House planning - thought experiment possible third child

Hello!

Since we will be building in the near future and are currently considering the rough framework conditions with which we will approach an architect/planner, the following question has come up for us:

An additional room is needed (besides the classic ones - bedroom, child 1, child 2, living room) for a possible third child (rather unlikely, but it is hard to completely rule it out...), which, if no third child comes, will be used as a guest room/office. In terms of size, roughly 10-12 sqm should be sufficient, as the case of child 3 is quite unlikely.

Now there seem to be 3 possibilities at first (house about 140-150 sqm, gable roof up to 45 degrees, there will be no basement):

1) Room on the ground floor -> reduces the large open living/dining/kitchen area (a utility room and a small shower bath also need to find space)
2) Room on the upper floor -> reduces the general size of the bedrooms and children’s rooms (but somehow I haven’t seen a really nice floor plan here yet, especially since a house with a gable roof up to 45 degrees effectively has less space upstairs than on the ground floor...)
3) Expandable attic -> at first I don’t see any major problems except for possible additional costs (which I cannot estimate yet), except that a second staircase is required, which of course also takes up space.

My question: Which option would you generally prefer? What are the advantages and disadvantages? The room is not immediately needed; a possible attic could also be expanded a few years later.

Thanks and regards

There are also more possibilities, for example a room downstairs (as a guest room it has the appeal that the guest bathroom is nearby), but splitting the utility room into a small house connection room downstairs and the utility room upstairs. This way you distribute the additionally required square meters over both floors and the laundry is washed where it is generated.

Expanding the attic means a fixed staircase instead of a space-saving pull-down attic ladder and fewer or no storage options in the roof. In addition, the furniture under the sloping walls will usually be custom-made.
Is the gable roof and the house size fixed?

Hello,

thank you for your first response. In the development area, pitched roofs up to 45 degrees are allowed. A pitched roof itself is not set in stone, but we simply love the look of brick-faced houses with pitched roofs. Other shapes are definitely allowed in the development area, it is quite flexible. I wouldn’t fundamentally rule out an alternative either. The size of the house is also not fixed. As large as necessary, but no more. I’m not a fan of huge houses, both in terms of living and budget ;)

I find the idea of splitting the utility room quite interesting. However, I have never seen a corresponding floor plan. Why is this solution so uncommon? Technology stays technology and laundry is where it accumulates, which sounds quite plausible at first... what are the disadvantages?

You are of course right about the disadvantages of the attic... without a basement, storage space is of course worth its weight in gold...

Your question about "whether the pitched roof is fixed" implies an ulterior motive... in your opinion, is there a significantly better house/roof design for our "problem"?

Thanks and regards

Hello,

read through the current floor plan threads in . There have already been some nice suggestions, including utility rooms on the upper floor. Here you can find, for example, a floor plan with 3 children's rooms from a user:

How is it with the knee wall height? If you want three children's rooms, it would be advantageous if each room could have a "normal" window and not just a roof window.

Depending on how big your house is supposed to be, I would try not to reduce the area of the kitchen, dining room, and living room too much. Especially if you want three children someday, they will also need space in the common room. That means maybe a bigger dining table, bigger couch, also some open space so the children can romp around and spread out their toys...
About 25 sqm living room I find ideal, plus about the same amount for kitchen + dining room. (Or about 15 sqm kitchen and approx. 40 sqm living-dining room...) But that very much depends on the floor plan. Less can also appear spacious if it is well designed.

The idea of splitting the utility room is quite interesting. However, I have never seen a corresponding floor plan. Why is this solution so uncommon? Technology remains technology and laundry is where it occurs, which at first sounds quite reasonable... what are the disadvantages?

We saw this in a show house and were quite taken with the idea. Maybe it's because you have only looked at floor plans with gable roofs. There, space upstairs is often tight and you don't necessarily relocate the utility room upstairs as well. There have already been some members here in the forum who have corresponding floor plans.

Disadvantage: Everything you dry outside still has to be carried down and later back up.

Your question with "whether the gable roof is fixed" implies an ulterior motive... do you think there is a significantly better house/roof design for our "problem"?

Possibly more space could be created on the upper floor by increasing knee wall height and adjusting the roof pitch up to a two-story design with a shallow gable or hipped roof. The presumably resulting additional costs would then have to be weighed against the costs of a (prepared) attic conversion.

Thanks again for your answers!

If you were to split the utility room between the ground floor and the upper floor, of course you could put the office aka possible third child's bedroom on the ground floor (I want to emphasize again that a third child is not planned, it is just a possibility that would need to be covered for us in a new build, whether "accident" or later renewed desire for children).

Then all 3 rooms + bathroom would be on the upper floor, even with a pitched roof, with a proper window + 1 skylight (which ideally would also be floor-to-ceiling).

How large would the two utility rooms need to be? For the technology on the ground floor I would spontaneously estimate 6 sqm (for technology + 2-3 small cabinets for supplies etc.). The room for the washing machine, dryer + 1 drying rack should be sufficient with about 5 sqm, right?