ᐅ Planning a Traditional Semi-Detached House

Hello,

the purchase contract is signed and the planning can begin... 🙂

A big dream is coming true, and of course, you want to make sure to do everything (or at least most things) “right.” 😉 Naturally, this topic is discussed a lot among friends and family, but unfortunately, there are hardly any current or experienced homebuilders around there. Therefore, insights from experienced users or current builders would definitely be a great help, as they offer a different perspective on the whole process.

We are building a “classic” semi-detached house using solid construction, including a basement. The plot is about 300m² (3200 sq ft), and the garden faces south.
The house will be built to KfW 70 standard (17.5 cm (7 inches) calcium silicate brick and 16 cm (6 inches) ETICS insulation) and will be equipped with an air-to-water heat pump (most likely a “Tecalor TTL 404 ECO”). Underfloor heating will be installed throughout the entire house. Next to the house, a 6 x 3 m (20 x 10 ft) garage is planned. Completion of the house is scheduled for early next year.

Currently, we can still influence the floor plans – which is why we would like to turn to you here. Due to the type of construction, a semi-detached house certainly does not allow as much creative freedom as some of the really great homes presented and planned here in the forum – but perhaps some of you have clever ideas or points we haven’t thought of yet.

The points we are currently unsure about are:

1.) Entrance Area
It’s not huge, but as currently planned, it is large enough for a coat area, shoes, and some space to move around. We also considered moving the bathroom forward to have its own window, but according to the builder, this is not so easy to implement. The builder recommends extending the bathroom all the way to the front (due to the plumbing), which would then be too large (and unnecessary) for us.

2.) Open vs. Closed Kitchen
A fundamental question... 🤨
Since the stairwell is also open to the living room, you’d probably have to get used to keeping the bedroom door closed to prevent cooking odors from spreading. We also thought about extending the entrance area up to the stairs (so that the stairs are closed off), but then you lose a lot of open space on the ground floor.
With a closed kitchen, we would lose a lot of natural light since windows are planned only at the front-left side of the kitchen and at the terrace.

3.) Upstairs Bathroom
What do you think about the bathroom layout? Would you keep it as is, or would a redesign make sense? I’ve also seen nice “T-shaped” solutions in this forum. A walk-in shower is currently planned, fully tiled. As a partition towards the center of the room, we will probably have a glass panel installed as an alternative. A double sink basin is definitely a must-have.

Of course, there are many other small considerations, but these are the main “big points” for now… and maybe you have some fundamental ideas. 🙂

Thanks in advance!

Best regards
Gatho

Basement: choose the cellar windows as large as possible and equip them with mouse-proof fly screens 😉

Ground floor: I would design the kitchen as a double-row layout – this offers the best value for money 🙂 with an extra-deep countertop of about 75-80 cm (30-32 inches), plus an aisle width of approximately 100-120 cm (39-47 inches) and the depth of the tall cabinets, resulting in a room width of 240-260 cm (94-102 inches).

Move the living area to the right side of the plan to create more open circulation paths.

I would place the washing machine and dryer on the upper floor, since most laundry is generated there and needs to be managed nearby – this saves a lot of daily running back and forth, and when sorting, folding, or ironing laundry, you stay close to the children.

On the ground floor, a small storage space is missing for 1-2 cases of water, vacuum cleaner, etc.

Every visitor the children have can see them – can see you.

@Nofret
Thanks for the tips. 🙂

Basement windows:
Why make them as large as possible?

Kitchen:
We actually wanted to design it as a U-shape, just like planned in the pictures.

@tomtom79
I had also thought about the storage space. I haven’t come up with a really good solution for that yet. Maybe we’ll consider including water supply in the kitchen. Otherwise, the small basement room and the storage room on the upper floor will probably have to serve as storage areas.

Regarding the visit:
Yes, exactly—that’s one point we’re unsure about. This was also what I meant under "1.)"... Either one large open room but with through traffic, or a clearly separated space but smaller. 🙂 Difficult...

Best regards
Gatho

You won’t have to live with through traffic for six hours a day. With small children, this won’t be an issue, and when they become teenagers, you will be at an age where they want to go out and have their own space. Occasionally, the large room will be used for parties, and whether you’re invited or sent to the cinema depends on your parenting style and how open your kids are – or if you get to make yourselves comfortable in the bedroom 😉

Don’t always make things more complicated than they are. However, I would place the sofa along the long solid wall, so the mail carrier won’t be looking straight at the lounging area 🙂

Basement: large windows allow for better ventilation and provide some natural light downstairs—at least during the day—which I find pleasant. You might want to use the room as a craft or hobby room at some point 😉 Enlarging the window later is disproportionately expensive.