We need help planning our house!

[CommanderROR]

Hi everybody,

most of you probably noticed that I've been very inactive in the past months...newer members might even not know who I am at all...

Well, partly that is because there are a lot of interesting things going on in my life, I'm starting to get all grown up, settling down and so on.
First I got a job, then a dog, now, for this year, marriage and a house are on the plan.

The marrying bit I can work out without much help (or so I hope ^^), for the house I could do with some help.

I spent the last months researching lots of housebuilding companies, looking at plots, studying the documents that detail where one is allowed to build what (for german mobilereaders: Bebauungsplan...), negotiating with banks and so on.

In the last 2 weeks things have started coming together, we have a plot (not perfect, but perfectly ok), a housebuilding company and a housetype that we can afford (of course not cash...) and are allowed to build on our plot.
A collegue of mine (he actually started 2 months after me, we did our audition on the same day and have become good friends since) also wants to build and we managed to settle on a double-house solution (no idea whether that's correct in English, I know it as Doppelhaus) which saves us quite a bit of money for the plot and also in some other areas.

Now, while I am quite good a trying out the placement of windows in Google Sketchup, designing the floorplans is giving me a serious headache.
Of course we'll have an architect who will help us with all that, but when we go there for our planniung session sometime next week I'd like to have a few suggestions ready.

So, that's where you come in...

I'll provide you with some data about the house and then whoever wants to can attach ideas (as PDF, jpg or some other popular file-format).

http://www.ibg-haus.de/site/traumhae.../dh-stadthaus/

This is the housetype we are planning, of course with lots of extras...
We also changed the shape slightly, making it (for one half) 7m wide (left to right) and 9.6 m long (front to back).

The windows would originally be 2m wide on the rear (garden) side of the house, but we changed that to 1.76m each, that is still far more than enough.

All other windows are more normal from their size and shape, but we'll probably change them all slightly. We'll also add windows to the side of the house (but not like in the picture, that would be too much).
We were thinking of one windows for the staircase (high, narrow) one for the lounge (high up, so that it does not interfere with furniture placed on that side), long and narrow and one long and narrow one in the room called "Kind2", placed like the one in the lounge.
Our half would be the one on the right by the way if you look at the plans.

OK, now let's see what happens.

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

[DixieGal]

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing all of your good news!

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing all of your good news!

Congrats too, but linky no work for me.

[Nate the great]

I think the word you are looking for is duplex - 2 homes in one structure. Unless you mean 2 houses on one lot, which is different.

Before I can make suggestions on the house, I need to more information about the lot you are building on. What are the dimensions? Where are the trees on the lot, and around it? Where is the road? Which way is North? Are you allowed a basement, and do you want one? How do you want to orient the structure (in relation to the shape of the lot)?

This kind of thing is a hobby of mine.

[Nate the great]

Also, the PDF link doesn't work.

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I think the word you are looking for is duplex - 2 homes in one structure.

Duplex is the term we use also. But a duplex can be up and down, side by side, and front to back (if access to back).

We often see the garages in the attached part, making a noise barrier between the 2 homes, and reducing the number of shared walls.

[CommanderROR]

OK,
it appears they are doing some work on the PDF files, so I changed the link. As soon as the new PDf is up I'll link it, or somebody else can.

Duplex house it is then, and side by side.

@Nate:

The Plot is free of trees, it's 524 squaremeters, orientation is a bit of a compromise...
more about that in a moment...
Basement is allowed and will be built.

The dimensions given in the first post were outside dimensions by the way, so to get the inside dimensions you have to substract 29cm from each side, making it about 6.42m x 9.02m

Exact dimensions:

26.2m x 20m, split down the middle of course, so 13.1x20m for each house-half (or half-house).

The road (not really a road, more a path, but you can drive there by car) is along the 26.2m side. The house must be built along the road according to the plan, roofline must always follow roadline.
I attached a little sketchup mockup of the house and plot arrangement in a pdf to this post, the house shape and carport placement are outdated, that was an earlier sketch, just as orientation help.

EDIT: just added a part of the "Bebauungsplan" to the post as gif. Our plot is marked by the red arrow. north is directly up.

[lilac_jive]

Congratulations! I'm buying my first house right now and it has been a pain.

[acprinter]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

Congratulations! I'm buying my first house right now and it has been a pain.

Congratulations on your first house. Not only can it be a pain but it is a little frightening signing on the dotted line. I finished a new house construction in July 2007; the contractor was 9 months over schedule!!

[montsnmags]

G'day CommanderROR,

First a dog, then a house...I guess you had to get your dog something to play with, hey?

For what it's worth, I've used Home Designer Suite (the website has multiple products - it's the Suite that we have), and it covers the house, the landscaping, interior decorating, decking, etc. It's actually quite good, intuitive, and may assist further down the track too (eg. landscaping, house painting). I just offer this opinion in case you're looking at something like that too. It's good for visualising, since you can 3D roam your models, and make changes, and adjust lighting inside and out (including the sun ), and so on. If you don't need the whole Suite, there's more selective products available.

(As you'd expect, I have no interest in the above product - just a happy purchaser).

Oh, and congratulations! To own your own space, a haven, with freedom to create and change it as you and your family please, is indeed a satisfying experience. "Home" is on high on my list of life's joys.

Cheers,
Marc

[Patricia]

It's a duplex in U.S English and a semi-detached house in UK English.

High windows are nice, but work out how easy/difficult they are to clean.
Install far more electrical sockets than you think you need.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Patricia

It's a duplex in U.S English and a semi-detached house in UK English.
...

In Australia, I believe a semi-detached house sits on its own property, while a duplex shares the one property in "strata title"/community title form, like in an apartment block situation. Townhouses extend this latter concept further, as there can be many more than two houses.

Cheers,
Marc

[ravenne]

Congrats, CommanderROR!

Don´t forget so "install" some special features in the house, e.g.:
- Zentralstaubsauger (instead of a common hoover you have one long tube you can put in a counterpart on each floor; dust will be collected in a box in the basement)
- "Wäscherohr" (that enables you to be on the first floor, put your dirty laundry in a pipe and it will come out in the basement, where your washing mashine is located). Unfortunaltely I have not found out any solution that automatically washes the laundry and brings it back to the first floor again

As far as energy / heating is concerned I personally would think about panel heating (Wandheizungen ) instead of usual radiators. Panel heating is no longer reduced to those tiny pipes, now they also offer quite huge flat rectangunlar plates/boards. The climate in a room with panel heating is quite comfortable because of radiant heat (Strahlungswärme) instead of "heated air" (Lufterwärmung). You can have the same effect using a special brick oven (what I mean in that case is called "Grundofen" in German, you can heat an approx. 25 qm room for 8 hours by only using two or three logs).

I´d also think of a bathroom / toilet in the basement - or at least water connections so that you can install a bathroom in a few years (just in case one of your future teenage kids will move in the basement; in that case a seperate entrance to the basement will certainly be appreciated too, so the kids don´t have to come across their parents when they come home late at night, drunk, bringing strange friends... okay, maybe NO seperate basement entrance

Some Chinese companies are developping house paint that changes colors depending on outdoor temperatures. So during winter your house will be darker (to absorb solar radiation) than in summer. I´m not sure whether it´s already available (one year ago they were still in developping status).

I´d also check, whether installing solar is still supported (I think yes, but I´m not sure to what percentage). Same´s for natural oil (Erdgas).
Also check whether the KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau) supports people who build houses (I guess it´s reduced to people who meet all demands of ecological house bulding (ökologisches Bauen)).

Sorry for that many German words, I know forum language is English. But my dictionaries fail completely when it comes to all those technical terms.

[CommanderROR]

@ravenne

well, thanks for all that.
The "Zentralstaubsauger" and lanundry tube thingy would be overdoing it in my opinion, but the heating we already have (floor heating) and also quite a few other low-energy features. I simply can't translate all that technical mumbo-jumbo to english, sorry.
We were originally planning a KfW40 house, the cellar made that very difficult, so we only manage KfW60 now, but that's good enough. We have solar by the way for hot water.
That chinese paint is cool, but who knows whether they would allow that with the "bebauungsplan"...even colors are quite strictly defined there...
We have all necessary connections in the cellar should we ever want a bathroom there, it should not be a major problem.

[Wetdogeared]

CommanderROR, I'm not sure what kind of wall construction they use in Germany, or anywhere else other than Canada, but here they use what is called drywall. Large sheets of paper covered gypsum board that covers the inside of the house over the framing. It is then taped to cover any seems and then a thin coat of plaster over top to make it all smooth before priming and painting. If drywall, or whatever you call it, isn't used, just ignore this post.

The old days of lathe and plaster are rarely seen here, becoming a lost art.

The reason I mention this is because sound-proofing between the adjoining walls of duplexes is often not adequate and can cause problems with your neighbors. Of course there is the usual soundproofing insulation that has been around for years (looking somewhat similar to external fiberglass/paper insulation). I have heard of friends buying one half of a duplex and having to deal with aggravating noise problems. If your neighbors are your friends, it would be better to deal with a soundproofing solution before construction starts. (and you probably have and, if so, just ignore this post again).

There is a relatively new brand of drywall on the market that has a thin layer, or layers, of metal sandwiched in the gypsum board and can give you up to 10 times the soundproofing of regular drywall and way more fire protection. This, of course, is more expensive but you only have to use it for any adjoining walls. Builders are also using it here for houses and condos built near a lot of noise, like busy traffic, trains and transit systems.

This link might explain it better than I can. There is also a sound tester for each type of drywall and what sound from a stereo you can expect to travel through from your neighbors. (turn your speakers down if you try this). To learn more or listen to the difference this product can make on your walls try the following link:

http://www.quietsolution.com/html/quietrock.html

This whole suggestion may be moot if you and your friends are nice quiet people and this is totally unnecessary, or you have construction methods to deal with this sound-proofing in as good or better a way.

Just a suggestion. WDE.