Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Feb 23, 2016 8:22 am As I write this post I do so hoping to gain insight and further information from fellow forumites. My responses will be sporadic, and random in nature due to the demands of my employment and the limited connectivity I have for weeks at a time. I have been perusing this forum for a while, but only joined this morning. I hope to be able to bounce ideas back and forth regarding my design and construction techniques. I need someone to bounce ideas off because my wife would prefer to not discuss our house design every waking hour of the day. Up and until now, our land purchase and home design has consumed three solids years of study, and development. So the current plan; 1) get a Paal Kit Home, and substantially increase the insulation and put in thermally broken DG windows/doors, or, 2) build my colour bond shed creation. My creation; The Land; 65ac of flood free slightly undulating ex-grazing county. The block is long at about 1.7km, and at it's max, about 275m wide. The long section of the block faces due north. The maximum fall across the block is about 40m. The budget; Not certain att. We have a mortgage of just under 6 figures on our land, which we expect to appreciate to approx 200k prior to commencement of building. I would like to have 50% funds to complete the build which appears achieveable, and then only require 50% funding from a bank. The goal is to achieve these two requirements; 1) have a mortgage of under $1500/mth, 2) have a build under $1000sqm. The timeframe; Slab to be laid Jan 2018, Shed to be constructed Feb 2018, Fitout to commence Mar 2018, Wife and kids move in June 2018. I invite positive input. but I also need a few devil's advocates as I need to ensure I am not building this with emotion, but with sound design, and construction techniques. My current, and comprehensive budget is currently (barely) under $1000sqm, but I must still include a heat recovery ventilator. I am certain other costings will eventuate. I will also add the caveat, that att my budget is more akin to a buntings catalogue than a cost saving exercise. I have used the buntings website to cost the whole build, and will pursue bargains/deals/gumtree buys as the build date gets closer. I look forward to hearing from you, Adam. Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 2Feb 23, 2016 8:37 am To provide insight to my creation; Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ With the above picture the north face is the lower wall. Working from Left to right; Living area, dining, study, and kitchen. Two doors can be seen on the eastern (left wall). The large glazed unit is for light allowances and entertaining, and the smaller standard unit will lead to an 'air-lock'/entry patio. The large box unit with sunken section is a TV unit and bookshelf. The split lounge allows for TV viewing and fireplace watching. Fireplace can been seen surrounded by a brick shroud for enhanced thermal mass. To the right of the fireplace is the computer desk, and next to it is storage. This storage is designed to be an extension of the kitchen area with the primary purpose of the rear wall storage being for food. Upon the lower face are two windows, the breakfast bar/homework bench window is fixed, and measures at 4.3x1m. The kitchen bench window is to be an awning, and measures 2x1.2m. The kitchen is to have a farmhouse porcelain sink, and galley style pot-washer. I will clarify this IS NOT a galley style kitchen. (personal bug-bear) The kitchen has an island bench which I expect to be built as butcher shop cutting block used to be. The large bluish coloured box in the kitchen bench opposite the island is a chest freezer which will be converted to a fridge. Next to the fridge is floor to ceiling cabinetry. The lower section will be pot drawers/electrical appliance draws. The upper section will have a lift out/lift up door which will rise to be parallel to the ceiling. It will be supported by gas struts. Think of it as similar to ute tray canopy doors. Inside of this unit will be ready-use items such as toaster, thermomix, condiments etc. These items will left in this unit when in use. Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 3Feb 23, 2016 8:59 am Still working from left to right; Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ At the rear of the house, the kitchen food storage cupboard can still be seen, and next to it is more storage for random goods. Next to the storage is a built-in bookshelf, and then more storage. At the front of the house is a media room adjacent to kitchen wall. It has no windows (I do not like glare when watching movies), and will be painted in a dark, matte paint. It has one purpose; watching movies, with no distractions/glare. It will have one full length (cosy/fluffy/comfortable (reclining?)) couch across the wall opposite the door, and also be furnished with bean bags. Next to the media room is a formal lounge. It has no rear wall, and will be a quiet space for reading, and reflection. It will be decorated by my wife who will be pursuing white/light coloured lounge suites, and beautiful dignified art. A piano will also be in the room. Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 4Feb 23, 2016 9:07 am Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Again at the rear, the bookshelf can be seen. Then the storage as aforementioned. This storage is for the laundry goods, and linen. In the picture below the storage the laundry/vanity/WC/wet room/mud room can be seen. Working along the from face from left to right; - Bath, and shower housed in wet room. (We have three, hopefully four children). We expect to live in this place long enough to entertain grandchildren. - WC. Larger than usual to accommodate a composting, water-less toilet. - Mud-room, also serving the purpose of access to clothes line and providing another air-lock. Additionally this provides a second access/egress from the house in case of emergency. Then across the centre of the picture, and on the left is a double basin vanity with large mirror. Next to it is a storage cupboard, and below the cupboard, a front loading washing machine. The large alcove is to house a laundry sink, and dirty clothes baskets (colour coordinated for me, and the kids Also in the alcove will be a ventilated clothes drying area for two clothes drying racks. No dryer will be fitted. Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 5Feb 23, 2016 9:21 am Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Again along the back wall, storage. (we like storage, and everything should have a place, and everything should be in it's place) From left to right, three bedrooms. The left has 4 built in bunks. The middle, built in robes, and one 'glory' (toy) box for each child. The right, likely to become a 'home school room'. Then later in life, a craft/sewing room. Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 6Feb 23, 2016 9:25 am Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The master bedroom. Bed near door (sliding cavity door), with WIR on right. Bottom wall from left to right, double vanity, and then wet room (shower). The WC opens to the WIR. The WC is larger than usual to accommodate a composting, water-less toilet. Large windows can be seen in WC, and wet-room walls to allow light into the WIR Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 8Mar 12, 2016 8:34 pm Dimensions are; 40m x 7.5m. Garage is 10.3m x 9.7m. BBQ area, 6m x 18m. It's a big place. We have three kids under four, and plan on having another so we need growing room. It also includes a walk-in gun safe, and one of the 'bedrooms' will be setup for home schooling. Also at some stage we expect mum to live with us. While I was away at work since my last post, the bed room has been modified. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The previous design didn't sit right with my wife. This is more to her liking. I also like the thought of the fireplaces at opposite ends of the house and the extra thermal mass. Now the main bedroom is laid out as follows; Top left, shower, then double vanity, and bath on right. Next to the bath is a composting toilet. The void space between bedroom and bathroom is a walk-through-robe. Then the bed with parents couch at the foot. Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 11Apr 10, 2016 11:17 am Good to see another SketchUp user - will be following Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 12Apr 12, 2016 12:55 pm Visited the council, engineer and independent building surveyor yesterday. Council laid out what they require. The engineer confirmed that there was nothing too hard. Building surveyor had a few points I have to be wary of, but nothing show-stopping. Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 14Apr 12, 2016 3:42 pm Thanks for sharing your plans. It's interesting to see different designs. The long design gives it a unique feel, but it does create quite a bit more external wall area, adding to cost, as well as heat transfer. I also thought that in QLD climate it worked well to have good cross-ventilation, but just looking at your plans, I don't know that you're going to get such good natural air flow paths from one side of the house to the other. I'm impressed at your level of detail in planning out all the usage. But it's also good to build in some flexibility in case circumstances change, or your way of living changes. For example, in the media room, I'd still put a window in it to give it flexibility, and run a blackout curtain over it for media usage. Then the room can be better multi-used down the track, or just to be ventilated, or preheated by the sun during the day. Your bedroom use isn't so common, and I'd wonder if you'll end up wanting to use the same approach for the kids from young all the way to adulthood. I'd think through alternate ways using the space, and check the design of the house is flexible to change to different use patterns if you want to. Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 15Apr 14, 2016 3:03 pm oneJohn Thanks for sharing your plans. It's interesting to see different designs. The long design gives it a unique feel, but it does create quite a bit more external wall area, adding to cost, as well as heat transfer. I also thought that in QLD climate it worked well to have good cross-ventilation, but just looking at your plans, I don't know that you're going to get such good natural air flow paths from one side of the house to the other. I'm impressed at your level of detail in planning out all the usage. But it's also good to build in some flexibility in case circumstances change, or your way of living changes. For example, in the media room, I'd still put a window in it to give it flexibility, and run a blackout curtain over it for media usage. Then the room can be better multi-used down the track, or just to be ventilated, or preheated by the sun during the day. Your bedroom use isn't so common, and I'd wonder if you'll end up wanting to use the same approach for the kids from young all the way to adulthood. I'd think through alternate ways using the space, and check the design of the house is flexible to change to different use patterns if you want to. Thanks for your input oneJohn. The extra wall area is an issue. I am hoping to address it in these ways; - Bury the outer walls about 1m into the ground, - Build the wall with a great deal of insulation, - Make the housing envelope as air-tight as financially practical. This picture should explain the layout; Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ From the outside working in: - Earth coupled AAC (hebel) panels, - rigid foam insulation (30mm), - steel top-hat's, - 200mm c-section shed structure, - rigid foam insulation (30mm), - bulk insulation (200mm), - steel stud wall, and plasterboard. That should see no thermal bridges in the structure and the only areas to address will include, window, door, and penetration details. You are right about the lack of natural cross-ventilation. As a caveate... I would like Passivhaus certification but expect the following plan is where I will suffer. I will be using a series of in-celing ducting to remove stale air from 'dead-zones' and then move it to areas of higher circulation and natural flow. I will use insulated trunking and a fan akin to bilge blowers for this system. It will be designed to run during periods of battery 'float' charge. Thus it will almost be a power surge dump load. That being said, should it be required during periods of low-light or heavy cloud cover, the draw on this system will be low enough to be run without adversely affecting the stand alone power system. The above mentioned system comes as a compromise between maintaining unbroken wall insulation and incorporating earth-ship style design cues. i.e. I have no glass on the southern or western faces. Additionally we have budgeted for a heat recovery ventilation system, and no air-conditioning. as such there will always be a continuous exchange of internal air. Specifically we will draw from the bathrooms, kitchen and media room. The bedrooms will discharge their air to the formal lounge. The master will discharge to the bedrooms. As a result, the master maintains a vacuum and the fireplace in it, heats air for it's own space and the bedrooms. Then the bedroom stale air moves into the formal lounge. As such the formal lounge receives heated, but second-hand air. The living area will not be connected to the system but use the hallway as a duct. We expect the HRV to supply fresh-air to the master, formal lounge, and living area. I discussed the media room with the building surveyor on Friday. He mentioned that a media room requires natural light and ventilation. My immediate response is to not call it a media room anymore. It is a store room. i.e. uninhabited space. However adding a window, a roller shutter, and black-out curtains does provide some normalcy, and it does meet the 'deemed to comply' criteria for the BCA. Deep inside though; I just want a sound proof box. Therefore I must figure out where to compromise. The kids rooms will eventually be changed. But for the short-term they would be fine as they are. We understand that over the years they will have to be separated. By this stage we expect that we would have been able to construct a separate area/building/office for schooling/study. Cheers. Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 16Apr 14, 2016 3:18 pm kreecha Will_I_Am Are you planning on using tradies or doing it yourself? I will get back to you. Will_I_Am; This is the current plan; Slab: - I engage BIL to complete siteworks, - I lay the steel work, - use concretors to complete the pour. Wait 4-6 weeks. - I erect the shed with 2x helpers, - contract out spray foam sealing/insulation. Wait 4-6 weeks. Then fit out of shed is to be attempted. I will pay for: - tiling, - electrical, - plumbing, - bricky for feature walls, - (not sure...) plasterer, - trades to ensure I maintain my timeline. This list is straight out of my head, and not comprehensive, but should provide a good picture of what I am trying to achieve. I can confirm I will; - site manage, - HR, - PR, - WHS, - engage prime contractors, - act as labourer where appropriate, - wet-area fit out, - paint, - financier... etc. Re: Colourbond shed house - SEQLD 18Apr 29, 2016 8:07 pm Good luck with your plans, the long thin house design sounds like it will suit your long, thin block. I also did most of my pricing from the bunnings website, but am hoping to get it second hand when the time comes. I would say that 6 months from start of construction to moving-in is unrealistically optimistic, it COULD be done if everything ran smoothly, but of course it will rain at the worst times and tradies will be unavailable etc. I would also advise to pay the mortgage off ASAP otherwise you are merely going backwards, and build the cheapest house you can, perhaps start with a liveable shed and then do up the internals nicely later down the track. I think that PAAL homes are a bit pricey, and the advantage of building as-you-go as that you can pay for it as you go, when you have the money slowly coming in, instead of needing it as an up-front payment. If you start small, then get it finished, you can always extend afterwards. Have fun playing with your house design, it is something that I always find endlessly fascinating! Yes i guess this is one of the main reason as i checked one post foundation 4 9997 Cheers. The painted render is a bit chalky to the touch. To prepare the surface for best adhesion, what would you recommend? Also, given that there must be some… 6 8512 Is it possible to render an old corrugated iron shed.I have heard that it can be done if it is covered with chicken wire first.Not sure of the ratio of the render mix and… 0 4897 |