ᐅ Is it practical to have upper floor windows starting as low as 0.8 meters up to about 1.62 meters?

Hello,
we are planning to build and have received a design from our preferred builder. This is now the third version after some changes. Initially, we got a design for a gable roof, which we had not requested. Now we want a staggered shed roof and have received the plans for this.

The ground floor is great, and the layout upstairs is also very good, with one caveat: in three rooms (along the long side walls), the sloped ceiling starts at about 2.20 m (7 ft 3 in). Because of this, the windows have to start at 0.8 m (2 ft 7 in) room height and are rather short (up to 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) room height), partly due to the roller shutter box height of 0.23 m (9 in), but they might be somewhat wider instead. At first, this limitation didn’t seem like a big issue, but after measuring at home with a tape measure, we have some doubts. What do you think? Does anyone have experience with this?

I am 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) tall, so when I look outside, I’m always looking toward the roller shutter box (which must stay; otherwise, we would gain about 20 cm (8 in)) or the wall. (This concerns the office and children’s rooms.)

Any ideas, suggestions, experiences?
Thanks in advance
Trunky

Hello Trunky,
I like the ribbon windows, and we also initially planned to install a floor-to-ceiling ribbon window instead of a roof window in the gallery area with a knee wall height of 130cm (51 inches) — also a staggered shed roof, long side. However, it should be noted that because of the slope, you can’t stand directly in front of the window but only about 2 meters (6.5 feet) away...
I would recommend checking whether this will be a window you can look through or if it is mainly for daylighting. If a desk fits in front of the window, you will probably be looking through it while seated and from a greater distance.
In the children’s room, the depth even works to your advantage.
You can also sketch the cross-section showing what will be visible: the window height relative to the distance from the viewer and their eye level.
Otherwise, check if roller shutters (roller blinds) are necessary for these windows.

ypg schrieb:
If the desk fits in front of this window, you will probably be able to look through it while seated and from a greater distance.

A silly question: why install floor-to-ceiling windows if you then place furniture like a desk in front of them?
And if a teenager is sitting at the desk wearing a short skirt, the neighbors might enjoy the view.

If there are no radiators under the windows anymore, floor-to-ceiling windows take up the wall space.
I don’t understand this trend.

@Musketier, this is not about floor-to-ceiling windows, but about "lowered" ribbon windows.

I’m already aware of that. A height of 80cm (31.5 inches) is more like the top edge of a desk. That works.

However, I’ve also been in a show home where every single wall in the children’s room was covered or occupied by something (window with radiator, door, sloping roof). And the only side where you could have placed a desk had a floor-to-ceiling window. Well, great.

Back to the topic:
I’ve never dealt with half-hip roofs, but is it possible to raise the knee wall a bit, or would that spoil the exterior appearance?

With a staggered shed roof, you have two different knee walls. In this case, I think it concerns the higher knee wall. If this is raised, you would likely end up with a full second story instead of remaining within a half story (one-third rule).

The proportion between the two shed roofs should also be correct. If the higher one becomes even taller, the offset will no longer look good because it becomes too large.