Floor plan multigenerational house conversion old barn

Why put in so much effort when the brick facade is going to be removed anyway?

Then just make the wall 6 meters high and put a roof terrace on top.

Is there a photo where the entire building is visible, directly from the south or southwest?

There are three children's rooms plus a guest room/office. The rooms upstairs are not really that narrow and long – the left one measures 2.99, and if you actually raise the knee wall to a reasonable height, the room shortens and no longer feels so long. The support beams can remain visible from the ground floor. I now have a daylight bathroom, a daylight bedroom on the ground floor. I have a room at the back free as a utility room... I will now enlarge the living room a bit, enlarge the pantry there (under the stairs), and try to get daylight into the guest WC. Going well :)

Oh, I am more than curious. Wow. And sorry that I can't respond quite so quickly this weekend – the children keep me occupied! And I can't always speak directly with the structural engineer or engineer if there are lingering questions.

One more thing – which I hope I have explained clearly:

With the ground floor, it was more about getting a bathroom with a window than the guest WC. But regarding the bathroom, I absolutely understand if it simply isn't possible. There's no need to keep trying endlessly – if anyone present has a gut feeling that something like that won't work... then I already place a lot of trust in that!

Upstairs, the three children's rooms and a bathroom with a window are "desired." A possible office/guest room would be great but is not the highest priority. The lighting through a double casement window upstairs is not entirely clear to me (for example if a continuous dormer is used on the south side to light the rooms), but I will be surprised and am already thinking about it...

I can't write it constantly, but the support here is really fantastic. For months I/we have been moving the rooms from left to right and it never quite felt right. Not entirely bad, but somehow not harmonious. It was simply necessary to clear my head and sweep everything off the table so far. That has already been more than successful – thank you very much!

If I look at the section, then you can make a shed dormer up to the knee wall. The upper edge is at 2.8m. The purlins are then laid on the partition walls. Whether that is enough to absorb the additional loads of the roof extension due to living space? A structural engineer definitely needs to be consulted here.

The shed dormer certainly helps to reinforce the roof.

You have the bedroom downstairs; you can reduce one room upstairs.

Then the rooms are wider and you don't need the depth.

Then the hallway with the stairs can shift to the south. The staircase placed crosswise is not a good solution.

Should the interior construction be massive with KS stone? Ceiling in concrete?

I like the idea of the skylight in front of the knee wall. I would also recommend that above the hallway upstairs.

Such a conversion won't be cheap.

Thanks for following up, icandoit.

Of course, I am open to rotating the stairs or even another shape (rotating would be very wide, apart from accessing the upper floor, I think). But I also like the current arrangement. I can understand that placing it crosswise is not quite optimal. But it can be a good compromise and look great, too.

Interior construction downstairs in stone. Ceiling is planned in concrete.

Reading deeper into that is too much effort for me right now, but I want to wish you and everyone luck and I’m glad that there are always projects that use old buildings to create beautiful living space. I find that alone valuable and enriching for everyone :)

Thanks for the posting and the insight into the situation! For us, besides the use of the existing building, it is also important to live with the extended family under one roof. Currently, there are nine of us. But it is slowly becoming very tight. :eek:

Why put in so much effort when the clinker facade is going to be removed anyway?

Then simply raise the wall to 6 m and put a roof terrace on top.

Is there a photo showing the entire building directly from the south or southwest?

Thanks for the inspiration. The clinker facade is to be removed from the old wall, but clinker will be used again as a design element. A roof terrace sounds great, but I guess it’s probably not quite feasible. Building a shed dormer "within the family" will work, it makes a lot of sense for the rooms and with the background that the roof is being redone. And with 3.5 hectares of land and our lifestyle, it’s not really necessary.

Attached are also some pictures – I didn't want to overload the topic with them. The barn is about 30.5 m long and 20.5 m deep. Our extension takes up not even a quarter.

SOUTH-WEST (the main house can be seen on the left)


SOUTH-EAST (you can now see 50% of the barn)


WEST (also the driveway from the yard from this side)


NORTH (so you get an impression of the main house)

On the ground floor, it was more about getting the bathroom with a window than the guest toilet. But with the bathroom, I can absolutely understand if it simply doesn’t work. There’s no need to keep trying forever -

LOL.. the bathroom now has daylight thanks to your orientation. But I have an idea for the guest toilet... but for now I’ll just enjoy the sun.