Opinions on the draft

Hello everyone,

Our architect’s draft is slowly taking shape...

What is your opinion on the attached draft? Where do you possibly still see problems or what do you not like?

For clarification, it is a two-family house, which however has 2 separate entrance doors, so no common staircase. Parents downstairs, me with family upstairs.

One change that is not yet included in this draft concerns the width of the entrance area for the upper living area. This will be widened by about 30cm, which will be taken from the garage...

And construction expert, what would you roughly estimate the costs to be if the whole thing is executed as Kfw70? The heating here is district heating (6k connection costs) with a very good primary energy factor (no solar necessary).
Of course I have a cost estimate from the architect, but I would like to be able to better assess how realistic this price is...

Hello Shism,

have you already published the draft somewhere? It looks familiar to me somehow.
I actually find the house quite nice.

What puzzles me a bit, you as a family only have one shower and the parents get 2?

After some thought, I have somewhat understood the purpose of the airlock, although I am not at all sure if it is practical when coming from the garage with groceries. How is the heating of the stairwell? I could imagine that an unheated stairwell upstairs will always cause a cool draft.

What was actually the reason against a shared stairwell?

Have you already planned the furniture and TV in the living room? Depending on the knee wall height, that could become problematic.

Hello,

And construction expert, what would you roughly estimate the costs to be if the whole thing is executed in KFW70 standard? The heating is district heating (6k connection costs) with a very good primary energy factor (no solar necessary).
Of course, I have a cost estimate from the architect, but I would like to better assess how realistic this price is...

My first question to you is already: why does it have to be so convoluted? I understand that you have to adapt to the right property boundary – nevertheless, I see no necessity that the opposite side should follow this pattern. Every offset costs real money.

All in all, I come to about 260 sqm/living space – excluding the granny flat in the basement. How do you want to create an access here? Exclusively via the stairwell? For a rental in my opinion a bad prerequisite; the WC in the basement will cost you extra euros again, because you need a lifting system with a shredder.

Roughly (really roughly) I want to estimate that you are planning a construction measure in the range of EUR 470 - 480 thousand including a usable basement with an expanded granny flat plus EUR 30 thousand for the masonry garage. Then come the known additional construction costs, reserves possibly for greater foundation costs, costs for painting work and floor coverings, costs for outdoor facilities as well as reserves for extras. Estimated total volume about EUR 600 thousand until you can move in with the moving truck.

Kind regards

had you already published the draft somewhere? It somehow looks familiar to me.

Previous drafts were already partially published in other forums... that helped me a lot to get an eye for possible problems that one might not have noticed at first...

What surprises me a bit, you as a family have only one shower and the parents get 2?

My father definitely wants a "guest shower"... I myself can do without it. If I ever have guests who want to shower at my place, then they can just use the bathroom... That saves me a few hundred/thousand € for another shower...

At the moment the four of us get by with a bathtub that is used as a shower... In the future one can shower and another can still wash in the tub if necessary... that should be enough for us... I am already looking forward to a large walk-in shower ^^

After some thought I somewhat understood the purpose of the airlock, although I am not at all sure if it is practical when you come back from the garage with groceries.

In principle, you always have 2 doors between the garage and the kitchen... Either like now the doors garage->airlock and airlock->vestibule or, in case of a shared stairwell, the door from garage to stairwell and then from stairwell to apartment... So I could not save a door... it just shifts. Sure, one more door than in a single-family house, but so far I have not seen any other solution.

What was actually against a shared stairwell?

My wife and I get along well with my parents, but we still wanted to have some possibility of separation... My parents do not always notice when we have visitors and vice versa... and when our children run through the stairwell with dirty shoes, my wife does not have to feel guilty if she does not mop immediately... I also want to try to use our ground floor part as a kind of "dirt airlock"... meaning shoes and jackets stay downstairs, upstairs you come in house slippers... so you have a clean separation between living area and wardrobe...

Have you already planned the furniture and TV in the living room? Depending on the knee wall height this could be problematic.

Yes, I have already thought about that. The knee wall is 110 cm, so it is relatively unproblematic regarding a TV under the slope... As long as I do not want to go significantly over 60", there are no problems for now :)

nevertheless I see no necessity that the opposite side should follow this pattern. Every offset costs real money.

We already have a roof slope and a knee wall of 110 cm in the upper floor... the first setback from 12 m to 10 m width serves to give both children's rooms a "normal" window... with a roof window only the view of the blue sky would be possible... furthermore, I have a wall height of 2.6 m at the kitchen instead of roof slopes... in a rectangular building there would have to be a dormer at the kitchen to use tall/wall cabinets. The second setback from 10 m to 6 m serves to enclose the terrace/balcony, which allows us to realize the whole thing well protected and covered... furthermore, the rooms/room layout would look completely different in a rectangular house... we initially started planning with a rectangular building but soon abandoned it...

I leave the basement granny flat aside. How do you want to create access here? Exclusively via the stairwell? For renting in my opinion a bad prerequisite;

I should have mentioned that... There is no separate granny flat but the room for my sister... The apartment basically belongs to the living area of my parents... However, it is not exactly foreseeable how long my sister will still live with my parents... maybe one day my older son (currently 8) will move down there because he has peace and his own bathroom... or they build a great fitness room there :)

Renting it as a granny flat is not possible because only 2 residential units are allowed...

Estimated total volume about TEUR 600 before you can move in with the furniture truck.

That reassures me now... :) Aligns pretty well with the cost estimate of my architect...

Hello,

That actually reassures me now... :)
Matches pretty well with the cost estimate from my architect...

I assumed as much :-)

Glad to read that "my" estimate is correct and I'm not talking nonsense here at the main station :D

Best regards

Basically, you always have 2 doors between the garage and the kitchen... Either as it is now, the doors Garage->Airlock and Airlock->Vestibule, or with a shared stairwell, the door from the garage into the stairwell and then from the stairwell into the apartment... So I couldn't save a door... It just shifts. Sure, one more door than in a single-family house, but so far I haven't seen any other solution.

I initially thought of 2 separate doors (one for you, one for the parents) to the garage and wanted to suggest that to you. That would provide more space in the "dirt airlock" and would mean one less door. However, then I remembered the basement. So far, I don't have a suitable solution for that. Do the parents also need direct access to the garage?