Oh, the more you think about it, the more ideas come up.
One of the rooms in the house we bought has a very low knee wall. Of course, we didn’t overlook that; it bothered us from the beginning, but you never find a 100% perfect property.
The room itself is only 11 sqm (118 sq ft), so its use is naturally quite limited. Because the slant of the roof starts so low, the room feels somewhat cramped and dark.
Our basic idea is to install a Velux roof window. This wouldn’t change the knee wall, but it would bring in natural light; the view is also very nice, and a brighter room immediately feels larger and less confined.
As an alternative, we are considering whether it might be possible to raise the knee wall through some structural modification. We have an appointment in two weeks regarding the roof windows, and we want to discuss this idea then, but we would appreciate an independent opinion here beforehand.
I will try to attach a photo of the room shortly.
One of the rooms in the house we bought has a very low knee wall. Of course, we didn’t overlook that; it bothered us from the beginning, but you never find a 100% perfect property.
The room itself is only 11 sqm (118 sq ft), so its use is naturally quite limited. Because the slant of the roof starts so low, the room feels somewhat cramped and dark.
Our basic idea is to install a Velux roof window. This wouldn’t change the knee wall, but it would bring in natural light; the view is also very nice, and a brighter room immediately feels larger and less confined.
As an alternative, we are considering whether it might be possible to raise the knee wall through some structural modification. We have an appointment in two weeks regarding the roof windows, and we want to discuss this idea then, but we would appreciate an independent opinion here beforehand.
I will try to attach a photo of the room shortly.
Raising the knee wall would mean lifting the roof structure, which is practically equivalent to rebuilding the entire roof frame. In this case, such an intervention would likely be disproportionate. Alternatively, you could build a new dwarf wall in front of the existing knee wall, visually extending it into the room until the desired height is reached. However, this results in a loss of floor area, which in your case is not an option. The remaining possibility is the roof window or a more fundamental reconsideration of an attic conversion or roof reconstruction if there are additional requirements for using the attic space.
Thank you for your quick reply.
Let’s put it this way: we would have preferred the knee wall on the upper floor to be higher overall, but that was a compromise we accepted because other factors were more important. The other two bedrooms on the upper floor are larger in terms of floor area, and in those rooms there is a kind of storage space built in front of the knee wall—I think this is what you mean. This provides storage, and since those rooms are larger in terms of floor area, it’s a good solution. Of course, this is not an option for the smaller room.
Another possibility would be to install a relatively wide dormer... we also want to get some advice on that. It would certainly cost more than a roof window at first, but it would also create more space...
Let’s put it this way: we would have preferred the knee wall on the upper floor to be higher overall, but that was a compromise we accepted because other factors were more important. The other two bedrooms on the upper floor are larger in terms of floor area, and in those rooms there is a kind of storage space built in front of the knee wall—I think this is what you mean. This provides storage, and since those rooms are larger in terms of floor area, it’s a good solution. Of course, this is not an option for the smaller room.
Another possibility would be to install a relatively wide dormer... we also want to get some advice on that. It would certainly cost more than a roof window at first, but it would also create more space...
wpic schrieb:
Raising the knee wall [...] Alternatively: building a new dwarf wall in front of the knee wallI believe there is a bit of confusion with terminology here: in professional circles, the terms are used distinctly. The knee wall refers to a masonry extension of the exterior wall to raise the bottom chord of the roof truss above the attic floor level; the dwarf wall, on the other hand, is the interior wall built forward of the knee wall, creating a storage space called a knee wall compartment behind it.
In technical language, the knee wall is what you build to avoid having a dwarf wall.
In everyday usage, however, these two terms are often used interchangeably—reinforced by the fact that different regions sometimes use them to mean the same thing (similar to butcher vs. meat cutter, for example).
This often leads to misunderstandings. It seems to me that in this case, a dwarf wall was meant rather than raising the roof structure.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
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.. and I believe we are moving on to the next stage here:
... my guess is that you mean a cross gable (it looks like a dormer but is located on the front side aligned with the exterior wall; it typically has no roof overhang in front; and it usually has a gable, whereas dormers often fit under lean-to roofs).
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Mizit schrieb:
An option would also be to install a relatively wide dormer... we plan to get advice on this as well. It would certainly cost more initially than a roof window, but it would also create more space...
... my guess is that you mean a cross gable (it looks like a dormer but is located on the front side aligned with the exterior wall; it typically has no roof overhang in front; and it usually has a gable, whereas dormers often fit under lean-to roofs).
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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