ᐅ Ground floor approximately 100 sqm, upper floor adaptable for expansion (planned bathroom, 2 children's bedrooms, 1 storage room)

Created on: 28 Mar 2018 10:32
P
pffreestyler
Hello,

Development plan / restrictions
Plot size: 879 sqm (9,458 sq ft)
Slope: no
Site occupancy index: 0.3
Floor area ratio: 0.45
Building envelope, building line and boundary: 5 m (16 ft) to the street, 3 m (10 ft) each to the orchard area and neighbors
Edge development /
Number of parking spaces: 2
Number of floors: 2
Roof type: gable roof
Construction style: solid / masonry
Maximum heights / limits: ridge height 9.0 m (30 ft), eaves height 6.0 m (20 ft)
Other requirements

Homeowners’ requirements: living room facing south, small office (initially used as a nursery), walk-in shower on ground floor, utility room on the driveway side
Style, roof type, building type
Basement, floors: no basement, 1.5 stories
Number of residents, age: 2 – under 30
Office use: family use rather than home office
Number of overnight guests per year: 2-3
Open or closed architecture: closed
Traditional or modern style: rather traditional
Open kitchen, kitchen island: no
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music / stereo wall: no
Balcony, roof terrace: no
Garage, carport: carport planned later on the east side
Kitchen garden, greenhouse: no

House design
Designer: general contractor
What do you like most? Why? living room facing south, the number of rooms as desired
What do you dislike? Why? the office window 1 should be moved from south to west (otherwise the wall looks too bare); driveway and access to be on the east, not the west
Price estimate by architect/planner: available after Easter; currently mainly focused on the floor plan
Personal price limit including fixtures: expected around €1,700 per sqm (sq ft conversion not added per instruction)
Preferred heating: gas

If you have to give up, which details/features?
-can give up: bathtub
-cannot give up:

Why is the design as it is now?
The floor plan is based on a very similar layout seen during a house viewing and is our favorite among all viewings and catalog research. We only adapted it slightly to our needs (removed guest WC and enlarged living room, rotated office).

What is the most important/basic question about the floor plan in 130 characters?
The floor plan basically fits us, but I would appreciate your opinion to see if any improvements are possible. Note: as mentioned, we want to move the office window to the west so the wall doesn’t look so bare. Driveway on the east, not west. Therefore, the bare wall on the west is where the carport will go up to the utility room door. Alternatively, a window could be added to the living room there and the carport start behind the house. The plot allows this.

My main concern is that we’re not 100% happy with the roof’s east-west orientation; I would prefer a north-south alignment. Do you have ideas on rotating the floor plan 90 degrees while keeping the layout mostly unchanged? Only the kitchen and office could be swapped.

PS: The square meter figures for the hallway may be incorrect; the contractor will finalize after Easter. Correct figures will be approximately: living room 31.79 sqm (342 sq ft), kitchen 15.19 sqm (163 sq ft), utility room 9.87 sqm (106 sq ft), hallway about 19.5 sqm (210 sq ft), office/child room 1 about 8 sqm (86 sq ft), bedroom about 11.8 sqm (127 sq ft), bathroom about 8.5 sqm (91 sq ft)

Plot details: length west: 40 m (131 ft), east: 42 m (138 ft), width: 21.5 m (71 ft)

Best regards
kaho67428 Nov 2018 17:09
It’s not about what is generally allowed, but how your specific building permit looks.

The roof is already in place, so the knee wall height is fixed. In the photo, it doesn’t seem to be visible at all – that would mean it’s zero. Is that correct?
The collar beams appear quite low. What is the planned ceiling height on the upper floor? They almost seem to cover the windows in the gable. Is that an optical illusion?
kaho67428 Nov 2018 18:01
If you need help with the upper floor, we require the planned ceiling height, window dimensions, roof pitch, and the exact size and position of the stair opening.
kaho67428 Nov 2018 18:26
The central staircase with a knee wall height of 0 leaves very little usable space in your attic conversion.
To illustrate, here is a sketch with a roof pitch of 45°, where a 1m (3 ft) soffit has been created.
Adding another wall here is impractical due to the roof slopes. But maybe someone has another idea.

Grundriss eines Erdgeschosses mit Treppe, Türen, Spielflur und Maßangaben.


I’m really surprised how someone can build a house so without proper planning.
P
pffreestyler
28 Nov 2018 20:45
I will provide the required data tomorrow.
Y
ypg
28 Nov 2018 21:12
pffreestyler schrieb:
So far, we want all the doors on the ground floor to open into the hallway, because the rooms (rooms 5, 6, and 7 are quite narrow, and if the door opens inward into the room, it feels cramped. At least, that’s our idea for better space usage.

No, that won’t work. It’s dangerous in the hallway where other family members walk through—bam... they could get hit by the door.
kaho674 schrieb:
If you’re already building, there must be a knee wall specified in the roof construction plans. You won’t get approval without a finalized plan. Or what do you mean by


?

With zero knee wall, there simply isn’t one to include in the plans, but otherwise, you’re right.

Tell me, Pff... is the small kitchen area enough for you, or does it extend around a corner? I’m puzzled by that short wall between the utility room and kitchen, where you can’t fit a 60cm (24 inch) cabinet. How can such a planning error happen? As far as I remember, you were pretty resistant to suggestions... but it was actually built like that???

You really should shade in on your plan everything that is under 1.50m (5 feet). That way, you can better see what space will actually remain for the children.
kaho67428 Nov 2018 23:03
ypg schrieb:
I’m puzzled by this short wall between the utility room and the kitchen, where a 60cm (24 inch) unit just won’t fit.

The narrow bedroom, where you can’t even step beside the bed, would bother me more.
Well, as long as the utility room has an exterior door.