ᐅ Single-family home, 1.5 stories, gable roof – looking forward to your feedback! :)

Hello everyone,

we are currently planning our single-family home and would appreciate feedback on the floor plan! Here are the initial details:

Development Plan / Restrictions:

• Plot size: 1581m³ (55,795 ft³)
• Slope: nine
• Site coverage ratio: no development plan; § 34 Federal Building Code (inner area)
• Floor area ratio: no development plan; § 34 Federal Building Code (inner area)
• Building envelope, building line and boundary: see drawing (building plot from supplementary statute)
• Number of parking spaces: 2

Owners’ Requirements

• Style: classic single-family home with pitched roof
• Basement: no, number of floors: 1.5
• Number of occupants, ages: 3 (32, 29, 1) plus dog
• Ground floor room requirements: open kitchen-living area, pantry, study/guest room, WC (optionally shower toilet), hallway, utility room
• Upper floor: 2 children’s bedrooms, master bedroom, family bathroom, corridor
• Office: family use and home office
• Annual number of overnight guests: 10
• (In addition to the house, there is an insulated, heated tiny house with running water and dry separation toilet)
• Open or closed layout: living room and kitchen are open, otherwise rather classic
• Conservative or modern construction: rather conservative
• Open kitchen, kitchen island: yes
• Number of dining seats: 6–8 persons
• Fireplace: yes (convenient access to firewood)
• Music / stereo wall: no
• Balcony, roof terrace: no
• Garage, carport: carport
• Utility garden, greenhouse: no
• Notes: no separate dressing room desired, no separate master bathroom needed

House Design

• Designer: architect based on our draft
• What do you especially like? Why? Practicality and orientation of the living area to the south; little hallway space
• What do you not like? Why? Possibly too little storage space, possibly too little room for hobbies; layout of the upper floor bathroom
• Price estimate from architect/planner: pending; approx. 330k
• Personal budget for the house including fittings: €350,000–€400,000 (without furnishings); some self-work planned (depending on contractor and offer), including building services
• Preferred heating system: air-to-water heat pump plus fireplace; possibly fireplace with water circuit (increased space requirement!)

If you have to give up, which details/extensions

• Can give up: cloakroom if integrated into stairs; smart home features
• Cannot give up: already very lean

Why the design is as it is:
Affordable home ownership for a small family. Solid network of craftsmen available.

Bruns schrieb:
water-bearing fireplace

Please ignore. This was no longer really an issue with the floor plan.

Additional information:

• Roof pitch 38°
• Knee wall 1m (3 ft 3 in)

Bruns schrieb:
Fireplace: yes (easy access to firewood)

If you truly love having a fire or money is not an issue, then go for the fireplace.

Otherwise, I strongly recommend reconsidering it.

For several reasons:
1. A fireplace is expensive! It costs a lot to install. It takes up space (and space inside the house is also costly). Then there are ongoing annual costs, albeit relatively low. And unless you source the wood from your own forest, you still won’t match the energy costs of an air-to-water heat pump.

2. The combination of a very well-insulated house (KFW 55 standard is more than sufficient), slow-responding underfloor heating, and a fireplace very quickly leads to overheating. You have to like that kind of warmth or manage it very carefully. I know many people in my circle who installed a fireplace in their new build. Only a few actually use it regularly. For the rest, it just collects dust and eats up the annual chimney sweeping costs.

Bruns schrieb:
Guests per year: 10
(In addition to the main house, there is an insulated, heated tiny house available with running water and a dry-separation toilet)

Do the guests stay in the tiny house? What purpose does the tiny house serve?

Regarding the floor plan:
Ground floor:
- The pantry offers less storage space than simply installing kitchen cabinets around the corner on the walls would. I would remove it entirely if the room layout stays the same.
- I’m not completely happy with the ground floor layout. When entering, you have to walk past the utility room to reach the cloakroom. There is only some storage space under the stairs, for example, for a stroller. Swapping the cloakroom/guest toilet with the utility room likely won’t work due to house connections. I would consider turning the utility room into the guest room, moving cloakroom + WC downward, and placing the guest room in the current cloakroom/WC area. None of this is ideal, but it’s worth thinking about. This would also allow you to carve out some space from the utility room if you really want a pantry, making it more reasonably sized.

Upper floor:
- I never like it when you come up the stairs and face a wall. Maybe consider installing a door there?
- With the current plan, the hallway on the upper floor might be completely dark. I would consider a large window near the stairs.
- The bathroom layout could, I believe, be improved. It manages to be quite large while having awkward walking paths.
- Bedrooms with different sizes can lead to conflicts.
- I think there is a lack of storage space upstairs for everyday items: cleaning supplies, vacuum cleaners, etc. A 1.5m² (16 sq ft) closet on the upper floor would be very valuable.
- On the plus side, both children’s bedrooms have west-facing windows.

Unlike for the ground floor, I don’t yet have any concrete ideas to improve the upper floor. I’ll sleep on it.

Thank you for your feedback!

Papierturm schrieb:
Do people sleep in the tiny house? What role does the tiny house play?

The tiny house basically serves as an extra small guest apartment when there are many overnight guests at once.

Papierturm schrieb:
The pantry offers less storage space than if kitchen cabinets had simply been installed around the corner on the wall. I would completely remove it if the room layout stays the same.

We chose the small pantry instead of a cupboard to have the option to keep it cooler. That’s also why there is a small window, which in turn does reduce some storage space.

Papierturm schrieb:
I’m not entirely happy with the layout on the ground floor. You enter and first must pass the utility room with your things to get to the cloakroom.

We also see room for improvement there. We tried moving the staircase to the right (to the wall of the utility room) and arranged the cloakroom plus WC north (below) of the then wider guest room. We like it better personally, but then the fireplace causes issues. We’ll keep working on it and post another floor plan later.

Papierturm schrieb:
I think the bathroom layout could be designed more nicely

I agree. The room should allow for better layouts. We’ll have to revisit that.

Papierturm schrieb:
I would consider a large window by the staircase.

Noted.

Thanks and best regards

Is there a zoning plan? Please upload a site plan with dimensions. It is also helpful to know about the surrounding buildings.

Hardly possible to build for 300k.

Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to make corrections. Please disregard post #5.

Could you please show us the bylaws?

Where is the house supposed to be located?