Planning: 2 full floors required - From when is a floor considered full?

Hello everyone,

due to a current planning issue, I found this forum and would appreciate an answer to the following question, which has arisen in connection with our current construction planning:

We can purchase a plot of land in an old development area. The development plan is from around 1970, and the old state building code of BaWü from 1964 applies. The current state building code can be found online, unfortunately not the old one. We are interested in whether anyone knows how the old state building code of 1964 regulated from when a floor counts as a full floor. The old development plan requires at least 2 full floors, which we might not achieve due to a winter garden extension on the ground floor.

Many thanks in advance for your efforts and best regards Sascha

Hello Sascha,
old development plans are usually ignored anyway. There are probably dozens of exemptions by now that you can cite as comparison cases. Take a look at everything the neighbors have built – normally, you are allowed to build like that too. If everyone still adheres to the old development plan, the municipal building authority can probably help. They must know what is possible under the approval exemption procedure (if it is a qualified development plan and not a building line plan). We have development plans from 1950 that are not worth the paper they are printed on. I am confused about what the conservatory extension on the ground floor has to do with the full floor calculation? Conservatories are subordinate components that are not counted in the full floor calculation, right? I am absolutely not a professional – but that is how it was done with us.
Regards

"... If everyone still adheres to the old development plan, the municipal building authority can surely help. They need to know what is possible within the approval exemption procedure (if it is a qualified development plan and not a building line plan)."

As Wastl already says, the people at the building authority will help you here. We did it so that we roughly sketched our ideas (house & location on the property) and showed them to the people at the building authority / urban planning in advance. They also assist with questions regarding property development. This way, you at least have certainty whether your project is feasible. Best regards

Hello,

The current state building code can be found online, unfortunately not the old one. We want to know if anyone knows how, according to the old state building code from 1964, it is regulated from when a floor is considered a full floor. In the old development plan, at least 2 full floors are required, which we might not reach due to a winter garden extension on the ground floor.

You should quickly forget this statement "such old development plans are mostly ignored anyway" because it does not reflect practice. Development plans naturally retain their validity – even after years, unless the municipality officially confirms their suspension!

As I understand it, you are building one-story and have a kind of winter garden, more like a bay window, planned on the ground floor? You have an architect on hand, don’t you? – this should also be the case with a general contractor. It should therefore be easy to raise the knee wall in the attic accordingly, so that you "mathematically" achieve a two-story building; the ridge and eaves heights should be specified accordingly. By the way, in my opinion, nothing has changed in the state building code regarding the (nationwide valid) interpretation of a two-story building: it basically means: if in the attic more than 75% of the ground floor area is achieved mathematically, the building is considered two-story (valid nationwide).

Alternatively, you can also follow the suggestion of my predecessor and visit the building planning office responsible for you along with your plans and discuss the building project there. Usually, it is open to the public on Thursdays.

Kind regards

Hello you two and thanks first of all for your answers!

Hello, Btw. nothing has changed in my opinion in the state building code regarding the (nationwide valid) interpretation of two-story buildings: it basically means: if in the attic more than 75% of the ground floor area is calculated, the building is to be considered as a two-story building (applies nationwide).

Is there a source for this statement?? Because that might possibly be fulfilled!

Thanks and regards Sascha

Hello,

Is there a source for this statement?? Because that might possibly be fulfilled!

A look into the State Building Code BW would have been sufficient...

§ 2 Terms:

(6) Full stories are stories that protrude more than 1.4 m above the average measured ground surface and are at least 2.3 m high, measured from the top edge of the floor to the top edge of the floor of the ceiling above or to the top edge of the roof covering of the roof above. The average measured ground surface results from the arithmetic mean of the elevation of the ground surface at the building corners. The following are not full stories:
1. Stories that are exclusively used for housing building services equipment and heating systems,
2. top stories in which the height of 2.3 m is present over less than three quarters of the floor area of the story below.
Voids between the top ceiling and the roof, whose clear height is less than that required for habitable rooms according to § 34 paragraph 1, as well as open galleries up to a floor area of 20 m², are disregarded.

Kind regards