry showers, spacious children’s rooms, fireplace location between living and dining areas, large home office/guest room in basement, where both “uses” can be nicely combined.
Why?: we had not thought of the coat and shower concept in the floor plan ideas, find it practical and reasonably age-appropriate (though the dimensions could be slightly wider), and had no clue where best to put a fireplace.
What don’t you like? Why?: living/dining area too small, at 22 m² (237 sq ft) we cannot fit our furniture, kitchen is too large, we don’t need a separate seating area in the kitchen (we currently eat all meals in the dining area), the exterior basement stairs with the bend take up too much space, and we don’t want a carport as it would have to be inside the building zone (uncovered parking is allowed as edge development), the concrete daylight wells in the basement.
- Regarding the basement daylight wells: my father (landscape architect) suggests a landscaped slope on that side of the house instead of concrete daylight wells (I roughly marked some slope lines on our design) with stairs integrated into the slope at the rear of the house. What do you think of this option? We are unsure about stair drainage for rain, but this should be manageable with proper drainage (could be routed by pipe to the cistern we must install per development plan). Any other ideas?
Price estimate from architect/planner: not yet available, initial rough offer before planning (130 m² (1400 sq ft) with basement) was 315,000 including standard ancillary construction costs, but with a “standard basement”; we might need a waterproof concrete shell (“white tub”), estimated extra cost about 20,000 according to the builder
Personal price limit for the house: 340,000 (furniture is already owned from current large apartment (126 m² (1356 sq ft) living space), kitchen belongs to us and only needs minor changes, cost covered separately)
Preferred heating technology: we considered a ground source heat pump, but the builder has had problems twice in the building area with insufficient supply temperature and therefore recommends an air-to-water heat pump on the south side of the house. Has anyone had experience with this?
If you have to give up something, what details/features?
Can give up: dormer, large kitchen, fully heated basement
Cannot give up: basement (due to small lot and 3 children planned), bedroom on ground floor, bathroom with shower on ground floor
Why is the layout the way it is now?
Draft from planner after a brief initial discussion about our preferences (we did not provide a detailed list of requirements)
Which wishes were implemented by the architect? bedroom on ground floor, bathroom with shower, staircase design, bathroom with shower and tub on upper floor, basement with office
What do you think works well or poorly? we like the overall distribution of floors, but are not yet convinced by the basement layout.
What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
Any ideas to improve the basement (e.g., no bent stairs, maybe no basement hallway at stairs, maybe no daylight wells)? Any improvements for other floors (e.g., larger living/dining area)? Is there any place to add a laundry chute (nice to have but not essential)?
We look forward to your ideas and feedback J
Best regards and many thanks in advance!
haydee schrieb:
I have to say, the first few months after moving in were tough. So many bills kept coming in gradually, plus additional purchases like a lawn mower, rakes, and so on. We even started doubting our planning. We felt the same. Money gone, and suddenly you have a garden but no mailbox anymore.
ypg schrieb:
Hmm... I just read the latest posts and took @Escrodas’s suggestion to heart. That’s not for me. I’d rather build over the parking space.
ypg schrieb:
A south-facing garden is nice too, especially in winter... For an evening drink, you could plan a secondary terrace between the shed and the house... Yes, that could make it an affordable property. Two terraces on 360m² (3900 sq ft) is going to be really tight.
kaho674 schrieb:
Two terraces on 360m² (3,875 sq ft) is going to be quite tight.For the sundowner, it doesn't even need to be paved yet.
AnniSke schrieb:
Sorry, I didn’t mean to rate the thread, especially not with just a 2... For more than two and a half years now, I haven’t really paid attention to whether or how often this might have happened to me, nor to how threads were rated. I first look at the topic in the title overview, and if necessary, the teaser text. I almost always check floor plan topics, but hardly ever financing topics – even if they had seven stars. My impression is that this is some sort of built-in feature of the forum software that doesn’t really help but also doesn’t do any harm, so it’s simply tolerated in its little corner.
AnniSke schrieb:
The green strip is officially a different parcel of land, which is noted on the list to check with the seller. There is something like a small embankment or ditch running along the entire residential area, so I can’t quite imagine that this actually belongs to us… but that will be clarified. That sounds like an owner who wants to finish developing the plot along with the access road, and after selling the residential plots, hand over the roads (and green strips). This leads to the advice to find out whether they plan to transfer the road to the municipality or if it will remain a private road. I personally doubt the latter, since the plan appears to connect continuously to an existing municipal road – but if not, that could pose certain problems: private access roads have indeed been sold to third parties before, which you can probably find featured as a “crazy story of the week” on YouTube by NDR extra3.
AnniSke schrieb:
Would an alternative for having a basement be to use the excavation material [...] to partially raise the site (since it’s already below street level, so the basement would be less deeply buried and there would be more exposed wall area at the back, effectively creating an artificial mini slope)? Schilda as the new location for the Hornberg shooting? – that would be a new Woodstock for fans of the Hardtmühle race Werner versus Holgi.
AnniSke schrieb:
No, unfortunately not quite, since the property will be split in the middle [...] there will probably be a 3 m (10 ft) setback area required by the new development plan. I think you misunderstood the drawing: the blue building zone is often drawn continuously without differentiating between single-family and semi-detached house plots. The side setback results from the regional building code, and garages and carports usually have privileged permission to be located there. In fact, there are quite often additional plots (often marked with a red outline labeled “Ga”) designated for them, where they can be placed outside the main building zones.
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11ant schrieb:
You probably misunderstood the drawingAh, okay, the woman from the development office just told us that a building boundary will probably be added in the revised version of the zoning plan / building permit. Good point to follow up on!
That would basically be fine for us at first.
W
Wugler197817 Sep 2019 13:08AnniSke schrieb:
But I see the main point for all of you - carefully consider the basement given our conditions With the size of the plot, I would definitely plan for a basement. The prerequisite is that the soil report is suitable.
I would design the basement as a livable basement, and if a third child is on the way, I would move a child's room or the bedroom to the basement (until the first child moves out). Additionally, I would include a guest room in the basement as well as the workshop and laundry room. This way, you can make your living/dining area significantly larger and still have more space on the property.
AnniSke schrieb:
Ah, okay, the woman from the development office just told us that a building boundary line might be introduced with the new version of the zoning plan. That would be quite unusual. Individual building envelopes for single plots are typically only used where houses are meant to be staggered. Otherwise, the standard approach is that the building envelope shown on the plan extends beyond the property boundary. You probably aren’t allowed to place your house right on that boundary yet, but you may place a carport or garage there, provided they don’t contain living spaces, do not exceed 3m (10 feet) average wall height above natural ground level, and so on.
Wugler1978 schrieb:
With that plot size, I would definitely plan for a basement. If you really cherish things that will end up on bulky waste collection in ten years anyway because you never managed to sell them, and want to dedicate rooms to them, then yes, you’re absolutely right that it only fits under the ground floor here, not beside it. But the alternative of an attic space is permitted within the height restrictions and is more than sufficient for this purpose.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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