Extension

Hello dear forum,

my wife and I are planning to build a city villa together with our two children, just under 170 sqm. We have found a nice plot, hardly any restrictions in the development plan, a great architect, a great floor plan for us, the building permit (in the building notification procedure) is available and we want to start in the next few days. So far, everything sounds great...

...if my wife and I had not received an unexpected Christmas present and now need an additional children's room :p:cool: although unplanned we are of course thrilled, but now we have to rethink. Our architect is still on vacation and will be back on Tuesday, but somehow this whole thing won't let me rest, maybe someone still has an idea...

[B]Option 1 - larger house, completely new floor plan[/B]
Only an absolute last resort for us, we actually don't want to go bigger since our eldest is "already" 14, so it won't be with 3 kids forever...

Option 2 - basement
Not an option due to costs and the associated redesign

Option 3 - adjust existing floor plan
We have already tried, but we don't want to make the children's rooms smaller either. We have planned an office, but it is also needed as such.

Option 4 - our favorite
We have a hipped roof, pitch 25 degrees, which is initially designed as a cold roof (is that the right term?) with a pull-down ladder. We wanted to insulate this ourselves later (although I have already read that "just insulating" is not a good option in terms of mold, but that is a different topic...) and use it as storage.
Now our idea would be

[*]Allocate 8 sqm from the dressing room of the bedroom as a separate room and from there a staircase to the attic
[*]The current office becomes the bedroom, the attic office/guest room

For this, the roof pitch would go from 25 degrees to 35 degrees, two skylights on one side are already planned, possibly the option later to add a dormer or similar.
Insulate the attic accordingly, check the upper floor ceiling (regarding load-bearing capacity and noise transmission), connect the attic to the ventilation system and lay the underfloor heating in the lower room very close together (5 cm spacing) to partially "heat" the upper room (since warm air rises). Partition walls in the attic with drywall to create storage space behind them.

Feasible - or a totally idiotic idea?! :rolleyes:

In the first step, I would "only" have to notify the building authority of the changed roof pitch (is that complicated? completely new building notification? we remain within the development plan with the change) - statics would have to be recalculated... but I estimate the cost and time effort as lowest with this option.
What about emergency escape routes, ... does something have to be considered?

Of course, I will talk to our architect, but I wanted to get some feedback before I keep pondering this idea...

Thanks for your suggestions!

Congratulations on the unplanned but fortunately desired offspring!

Do you have pictures of the planned construction project? Maybe there are even more ideas once you see exactly what it is about.

Then just upload your floor plans right away and answer the questionnaire ;)
That makes it easier for the experts (and I explicitly do not mean myself) to make suitable suggestions.

How far apart are the children (age)? Especially in the first few years, an extra children's room is not necessarily required. But at some point, the time will come when each child needs their own room. We also have a dressing room which was planned as a "backup office" in case of emergency (network socket, enough power outlets). The primary office on the ground floor could then be used for a more "grown-up" child. Or even as a parents' room, and the previous parents' room with dressing room would go to the older child. I think this way you can also plan a "temporary demand adjustment." A complete attic conversion would, however, be a bigger "construction site." If it were financially feasible, I would implement it right away. What knee wall height do you have, or is there a cross-section drawing of the house?

for us a great floor plan, the building permit (in the building notification process) is available and we want to start in the next few days. Sounds all great so far... [...] maybe someone still has an idea... [...] What about the escape route, ... does something need to be considered there?

Well, then show the existing plans, otherwise we only know the basis for the changes as a text description (which easily reduces the participation in the discussion by a factor of ten). Escape route yes, it is required for every floor with a habitable room.

Congratulations.

As always, my comment on fire protection: Are the roof windows suitable as a second escape route for the floor? Otherwise, the attic is not officially approved as living space.

So in total, the attic conversion is certainly the easiest option. That works. Just wait for the architect, she will be able to tell you exactly what needs to be done properly. Of course, you can already ask around at the building authority on Monday about how easily such changes are still possible and how long a new inspection might take. They will also be pleased with the baby reason. In my experience, everyone is always very understanding and helpful in such cases :)

Better to have it built properly now than botched later. I don’t like the idea of the underfloor heating. You still have the chance to lay the underfloor heating properly upstairs now.