Designing an ideal plan also means imagining a house that is as beautiful as it is functional. Cellar, garage, utility room, cellar, workshop, etc., are often forgotten or placed last, in a corner. However, they are valuable allies for hiding the superfluous and simplifying everyday life and their location should leave nothing to chance. Do not hesitate to multiply these additional parts, even in a small accommodation. Sometimes a few square meters trimmed from the home itself will free up space and ultimately make you more comfortable to live in.
Garage cellar, laundry room, workshop, cellar: what are their 5 uses?
Ideal plan: additional rooms for storage
The primary use of these additional rooms is obviously storage. In terms of cost, it is more advantageous to invest in additional rooms with shelves than in interior fittings. Provisions, DIY items, papers, cleaning products, boxes..., everything is hidden here while remaining within reach.
House plan: hiding the equipment
Water heaters, heat pumps..., all this thermal equipment takes up a lot of space in a house. Hiding them also offers the opportunity to create a small annex room very useful.
Additional rooms for healthier housing
Cleaning products, paints, cars or boilers emit pollutants, as explained in this ADEME infographic. The annexes separated from the habitat or well ventilated make it possible to keep away the sources of pollution which harm the indoor air quality of your new house.
An anti-noise nuisance house plan
Cellars, garages, utility room accommodate noisy household equipment. Equipped with good soundproofing and placed away from nighttime areas, they limit the propagation of noise inside the house.
To go further on this subject, read the article “ Sound insulation of his new house in the South-West »
What is a cellar for?
Le cellar is one of the parts not to be neglected when making build his house. Adjoining the kitchen, this small room of 2 to 5 square meters is ideal for hiding everything you want to have within reach without actually seeing it. Sometimes it is better to reduce the dimensions of your kitchen to accommodate this additional nook. Provisions, reserves, household products and household appliances (vacuum cleaner, blender, additional freezer, etc.) will find pride of place there. Often housing the hot water tank, the boiler or the heat pump, it can also serve as a laundry room and allows laundry to be dried out of sight in the heated space.
Ideal plan: provide the laundry room
What size for the laundry space?
While washing and drying laundry is not an exciting activity, it takes up a lot of time and space in the house. The corner utility room centralizes household appliances (washing machine-dryer), accessories (ironing board, laundry detergent, dryer, clothes pegs, etc.), as well as laundry baskets, in a single point in the house. By installing the machines one above the other, we can limit the floor space to approximately one square meter.
Laundry room: where to place the washing machine
The location for washing laundry is determined as early as possible in order to plan for water inflows and outflows, as well as well-sized ventilation if you dry the laundry there. The machines are generally installed in the kitchen or the bathroom, but they can easily be integrated under the stairs, or at the end of a corridor, behind a sliding door or a curtain. There are numerous examples of arrangements de utility room in corners of the house. However, a dedicated room or space is much more comfortable. This space can be cellar or why not a specially designed nook, or even partitioned off at the entrance to the garage.
To go further read our article “ How to design the ideal plan »
Ideal new house plan: Where to place garage and pantry?
Accessing the garage through the entrance to the house or through the kitchen are among the classic solutions in new house. THE cellar can then be used to make the link between the heated spaces and not heated. The location of the garage will also depend on the orientation of the house, because the latter can also be used to improve the thermal comfort of the house. The creation of a buffer zone is therefore one of the tips of the so-called bioclimatic design. Depending on the terrain of your house, the garage will be placed to the North to protect from the cold in winter, to the South to act as a heat barrier in summer, or to the West to protect from the prevailing winds.
Visit a two-storey house with a large garage of 30 m2 and cellar in Gaillac Tarn, Occitanie.
The garage: a room for everything
Real space in addition, the garage is not just for parking your car or storing your bikes. Adjoining and communicating with the house, it offers a large storage room at hand. Well placed behind the kitchen, it can also serve as a pantry or laundry room. Its size also allows it to accommodate the workbench to serve as a DIY workshop. A separate garage meets the needs of noisy activities such as DIY.
Arrange the service rooms well
Be careful, the annexes must not become catch-alls. THE garage, cellar like the laundry room must be arranged carefully like the rest of the house. The secret: use the walls to their full height. Shelves will be essential to offer maximum functionality in a minimum of space. Water intakes, inlets and evacuations must be anticipated during construction to avoid future costs. In the same way, you can provide partitions in your garage to create areas dedicated to each activity.
Building a cellar: advantages and disadvantages
Building your house on a basement offers plenty of additional space without encroaching on the garden or gaining height. This buried room, which is not very subject to temperature variations, can obviously be used as a pantry, laundry room, storage, but also as a garage. Humid and generally not benefiting from sufficient natural lighting, it will not be suitable as a living room, but will be suitable for hosting temporary activities: gym, studio. Its construction is nevertheless more expensive than that of a garage and requires, depending on the activities, the installation of a mechanical ventilation effective.
