For porthole, special regulations? Window, single-family house 1.5 stories.

Dear community,

my family and I are considering building a single-family house from scratch. According to the current plan, the single-family house would have 1 1/2 stories. In the bedroom on the upper floor, the knee wall is about 1.70m high. Please don’t laugh, but I am someone who likes to look out of the house on all four sides. Unfortunately, with a knee wall of 1.70m, a roof window would not make that possible. Now I am looking for a solution.

- Dormer -
That is too expensive for me, to be honest.

- Roof window with fixed glazing -
That is one possibility, but with shutters etc., that is also quite expensive.

- Window slit -
According to the architects, the glass pane of the window slit would only be about 15cm high. That is already very tiny. Not worth it, right?

Would a porthole be an idea? Are there specific regulations for that? Would it be possible to implement a small porthole of about 60-70cm with a knee wall of 1.70m? Or is that too tight? How much would such a round window cost?

I am grateful for any tips. Maybe you also have other suggestions for my window problem?

Best regards,
Marple

Dear community,

my family and I are considering building a new detached house. According to the current plan, the detached house would have 1 1/2 floors. In the bedroom on the upper floor, the knee wall is about 1.70m. Please don’t laugh, but I am someone who likes to look out of the house on all four sides. Unfortunately, this would not be possible with a knee wall of 1.70m using a roof window. Now I am looking for a solution.

- Dormer -
Is too expensive for me, to be honest.

- Roof window with fixed glazing -
That is an option, but with roller shutters, etc., it is also quite expensive.

- Window slot -
According to the architects, the glass pane on the window slot would only be about 15cm high. That is already very tiny. Not worth it, right?

Would a porthole be an idea? Are there specific regulations for that? Would it be possible to implement a small porthole of about 60-70cm with a knee wall of 1.70m? Or is that too tight? How much would such a round window cost?

Porthole(s): Then at least you would have a very individual house. I am more familiar with these round windows on the gable side or as windows at the top of stairwells. Furthermore, the question arises about their actual usefulness (i.e., actually looking through them) – if you are > 1.60 m tall, you would always have to bend down nicely to be able to look through. Above all, the portholes would have to be placed even lower (below the ring beam).

Window slots: Whenever I see such houses (or houses with narrow windows), the thought that comes to mind is: loophole. But it is also a matter of taste. Narrower windows are considered modern after all.

Have you considered reducing the roof pitch and possibly having 2 full floors? With the current knee wall height of 1.70 m, you are not far from that. You could easily accommodate your windows there.
That too is, of course, a matter of taste: I have always preferred rooms where I didn't have to worry about placing furniture (i.e., full floors).

Two full stories would definitely be my wish, but unfortunately the building regulations in our residential area do not allow it. We are all rather tall, so we would really have to bend down to look out of the round window. But it certainly looks interesting.

Well, then maybe we'll better do without a window facing the garden.

Thanks and regards,
Marple

Aren't there these "fold-out" balcony windows? No idea what exactly these things are called. Just google the term "fold-out balcony" - there's also a "less bulky version" of it (I once saw it on TV). I think they are quite popular for sloped roofs, so you can look out of a window and even step onto a small platform when opening it.


Help - you surely know what I mean!

Why not a "bent" window, meaning a roof window with fixed glazing, for example, and directly below it another window of the same width, so that both form an angle to each other corresponding to the roof pitch? Then you do have a frame in the field of view where they meet, but if a dormer is out of the question, you just have to make compromises. I find porthole windows silly and you have to crouch down anyway.

To be honest, I don’t see the problem now. Who is now dictating that a window has to be installed higher than 170cm? Our kitchen counter ends at about 150cm... that way the view is directed to the garden bed, so downwards, and not towards the neighbor’s house. Our bathroom window is not higher either... since you don’t stand directly in front of it but look through the window from inside the room, you can see enough outside... By now, there are so many model and type houses that install windows with different heights and widths and also sill heights, so you can get some inspiration. Aside from that, I simply assume that home builders have at least scrolled through the first 10 out of a thousand websites with architecture, modern art, etc., and thus have also been confronted with unconventional things – a porthole also falls into the realm of ideas, but somehow has nothing to do with the supposed problem because it also has to be installed lower or smaller so that it fits into the knee wall.

Regards, Yvonne