ᐅ Floor plan of a single-family house with a pitched roof

Are you planning the roof pitch according to photovoltaic requirements? Have you calculated how much sunlight exposure will be lost as a result and briefly considered how long you want or need to live in the attic?

Where is there storage space??? Seasonal clothing, cleaning supplies, ironing board, mop, provisions, toys, etc... Probably not in the kitchen by the sloped wall, which likely doesn’t add much value.

oleda222 brings up a point that has been on my mind for a while. You say your budget is limited (which is the case for most), but you plan to include a large photovoltaic system, a passive house, and a fireplace. All of this then results in a smaller house with additional restrictions.

I would have set the priorities differently. However, if you consciously choose this approach (e.g., for ecological living), that is a different matter...

Hello,

Personally, I like the slanted wall on the ground floor – it breaks up the otherwise very right-angled design of the house quite nicely.

However, if structurally possible, I would consider replacing the planned 90cm (35 inch) door from the hallway into the living and dining area with a wider, perhaps even open (without a door) passageway, which could partly replace the slanted wall – this would create a more open and brighter ground floor.

On the other hand, I find the staircase entry right next to the door problematic – it will likely bring a lot of dirt from outside into the way up to the upper floor.

How will your crawl space be designed? Will you be able to easily store sports equipment, out-of-season (children’s) clothing, etc. there?

You should definitely consider adding a small storage room on the ground floor – due to its shape and the door opening direction, the utility room won’t offer much storage space.

Best regards,

Dirk

Passive house?
I must have overlooked that.
Certainly, cost savings are a key aspect when building the house. You need to balance the size of the house, the knee wall height, construction methods, and other costly details to see where savings are possible.
The first thing that comes to mind is energy efficiency. It doesn’t have to be the most expensive option but something in the middle range, so that other features can provide increased living comfort. Also, not everyone who thinks ecologically and economically has to build a passive house.
I don’t see the passive house concept in this design. Don’t the window placements need to be considered accordingly? (South: large windows, North: small slots)
Then I wonder if the crawl space costs nothing or if a garden shed combined with a proper utility room wouldn’t be a better solution.
Usually, what’s free is the location of the house on the plot, as well as the position of the terrace. I would give that more thought.
At this size, there usually isn’t a better place for a staircase because every square meter counts. So, accept the compromise with the entrance door and create a nice storage room or coat closet under the stairs.
I find this reading room completely unnecessary: you’re building an open-plan kitchen and living area (cool), but then you have to add a sort of “neither fish nor fowl” room. At the expense of a proper guest room or an adequate utility room. More likely later it will become a storage space for everything you can’t accommodate elsewhere, and a curtain will be hung to separate it.
I feel the whole plan lacks a clear concept.
Have you posted a design draft before?

Hello,

Thank you for your answers. Yes, a lot of thought went into this reading and work corner. Normally, this would be the pantry. But since this space faces south and, as ypg correctly pointed out, we needed more window area on the south side, a floor-to-ceiling window was installed. If we were to build a wall towards the kitchen there, the solar gains from the large window would be less direct, and the abundant light, especially in winter from the south, would not reach our living kitchen. These were our considerations. We haven't come up with a better solution and are very open to ideas in this regard. The somewhat larger windows on the north side were hard-fought because, of course, we want to enjoy our beautiful garden view from inside the house.

Next to the house, we will also build a shed of about 30m² (320 sq ft) as additional storage to replace space inside the house (the plot is large enough). In addition, we will convert the attic into storage space.

The crawl space cellar is only usable for bulky waste, gardening tools, or garden furniture. It is about 1m (3 feet) high and is primarily designed as insulation. Below it is a strip foundation. The cellar ceiling consists of wooden beams with 40cm (16 inches) of insulation between the rafters. This way, we avoid having 40cm (16 inches) or so of polystyrene under the house. This wooden beam ceiling has a U-value of 0.10 W/(m²K).

Cost of the crawl space cellar including earthworks: 15,000€.