Hello everyone, I am interested to know whether it is more cost-effective to include a knee wall or to increase its height, or alternatively to design without a knee wall and instead increase the roof pitch.
For example:
No knee wall but a 45-degree roof pitch, or a 1m (3 ft 3 in) knee wall with a 30-degree roof pitch?
Is there a clear answer as to which is more economical?
Thank you in advance!
For example:
No knee wall but a 45-degree roof pitch, or a 1m (3 ft 3 in) knee wall with a 30-degree roof pitch?
Is there a clear answer as to which is more economical?
Thank you in advance!
A
Allthewayup30 Jul 2023 18:11Are you sure you don’t mean it the other way around? A full story and a 45-degree roof will result in a significantly higher ridge height.
We faced the same question and decided on a 2-meter (6 ft 7 in) knee wall with a 25-degree pitch. For our general contractor, this was essentially a break-even in terms of calculations. However, we now don’t need roof windows and have no sloped ceilings that cause issues.
No calcium silicate brick with a 45-degree roof, because you lose about 1 meter (3 feet) of usable living space on the sloped sides, as this low area is hardly usable. You end up with a knee wall of about one meter (3 feet) again.
However, this makes sense if you need less space in the attic than on the ground floor, for example, if the parents’ area is on the ground floor and only three children’s rooms plus a bathroom are on the upper floor. You might have 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) downstairs and roughly 60 square meters (646 square feet) in the attic.
If you distribute the rooms conventionally, meaning you need about the same space upstairs as on the ground floor, it makes sense to build with calcium silicate brick from the start. But I wouldn’t go below a knee wall height of 125 centimeters (49 inches), so beds can be placed under it and you can comfortably access and sit in that area.
Then there is personal preference: some dislike sloped ceilings, others like them. Depending on this, you also gain some storage space.
Ultimately, choosing calcium silicate brick depends on individual needs combined with local development regulations regarding permitted building height, roof pitch, eave height, etc., as well as the floor plan.
So, I wouldn’t make a general recommendation because nothing is universally better—it depends on the plot size (large or small) and the occupants. It’s always an interaction where one factor influences the others.
Sorry, this was about costs (I forgot).
Costs also depend on individuality. If you build without an attic (calcium silicate brick with a 30-degree roof pitch), you might need to create storage elsewhere, which causes additional costs.
However, this makes sense if you need less space in the attic than on the ground floor, for example, if the parents’ area is on the ground floor and only three children’s rooms plus a bathroom are on the upper floor. You might have 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) downstairs and roughly 60 square meters (646 square feet) in the attic.
If you distribute the rooms conventionally, meaning you need about the same space upstairs as on the ground floor, it makes sense to build with calcium silicate brick from the start. But I wouldn’t go below a knee wall height of 125 centimeters (49 inches), so beds can be placed under it and you can comfortably access and sit in that area.
Then there is personal preference: some dislike sloped ceilings, others like them. Depending on this, you also gain some storage space.
Ultimately, choosing calcium silicate brick depends on individual needs combined with local development regulations regarding permitted building height, roof pitch, eave height, etc., as well as the floor plan.
So, I wouldn’t make a general recommendation because nothing is universally better—it depends on the plot size (large or small) and the occupants. It’s always an interaction where one factor influences the others.
Sorry, this was about costs (I forgot).
Costs also depend on individuality. If you build without an attic (calcium silicate brick with a 30-degree roof pitch), you might need to create storage elsewhere, which causes additional costs.
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