Browse Forums Owner Builder Forum 1 Oct 24, 2013 4:52 pm after much argy bargy we have sort of settled on a draft on the rough outline of the sketch of what is to be our new house. The house is to be built on 3 acres, over looking the upper hunter valley. the house will face south west with the views running from north to south on the eastern side of the house. Timber weatherboard clad, with a tin roof, eaves on the verandah. Timber decking for the verandah. The rear verandah will be part of the house roof structure. Doors and windows are not really well placed, we are still looking at either french doors or large windows in some areas. Have a look, tell me what you think, if you see issues with the design at all. Tell me what I need to add etc. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ [/URL] Re: Comments on design please 2Oct 24, 2013 4:55 pm dammit... already need to extend the front room that juts out otherwise the verandah will not have an eave...... the verandahs are 2400 wide at the front and 2000 at the rear. the bedrooms are all the same size and have walk in robes. We plan on having a separate area out the back for entertaining around the pool. The house is about 320m2. Re: Comments on design please 3Oct 24, 2013 5:04 pm I'm not sure I've got the orientation right - but the house seems to have most of it's utility space on the northern side? (Laundry, wet areas etc) This means you'll miss the passive solar benefits in winter of a self heating living area - I'd be looking to put utility and wet areas on the least useful house walls/edge and maybe move high use bedrooms at least to the northern walls so you can heat them less in the colder months. I'd also be looking for eaves and verandahs at the correct depth for passive solar temperature control. The long narrow hallway might funnel noise up/down it? And how well will it allow cross ventilation? (Do you know where most of your breezes will come from? bom.gov.au carries that info.) Your wardrobes look very deep - I've seen these called 'walk in robes' but from the way you walk in to them all they are is a deep wardrobe often - the same actual storage space with an extra foot or so of space you can step in to - no practical reason otherwise - just a rail and shelf, too narrow to put shelves etc in. Would you prefer slightly larger bedrooms instead? Not sure what's going on in your main bathroom and toilet area - the toilet seems tiny and the bathroom overly large. Wet areas are the most expensive (tiling is expensive as a start) - did you specifically want such a large empty space in your bathroom? Could you rejig this to make the toilet feel bigger? Shrug. I'm not a fan of passageways and hallways. They feel like dead space to me - they don't seem to serve a purpose often except to divide up a bunch of boxes. I'd be trying to get rid of the passageway to the laundry (or at least putting a door on it or something) and the big long one running the length of your entire home feels a bit clinical to me. I can't say how I'd fix it now though - I can't see a quick answer. I like the look of your pantry, I like the walk in linen cupboard (and is that a store room next to it too?) - I like built in storage! I like separate toilet/bathroom combos. I like the layout of the living room vs dining area - good way to have it open plan but still distinct areas. Re: Comments on design please 4Oct 24, 2013 7:35 pm you are correct about the orientation of the house. I should also mention the house will be on piers with a timber floor. We didn't really consider the passive solar because of the wide verandahs. The problem is that we are going for that period look with the house, hence the squareness of all the walls and the long hallways. There will be fretwork in the hallways so maybe this will help with the noise. The main bathroom should have the bath in the centre of the windows. It will be a claw foot bath. The bedrooms are big enough already so I don't know. We are looking at 3.0 ceilings so the walk in robes are so you can actually reach up and put things above your head. each doorway in the house that leads to a room will have a fanlight or transom above it that will open so this may help with circulation too. the general idea was to have all the living areas looking over the valley to get the views. We didn't like the idea of having the bathroom windows in the front of the house either. With the orientation at least we can have our solar HWS and elec out of view from the road. Good point on the toilet, we may widen it and make it longer and add one of those cast pedistal hand basins. Re: Comments on design please 5Oct 25, 2013 2:23 pm Could I suggest you engage an architect, or at the least a draftsperson, to have a look at what you've done and suggest alternatives? You've certainly done a great job so far, but I was personally amazed at how much difference a set of fresh (and professional) eyes can make. Engaging an architect that knows solar passive design (which most of them now do) will also add to the building's value... My storybook home build: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=57987 Re: Comments on design please 7Oct 27, 2013 10:10 am Hi Manofaus, How long are you planning to live in this house? Is it your "forever house"? If so, it is well worth having a re-think at this stage. I'm finding it difficult to interpret the orientation without a North arrow on the plans. Is the top of the page north? I'd second the comments above - well worth paying for advice from an architect who can view the site, and provide you with some site-based guidance. You can often just pay for a design consulting service, and then go on to use a draftsperson to do the plans for you. Think about how you like to live and what is important to you? Seems like you're living/lounge/kitchen has north and east orientation. It will be lovely in the morning, not too bad during the day (although north aspect could be improved). Is that a large, office/study on the south side? Will you be working from home a lot, using this room during the day? If so, suggest it is on the north side - or at least with access to your views. If you absolutely can't reorient, consider things like clerestory windows to allow northern sunlight into the rooms on the south side. In such a large space consider zoning and air locks. The first link in my signature below is a good place to start to think about all of this. I've lived in passive solar designed houses all my life - once you have felt the comfort, you'll never go back. Comfy New build - N/E Melbourne Passive solar, energy efficient design 147sqm 2 storey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YylmeMilok8 http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/index.html Re: Comments on design please 8Oct 31, 2013 8:36 pm This is a smaller pic of the block. North is the top of the page. The little arrows that are to the right of the house are the direction of the views. We designed the house to be like an old country farmhouse for the most of it. the internals will feature dado boards, chair and picture rails, ornate cornice and ceiling roses, and the other things as mentioned. I guess the main departure from this theme is the open plan kitchen and lounge room. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Comments on design please 9Nov 01, 2013 9:52 am Hello Manofaus, I love your concept of a country farmhouse.....I'm a great fan of verandas and we have three on our house (one facing north, one west and one east) - we find that we spend most of our time sitting on the North facing one....it's great at any time of the day....any time of the year. The western side is great in summer in the mornings, and the eastern one in the afternoons. Your plans remind me of the PAAL "Richmond" design, which I would build in a heartbeat if I was doing it all again LOL! http://www.paalkithomes.com.au/kit-home ... chmond.php Or "The Derwent" http://www.paalkithomes.com.au/kit-home ... -floorplan Just one thing that stood out to me was the entry and how it goes straight into another longish hallway to get to your living areas.....I would possibly consider either moving the entry door further along to the right, or reconfiguring the bedroom/laundry/large room to right of entry. Best of luck with your build.... Lyndall Owner Building on 1800sqm Sanity Intact so far Locked up March 2012 I am building Enfield 201 by Mimosa Homes - York Facade Link: https://www.mimosahomes.com.au/new-homes/enfield-201/ I did my colour appointment last week. I am looking… 0 603 Once you know the basics, the rest is easy. Read my post in the thread linked below. viewtopic.php?p=1919271#p1919271 2 19530 Although I am a big opponent of using waffle pod slabs over H2/P soils under any circumstances, in your case I would certainly opt in to keep piers under central… 1 2434 |