Hello everyone,
I have a quick question regarding my floor plan. The image is attached.
The issue, if I may call it that:
The room in front of the staircase (on the ground floor) feels a bit too large to me. From the first step to the exterior wall, it measures 1.57m (5.1 feet). My idea is to move the lower exterior wall slightly upward towards the stairs, but only the wall. Everything else should remain as is. I am aware of the consequences regarding the sizes of the other rooms. The utility room to the left can be smaller. The guest WC can also be made a bit narrower. The shower could be recessed upward into the guest room, possibly halfway—meaning half of the shower would be a niche within the guest room. This way, the guest WC becomes narrower.
Is it possible to move the exterior wall about 50cm (20 inches) upward? I think the main challenge might be the door opening. But wouldn’t 1.07m (3.5 feet) be enough to open the door? The door to the guest WC could also be shifted a few centimeters upward towards the guest room. I have seen floor plans with dimensions where there was only 1.00m (3.3 feet) between the exterior wall and the start of the stairs.
The house has 163m² (1,755 sq ft), and we want to downsize a bit. We see potential for savings here.
Note:
Of course, the upper floor will be slightly affected as well. The rooms there will just be a bit smaller and the walls shifted, but that is not a problem and has been taken into account.
What do you think?
I have a quick question regarding my floor plan. The image is attached.
The issue, if I may call it that:
The room in front of the staircase (on the ground floor) feels a bit too large to me. From the first step to the exterior wall, it measures 1.57m (5.1 feet). My idea is to move the lower exterior wall slightly upward towards the stairs, but only the wall. Everything else should remain as is. I am aware of the consequences regarding the sizes of the other rooms. The utility room to the left can be smaller. The guest WC can also be made a bit narrower. The shower could be recessed upward into the guest room, possibly halfway—meaning half of the shower would be a niche within the guest room. This way, the guest WC becomes narrower.
Is it possible to move the exterior wall about 50cm (20 inches) upward? I think the main challenge might be the door opening. But wouldn’t 1.07m (3.5 feet) be enough to open the door? The door to the guest WC could also be shifted a few centimeters upward towards the guest room. I have seen floor plans with dimensions where there was only 1.00m (3.3 feet) between the exterior wall and the start of the stairs.
The house has 163m² (1,755 sq ft), and we want to downsize a bit. We see potential for savings here.
Note:
Of course, the upper floor will be slightly affected as well. The rooms there will just be a bit smaller and the walls shifted, but that is not a problem and has been taken into account.
What do you think?
D
Doc.Schnaggls2 Sep 2016 14:02As mentioned above, I am very curious about the actual amount of money that could be saved by this change.
With a house width of 10 m (33 feet), we are talking about 5 sqm (54 sqft) per floor, so a total of 10 sqm (108 sqft) less floor area.
About 50 cm (20 inches) of wall is saved on each side on both floors — assuming a room height of 2.70 m (9 feet), that equals 2.7 sqm (29 sqft) of wall surface per floor, or 5.4 sqm (58 sqft) less wall surface in total.
The cost-driving elements of a house remain the same. This does not change anything regarding windows, doors, heating system, installations, other technical aspects, etc.
In my opinion, the material savings for 10 sqm (108 sqft) of floor area, 5.4 sqm (58 sqft) of wall area, and a small amount of roof area can’t be that significant — especially considering that I have already read that some builders even build a wall slightly longer without increasing costs — they usually don’t give anything away for free.
Therefore, I strongly recommend checking with the builder to find out what savings this change would actually bring and then weigh that amount against the impact of a modified floor plan that you might regret for a lifetime.
In the end, of course, it is your decision.
Best regards,
Dirk
With a house width of 10 m (33 feet), we are talking about 5 sqm (54 sqft) per floor, so a total of 10 sqm (108 sqft) less floor area.
About 50 cm (20 inches) of wall is saved on each side on both floors — assuming a room height of 2.70 m (9 feet), that equals 2.7 sqm (29 sqft) of wall surface per floor, or 5.4 sqm (58 sqft) less wall surface in total.
The cost-driving elements of a house remain the same. This does not change anything regarding windows, doors, heating system, installations, other technical aspects, etc.
In my opinion, the material savings for 10 sqm (108 sqft) of floor area, 5.4 sqm (58 sqft) of wall area, and a small amount of roof area can’t be that significant — especially considering that I have already read that some builders even build a wall slightly longer without increasing costs — they usually don’t give anything away for free.
Therefore, I strongly recommend checking with the builder to find out what savings this change would actually bring and then weigh that amount against the impact of a modified floor plan that you might regret for a lifetime.
In the end, of course, it is your decision.
Best regards,
Dirk
S
sauerpeter2 Sep 2016 14:52First, a brief note about the kitchen and the tables. Please don’t focus on the furniture shown in the floor plan. Apart from the kitchen unit, which will be roughly placed there (although its exact length is yet to be determined), all other furniture is arbitrarily positioned by the architect. So if there is a table shown in the living room, you can simply disregard it.
Regarding the kitchen table situation—why is there no table shown? As mentioned, the sliding door is usually kept closed, except on special occasions, although our families are quite small. And you never get everyone around the same table anyway, not even at Christmas or other gatherings. When the sliding door is closed, a table easily fits there, comfortably seating four people.
Our kitchen is actually smaller and still easily accommodates four people. We currently live with our in-laws in their house.
About the wall between the pantry and the hallway corner—what is meant by that? We want a pantry, so the wall there can’t just be removed.
The home office upstairs can be smaller. It only needs to fit a desk and a wardrobe. No couch or other furniture is required. If it ends up being 6 square meters (about 65 square feet), that would be fine. The guest room doesn’t have to be very large either. If guests sleep there, they won’t spend much time in the room like in a hotel.
And recessing the shower wouldn’t free up 3 square meters (about 32 square feet) or so, right? If the shower is 90cm by 90cm (35 inches by 35 inches) and I recess it halfway, that means the guest room loses a full 45cm (18 inches)!
How large are your guest rooms? 15 square meters (160 square feet)?
Regarding costs: of course, you have to calculate whether it’s worth it and how much cheaper it will be in the long run. But for example, if the base price is 1500 EUR per square meter (this is just an example) and you save about 10 square meters (about 108 square feet), that already makes a difference. Even if you can’t calculate it so simply, even if it’s only half that amount, it still means something.
About the stairs: that’s a good point we hadn’t really considered yet. Thank you for that!
Regarding the kitchen table situation—why is there no table shown? As mentioned, the sliding door is usually kept closed, except on special occasions, although our families are quite small. And you never get everyone around the same table anyway, not even at Christmas or other gatherings. When the sliding door is closed, a table easily fits there, comfortably seating four people.
Our kitchen is actually smaller and still easily accommodates four people. We currently live with our in-laws in their house.
About the wall between the pantry and the hallway corner—what is meant by that? We want a pantry, so the wall there can’t just be removed.
The home office upstairs can be smaller. It only needs to fit a desk and a wardrobe. No couch or other furniture is required. If it ends up being 6 square meters (about 65 square feet), that would be fine. The guest room doesn’t have to be very large either. If guests sleep there, they won’t spend much time in the room like in a hotel.
And recessing the shower wouldn’t free up 3 square meters (about 32 square feet) or so, right? If the shower is 90cm by 90cm (35 inches by 35 inches) and I recess it halfway, that means the guest room loses a full 45cm (18 inches)!
How large are your guest rooms? 15 square meters (160 square feet)?
Regarding costs: of course, you have to calculate whether it’s worth it and how much cheaper it will be in the long run. But for example, if the base price is 1500 EUR per square meter (this is just an example) and you save about 10 square meters (about 108 square feet), that already makes a difference. Even if you can’t calculate it so simply, even if it’s only half that amount, it still means something.
About the stairs: that’s a good point we hadn’t really considered yet. Thank you for that!
S
sauerpeter2 Sep 2016 14:54Painkiller schrieb:
I have to agree with Doc.Schnaggl—adding those 50cm (20 inches) takes away a bit of charm from the floor plan. If you move the shower into a recess in the guest bathroom, you'd basically have to step onto the toilet to get out of the shower.
Do those 50cm (20 inches) really make that much difference to the floor plan? We expanded one wall from 11.4m (37 feet) to 12m (39 feet) without any extra cost... so I can’t imagine it matters that much.
The staircase might also become 30cm (12 inches) longer. As I said, we haven’t really considered the staircase in terms of the steps yet. I’ll have to compare and measure other staircases. If the steps really are that small, the staircase might need to be made longer/larger, which would probably resolve the issue with moving the wall as well.
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