I'm one of those people that likes a dark bedroom, so we elected to have a highlight-style window in both the theatre and the main bedroom of our new build, as well as the library upstairs in the loft.
This is what I what I was after:
This is from a newish display home and pretty much exactly what I wanted in the master bedroom and the theatre.
Our draftsperson has come back and advised that we have to have minimum 1027mm high windows.
I find this
a) annoying given I've seen plenty of highlight windows in new display homes (so if it's a reg change, when did it change?), and
b) if it's based on the amount of light vs space because of energy efficiency regs, why isn't it an issue for the highlight window in the Library (which is a smaller room than both the theatre and the bedroom!)
I'm going to push back on the builder/draftsperson but wondered if there was a building/energy efficiency code that I could check that what I'm being told is correct.
Either draftsperson is wrong, or a LOT of display homes around the place are in breach of whatever code is being quoted.
Interested to know if any other home builders have come across a similar problem?
Natural lighting requirements are dealt with in Section 3.8.4 of the Building Code Volume 2 (which you should be able to access online). It looks like the general requirement for habitable rooms is: minimum window area = 10% of floor area.
Your master bedroom (excluding WIRs and ENS) is approximately 20.5sq.m in area, so window area requirement of 2.05sq.m. With the 3x 850mm panes shown, I calculate a required height of approximately 800mm.
Ask them to confirm how they've calculated the requirement. It's possible that they inadvertently included the WIRs in the calculation, but the Building Code excludes WIRs (and bathrooms) from the definition of habitable room.
[EDIT: It's possible that they've just gone to the next available/standard window size up that meets the requirements]
Natural lighting requirements are dealt with in Section 3.8.4 of the Building Code Volume 2 (which you should be able to access online). It looks like the general requirement for habitable rooms is: minimum window area = 10% of floor area.
Your master bedroom (excluding WIRs and ENS) is approximately 20.5sq.m in area, so window area requirement of 2.05sq.m. With the 3x 850mm panes shown, I calculate a required height of approximately 800mm.
Ask them to confirm how they've calculated the requirement. It's possible that they inadvertently included the WIRs in the calculation, but the Building Code excludes WIRs (and bathrooms) from the definition of habitable room.
[EDIT: It's possible that they've just gone to the next available/standard window size up that meets the requirements]
Thanks so much for this info! Much appreciated.
If you want the master and theatre room to be dark then I suggest you consider flipping the house (mirror image) so that these rooms face south and the living areas face north.
At the moment you have your threatre and master on the North side so they will still get quite a bit of light even through the small windows.
Me? I'd just stick a telly in the living room. This home theatre room allocation is going to look so passe down the track. Is it good allocation of home space?
PS And can you imagine the sound system booming away next to the master bedroom?
Me? I'd just stick a telly in the living room. This home theatre room allocation is going to look so passe down the track. Is it good allocation of home space?
PS And can you imagine the sound system booming away next to the master bedroom?
It's a good allocation of home space for us, as is the positioning of it next to the master, but thanks for your off-topic input.