Garage with hipped roof on boundary and GOK FF EG assessment?

Hello everyone,

I am currently struggling a bit with the last two questions before submitting the building application.

[*]Next to the planned townhouse, we would like to have a garage with a hipped roof. This should be a boundary construction with a 0.4m distance to the fence.

The Brandenburg building code states that the average wall height must not exceed 3m. The plot top edge at the boundary is at 62.00 m. The finished height of the screed of the garage should be at 62.25 m, so as not to differentiate too much in height from the house. According to the plan, we end up with 65.55 m at the ridge – so 3.55 m difference to the existing plot top edge.

The architect warned me that this will not be approved even with the very flat 14° roof.

What do you say? How is the average wall height calculated? What happens in the worst case at the building authority – will the building application be rejected or can it still be corrected during the process... kind of like "trying makes you clever"?


[*]The plot top edge FF EG at the house is causing me headaches. As you can see, over 25.4 m width there is a slope descending by 0.50 m. The plot top edge goes from 62.53 on the left to 62.00 on the right. In front of the exit it is 62.19. The plot top edge FF EG of the house should now be at 62.61 at our request, to definitely prevent water from getting into the house. It was important to me to have a 30 cm high base on the left. And we wanted to backfill with the excavation to at least 62.32 all around.

Is the plot top edge FF EG at 62.61 now too high? I always see houses with ground-level exits to the garden that I like. But my family warns me against a step-free exit. After the backfilling, we would then have about 25 cm to step out onto the garden. However, I also cannot assess the excavation. I was now considering lowering the plot top edge FF EG to 62.53, but that would drive the planner crazy again.

Attached is a sketch. I look forward to your assessments.
Thanks and best regards, Redsonic

Hello Redsonic,

all without guarantee, according to BbgBO §6 (8) applies:

In the setback areas of a building as well as without own setback areas, even if they are not attached to the property boundary or to the building, the following are permitted
1 Garages and buildings without habitable rooms and fireplaces with an average wall height of up to 3 meters and a building length per property boundary of 9 meters; the roof pitch must not exceed 45 degrees,

The BbgBO only came into force on May 19, 2016; your architect may still have the old version in mind. There, the regulation was different, but in my opinion, your building project could also have been built according to the old version.

Your roof pitch is under 45°, ergo your garage only has to comply with the wall height of 3.0 m - measured locally where the wall stands with the correct height of the property surface edge at about 40 cm distance from the boundary. If your drawing is correct, the 3 m are slightly undershot, so complied with.

Only if your garage were longer than 9 m and/or the terrain slopes steeply backwards, would that (without a curing building encumbrance) contradict the BO.

Best regards
Dirk Grafe

Thank you, that is already great. At the building authority in the district, they told me that the roof is included in the wall height. It would be strange if they were wrong about that.

What happens if it is not approved like that? Can it be corrected during the process?

The roof is also included, which is taken into account in your drawing as well - the wall height including the roof structure at the wall is under 3m. In my opinion, the fact that the ridge is higher does not matter.

Of course, corrections can be made during the process, the building authority must initially reject the building application in writing with reasons or request additional information. Once that is available, their argumentation is also known.

Best regards Dirk Grafe