So, now that we're (finally) underway with our KDR in an established Canberra suburb, I should probably get around to documenting our build, if only for our own reference.
It hasn’t been a smooth journey (including a builder bankruptcy, errors in the law, negotiations with neighbours, bank issues), but we’re here now. I'm intending to fill in more of the backstory as I go along, to hopefully serve as learning points for others.
Anyway, the design:
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There's also a separate large garage to the north, connected to the house via a covered breezeway.
The design is my own (the culmination of nearly 18 months of iterative design and a LOT of learning), designed to meet a combination of our own requirements and the specific site features. It’s intended as a forever home, designed for flexibility, including the option of being adapted to multi-generational living in the future.
The two-storey design was chosen to maximise garden space and to take advantage of the views - the house is at the top of a ridgeline, with good views in almost all directions (but especially North and West/Southwest) once you get above ground level. Externally it's designed to reduce the visual impact of the two-storey design by blending in with the surrounding suburb and the reserve it backs onto, and references the traditional Australian country farmhouses that can still be seen around the region.
Although we’re (comparatively!) young and all in good shape at the moment, as a forever home we wanted to allow for ageing in place (and contingency options should something unfortunate happen in the meantime). The design generally meets at least the Silver standard of the accessibility housing guidelines as-is, and is also designed to be readily upgradeable to the Platinum standard in the future (if required, fingers crossed!).
It’s a passive solar design - natural light, comfort and energy efficiency are all very important to us – with insulated foam cladding and double-glazed UPVC windows. We're definitely not chasing the Passivehaus standard, but we have paid attention to a reasonable level of airtightness. The design and orientation meant that despite being a larger house (larger than we were aiming for - part of the backstory to come) and some of the compromises in the design (more on those later), it still achieved a basic NATHERS rating of 7.4 stars with no effort; the final design incorporates higher-rated windows, upgraded wall and roof insulation, and added slab insulation, compared to what was used for the rating, so the actual ‘as built’ rating will be much higher. IF we can be bothered, we’ll get it re-rated, but we’ve got what we need to build, so aren’t bothering with it now (and NATHERS isn't necessarily that good as a rating system anyway once you get to this level).
As of writing: the site scrape happened last Friday, plumbing (drainage) went in on Monday, and currently the slab forrmwork is being assembled for inspection (both the builder's certifier and our independent inspector) tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon, with the slab pour scheduled for Friday morning. There's rain (and possible thunderstorms) forecast, though, so we'll see how we go...