Hello everyone,
As you may have read in another thread, we recently purchased a plot of land (backland development) measuring 650m² (approximately 7,000 sq ft). This also includes a 1500m² (approximately 16,150 sq ft) forested area.
The plot is quite narrow and long, which means we only have a very narrow but long building envelope (7.6m x 12.6m) (25 ft x 41 ft). This was already confirmed in a preliminary building approval.
Now we are focusing on the floor plan! But first, here is the basic information:
Development Plan/Restrictions:
Lot size: approx. 650m² (7,000 sq ft)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: §34, preliminary building approval, no further details
Plot ratio: §34, preliminary building approval, no further details
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see subdivision plan
Edge development: see subdivision plan (a public forest path runs along the east side of the plot)
Number of parking spaces: possibly 2, north of the house?
Number of storeys: 2-storey
Roof type: no specific restrictions; gable, hip and shed roofs are present in the neighborhood
Architectural style: §34; neighbor house to the west is 2-storey with a shed roof
Orientation: south with a slight eastward tilt
Maximum heights/limits: §34, townhouse + 2-storey shed roof house in the neighborhood
Additional requirements: 30m (100 ft) buffer zone to the forest
Owners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: 2-storey single-family house with a hip roof
Basement, storeys: no basement, 2 storeys
Number of occupants, age: 2 people, 30 years old (planning for 2 children in the near future)
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: approximately 145m² (1,560 sq ft) total
Office: family use or home office? home office
Visiting guests per year: about 10
Open or closed floor plan: rather traditional closed layout with an open kitchen-living area
Conservative or modern build style: no preference
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music or stereo wall: not planned
Balcony, roof terrace: not planned
Garage, carport: carport for at least 1 car plus 2 motorcycles with adjacent storage room
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/particulars/daily routine: home office on the ground floor, lots of natural light due to tall oak trees on the east side
House Design
Designer:
- Do-it-yourself by us
What we like: large walk-in closet, ground floor shower and study
What we don’t like: window arrangement, especially on the south side of the house (ground and upper floor) is still unclear for us
What we now need are tips and improvement suggestions for our initial floor plan drafts!
About the floor plan:
There are windows with a sill height of 1.555m (5 ft 1 in). These are somewhat high-level windows that are positioned relatively high on the wall. They can be seen here:
About the subdivision plan:
- green indicates forest or trees
- the north arrow is at the upper right
- the thick black arrow shows the driveway from the public path
- the purple lines are intended to represent the carport
I have also uploaded a picture of the house from the construction company that serves as our base (although with a hip roof instead of a gable roof).
Here is our floor plan within the building envelope:
If any other information is needed, just ask!
As you may have read in another thread, we recently purchased a plot of land (backland development) measuring 650m² (approximately 7,000 sq ft). This also includes a 1500m² (approximately 16,150 sq ft) forested area.
The plot is quite narrow and long, which means we only have a very narrow but long building envelope (7.6m x 12.6m) (25 ft x 41 ft). This was already confirmed in a preliminary building approval.
Now we are focusing on the floor plan! But first, here is the basic information:
Development Plan/Restrictions:
Lot size: approx. 650m² (7,000 sq ft)
Slope: no
Floor area ratio: §34, preliminary building approval, no further details
Plot ratio: §34, preliminary building approval, no further details
Building envelope, building line and boundary: see subdivision plan
Edge development: see subdivision plan (a public forest path runs along the east side of the plot)
Number of parking spaces: possibly 2, north of the house?
Number of storeys: 2-storey
Roof type: no specific restrictions; gable, hip and shed roofs are present in the neighborhood
Architectural style: §34; neighbor house to the west is 2-storey with a shed roof
Orientation: south with a slight eastward tilt
Maximum heights/limits: §34, townhouse + 2-storey shed roof house in the neighborhood
Additional requirements: 30m (100 ft) buffer zone to the forest
Owners’ Requirements
Architectural style, roof type, building type: 2-storey single-family house with a hip roof
Basement, storeys: no basement, 2 storeys
Number of occupants, age: 2 people, 30 years old (planning for 2 children in the near future)
Space requirements on ground floor and upper floor: approximately 145m² (1,560 sq ft) total
Office: family use or home office? home office
Visiting guests per year: about 10
Open or closed floor plan: rather traditional closed layout with an open kitchen-living area
Conservative or modern build style: no preference
Open kitchen, kitchen island: open kitchen
Number of dining seats: 6
Fireplace: no
Music or stereo wall: not planned
Balcony, roof terrace: not planned
Garage, carport: carport for at least 1 car plus 2 motorcycles with adjacent storage room
Utility garden, greenhouse: no
Other wishes/particulars/daily routine: home office on the ground floor, lots of natural light due to tall oak trees on the east side
House Design
Designer:
- Do-it-yourself by us
What we like: large walk-in closet, ground floor shower and study
What we don’t like: window arrangement, especially on the south side of the house (ground and upper floor) is still unclear for us
What we now need are tips and improvement suggestions for our initial floor plan drafts!
About the floor plan:
There are windows with a sill height of 1.555m (5 ft 1 in). These are somewhat high-level windows that are positioned relatively high on the wall. They can be seen here:
About the subdivision plan:
- green indicates forest or trees
- the north arrow is at the upper right
- the thick black arrow shows the driveway from the public path
- the purple lines are intended to represent the carport
I have also uploaded a picture of the house from the construction company that serves as our base (although with a hip roof instead of a gable roof).
Here is our floor plan within the building envelope:
If any other information is needed, just ask!
5m (16.4 ft) is too narrow. Keep in mind that the interior width will be even less. You will never be able to regularly fit two cars inside because you first have to let everyone get out, especially the children from their car seats, and then carefully drive the passenger side close to the garage wall. This is especially true if you plan to have two small children, as you will have other things to focus on rather than parking the car.
We have a steel garage that is 5.45m (17.9 ft) wide. Due to the narrow outer walls, it still works reasonably well as a double garage. We park one car head-in and the other backed in, so the child can always exit the car seat toward the middle. With some effort, you can also fit a child’s bicycle, balance bike, or ride-on toy between the cars. Larger bicycles get tricky again because of the side mirrors.
We have a steel garage that is 5.45m (17.9 ft) wide. Due to the narrow outer walls, it still works reasonably well as a double garage. We park one car head-in and the other backed in, so the child can always exit the car seat toward the middle. With some effort, you can also fit a child’s bicycle, balance bike, or ride-on toy between the cars. Larger bicycles get tricky again because of the side mirrors.
P
Peanuts746 Sep 2016 10:19Musketier schrieb:
5 m (16 ft) is too narrow. Keep in mind that the internal dimension is even smaller. You will never be able to park two cars there regularly because you would first have to get everyone out, including taking the children out of their car seats, and then carefully drive along the passenger side close to the garage wall. Especially if you plan to have two small children, you’ll have other things to do than parking the car.
We have a steel garage that is 5.45 m (18 ft) wide. Thanks to the narrow exterior walls, this still works somewhat as a double garage. We park one car nose-in and the other backed in, so that the child can always get out of the car seat towards the middle. With some effort, you can even fit a child’s bike, balance bike, or ride-on car between the cars. With larger bikes, however, the mirrors already make things tight again.Bike with mirrors??? ;-p
As mentioned, normally only one car is meant to fit inside, with the other parked outside. Having both inside would be, for example, for vacation or similar occasions. The house is currently planned to be 12.4 meters (41 feet) long. If we fully utilize the building envelope and move the house all the way to the south, we gain an additional 20 centimeters (8 inches) of space. However, this would be a custom size, at least if you want to buy something prefabricated.
But in this thread, my main focus is actually on the floor plan rather than the carport/garage. Although the tips are useful and valuable....
We have a construction meeting with our builder on 23.09 and want to use the time to incorporate any changes.
But in this thread, my main focus is actually on the floor plan rather than the carport/garage. Although the tips are useful and valuable....
We have a construction meeting with our builder on 23.09 and want to use the time to incorporate any changes.
I just took another look at your surroundings on the map and noticed that none of your neighbors maintain even close to a 30m (100 feet) distance from the forest—so why should that apply to you? Especially since it’s not really a forest but more like a cluster of connected trees. It is certainly worth protecting, but a 30m (100 feet) setback? That might be appropriate on the outskirts of town, but not in the middle of a built-up area.
In your immediate neighborhood, buildings are also constructed deeper than what you are apparently (by default) allowed. Therefore, I would suggest arguing with the building authority that you comply with the site coverage ratio/floor area ratio but want to shift the position of the building envelope southward (possibly with neighbor consent and formalizing a deviation/encumbrance) to create more space for the garage and house.
Another thing I noticed—a former classmate of mine is a publicly appointed surveyor in SH and has his office less than 2km (1.2 miles) from your building site. I can put you in contact personally if you want, or you can contact him directly; there is only one publicly appointed surveyor in the town. You will need a surveyor anyway, and he might have some ideas on how to maximize the use of your land. Your building envelope, at 91m² (980 square feet), is tiny compared to the size of your plot, which should also make sense to the building authority.
I have also attached an updated sketch—if the house differs from the standard floor plan, you gain about +6m² (65 square feet) of floor area. The further the house moves south, the better, of course.
Best regards
Dirk Grafe
In your immediate neighborhood, buildings are also constructed deeper than what you are apparently (by default) allowed. Therefore, I would suggest arguing with the building authority that you comply with the site coverage ratio/floor area ratio but want to shift the position of the building envelope southward (possibly with neighbor consent and formalizing a deviation/encumbrance) to create more space for the garage and house.
Another thing I noticed—a former classmate of mine is a publicly appointed surveyor in SH and has his office less than 2km (1.2 miles) from your building site. I can put you in contact personally if you want, or you can contact him directly; there is only one publicly appointed surveyor in the town. You will need a surveyor anyway, and he might have some ideas on how to maximize the use of your land. Your building envelope, at 91m² (980 square feet), is tiny compared to the size of your plot, which should also make sense to the building authority.
I have also attached an updated sketch—if the house differs from the standard floor plan, you gain about +6m² (65 square feet) of floor area. The further the house moves south, the better, of course.
Best regards
Dirk Grafe
I believe your problem is that, on top of a challenging plot, you are limiting yourself by having a general contractor design the project instead of a creative architect, who tends to think beyond their standard house models. Even worse, you are imposing a time limit on yourself... Just because you recently purchased the land doesn’t mean the building permit or planning permission needs to be submitted within this year.
If I were you, I would allow yourself some flexibility in every aspect. You still have two quarters available.
Edit: You can have an architect create the design while still building with your preferred construction company.
If I were you, I would allow yourself some flexibility in every aspect. You still have two quarters available.
Edit: You can have an architect create the design while still building with your preferred construction company.
The building authority isn’t really the problem here; it’s the responsible forestry office. The case officer from the building authority told me that there were already discussions with the forestry office during the preliminary approval. His recommendation is not to deviate from the preliminary approval (except for the additional 2m (6.5 ft) in front of the house that he approved). Whether the area is considered forest or not in the eyes of a "layperson" (not that you’re a layperson) doesn’t initially affect the zoning plan for the area, does it? To me, it’s still far from being a forest, but if the forestry office insists that we must observe this 30m (98 ft) distance, then I’d rather not do otherwise.
Regarding the publicly appointed surveyor, he (or one of his employees) has already been here to survey the plot and set boundary markers. I gave him my sketch with the changed position of the building plot, and he wanted to make sure that it fits correctly. It is currently with them for preparation for the land registry. The later boundary of the forest will have to be newly determined by the forestry office anyway, right?
As for changing the floor plan, I’m not sure if that is that easy to implement (also in terms of cost). The contract with the construction company is already signed. Although we can make changes to the floor plan, I doubt we can alter the external walls to such an extent. But I can ask about it…
Regarding the publicly appointed surveyor, he (or one of his employees) has already been here to survey the plot and set boundary markers. I gave him my sketch with the changed position of the building plot, and he wanted to make sure that it fits correctly. It is currently with them for preparation for the land registry. The later boundary of the forest will have to be newly determined by the forestry office anyway, right?
As for changing the floor plan, I’m not sure if that is that easy to implement (also in terms of cost). The contract with the construction company is already signed. Although we can make changes to the floor plan, I doubt we can alter the external walls to such an extent. But I can ask about it…
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