Closing airspace after a few years - costs? Structural integrity?

Hello dear ones,

I have a purely informational question. We are "shortly" before building a semi-detached house. Unfortunately, we do not yet know whether we will get the north or south side. Now I would like to know: For example, if it should be the north side, can I convert an air space into a separate children's bathroom in 10 years? The main bathroom would be right next door upstairs and the kitchen would be practically under the air space. At the moment we have a toddler who would hardly benefit from having their own bathroom, and if they could use it, it would be outdated again. But if we do it in 10 years, I think the joy would be particularly great, and until then we could benefit from light in the upper floor hallway and on the ground floor. Now the question is whether this is so easily doable or whether it would change a lot in terms of the statics and possibly the pipework. How expensive would something like that be? Is it even worth it or should one initially close the air space directly and first enlarge the utility room/laundry room and maybe later divide it for an extra bathroom?

Thanks in advance,

I don't really see any airspace with you. But of course, bathrooms can also be "pre-installed only".

Hi. An architect could probably plan it so that you can close/connect the area later. In any case, I imagine it to be very complicated to do something like that afterward and it’s definitely not a clean job. You will be living on a construction site again for a few weeks (months?). Personally, I would close it now and run all the pipes/electrical lines. At some point (in 10 years), the tiles and such will go in. Until then, you can use it as a storage room or something. Doing it afterward will also be significantly more expensive than doing it now. You can do the tiles and such yourself... you have 10 years to practice.

I don’t really see an airspace with you. But of course, bathrooms can also be “just pre-installed.”

yes - that would only be a small airspace instead of the kids’ bathroom - about 2x2 simply to have an additional window in the upper floor hallway and in the ground floor kitchen.

But if it’s really that expensive to close it off, then we will probably first make a large laundry room out of it. At least then I can also hang laundry, iron, etc.

Hi. An architect could probably plan it so that you can close/connect the area later. In any case, I imagine it would be very elaborate to do something like that afterward and definitely not a clean matter. You will be living on a construction site again for several weeks (months?). Personally, I would close it off now and pull all the pipes/electric cables. Eventually (in 10 years), the tiles and such will go in. Until then, you can use it as a storage room or something. Afterwards, it will also be significantly more expensive than if you do it now. You can do the tiles and stuff yourself... you then have 10 years to practice

yes, exactly what I feared. Thanks