Browse Forums General Discussion 1 May 26, 2010 1:12 am Hello everyone, We are looking at building our double storey home and thought I could ask for everyone for their thoughts on what to look out for, any hints and tips, questions to ask builders? For those in WA, I am also interested to hear your double storey home building experience and if possible, any thoughts about builders will be appreciated... Our home together "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's about learning to dance in the rain." Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 2May 26, 2010 4:29 am Be patient.........they dont get built quickly Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 3May 26, 2010 6:02 am any extra cabling needs to be done before the gyprock goes on.. Kodiak Data Cabling onFaceBook Consult*, Design and Installation Data, TV, Home Theatre/ AV Cabling, Multi Room Audio, IP CCTV and Door Intercoms Ask for a Quote. *DIY DATA Cabling Is Ilegal Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 4May 26, 2010 10:29 am We put sound proofing/insulation between the floors - makes for a far quieter, warmer/cooler house than it otherwise would be (they don't normally insulate between floors). Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 5May 26, 2010 11:47 am Downstairs will generally always be cooler in Summer and really cold in Winter, especially if you have tiles downstairs, so you can factor that into your cooling/heating requirements. Make sure you have left a few cavities for ducts. As Pugs mentioned, all cabling (electrical, phone etc) must be done before plaster goes up, especially for downstairs. If you have roof access, you can add a few things to the top floor later on. Is this the house you plan on growing old in? I would suggest putting the master bedroom (or a decent guest bedroom) downstairs in that case. If you're building upto/near the edges of your block, check over-looking/shadowing rules. Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 6May 26, 2010 3:54 pm buildinginjindalee- what would be the average timeframe? thanks everyone! Very helpful. I'm taking notes. Keep them coming!!!! Our home together "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's about learning to dance in the rain." Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 7May 26, 2010 4:13 pm Find out where they will drop your sewer pipes from upstairs. They might be boxed in on the inside, run outside the house or in the garage. Personal preference where you want them and the builder might not give you a choice anyway. Good point about aircon drops they usually box them in somewhere upstairs like inside a wardrobe but it can get tricky if you want a vent downstairs that doesnt have an upstairs room above it, then they need to run it through ceiling cavities or put in wall vents. Min Building at The Ponds Land reg 3/12/09, Land settled 18/12/09 Approved by Design Panel 16/11/09, Submitted to council 24/11/09, Approved by Council 21/1/10 Site Start 21/5/10 http://andyminpondsbuild.blogspot.com/ https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=19800 Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 8May 26, 2010 9:15 pm Usually in Western Australia the floor of the top storey is concrete. So it's very important to have all your light fittings, downlights done or at least have a bayonett point ready. As others suggested, all your cabling needs to be well thought out. Our contract which was with a Perth 2 storey project builder stated 365 WORKING days, and they took about 2 weeks longer than that to complete. Extremely slow process. (it also took 6 months from PPA until building license, the delay was mainly due to the builder getting the plans wrong all the time and us correcting them, then waiting for he new lot only to come back with more errors ... quite frustating, but from reading about other peoples stories, this is not uncommon). Try and get a committed start and finish date, the contract is too ambiguous with pinpointing actual start date. Especially when you work out how long 365 working days actually is. Try and get a laundry chute included. Also, if possible check out the stairs .. personal choice, but if I had my time again I would have changed our stairs to not be "winders" but to have a landing half way down. Good Luck. Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 9May 27, 2010 12:59 am quick question- what are some pros and cons of having sewer pipes in or out? Sorry if this is such a novice question!!! Our home together "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's about learning to dance in the rain." Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 10May 27, 2010 9:39 am All sewer pipes need to be accessible so they can be cleaned in the event of a blockage. Typically in Perth the pipes exit the side of the house and are then built into a plumbing duct that has removable panels top and bottom so you can access the inspection points. In our house we have one of these on the outside and one in the garage, as our ensuite sits over it. Any pipes that drop through the slab need to sit inside a bulkhead, unless you like the industrial look, and the sound of flushing toilets over your head . You will notice that most double storey homes try to keep wet areas over the top the laundry or kitchen for this reason. That way you can route all the pipes through the bulkheads to the external walls. Accessible Carpentry & Cabinets accessiblecarpentry@gmail.com accessiblecarpentry.com.au https://www.facebook.com/pages/Accessible-Carpentry-Cabinets/583314911709039 Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 11May 27, 2010 9:59 am Sheepdog Is this the house you plan on growing old in? I would suggest putting the master bedroom (or a decent guest bedroom) downstairs in that case. I've had both a relative and a friend living in double storey houses have medical problems that have made it next to impossible to continue living in double storey houses without mechanical aids for getting between the levels. Storal of the morey (apart from not slopping your drippers) is to plan the house so that you can install a lift of some kind if it is needed without major work. You don't know about slopping your drippers? RINDERCELLA As told by Archie Campbell Once upon a time in a corn foundry there lived a geautiful birl and her name was Rindercella. Now Rindercella lived with hermugly other and two sad blisters. Also in this same corn foundry there lived a pransome hince, and this pransome hince was going to have a bancy fall and he'd invited people for riles amound especially the pich reople. Now Rindercella's mugly other and her two sad blisters went to town to buy some dancy fesses for the bancy fall, but Rindercella couldn't go cause all she had to wear were some old ruddy dags. Finally the night of the bancy fall arrived and Rindercella couldn't go so she just crank down and shried. And she was sitting there shrieing when all of the sudden there appeared before her, her gay mudfather and he touched her with his wagic mand and there appeared before her a kig bulch and hix white sorces to take her to the bancy fall, and he said -- "Rindercella, be sure and be home before midnight or I'll purn you into a tumpkin!" When Rindercella arrived at the bancy fall the pransome hince met her at the door because he'd been watching behind a wooden hindow. Rindercella and the pransome hince manced all night until midnight and they lell in fove. And finally the mid clock struck night, and Rindercella spaced down the rairs and just as she beached the rottom she slopped her dripper! The next day this pransome hince went all over this corn foundry looking for the geautiful birl who had slopped her dripper. They finally came to Rindercella's house, and he tried it on the mugly other and it fidn't dit. Then he tried lt on the two sisty uglers and it fidn't dit and then he tried it on Rindercella and it fid dit! It was exactly the sight rize! And so they were married and lived heavenly after happily. Now the storal of the mory is: if you go to a bancy fall and you want a pransome hince to lell in fove with you -- don't forget to slop your dripper! Pfiff Finally making progress again, with a clothesline (yippee) and some much needed little things being attended to over the holidays. 40 C on New Year's eve? We love our a/c! Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 12May 27, 2010 4:46 pm Thanks Chippy ! that makes sense.. I think! But i get what you are saying LOL fiffero. We are planning to have a guest/2nd master room downstairs too.. so if we decided to sell or like what you say about injury, at least we have a room downstairs.. so that can be used interchangely. There has been alot of talk lately about different building methods for 2nd storey ... I would really like to hear everyone's thoughts on 1) double brick traditional building method 2) Brick veneer (esp ppl frm Eastern States as I was told it is mainly used there?) 3) Truss system or commonly known as "Floor tech system" with the truss and one layer of concrete. Our home together "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's about learning to dance in the rain." Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 13May 28, 2010 9:44 am The truss sytem (IMO) is usually rubbish, the slab is "springy" as they pour them so thin. Get a standard formed slab even if it costs you extra. Brick veneer, its not a standard practice here generally so I wouldn't worry about it. Double brick (in our climate) is inherently better so stick with it. Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 14May 28, 2010 10:13 am Huggy_B The truss sytem (IMO) is usually rubbish, the slab is "springy" as they pour them so thin. Get a standard formed slab even if it costs you extra. Huggy_b- could you please elaborate more on this? when you say "springy" do you mean that it will be thin or has a hollow feel to it? Our home together "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's about learning to dance in the rain." Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 15May 28, 2010 11:05 am We have the truss system. It doesn't feel hollow under foot, in fact feels just like a normal concrete slab, but we haven't lived in the house yet to see how soundproof it is for those underneath. Will be moving in next month, so will let you know more info. I do know they scrapped away the bathroom floor quite a bit, and we were concerned with the thiness, but that got topped up when they levelled it for the tiling. I hope it's solid sounding, as my parents had a house with the non concrete floor, and you could hear every step above, especially when the kids were playing. It's great you are doing such good research now. Good luck. Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 16May 28, 2010 11:09 am Yes, they feel hollow to me. You can fix it to a degree with acoustic treatment. But I have been to some house where the slab on the second floor has a noticeable deflection. Thick, concrete beam poured in situ for me thanks. Re: Double Storey Homes- Tips, hints, info. 17May 29, 2010 1:02 am although someone was saying that with truss system, the lights and cabling can still be changed.. but not so for traditional method? Thanks guys for your thoughts! Very helpful... who would have thought.. building is like a whole new world to us! =) Keep them coming though- would love to hear from others who have stayed in brick veneer homes or perhaps have had truss and wanted to go back to traditional..... Our home together "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's about learning to dance in the rain." 1 4521 Hi Kristy Around $1.7-1.8m or around $4,600/sqm. if you PM me your email I will send you a break up in a spreadsheet so you can get an understanding of the costs for… 1 9882 Hello All 🙂 We are planning to start our journey of construction our first home. We zeroed down on Metricon and henley homes based on design suitable for our lot and… 0 8090 |