ᐅ Single-Family House Design – Future Conversion to a Duplex Possible
Created on: 28 Nov 2016 13:36
P
Paulus16
Hello,
we are a family of five planning to build a single-family house in Lower Saxony next year. The house might be divided in about 15 years so that my wife and I will live on the ground floor and the upper floor could either be sold or stay for the younger generation of the family.
The plot is a gap in the row of buildings, there is no zoning plan.
The plot size is 911 sqm (9,800 sq ft).
The exterior dimensions of the house are 12.5 x 10 m (41 x 33 ft).
Roof type: gable roof
No basement, ground floor and attic with knee wall of 1.5 m (5 ft)
Number of residents: my wife and I, three children aged 7, 10, and 13 years
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: family use or home office?
Guest bedrooms per year
Open or closed floor plan
Conservative or modern architectural style
Open kitchen: no
Number of dining seats
Fireplace: not decided yet, probably no.
A conservatory is planned on the west side of the living-dining area, facing south and west.
Garage: planned as a prefabricated garage, carport: opposite the north side (next to the utility room side entrance).
House design
Planning by: Do-it-Yourself
Preferred heating system: gas condensing boiler
Please share your opinions.
we are a family of five planning to build a single-family house in Lower Saxony next year. The house might be divided in about 15 years so that my wife and I will live on the ground floor and the upper floor could either be sold or stay for the younger generation of the family.
The plot is a gap in the row of buildings, there is no zoning plan.
The plot size is 911 sqm (9,800 sq ft).
The exterior dimensions of the house are 12.5 x 10 m (41 x 33 ft).
Roof type: gable roof
No basement, ground floor and attic with knee wall of 1.5 m (5 ft)
Number of residents: my wife and I, three children aged 7, 10, and 13 years
Room requirements on ground floor and upper floor
Office: family use or home office?
Guest bedrooms per year
Open or closed floor plan
Conservative or modern architectural style
Open kitchen: no
Number of dining seats
Fireplace: not decided yet, probably no.
A conservatory is planned on the west side of the living-dining area, facing south and west.
Garage: planned as a prefabricated garage, carport: opposite the north side (next to the utility room side entrance).
House design
Planning by: Do-it-Yourself
Preferred heating system: gas condensing boiler
Please share your opinions.
Paulus16 schrieb:
-The door arrangement between the hallway, utility room, and kitchen also seems a bit odd to me. However, I don’t want to make the utility room smaller because then I would have to add a door on the wide wall of the utility room (opposite the secondary house entrance). What do you think?I would definitely reconsider that.
On one hand, leaving out the exterior door would provide significantly more usable space in the utility room. On the other hand, who wants to walk into the kitchen while passing through the utility room? It’s hardly appealing to always walk past untidy equipment. Make it comfortable for yourselves with a door in front of the utility room.
Is it feasible? I think so, although many factors have been mentioned that should be considered.
However, this house doesn’t excite me. I don’t want to spend my life living with compromises or such a significant compromise when the reason for it is considered very unlikely. For that, my money would be wasted, and living itself is too important to me!
Thank you, Yvonne. We got the idea of the side door from the house we currently live in. We find the idea very practical, and it is a side door, not the main entrance.
What I mean by compromise refers to the time after a possible separation. In your opinion, what are the drawbacks of the current floor plan if it is not separated later on? I would be glad to read your ideas or suggestions.
What I mean by compromise refers to the time after a possible separation. In your opinion, what are the drawbacks of the current floor plan if it is not separated later on? I would be glad to read your ideas or suggestions.
The idea with the exterior side door is worth considering, but there are so many ideas... most of them aren’t necessary, some are desirable, and others get dropped due to budget or space constraints.
If you need wall space for furniture or storage, exterior doors are usually ruled out—especially where that wall space is required, such as in your utility room. Laundry can be taken out elsewhere if needed; personally, I would never want to access the kitchen so indirectly through the utility room at the back. So, that side door would likely be removed—as you said, it’s only a secondary door.
In contrast, there are too few exterior entrances in the living and kitchen areas.
The major compromise here is the lack of spaciousness on the ground floor because separate apartments are already considered. You end up with the living character of an apartment downstairs rather than that of a house.
The staircase is located in the entrance area where dirt accumulates, meaning you often walk on socks or barefoot through dirt that inevitably gets tracked in from outside.
Another compromise resulting from this apartment-style layout is the path from the bedroom to the bathroom, which passes right by the entrance. This completely undermines privacy.
I’m also not a fan of placing the sofa in the center of the room unless it’s large enough. You always end up facing a wall that feels too close... and not having a wall behind the sofa tends to feel uncomfortable as well (missing the cozy, “cave-like” effect).
However, to go into more detail, fundamental information about the property and site is missing.
If this is exactly what you want—focusing on functionality—then it works. With three children, priorities are certainly different from those of someone seeking spaciousness.
Best regards
If you need wall space for furniture or storage, exterior doors are usually ruled out—especially where that wall space is required, such as in your utility room. Laundry can be taken out elsewhere if needed; personally, I would never want to access the kitchen so indirectly through the utility room at the back. So, that side door would likely be removed—as you said, it’s only a secondary door.
In contrast, there are too few exterior entrances in the living and kitchen areas.
The major compromise here is the lack of spaciousness on the ground floor because separate apartments are already considered. You end up with the living character of an apartment downstairs rather than that of a house.
The staircase is located in the entrance area where dirt accumulates, meaning you often walk on socks or barefoot through dirt that inevitably gets tracked in from outside.
Another compromise resulting from this apartment-style layout is the path from the bedroom to the bathroom, which passes right by the entrance. This completely undermines privacy.
I’m also not a fan of placing the sofa in the center of the room unless it’s large enough. You always end up facing a wall that feels too close... and not having a wall behind the sofa tends to feel uncomfortable as well (missing the cozy, “cave-like” effect).
However, to go into more detail, fundamental information about the property and site is missing.
If this is exactly what you want—focusing on functionality—then it works. With three children, priorities are certainly different from those of someone seeking spaciousness.
Best regards
You can no longer change that, as the 10-minute edit window has expired.
You can only upload the correct images in a new post here. It actually makes more sense that way, as everyone will still see them since people usually click on the thread and end up at the first unread post, not at post 10.
You can only upload the correct images in a new post here. It actually makes more sense that way, as everyone will still see them since people usually click on the thread and end up at the first unread post, not at post 10.
Thank you, Yvonne, for your response. Now I understand your idea. We want a practical, functional, and simple floor plan. Because of this, it might seem a bit too traditional.
Thank you, kbt09.
Here are the pictures again. For the ground floor, I will upload two images—the second one shows the kitchen being accessible directly from the hallway. My better half prefers this version because you don’t have to go through the utility room to get into the kitchen. What do you think?
Thank you, kbt09.
Here are the pictures again. For the ground floor, I will upload two images—the second one shows the kitchen being accessible directly from the hallway. My better half prefers this version because you don’t have to go through the utility room to get into the kitchen. What do you think?
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