House planning - thought experiment possible third child

That always somewhat depends on what you want to put into the HAR and utility room and how you want to use them.

We have 7.8 m² downstairs and 4.3 m² upstairs.

Our kitchen is not very large, so we also use the HAR as a pantry.
In addition, there are tools, a ladder, cat bowl/cat litter box. Some also want to put a stroller, Bobbycar, etc. in there. Then 6 m² would be too tight.

In the utility room upstairs, we have the washing machine and dryer stacked on top of each other. Above or next to them, we have 2 large Ikea Ivar shelves for things that cannot be stored in the cold attic or garage. In addition, there is space needed for the vacuum cleaner, ironing board, and drying rack. About 2 m² are occupied by that.
You can just barely set up the drying rack in an emergency, but it’s simply too cramped in there for folding and ironing laundry. It could easily have been 4 m² larger.
However, since we have a guest room right next door and overnight guests usually announce their stay with us in advance, we can also set up the drying rack and ironing board there. That’s why we didn’t plan the utility room any bigger.

I have also read about utility rooms of around 14 m² here. That is already very luxurious.

Never say never ;-)
We built our first house only with the option "maybe a 3rd child will come" and I planned for about 2 "loveless" fallback rooms. Once a tiny little room on the ground floor and once a bigger room in the basement, where you would have had to go to the toilet through the cold unheated basement corridor. Well, as things go, after the 2nd child we consciously decided on a 3rd child and eventually realized that it all doesn't really work that way. So we built again.
What I want to say is, plan a 3rd children's room from the start, the other two will definitely also be happy about a great playroom or their own living room if there really is no 3rd child.

Regarding the possible uses: if you build with a high knee wall and a steep roof, you can really make good use of the so-called attic. Also for a cozy children's room.

I also like the idea of having 2 utility rooms or a utility room and a technical room. You can also plan space for supplies under the stairs on the ground floor.

Most houses with 3 gables also have good possibilities to accommodate 4 bedrooms on the upper floor. Namely, 2 rooms on the right and left of the 3rd gable and the bathroom in the gable.

You already have the link to our floor plan ;-)

Good evening,

Another room is needed ....Now there are probably 3 possibilities at first (house about 140-150 sqm, gable roof up to 45 degrees, there will be no basement):

Maybe you would like to explain how big the building plot is?

1) Room on the ground floor -> reduces the large open living / dining / kitchen area (a utility room and a small shower bathroom also still need to find space)

Even with 150 sqm it gets tight, but that is of course a subjective feeling.

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, especially since a house with a gable roof up to 45 degrees effectively has less space upstairs than on the ground floor...)

Then the children's rooms would have an estimated floor area of 12.00 to 13.00 sqm; although the living area is correspondingly less, the children do not stop playing on the 2.00 m line ;)

3) Expandable attic -> at first I see no major problems except for possible additional costs (I can't estimate that yet), except that you need a second staircase, which of course also takes up space.

No, the staircase doesn't really take up space, because you have a stairwell in the attic anyway. If it should remain at 150 sqm, I see this as the most viable option.

A ready-to-build-out attic also has the charm that you can comfortably access the attic and use it as storage. If unexpected offspring arrives, it doesn't take much to convert the attic into living space. Provided you pay attention from the very beginning to sufficient lighting (also consider the escape route) and adapt the heat generator to the eventuality of a finished attic.

It stands and falls with the building plot; if it is about 11 x 11.00/12.00 m, an office/children's room can also be comfortably accommodated on the ground floor without impairing the openness of a living/dining area. However, this will also incur higher construction costs, as it would be about 200 sqm ;)

Rhine greetings

Hello again,

many thanks for your answers. I can’t say anything concrete about the plot yet, as we have several different ones on the list, one of them will be the one ;)

I will then take the various ideas from this discussion with me into the construction planning with the companies and will post corresponding floor plans again here in the forum to get some feedback. I really like both the idea of the separate utility room and the expandable attic.

I am increasingly moving away from an additional room on the upper floor... 12 sqm children’s room, phew, is already small by today’s standards.

200 sqm will almost certainly exceed our budget, I am pretty sure about that. For the house alone, a maximum of €240k is planned (rather €10k less, excluding the plot (€140k), landscaping (€20k), and incidental costs (€45k) of course).

: What should one roughly plan for the preparations for an expandable attic? Additional stairs, additional supply lines, stable floor... that surely adds up to quite a bit.. can you give a rough estimate?

Thanks again for the suggestions!

What should you roughly plan for the preparations for an expandable attic?

I'm not a construction expert, but the conversion of our attic including everything cost about 15,000 euros. That includes the staircase (we used a so-called space-saving staircase from Bauhaus), the insulation, the reinforcement of the floor, and also the knee walls, as well as 1 roof window and 2 gable windows.

Thank you very much!

Would the underfloor heating also be extended in the attic, or is it more practical to use radiators or infrared heating or whatever there?

Thanks and regards