ᐅ House Construction Planning: Timber Frame House, Log Cladding, Single-Slope Roof

Dear Forum,

I would like to present our house plan here for discussion. If I’m in the wrong forum, please feel free to move this post 🙂 Thanks! I usually read more than I post, so please forgive any beginner’s mistakes 🙂

In spring 2023, we received a letter from our landlord complaining about various issues. These apparently had been bothering him for a long time, which led us to believe that living together in this “multigenerational complex” no longer made sense for us. The neighborhood relationship is “poisoned.” However, the rental market in our city is completely crazy. My mother is often quickly enthusiastic about owning a home, so she spent a lot of free time searching for building areas for us. And she found one! In a small village of about 2,500 inhabitants in the middle of Rheinhessen, close to the highway and a train station, allowing me to manage my two days of office work without an expensive diesel car. The schools in the neighboring communities were also looking for teachers, so my girlfriend will start her new job there in September. Once the house is built and we’ve moved next year, her commute by train will only be 5 minutes.

Back to the building area. Around that time, I often read in the newspaper that some building plots were being returned. But building was never really an option for us, so we had relatively little equity. I emailed the mayor to ask if there was still a plot available. His answer: “Choose one!” He sent the plan, and we went there to see the plots in person. We focused on a small 320 sqm (3,444 sq ft) plot on the edge of the fields. However, when we tried to reserve it after a few days, the mayor unfortunately dashed our hopes: that plot had since been reserved by someone else! Slightly disappointed, we looked at the plan again and searched for the next best plot. This one was immediately €40,000 (about $44,000) more expensive... but at that point, we had no idea what everything would cost 🙂 We reserved this plot promptly and received confirmation of our reservation.

Meanwhile, I diligently ordered catalogs from many timber house builders. My girlfriend quickly decided it would be a timber house. Many houses from various manufacturers are truly beautiful, but unfortunately, also unaffordable for us. So we quickly focused on Talishaus as our first choice. Number two was Helios wooden houses from Hattstedt (about 10 minutes from Husum, where Talishaus is located). We also contacted Talishaus and received two offers: one for a bungalow (for the smaller plot) and another for a two-story house with a shed roof, as we currently live in a small house with a shed roof. But the prices brought us back down to reality again. So I picked a 1.5-story house from the Helios catalog and requested an offer for it.

We know the company Helios because my mother built with them in 2015. She said from the start that she had compared many offers and kept coming back to Helios. With each new offer I requested from other builders, it became more and more likely that we would build with Helios as well.

The contact is always friendly and helpful. The company has only five employees, so you always speak directly to the senior manager. We like their houses, the floor plans can be customized without any problems (which is always possible with timber houses), and the shed roof is also an option. Since my girlfriend is an art teacher, she visualized our house ideas for us. (I have attached two images; I’m not sure if they belong in the middle of the text or at the end).

Because our preferred plot allows it and the development plan doesn’t specify ridge direction, we want to orient the shed roof southwards. We also tried placing the house directly against the left or right boundary but didn’t like it. The development plan limits the maximum height to 7 m (23 ft) for houses with a roof pitch under 15°. The high side reaches 7 m (23 ft) with an interior height of 3.23 m (10 ft 7 in), and the low side is 2.32 m (7 ft 7 in) inside. We are also planning a small porch on the south side with space for bikes and possibly trash bins. We plan to add a seating area in the remaining space later.

It was clear to us, also because of the limited equity, that we definitely want to build with subsidies. Initially, we considered KfW with QNG certification, but the more offers and information I collected, the more we focused on the usual “climate-friendly new construction” without QNG.

The floor plan was from the very first version by the builder, but it only shares the exterior dimensions with the current plan. The attached house elevation was also drawn by my girlfriend and was mostly relevant for the window layout (the labeling of compass directions and house sides is correct, but the roof isn’t!).

We will probably receive the Helios plans soon, which will help us visualize everything better – I’ll update here then 🙂

Last week, we visited the company in person and met the window maker, the stair builder, and spoke with the electrician. We also had a short house tour with the junior manager, who just finished building a house.

Enough talking, here’s the house info:

Exterior walls:
- Pine log cladding 70x145 mm (3x6 inches) with chalet milling, with exposed end grain wood protected by solid wood covers
- Remmers HK glaze
- 16 mm (0.6 in) ventilation strip
- 16 mm (0.6 in) DWD board as wind barrier
- 200 mm (8 in) timber frame with insulation WLG 032 (thermal conductivity)
- 15 mm (0.6 in) OSB for vapor barrier
- Installation cavity 40x60 mm (1.5x2.4 in) with 60 mm (2.4 in) insulation WLG 035
- 12.5 mm (0.5 in) gypsum board

Roof:
- Shed roof 7° pitch
- 1 m (3.3 ft) roof overhang
- Cladding 19x96 mm (0.75x3.75 in) profiled wood
- Glaze included
- DWD board as roof sheathing, counter battens 25x40 mm (1x1.6 in), smooth-edged boards 21x195 mm (0.8x7.7 in)
- Anthracite trapezoidal sheet metal roofing
- Zinc gutter
- 240 mm (9.5 in) insulation WLG 032
- 40 mm (1.6 in) mineral wool insulation
- 40x60 mm (1.5x2.4 in) battens
- Vapor barrier

Interior walls:
- 60x80 mm (2.4x3.1 in) structural timber
- 12.5 mm (0.5 in) gypsum fiberboard
- 60 mm (2.4 in) soundproof mineral wool insulation
- Water-resistant gypsum board in bathrooms/WC

Ceiling:
- Rough-sawn boards 24 mm (1 in)
- 100 mm (4 in) mineral wool insulation
- 12.5 mm (0.5 in) gypsum fiberboard

Note: We’re currently considering exposed beams in the ground floor...

Windows/doors:
- Rekord company from Itzehoe
- quadro! blue for KfW 40 standard
- 86 mm (3.4 in) installation depth
- RC2N security class
- Exterior and interior window sills and cladding included

Package price: €115,950 (about $128,000)

External sealing installation: €35,900 (about $40,000)

Complete assembly: €69,650 (about $77,000)

Energy-efficient foundation slab €22,000 (about $24,300) (including slab for porch, which might be omitted)

Carport 3.5 m x 8 m (11.5 x 26 ft) with shed 3.5 m x 2.5 m (11.5 x 8 ft): €7,250 (about $8,000)

Electrical installation according to our requirements: €22,000 (about $24,300) (including Cat 7 network in living rooms, wall box preparation, and power supply to shed/carport)

Sanitary installation according to our requirements: approx. €16,000 (about $17,700) (2 showers, 2 toilets, 1 bathtub, 1 standard sink on the ground floor, and 1 large sink on the upper floor – sinks will be sourced by us separately)

Building application including structural calculation, energy saving regulations, energy certificate: €3,500 (about $3,900)

Externally contracted or self-purchased:
- Earthworks (budgeting €10,000)
- Infrared heating €5,500 (offered at €9,500)
- Photovoltaic system 20 kWp with 10 kWh battery, offer €32,000
- Floors (solid wood planks as plank flooring, if feasible) €6,000
- Domestic water heat pump €2,500
- 10,000-liter (2,642 gallon) cistern €4,000
- Energy efficiency expert €8,250

That’s the house in a nutshell.

The photovoltaic system is this large because a) we oriented the house to the south for this purpose, b) it’s the only thing that generates income, and c) otherwise, we would have to install a green roof. We also plan to green the porch roof. An electric car is planned in the medium term. We initially planned a ventilation system, but it was dropped for cost reasons; currently, I’m looking into decentralized ventilation systems. An air conditioning system was also planned but cut for budget reasons.

I think that’s it. Let the discussion begin 🙂

Thanks!

Best regards,
Paswina