ᐅ Opinions on floor plans for a semi-detached house: is the layout acceptable?
Created on: 23 Sep 2013 13:57
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Neonjay14
Hello everyone,
we have now received the first draft of the floor plans for our semi-detached house and are looking forward to your opinions and suggestions.
The layout of the bathrooms is not yet final and this is only a preliminary draft. The attic will be used as the master bedroom floor. On the upper floor there are two equally sized children's rooms and a guest and study room.
What do you think of our floor plans?
Thanks for your feedback.
Best regards
Jay
we have now received the first draft of the floor plans for our semi-detached house and are looking forward to your opinions and suggestions.
The layout of the bathrooms is not yet final and this is only a preliminary draft. The attic will be used as the master bedroom floor. On the upper floor there are two equally sized children's rooms and a guest and study room.
What do you think of our floor plans?
Thanks for your feedback.
Best regards
Jay
Hello Neonjay,
The layout is spacious, but have you also considered space for storing supplies and cleaning tools? Sure, you have a basement, but I wouldn’t want to carry cleaning items all through the house all the time, and who wants to go down to the basement for every packet of pasta? Think about whether you can incorporate some storage space for these; I wouldn’t want to do without my utility room.
The open kitchen/open staircase is a matter of personal taste. I would also either make the kitchen closable or have the staircase separated. Otherwise, cooking smells will spread throughout the whole house...
In the attic, I would add an exit from the bathroom into the hallway as well… if you are upstairs and your child calls you from downstairs, you always have to go through the dressing room/bedroom to get out.
Best regards,
Natascha
The layout is spacious, but have you also considered space for storing supplies and cleaning tools? Sure, you have a basement, but I wouldn’t want to carry cleaning items all through the house all the time, and who wants to go down to the basement for every packet of pasta? Think about whether you can incorporate some storage space for these; I wouldn’t want to do without my utility room.
The open kitchen/open staircase is a matter of personal taste. I would also either make the kitchen closable or have the staircase separated. Otherwise, cooking smells will spread throughout the whole house...
In the attic, I would add an exit from the bathroom into the hallway as well… if you are upstairs and your child calls you from downstairs, you always have to go through the dressing room/bedroom to get out.
Best regards,
Natascha
Yes, opinions differ when it comes to open staircases and slanted walls. An open staircase wouldn’t bother me, maybe with two children? Hmm, but at least you have some privacy in the evening thanks to the fireplace when the teenagers want to come home or return.
I can imagine that the wall in front of the staircase is needed for structural reasons (load-bearing wall/staircase).
The dining table will probably take up more space, just like the seating area, since dollhouse-scale templates were used again.
Consider removing the two doors in the walk-in closet and using those two walls for cabinets instead (two cabinets hold more than one). Having the door to the walk-in closet opposite the staircase and the bathroom door from the hallway is more practical than wandering through rooms just to quickly reapply lipstick or change clothes. This also gives you a straight wall in the bedroom... Upstairs, you’re on your own anyway 🙂
I can imagine that the wall in front of the staircase is needed for structural reasons (load-bearing wall/staircase).
The dining table will probably take up more space, just like the seating area, since dollhouse-scale templates were used again.
Consider removing the two doors in the walk-in closet and using those two walls for cabinets instead (two cabinets hold more than one). Having the door to the walk-in closet opposite the staircase and the bathroom door from the hallway is more practical than wandering through rooms just to quickly reapply lipstick or change clothes. This also gives you a straight wall in the bedroom... Upstairs, you’re on your own anyway 🙂
Personal opinion:
- An open staircase is not practical (the TV is loud, children can hear everything, drafts, etc.)
- The bay window is almost entirely made of glass, including a patio door. We have a similar bay window but intentionally installed only four windows so you don’t have to look at people’s feet in the dining area and placed a corner bench in the bay. Of course, this is a matter of taste. The question is: if your dining table is there, how often will you actually open the door? Wouldn’t a window make more sense there? If you must have a fixed glass panel at the bottom, who will be going in or out?
- Are you planning a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery? If so, you need to account for the ventilation ducts (including risers).
- Bathroom on the top floor: Anything under 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) in height is problematic (according to our architect), as you can easily hit your head when standing up.
- TV wall and sofa: Why have patio doors here? If the sofa is always in front of them, better have fixed glazing: a) it’s cheaper, b) it’s harder to break into.
- An open staircase is not practical (the TV is loud, children can hear everything, drafts, etc.)
- The bay window is almost entirely made of glass, including a patio door. We have a similar bay window but intentionally installed only four windows so you don’t have to look at people’s feet in the dining area and placed a corner bench in the bay. Of course, this is a matter of taste. The question is: if your dining table is there, how often will you actually open the door? Wouldn’t a window make more sense there? If you must have a fixed glass panel at the bottom, who will be going in or out?
- Are you planning a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery? If so, you need to account for the ventilation ducts (including risers).
- Bathroom on the top floor: Anything under 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) in height is problematic (according to our architect), as you can easily hit your head when standing up.
- TV wall and sofa: Why have patio doors here? If the sofa is always in front of them, better have fixed glazing: a) it’s cheaper, b) it’s harder to break into.
Wastl schrieb:
Personal opinion:
- Open staircase is inconvenient (TV is loud, children hear everything, drafts, etc.)I have to disagree based on personal experience: We currently have a floor plan similar to ERH – with an open staircase. When the upstairs room doors are closed, you can hear absolutely NOTHING from the TV or conversations upstairs—and vice versa as well. There is no draft either—and we don’t even have a hallway wall there yet, which is planned now.
Wastl schrieb:
- Are you planning a mechanical ventilation system? Then you need to account for the ventilation ducts (supply and exhaust risers included)As far as I understand, the planner is already working on that. Construction drawings usually look different (with corresponding risers, which apparently are planned here near the chimney).
Dear ypg,
with some central mechanical ventilation systems for residential buildings, there are exhaust vents in the bathrooms and supply vents in the other rooms. To allow the air to flow from point A to point B, a gap of 2 cm (0.8 inches) under the doors is mandatory. Because of this, you cannot make your rooms soundproof. If you have children and are planning a home office on the upper floor / attic, I can only recommend a closed staircase. They just cannot play quietly enough for you not to hear them. I agree with you about drafts – in my brother’s house, air moves through the living room (open staircase) – but this is not universally the case.
I mention the mechanical ventilation because we were caught off guard by it. Our floor plan was nice and finalized, but then the details came, and the ventilation ducts ran through the kitchen and children’s room, ruining the previously good floor plan.
with some central mechanical ventilation systems for residential buildings, there are exhaust vents in the bathrooms and supply vents in the other rooms. To allow the air to flow from point A to point B, a gap of 2 cm (0.8 inches) under the doors is mandatory. Because of this, you cannot make your rooms soundproof. If you have children and are planning a home office on the upper floor / attic, I can only recommend a closed staircase. They just cannot play quietly enough for you not to hear them. I agree with you about drafts – in my brother’s house, air moves through the living room (open staircase) – but this is not universally the case.
I mention the mechanical ventilation because we were caught off guard by it. Our floor plan was nice and finalized, but then the details came, and the ventilation ducts ran through the kitchen and children’s room, ruining the previously good floor plan.
ypg schrieb:
I have to disagree based on personal experience: We now have a floor plan similar to your ERH with an open staircase.
When the upstairs room doors are closed, you cannot hear any TV or conversations between men and women upstairs. The same applies the other way around. There is no draft either – and we don’t even have a hallway wall there where you currently have one.I guess a lot of this also depends on the doors you installed. Looking at the honeycomb doors from the hardware store, I can imagine they don’t block sound or anything else… well, considering the total cost was only about 80€ (around 90 USD), that’s not surprising. If you have better doors, sound should not be an issue.
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