Basement yes or no with a large building window?

Basement or not?
Hello,
we are currently planning our single-family house.
As with many, the question arises whether to have a basement or not.
Our plot has 380 sqm
Floor space index (Grundflächenzahl) 0.4
2 full floors allowed
Our architect and builder advise us to forgo the basement.
Reasons:
1.) Building window is quite large. 12.9m x 14m
2.) Rather use the attic instead of the basement (eaves and ridge height will be observed)
At first, we wanted a house with 140 sqm living space (70 per floor) and a living basement (also 70 sqm).
Additionally, a standard garage. (1 parking space)
To save costs, we are now planning as follows:
House with 8x12 m footprint. This results, after subtracting the exterior wall thickness, in a living area of about 80 sqm per floor.
In total, therefore, 160 sqm living space. (20 more than in the originally planned variant) plus a double garage 6x9 m.
In the roof, we would have 30 cm knee wall.

We feel we would have the same area as with a basement. However, we would have an office and pantry on the ground floor (not, as originally planned, in the basement) as well as a garage with an adjacent heating room.

What do you think of the idea?
Basically, we are shifting our space requirements above ground.
Many build a basement because the building window has higher restrictions than in our case.
Has anyone built something similar?

Hello,

whether to build with or without a basement depends, in my opinion, on the following factors:

- Personal preference
- Size of the property
- Location of the property
- Available budget

Our key data are relatively similar to yours:

- Property size 369 sqm
- Ground area of the house approx. 9 m x 11 m

Since our property is slightly on a slope (2.2 m height difference over 25 m), it was clear to us from the start that a basement should be built under the house.

This primarily has the advantage that all of our house technology is located in the basement and we don’t hear anything from the heating, washing machine, dryer, etc., in the main living areas.

However, we have also converted part of our basement into living space (guest room), which brought additional requirements from the building authority:

1. Escape window in the basement
2. A light well suitable as an escape route with a maximum 45° slope.

With your 380 sqm property, with a house area of 8 m x 12 m and a garage of 6 m x 9 m, 230 sqm remain. After subtracting terrace, driveway, and front garden, there’s not really much space left around the house. It’s the same for us, but it should be considered—those 20 sqm more or less of garden could make a difference.

Personally, I would not build without a basement, but that, like so many things, is a matter of taste.

Regards,

Dirk

Hi Dirk,

thank you very much for your feedback.
Our plot is level. As of today, our plot is 80 cm below street level.

If we build 8*12, we would have about 9 m depth and approximately 14 m width from our house to the end of the plot. Not much but enough for us as garden/terrace space. Better than any apartment.
I am a bit worried that the costs for a basement living area will skyrocket.
The perfect solution certainly never exists.
Even if we build with a basement, the minimum width is 8 m. Even with a basement, we hardly get more usable garden space.

It also depends on the items you need to store. We are building without a basement, BUT we also have an almost 1000 sqm plot of land, so we can create enough storage space outside the house. In addition, we don't have a hobby that requires excessive storage space. The only things are the paintball clothes (which go to the attic) and the markers (which go on the wall). Everything for the garden goes into a small garden shed and all tools go into the garage. Keep in mind that you probably don't want to climb up to the attic for items you use regularly. Whether the storage spaces in your house are sufficient, we can only roughly assess once we have seen the plans.

I'm a bit worried that the costs for a basement living area will skyrocket.

You are probably right about that - a basement living area costs a lot of money - we had an additional charge of around EUR 20,000.00 for the construction company's services for the "upgrade" from a utility basement to a living basement...

This included the increase in ceiling height, underfloor heating in the guest room and hallway, the emergency window in the guest room, a complete plaster installation (except in the technical room), flooring in the hallway, interior doors, wallpaper and paint in the hallway.

We wallpapered, painted, and laid laminate flooring ourselves in the remaining rooms (hobby room, cellar, guest room) - which also cost a bit of money.

As already wrote, the storage space in the basement is very valuable to us.

For example, I wouldn’t feel like having to lug our garden furniture twice a year through the narrow hatch to the attic. You also can’t necessarily store everything in the garage – due to condensation and the spreading of salt during winter, some things rot there faster than desired...

Regards,

Dirk

Access to the attic would be a normal staircase. No roof hatch. I agree with you on that. I wouldn't be up for that.