Build a house with a knee wall 75cm high or two full stories? Your opinion?

So I just checked the plan again and it talks about full stories. II are allowed. Unfortunately, I can't upload the photo right now. But the companies we have spoken to so far have always confirmed it that way. In the same municipality, a new development area was recently developed with houses in the Tuscan style, etc. Most with 2 full stories. Oh, we don't have exact dimensions yet, but it will be about 11x9m. A single-family house. Ok then, our pros and cons. Regarding the 2 full stories: - may look a bit like a two-family house – so very bulky - on the upper floor you can arrange the furniture however you want as there are no slants. Regarding the knee wall house - looks more delicate - it will be somewhat cheaper - the attic might be more usable - you have slants upstairs with which you have to deal more. I hope I haven't forgotten anything. When asking, I'm also somewhat interested in your experiences regarding the attic and experiences with the 75cm knee wall and arranging the furniture. Regarding the use of the attic, I already wrote above that moving boxes are supposed to go up there. That’s the approximate size. We want to get up there only with a pull-out ladder. Best regards

As I said, there are no full floors anymore in Bavaria.

What do you mean by that? In our development plan from 12.10.2015, for example, under the section 2.2 Number of full floors it states: "For WA1, the number of full floors is set to at least II and at most III. ..." Does that mean that the development plan contains a formal error and is therefore void?

If you plan the utility room and office on the ground floor, you have a large floor area. On the upper floor, however, it will be less. If you were to build with a pitched roof and KS, you would do well in this regard. You can nicely build up or brace the slopes so that the inner KS is higher. Then you are more flexible with the furniture. I would plan in this direction. You can also use the knee walls well for storage. It is more practical to go behind a cupboard on the upper floor where storage space is located than to operate a wobbly attic ladder. You can make very good use of the "space" in the roof slope; you can even integrate cupboards there. And where they are open, a room feels cozier. For me, clearly: pitched roof!

Hello, according to the development plan we are allowed to build either a house with a knee wall up to 75cm or 2 full floors.

This seems nonsensical to me – is that really supposed to apply to the same area in the development plan? Developers who provide knee walls of such "height" should, in my opinion, be driven through the market square in the pillory. A knee wall that does not fully substitute a dwarf wall is folly. According to general popular opinion, 1 m is a practical height measure, so a knee wall of 75 cm still suggests a dwarf wall, the depth of which would then, however, be pointless here as a sloping wall.

- House with 2 full floors, gable roof with approx. 22-degree roof pitch [...] Therefore, a house in Tuscan style is rather ruled out.

"Tuscan style" means that bays are roofed at an angle; I do not see 22° pitch excluded by that, merely a tent roof would then be more typical instead of a gable roof. A tent roof fits a square floor plan better, a gable "requires" a clear house axis (in ridge direction), to my mind at least 5:4 as a rectangle.

Regarding the 2 full floors: - might possibly look somewhat like a two-family house – thus very bulky

The two-family house association is easy to avoid – that is regulated by the window distribution.

Unfortunately, it is indeed the case that you are allowed to build a maximum of 75 cm and then only 2 full floors again - there is nothing in between. These 75 cm knee walls with a 45-degree roof pitch are characteristic for [Franken]...

Well, whether that's really so Franconian if many builders insert urban villas in between? You can sensibly build a pre-wall in the bathroom. In bedrooms, you have to be a fan of built-in closets or bookshelves (or find it nice if the knee wall hangs low). I would probably lean towards a two-story house here.