Completion of the exploratory phase for the extension of a core-renovated single-family house

Dear forum readers,

we have bought a house, completely renovated it, and planned an extension. You were able to help us a lot with the floor plan for the renovation about a year ago. Since then, everything that can go wrong in construction has gone wrong – first the general contractor became insolvent, then some individual tradespeople, the walls are crooked, the tiles have already fallen off the wall after 3 months, and so on. But slowly we are getting things under control and want to tackle the extension again, which we had postponed because of the situation. We have a finished plan and building permit, but we are no longer sure whether this is really the perfect solution, and that’s why I’m asking for your honest opinion once again today.

The plan was developed in collaboration with an architect, and the floor plan was strongly influenced by you. I would leave the floor plan as it is, but with the house shape, the heights, and the windows, we find the current design somehow too "weak." We want an impressive, generous extension and not a shed slapped onto our house. And I’m afraid the current plan is more like the shed. But now to the facts and my questions.

First, here is the cadastral map:


- Extension of approx. 60 sqm living space (hatched area) to a bungalow that currently has 110 sqm of living space (the entire plot is approx. 800 sqm, so we are fully using the buildable area)
- The extension is on the north side, which due to the slope is about 2m lower than the very southern part of the house
- The street is to the south, the nice view to the north, so the view to the north is important to us; we want to bring additional light in through skylights

And here is the planned floor plan, which, as mentioned, we still like. However, where "guest" is currently marked, the bedroom will be located long-term in favor of a second child's room, where the bedroom is today. The study will then be combined with the guest room.



And here is the cross-section:


And here are my questions:
1. Roof shape: A 5-degree roof pitch is planned here, but we are worried that it won’t look good. Therefore, we tend to make the roof completely flat instead and raise the room on the north side accordingly (the south side is fixed by the existing building). What do you think?

2. Room height: At the moment, the plan foresees quite a bit of backfilling to raise the extension. This is firstly expensive (because it’s behind the house and hard to access), and secondly, you wouldn’t enter directly into the garden but would have to backfill further. Therefore, we are now considering lowering the extension and making the rooms higher instead. Everything up to approx. 4.50 m would be possible because we are limited in depth by the foundations of the existing house and in height by the current roof. How high would you make rooms of this size at most?

If we go for a room height of 4.50 m: what do you think of a gallery in the living room on the rear wall (i.e., on the side of the existing building) and a staircase down to the side? We don’t like the staircase as it is currently drawn, especially if it should have more than 3–5 steps. However, the gallery underneath would have only a maximum of 2 m standing height. Does that make sense?

How would you design the two side rooms and where would you place the doors?

3. Windows: The current plan has four French doors in the living room, 2.20 m high (up to below the ring beam) and 3.60 m wide. If we raise the room, we would probably also make the windows higher so that they always reach right below the ring beam, possibly with fixed glazing above the French doors. The idea is that we would also like to have the beautiful view to the north from the dining area.
The small skylight on the north as drawn actually makes no sense. Instead, we would put the skylight further south and then approx. 1.40 m wide at the same width as the doors.
What do you think about that?

I hope I have formulated everything understandably and provided all the information. I would be very happy to receive your thoughts and suggestions!

Best regards and many thanks in advance
Kerstin

An extension on a hip roof bungalow is always a bit tricky; for the hillside location, one can almost be grateful. Anything that doesn’t "untouched" drag along the north eaves side as planned would be damned complicated.

Therefore, I wouldn’t change anything essential about the section of the extension. I would only prefer, instead of the single row of roof windowlets, to install a winter garden-like glass band, also four rafter axes wide, but continuous up to the beam (the current north exterior wall).

The planned extension structure first looks cobbled together to me, and secondly: also height-wise, considered in sight lines, it doesn’t fit overall with the two steps lower viewed from the dining area; from there, you wouldn’t have any view from the roof windowlets.

I would find a master bedroom in the planned guest room poorly furnished, and also stomping through the living room to the bathroom in the morning wouldn’t be my dream. I rather think that the older child will gratefully accept this "retreat" outside of earshot of the parents’ bedroom. At the same time, it is a bit less remote than in the basement (I first read your previous thread).

quickly thrown together marked my changes:


fully grown conservatory roof planned on the same width section as the small panel windows; and the wall of the guest room pushed into line with that of the wardrobe

Hello 11ant,

we had already considered a conservatory construction, but unfortunately it is quite expensive, which is why we are currently thinking more about fixed-glazed plastic roof windows. But in any case, they should be larger than in the plan and flat, maybe even as large as you drew them, if that is possible.

I think the use of the guest/bedroom will sort itself out over time. The children are still very small (2 years and 3 months), so there is no hurry for their own room. Why would you align the wall with the wardrobe? I would prefer to have the space in the living room rather than in the guest room – or does that not work?

And how high would you make the rooms if everything between 2.50 and 4.50 is possible? Higher means more steps inside the house, but fewer steps to the terrace and less terrain modification/filling. This question is the one I am most concerned with at the moment.

Thank you very much!
Kerba

And how high would you make the rooms if everything from 2.50 to 4.50 is possible? Higher means more steps inside the house, but fewer steps onto the terrace and less terrain alteration/filling.

The heights in the plan seem coherent to me. "Shed roofing" the roof (not technically, but at least visually) looks more harmonious than an even flatter flat roof (which would have limits anyway).

I mentally sat down at your dining table (but didn’t eat anything away) and let my gaze wander. As planned, the floor of the living room retreats harmoniously with the roof pitch in line with the sightline, at the lower edge of your view’s picture section is the lower edge of the window front. Less height difference between living room and dining room would mean you would see even more floor.

With a greater height difference, it would be the other way around: you could just as well use non-floor-to-ceiling windows at the planned height, the lower edge of the picture section would hang in the air. And, what would bother me even more: that would break the spatial connection between living and dining.

And you often look from the dining area into the living area — especially if the dining area shares the living area's view. Whether fewer steps to go outside would outweigh that for you, you have to decide. But that would result in a greater room height of the living room: in addition to the other floor level also a differently oriented room format in cross-section; and more distance between the glass roof surface and the floor. This means the already weak light incidence from the north side does not warm the floor at all anymore. Then you stay hunched at the dining table and no longer want to descend into the living room. So: the roofline of the extension is okay, and so is the floor level, if the slope is only followed slightly and the transition between old house/extension shall not become a breaking edge.