Parapet height window, balcony & railing – What to consider?

What is the usual height of a normal parapet?

Best regards
Sabine

What is normal? I would say up to 90cm is normal, but that is just an opinion. We planned it so that the countertop in the kitchen runs into the window reveal as a windowsill. For this, we chose a parapet height of 87cm.

Note: In my opinion, parapet height is the height of the lower edge of the windowsill or the countertop.

The parapet height for normal windows in our case was 87.5 cm with respect to the top edge of the finished floor according to the plan. The top edge of the window sill is then 90 cm.

Allerdings kostet es dem Maurer an Zeit und oft an Material, sodass hier ein Aufpreis genommen wird.

Do we actually know anything about the construction method? At the time, I also thought it was in a grid system—until I learned that so-called plan stones are used. Huge things, factory-cut ready to go to the construction site, where they are assembled and glued together according to the plan. (Practically) no cutting is done there.

In the specific case, you simply have to ask (planner, architect, structural builder...). I would guess it doesn't matter much for the window. If a half brick is needed all around for the room height, it might make sense to round up to a whole brick.

The parapet height for normal windows in our case was 87.5 cm regarding the top edge of the finished floor according to the plan. The top edge of the window sill is then 90 cm.

How did you come to the 87.5 cm parapet height? 1 m (i.e. 4 rows of bricks) minus screed? That is too little for the screed.

Best regards
Sabine

how did you come up with the 87.5 cm parapet height?

From the raw floor level, it was 107.5 cm for us. However, this was messed up in the planning so that another 20 cm were built onto the finished parapet using standard bricks (interestingly, everything was fine on the upper floor). For us, it was built with sand-lime plan stones, or rather XL plane elements, whatever ... basically a kit to assemble and glue together, precut at the factory. Your idea of the stone grid is not applicable here.

With us, everything is also planned, as far as possible, in this 12.5 cm grid. The reasoning of our planner was also that this is easier for the masons and thus more cost-effective for us. In our case, the window above the countertop in the kitchen has a parapet height of 125 cm raw construction measurement, which is 107 cm after the floor build-up. However, it was also desired that the window is well ABOVE the countertop, so the countertop does not run into the window reveal, so that should be fine.

What puzzles me now, however, is that all of you have such "low" parapets?! Our other windows with parapets on the upper floor (both children's rooms, bedroom + dressing room, bathroom) all have a parapet height of 112.5 cm, which, minus the floor build-up, results in a finished parapet height of 94.5 cm. I am wondering if that is too high and am a bit unsure? Our planner said during the planning phase that this would be the standard parapet height, so we didn't really consider it further. It would not yet be too late to change it; construction has not yet started... however, for cost reasons, we would want to stay within the 12.5 cm grid (this affects a total of 7 windows!), so the next lower parapet height would be 82 cm after the finished floor build-up... isn't that too low?

: I don't find your parapet height too high.

We are planning on the ground floor with a parapet height of 126 from the raw floor and 106 minus the floor construction. It concerns 6 windows, 2 of which are above the kitchen countertop. We wanted the windows to be clearly above the countertop. Then we adjusted the other 4 windows because we didn't want different parapet heights. The other 2 windows or (lift-and-slide) doors are floor-to-ceiling.