Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jun 25, 2020 8:28 pm Re: Floor Plan Advice 4Jun 25, 2020 9:20 pm Mattmartin arcadelt Mattmartin ...wondering if anyone had any feed back in things we should change or add/remove. Where is North, how big is the block, and how close and tall are neighbouring homes? Sorry hit send before writing anything, posted a picture if that helps, the block is facing west. Thank you! Re: Floor Plan Advice 8Jun 25, 2020 10:17 pm Firstly, I'd recommend you read the whole of the Your Home website. Tonnes of information there. But let's start with the section on orientation. https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/orientation Orientation plays a huge part on the energy efficiency & comfort of a home. Get it wrong & your home could be dark & cold in winter, or it could be roasting in summer. Get it right & your home could be light, comfortable year around, with far smaller energy bills for heating & cooling. I'm afraid to say that your plans is very poor when it comes to orientation. Western bedrooms are a very bad idea, & can get very hot on summer evenings. No northern windows in living areas means they are likely to be dark, & cooler in winter. This is often the case with homes with northern frontages. As the garage blocks northern light from entering the home. You're lucky, as you have a very large block, so have options. I'd look at something unusual. A detached garage, an enclosed front yard, with north facing living areas facing it. Stretching out across the block, so you can have many windows facing north (mainly living areas), & south (mainly bedrooms), with few western & eastern windows. Currently you have a lot of western & eastern windows. This is not a great idea, when it can be avoided. As it's very difficult to shade eastern & western window, as the sun is low in the sky in these directions (so eaves are ineffective). Best of luck with the build. Re: Floor Plan Advice 9Jun 25, 2020 11:40 pm Mattmartin ...your second post was the correct positioning. Unfortunately then, as you will learn once you read the orientation section on the Your Home website as suggested by ddarroch, the orientation of your floor plan will be problematic unless the house has some significant mitigating design elements. Is this plan from a project home builder or is it a custom design? Re: Floor Plan Advice 11Jun 26, 2020 6:42 am Thank you all for your input, obviously a newbie at all of this will have to sit down and have and rethink our plans. We are building with a project builder. Re: Floor Plan Advice 12Jun 26, 2020 7:04 am Given the space, you have the opportunity to improve orientation by changing the angle the house sits on the block. It doesnt need to sit in line with the boundary.
Id suggest you consider flipping the plan, and twisting the angle which will improve orientation immensely. It also gives you to opportunity to do some different landscaping options etc For this size house, I would be looking to include things like WIRS to bedrooms etc. The media room is odd, and the bathroom is ages away, may want to consider adding a PWD somewhere Re: Floor Plan Advice 13Jun 26, 2020 7:52 am Mattmartin We are building with a project builder. Given you are doing a project build, I would suggest you search for a plan that better suits your block and orientation from the start. That way you'll need to make fewer adjustments. Adjustments can add expense, as well as causing you to add extra decisions to a process that is already complex enough. As an extra piece of advice, the floor plan (the "plan view" of the design) is just one aspect of the complexity. If you come back to ask further advice, it helps to post the "elevation views" of the design too, as window and wall positioning, and roof design are important factors. Re: Floor Plan Advice 14Jun 26, 2020 8:01 am This is probably personal preference, but it looks to me like you have lots of rooms and 4 small separate living areas. If it was me I would be looking to have the main living area bigger, with more natural light and opening onto the alfresco. Yes, and echoing the other comments about the orientation... Re: Floor Plan Advice 15Jun 26, 2020 9:51 am Have a look at The Rural Building Company designs, and like others have said, use your space to optimise layout and landscape accordingly. There's nothing wrong with a garage door that doesn't face directly towards the road when you're on 3/4 of an acre... https://www.ruralbuilding.com.au/homes/ i thought the flipped plan initially but bec i want narrow pathway from entry to dining (dont like bend), also cannot fit the… 7 17278 Hi, Seeking volume or semi-custom builder in victoria(east), which have existing double story wide floor plans. Seeking 18-20m wide homes with depth of 12-15m long. Or… 0 25161 Hi there! Absolutely agree on the wasted space. We have no desire for the master to be that oversized, but it occurred when we increased the depth of the garage. We have… 4 12497 |