ᐅ What features did you include in your house, and what did you decide to leave out?

I won’t receive my kitchen until the end of October, so I can’t comment on the Bora solution yet, but visually, there is nothing better available at this price.

We have had the Bora Professional on our kitchen island for 6 months. We would choose it again. Fat collects in the tray with every frying – it works really well.

The rotary knobs are also very convenient in terms of handling.

We built a very small house since we are and will remain childless. Therefore, it is a home designed for two people, created with cost-efficiency in mind but without compromising quality. The house would also be suitable for a family with one child.

Features:
- KFW-70 energy standard
- Controlled residential ventilation with heat recovery
- Thermal solar system
- 110 sqm (1,184 sq ft) of living space with 135 sqm (1,452 sq ft) of usable space plus about 40 sqm (430 sq ft) of storage under the roof
- Roof overhang above the front door
- Spacious hallway area, cozy open living/dining/kitchen area
- Large bathroom with generously sized shower, rain shower, thermostatic faucet, and a large bathtub
- Large double casement window in the bathroom (stargazing while bathing)
- Double casement window in the stairwell providing daylight to the upstairs hallway, staircase, and ground floor hallway
- Staircase widened by a well-lit open space
- Guest bathroom with shower and urinal (the guest bathroom has proven very practical!)
- Small pantry in the hallway
- Comparatively large glazed terrace area
- Fireplace
- Room air-independent wood stove
- Floor plan adapted to personal lifestyle habits
- 500 sqm (0.12 acre) plot (expensive here), located directly next to a nature reserve, 5 minutes by car to the city, 10 minutes by bus
- Two terraces (one attached to the house, about 50 sqm (540 sq ft), the other separate, at the edge of the nature reserve)
- Attic with electrical setup as a basement alternative, including an electric motor winch for easy and trouble-free transport of items upstairs
- Ample electrical installations inside and outside the house and in the garden, including three-phase power preparation (for electric car)
- Basic home automation
- Roller shutters almost everywhere (only two small windows in the guest bathroom and utility room did not fit them)
- Preparation for roller shutter electrification (switches, wiring), only the motors still need to be purchased and installed later (too expensive initially from the factory)

Dropped due to additional building costs during construction:
- Carport (in hindsight not a problem, as the cars park between the north wall and a natural hedge, providing protection so that hardly any extra effort is needed for ice removal; the family car also has a parking heater)
- Garden shed (to be built in 2016 after the preferred model was found)
- Outdoor landscaping: ongoing, funded from cash flow and mainly as DIY, progressing very well

Consciously omitted:
- Basement, due to expected costs. Fortunately, there is Bergish slate under the house; foundation cost increases for basements in the neighborhood were sometimes staggering
- Air-to-water heat pump, because I don’t think it’s cost-effective and I wanted a gas connection anyway
- Underfloor heating, simply because we know it and both don’t like it (surprisingly, thanks to good insulation under the screed, the ground floor floor maintains about room temperature minus 0.5°C (measured with an IR thermometer))
- Floor-level showers. They were too expensive, and I considered the risk too high in a prefab house
- Separate walk-in closet – the bedroom is large enough
- New house and new kitchen: the old kitchen was completely remodeled and installed by a friend and me in 3 days

What’s next:
- Photovoltaic system (2016)
- Garage instead of a carport, on the opposite side of the planned carport (maybe someday)
- Driveway surface with paving slabs (the driveway is compacted, usable up to 40 tons, currently covered with gravel; the city must first convert the construction road to a street, maybe in 2016)

So, nothing extraordinary. Regardless, we are very happy with our small house.

Thorsten

T21150 schrieb:


- Attic space with electrical setup as a basement substitute with electric motor winch for easy and hassle-free transport of items up there

I really like this idea. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself. Since I often have to carry heavy things up the ladder to the chicken coop (for example, yesterday I moved parts of a playhouse wall), something like this would definitely make the work easier. I need to check if and how I can implement something like this (our access hatch is not centered under the roof rafters). Luckily, my father is visiting right now (an engineer with a lot of practical skills). Maybe we can manage it with a pulley system.

f-pNo schrieb:
I really like this idea. I just didn’t think of it myself.

Thank you! Glad to hear that.

The winch itself costs almost nothing… Let’s say around 100-150 euros.

I didn’t come up with the idea immediately either. I had bought the winch to use—with the help of drywall installation—to lift very heavy Fermacell and plasterboard panels up to the upper floor. Once that job was done, the winch wasn’t needed anymore, and one night the idea of using it for the attic came to me…

Now, around the hatch, there are two rafters that could work. Mounting it on rafter number 1 didn’t work… so I reinstalled the winch before the move. Now it works perfectly without a pulley.

Often my wife is working when I have time off. Then I want to bring things in or out of the basement replacement space—whether garden furniture, umbrellas, other items like wet-dry vacuum cleaners, or similar. Of course, also suitcases when I travel. My diving gear (which is heavy!).

With the winch, I can manage all of this on my own. And during the move: pulling all the furniture (old stuff for storage) up—no problem at all.

Minimal investment. High and lasting effect. Significantly increases the usability of the attic as a basement substitute.

Best regards
Thorsten

T21150 schrieb:
Whether it’s garden furniture, umbrellas, or other items like wet-dry vacuums or similar.

I’m also thinking of things like garden furniture or possibly a bicycle during the winter. So far, I have always planned to store these in the garden shed.

Additionally, I can easily pull up the “can’t part with the kids’ clothes boxes.”

Or in spring, safely lower down the wooden parts of the playhouse we bought and dismantled last week (a friend designed and built it with good-quality materials and sold it to us after moving away six months later).

It might also be useful to build some kind of slide that stays in the attic and can be attached to the wooden stairs when needed, making it easier to carry items up and down without catching on the steps.