Floor plan design single-family house approx. 250 sqm with granny flat

Mmh, is the stove builder objective there? I'm wondering if that closed front to the garden would be worth it to me. I find it quite a big sacrifice.

The stove builder also has an exhibition for outdoor fireplaces, but if there shouldn't be any gas involved from the start, that would of course already be a statement. In the USA gas fireplaces are much more common and not unusual outdoors either, but there too it's of course unclear whether they serve more for atmosphere or for warmth. Maybe I'll ask about that on Reddit or something.

10 sqm isn't so cramped that no door would fit - even inward. You can definitely do that.

Let's see what we finally plan for the furnishings there. But we will probably shift rooms again anyway, among other things because of the possible bicycle noise.

What is too tight for you above, you seem to see too loosely here in my opinion. But without the dimensioned site plan it's hard to assess. To me it looks very much like that Mom and her guests will constantly walk right past your terrace. Five meters in the garden is practically nothing.

That may well be, for that I really still lack the feeling for the respective distances. We have posts, barrier tape and a 30m measuring tape and will mark it out directly on the property so that you can imagine it better.

If it's too tight, then no parking space will be placed on the property there, but just a path along the neighbor's property to the entrance of the granny flat and a hedge as a visual barrier. You can park wonderfully on the street in front of the property, that wouldn't be a real loss of comfort. Of course my mother could park upstairs in the garage if she wants to, especially in winter, a possible later tenant would just have to make do with the street.

In the USA, gas fireplaces are much more common and also not unusual outdoors, but even there it is of course unclear whether they serve more for the atmosphere or for warmth.

In the USA, you can also buy masonry imitations made of plastic for the garden. The gas fireplace has the advantage of being able to be turned on and off at the push of a button and requires less cleaning effort compared to a wood stove. In addition, it is low-maintenance and can be safely operated by anyone. I would not be surprised if the gas fireplace increasingly loses market share to an LED version. For the cozy atmosphere of embers and flame visuals as well as physically noticeable radiant heat, you don't need to buy a gas fireplace.

In the USA, you can also buy plastic brickwork imitations for the garden. The gas fireplace has the advantage of being turned on and off at the push of a button and requires less cleaning compared to a wood stove. Additionally, it is low-maintenance and can be safely operated by anyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if the gas fireplace gradually loses market share to an LED variant. For the cozy atmosphere of embers and flame patterns as well as physically perceptible radiant heat, you don’t need to buy a gas fireplace.

The advantage of being able to turn it on and off and less mess are very good arguments for me for using a gas fireplace indoors, especially in a KFW40 house. Gas fireplaces are also noticeably more common in the UK than here, so in my opinion it’s not just some preference of supposedly tasteless Americans (a completely stupid cliché) that Germans like to look down on. Nobody disputes that a wood fire is even nicer.

Outdoors, the gas fireplace probably really lacks radiant heat, but there are fireplace models that supposedly compensate for this, for example by forced convection. Whether that is enough, whether it is suitable for outdoor use, and how much choice there is in Germany, is then the question. I’ll wait for the consultation. What I would like about gas outdoors is that the neighbors are not disturbed by smoke / smell.

Gas fireplaces are also seen much more frequently in the UK than here, so in my opinion it’s not just some preference of the supposedly tasteless Americans (a completely stupid cliché) that Germans like to look down on so much.

You don’t know me – I really enjoyed living in the USA and am married to an Englishwoman – plus I know enough about many typically German “quirks” from my intercultural experience. Nevertheless: when it comes to the cheerfully naïve handling of “fake” products, the American and also the English market have a certain – let’s say positive – “variety” ahead of us.

The advantage of turning it on and off and less mess are very good arguments for a gas fireplace indoors, especially in a KFW40 house.

That is totally understandable. The question I have in this regard is the following: Is the remaining net benefit due to the cleanliness still big enough to justify the investment, or could you just as well leave it? If this question can be answered with “benefit is sufficient,” then the decision is right. I have experienced several times that the gas fireplace caused disappointment after a short time because buyers fell for the illusion that such a gas fireplace could largely provide the atmosphere of a wood fire.

From experience (three wood stoves in the house), I can both share and not share the concern that a wood stove might not fit into a very well insulated house. A masonry heater fits perfectly with a high energy standard because its heat emission curve is quite flat. A metal wood stove, on the other hand, produces a large heat wave in a very short time, which can sometimes be too much and lead to opening windows in the winter, which is pleasant but energy madness.

You don’t know me – I really enjoyed living in the USA and am married to an Englishwoman – moreover, I know enough about many typically German “quirks” from my intercultural experience. Nevertheless: When it comes to the happily uninhibited handling of “fake” products, the American and also the English market have quite a bit – let’s put it positively – “variety” ahead of us.

That’s true – for me, the “crowning achievement” are unfortunately the not so rare plastic lawns, which I believe I have thankfully not yet seen in Germany. But as always, it’s very much a question of education and social background rather than nationality. Still, I find the “happily uninhibited handling of ‘fake’ products” (nicely put!) arguably more likeable than a perhaps typically German sourpussish humorlessness on these topics.

That is totally understandable. The question I have in this context is the following: Is the remaining residual benefit due to cleanliness still large enough to justify the investment, or could one just as well skip it? If this question can be answered with “benefit is sufficient,” the decision is the right one. I have experienced several times that the gas fireplace caused disappointment after a short time, as buyers were misled into thinking that such a gas fireplace could largely offer the atmosphere of a wood fire.

From experience (three wood stoves in the house), I can both share and not share the concern that a wood stove might not fit into a very well-insulated house. A masonry stove fits perfectly with a high energy standard because the heat release curve is quite flat. By contrast, a metal stove produces a large heat wave in a very short time, which can sometimes be too much and lead to opening windows in winter, which is pleasant but an energy disaster.

For me, cleanliness is more of a nice side effect (I am certainly no cleaning fanatic); my concern was more that it could get too warm and then you could simply turn off the gas fireplace. Visually, I primarily want a beautiful (preferably antique) mantelpiece because it is simply incredibly decorative. Additionally, I’d like a few visible flames and, of course, some warmth. Ideally, the look of an open fireplace behind the obligatory glass panel. In my flat in London, I had the beautiful mantelpiece and placed candles in the no longer functioning fireplace. Also pretty, but of course not quite what you want. Nevertheless, that would probably be the most likely alternative option if we really do not like the gas fireplaces.

Nevertheless, I find the "cheerfully naive handling of 'fake' products" (nicely put!) arguably more likeable than a perhaps typically German sourpuss killjoy attitude on these topics.

100% agreement!

Visually, I primarily want a beautiful (preferably antique) mantelpiece because it is just incredibly decorative.

We had that in our terraced house – in the Netherlands and Belgium in the 19th century, there was a fashion for imitating the magnificent stone surrounds in wood. We bought one exactly for the decorative reason you mentioned, on a whim in an antique shop in s’Hertogenbosch, and had it in our terraced house living room for years. I dug up a picture of this piece from the Christmas season 2016/7, about which it was never quite clear whether it was hideously ugly or great. For scale: the tiles have an edge length of 33 cm and the speakers are a little over 90 cm tall.