ᐅ Single-family house without a basement – creating additional usable space elsewhere
Created on: 26 Mar 2018 14:43
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EnnoBecker
Hello everyone,
We are building our single-family house without a basement with the following specifications:
Gable roof with a 45° pitch
Knee wall 1m (3.3 ft)
Living area: 148 m² (1,593 sq ft)
House dimensions: 8.95m x 11.32m (29.4 ft x 37.2 ft)
We want to compensate for the lack of storage space from the missing basement through the following measures:
I have questions regarding the following points:
1 - Attic:
This is a cold roof, meaning the floor between the upper floor and attic is insulated with mineral wool and has a vapor barrier in between.
The goal is to create more storage space. The attic is not intended to be used as living space.
For this purpose, I want to use tongue-and-groove boards, as these are vapor permeable compared to OSB panels and therefore prevent issues with rising moisture from the upper floor.
Questions:
The attached picture is provided as an example.
2 - Garage
The garage is planned to be 3.45m (11.3 ft) wide and 9m (29.5 ft) long. Inside the garage, a partition wall will be installed to separate the parking space from a storage area. Do you have recommendations for manufacturers or personal experience with this?
Thank you for your help.
Best regards,
Enno
We are building our single-family house without a basement with the following specifications:
Gable roof with a 45° pitch
Knee wall 1m (3.3 ft)
Living area: 148 m² (1,593 sq ft)
House dimensions: 8.95m x 11.32m (29.4 ft x 37.2 ft)
We want to compensate for the lack of storage space from the missing basement through the following measures:
- Make the attic accessible
- Build an extended single garage
- Build a spacious garden shed
I have questions regarding the following points:
1 - Attic:
This is a cold roof, meaning the floor between the upper floor and attic is insulated with mineral wool and has a vapor barrier in between.
The goal is to create more storage space. The attic is not intended to be used as living space.
For this purpose, I want to use tongue-and-groove boards, as these are vapor permeable compared to OSB panels and therefore prevent issues with rising moisture from the upper floor.
Questions:
- So far, a pull-down attic ladder is planned. My wife prefers a fixed space-saving staircase with a railing for easier access. In my view, this should be no problem as long as the access hatch to the attic remains insulated. Are there suitable solutions for this?
- We would also like to dry wet laundry in the attic. In our case, is this unproblematic? I believe the evaporated moisture could easily escape.
- What do you think, how much effectively usable floor area would this create?
- Do you have any personal experience with this?
The attached picture is provided as an example.
2 - Garage
The garage is planned to be 3.45m (11.3 ft) wide and 9m (29.5 ft) long. Inside the garage, a partition wall will be installed to separate the parking space from a storage area. Do you have recommendations for manufacturers or personal experience with this?
Thank you for your help.
Best regards,
Enno
H
hemali200327 Mar 2018 16:31Or simply have enough storage spaces in the house. Of course, that means higher costs, but many items need to be within easy reach.
We have an 18 sqm (194 sq ft) utility room – that sounds like a lot, but if you don’t have any other storage options (and we have garages, a separate workshop, a pantry, a storage closet upstairs, large cupboards in every room – and we’re not even collectors!) and you want to keep things reasonably tidy, it really isn’t that much!
You don’t necessarily need a basement… A utility room on the living level is also a very convenient feature. And having a pantry adjacent to the kitchen (instead of in the basement)…
We have an 18 sqm (194 sq ft) utility room – that sounds like a lot, but if you don’t have any other storage options (and we have garages, a separate workshop, a pantry, a storage closet upstairs, large cupboards in every room – and we’re not even collectors!) and you want to keep things reasonably tidy, it really isn’t that much!
You don’t necessarily need a basement… A utility room on the living level is also a very convenient feature. And having a pantry adjacent to the kitchen (instead of in the basement)…
Bookstar schrieb:
Definitely a double garage if possible, ideally 9x8m (30x26 feet), that way you can fit a lot in!! And the first prize in the Pyrrhic victory contest. Building an almost full basement above ground does not make it significantly cheaper—except perhaps in cases with high groundwater—and not even if you convince yourself that the car also fits inside. And at the very least, it consumes a lot of your site coverage allowance, assuming you are even allowed to build an outbuilding of that size (sometimes it’s limited to 50 sqm (540 sq ft), which I personally find reasonable—those small halls are dreadful).
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
K
Knallkörper27 Mar 2018 21:09Our house is 9 meters (30 feet) wide. We have a roof pitched at a 45-degree angle and a knee wall height of 1.2 meters (4 feet). The attic is exactly 4 meters (13 feet) wide, which provides 56 square meters (600 square feet) of storage space. We use it as a storage area and manage quite well with the pull-down ladder. It is only used about every six weeks.
The climate is cold in winter and warm in summer, but never humid or extremely hot. By the way, our garage is also never damp. Good ventilation is absolutely essential.
The climate is cold in winter and warm in summer, but never humid or extremely hot. By the way, our garage is also never damp. Good ventilation is absolutely essential.
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EnnoBecker28 Mar 2018 07:56Thanks for your additional feedback.
We deliberately decided against having a basement. Since we have high groundwater pressure, constructing one would be considerably more expensive. On top of that, the additional ancillary building costs due to earthworks, etc., are significantly higher. Of course, we also need to invest money to create usable space elsewhere – but overall, it is still much cheaper than building a basement.
We prefer to invest above ground and don’t want to cut corners on floor coverings, kitchen, and so on, rather than constructing a basement and limiting ourselves.
Regarding your suggestions to add extra insulation to the roof:
The planned design as a cold roof means that the ceiling between the upper floor and the attic will be insulated. This means mineral wool will be installed on the attic side of the ceiling with a vapor barrier in between.
Would it be technically possible to also add insulation between the rafters (such as Rockwool or similar)? The purpose would be to reduce temperature fluctuations between winter and summer and to increase the usability of the storage space.
My only concern is that moisture might not be able to escape, which could lead to mold problems, etc.
Does anyone here have experience with insulated ceilings in the attic combined with rafter insulation?
We deliberately decided against having a basement. Since we have high groundwater pressure, constructing one would be considerably more expensive. On top of that, the additional ancillary building costs due to earthworks, etc., are significantly higher. Of course, we also need to invest money to create usable space elsewhere – but overall, it is still much cheaper than building a basement.
We prefer to invest above ground and don’t want to cut corners on floor coverings, kitchen, and so on, rather than constructing a basement and limiting ourselves.
Regarding your suggestions to add extra insulation to the roof:
The planned design as a cold roof means that the ceiling between the upper floor and the attic will be insulated. This means mineral wool will be installed on the attic side of the ceiling with a vapor barrier in between.
Would it be technically possible to also add insulation between the rafters (such as Rockwool or similar)? The purpose would be to reduce temperature fluctuations between winter and summer and to increase the usability of the storage space.
My only concern is that moisture might not be able to escape, which could lead to mold problems, etc.
Does anyone here have experience with insulated ceilings in the attic combined with rafter insulation?
H
hemali200328 Mar 2018 08:08My basic understanding: If you insulate, you also need heating and ventilation—otherwise, you’ll have problems with moisture.
Many people seem to get this wrong.
Our construction company also told us that you either build a proper warm roof (sealed, insulated, with controlled ventilation) or a proper cold roof (unheated, lightly ventilated, insulated only up to the heated area). There’s basically no in-between.
Many people seem to get this wrong.
Our construction company also told us that you either build a proper warm roof (sealed, insulated, with controlled ventilation) or a proper cold roof (unheated, lightly ventilated, insulated only up to the heated area). There’s basically no in-between.
I have no objections to insulating the attic floor from below and the roof surface, as nowadays insulation is commonly installed between the ground floor and the upper floor as well.
Insulation and "control over the indoor climate" generally go hand in hand. Even an uninsulated roof does not completely eliminate temperature differences between inside and outside. This means ventilation is necessary regardless.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
Insulation and "control over the indoor climate" generally go hand in hand. Even an uninsulated roof does not completely eliminate temperature differences between inside and outside. This means ventilation is necessary regardless.
https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/
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