ᐅ Your ideas and suggestions for improvements to our semi-detached house

Just try drawing it! You will see that you can’t implement your ideas exactly as you imagined because walls take up space... or do you want rooms where you can’t even turn around? Why doesn’t that make sense to you? The staircase has already been mentioned, too...

With all due respect, I agree with ypg. This really should be drawn to scale, using graph paper with millimeter (mm) grids. The interior doors are only minor obstacles compared to the front door, and if the dining area is about 3 meters (10 feet) wide, that leaves around 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) for the living room. The furniture shown would not have nearly that much space in reality.

An open floor plan like this is a matter of taste, but at least a vestibule door is practical to prevent the whole house from cooling down in winter whenever someone enters. The staircase as shown is not suitable.

As a very rough sketch, it’s okay, but not more than that.

Hello,

Alex80 schrieb:

@Bauexperte. Thanks as always. I had read your tips in older posts and thought, asking doesn’t cost anything :-) I’m also always grateful for suggestions, after all, what’s the worst that can happen? I’m not trying to convince anyone how great our idea is, just want to polish the details through exchange. 🙄

It’s less about convincing someone. More about the fact that one person—in this case me again—has to play the bad guy. I attached a ground floor plan 8.00 m x 10.50 m (26 ft 3 in x 34 ft 5 in); you can already see that your ideas for the entrance don’t work. Even here, the utility room is actually too small—I know what people put in there nowadays; it was really a matter of centimeters. And this semi-detached house is planned for 2 people; no more will be added :-)

If you want to realize your desired layout, you need a minimum width of 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in).

Alex80 schrieb:

Unfortunately, I don’t know what I’m supposed to understand by "beam".

Somewhere the weight of the upper floor has to be supported; this is quite difficult if there is no wall on the ground floor. Therefore, a beam—visible or concealed—must be installed to carry the load of the upper floor. The structural engineer will explain that to you soon enough :-)

Regards, Bauexperte

Alex80 schrieb:
Hello ypg. I don’t understand. What won’t work? Do you mean we will have too many interior walls? Regards

It’s not the number of interior walls, but their thickness. You planned the pantry to be 1 × 2 meters (3.3 × 6.6 feet). However, you have to subtract at least 30 cm (2 × 15 cm) (about 12 inches) from each side. That means you don’t have 2 sqm (21.5 sq ft) of pantry space anymore, but only 1.19 sqm (12.8 sq ft)! That is a huge difference and won’t work like that.

You also can’t just draw it 50 cm (about 20 inches) larger because it “roughly fits.” Walls make rooms narrower. It’s just how it is.

For those without background knowledge (structural engineering) and a basic plan sketch:

40cm (16 inches) exterior wall
60cm (24 inches) kitchen unit
120cm (47 inches) workspace
100cm (39 inches) deep counter corner
120cm (47 inches) passage
15cm (6 inches) wall
100cm (39 inches) room (cloakroom, pantry)
15cm (6 inches) wall
160cm (63 inches) corridor
15cm (6 inches) wall
130cm (51 inches) toilet
15cm (6 inches) wall
150cm (59 inches) utility room niche width
40cm (16 inches) exterior wall

= 10.80 meters (35.4 feet) total width for the house frontage

… as building experts and Jaydee have already mentioned…

@ Bauexperte and ypg and others. Thanks a lot. This sketch was just a rough draft—I had to start somewhere. But now, through your contributions, we are getting closer to the right room and house sizes. This means we will probably have to rethink the plan, possibly consider a side entrance...

We will only be able to build approximately 8 x 11 m (26 x 36 ft), and if I stick to the preferred rooms, it will be tight—I realize that now. Any ideas on how I could solve this differently? 😕