Floor plan design of a single-family house with garage and roof terrace

I am probably one of the few rooftop terrace owners here. Even though my circumstances are different. In our case, the approximately 70 sqm rooftop terrace was created by an extension on the ground floor. The rooftop terrace now sits on the extension as well as an existing garage.

The rooftop terrace serves as a garden replacement for the living unit on the upper floor. This works quite well.

In a single-family house, in my opinion, this doesn't really make sense. Usually, you want to go from the kitchen to the terrace. Carrying everything through the whole house... you have to want that. Of course, you could install an outdoor kitchen or something similar. If it's just about the view, I would consider another solution (balcony, panoramic window, etc.) since a rooftop terrace really costs a lot.

For us, for example, sealing, insulating including slope, water drainage, and a parapet running around three sides cost about 30,000 euros. No covering or anything else is included in that. Of course, insulation can be lower over a garage like ours, where there is living space underneath, but that should be kept in mind.

We once had a rooftop terrace. Separate from the house on one of the garages. Built very simply, boards on a slatted base, no railing. My eldest son wanted it back then. He often sat up there with his friends. And we did too. We just took a tray with food and drinks up there. From there, there was a nice view of the field including the sunset, which I don't have from the garden. My son hasn't lived at home for many years, and the garage with the terrace is gone too, but sometimes I do miss it. So I don't think the idea is so bad.

1. It makes the choice of providers more difficult in timber frame construction: various providers have no experience with brick cladding, and if at all, only offer brick slips. [...] And various providers only allow their "certified brick slip panels" as brick slips; if one does not like the appearance, one has to switch to a double-shell brick cladding. This means wider walls. [...] 3. Many craft companies do not dare to undertake the cladding of prefabricated houses.

A cladding façade made of a clinker brick shell is a pure stretcher bond and requires anchors for stability, which are best embedded in the bed joints of the structural brick shell (which is naturally not possible with timber frame panels). Brick slips, on the other hand, are applied practically like tiling, which is why this variant is the most suitable method here. In timber panel construction - also hybrid partly prefabricated / partly site-built - the wall structure with the cladding and its installation is a system whose quality cannot be guaranteed if divided. Logically, the expectation that the house manufacturer would certify every orchid clinker is exaggerated; that would be unaffordable. A split between the exterior wall "shell construction" by the house manufacturer and a separately commissioned external cladding provider is clearly a solution I advise against.

On the topic of clinker in connection with timber frame construction: Yes, that was certainly more difficult – however, we found a construction company that has dealt with the issue and also offers subsequent trades for the cladding. The wall construction seemed well thought out and also sensible to me. We will not do a separate execution and regarding slips, we received the note that according to the construction company they have no experience in applying them on the wood fiber insulation board, so basically the execution of slips on a plaster carrier.

Yes, that was indeed more difficult – however, we found a construction company that has dealt with the issue and also offers follow-up trades for the cladding. [...] We will not do a separate execution

So the contractor is a carpentry company and wants to produce something that the late provider Gussek Haus called "Hybrid wall" ("shell" wall made in the hall and cladding made on the construction site) (?)

The wall structure seemed well thought out and also reasonable to me.

No, as I said, quite the opposite: inherently problematic.

and regarding brick slips we received the indication that, according to the construction company, they have no experience in applying them onto the wood fiber insulation board, so the execution of brick slips on a plaster carrier.

I would also not brick slip a wood fiber insulation (or plaster carrier) board. I advise you to decide between the preferences for clinker facade and for timber frame construction (which in my view is only equivalent but – except in individual cases – has no advantage). But building a house starting from the facade cladding corresponds to the proverbial horse from the tail. Aviate, navigate, communicate – the makeup comes only after the dress, and the little crown lastly.