Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Feb 08, 2010 8:20 pm Hi All, A friend recommended this site to me so here I am posting my first post! I have a block of land that is tricky to say the least - 8.795m wide x 28.5m long so yes it's small and narrow. I've been searching high and low for someone to put some plans together for me and have heard 'No can't help' quite a lot. After months of searching, I have finally found someone who is more than willing and he has asked what kind of specs I'm looking at. Has anyone got any tips or advice for building a narrow home? Anything that can make it feel open and not tiny and cramped (ie higher ceilings, open plan etc)? Im such a novice that any advice is greatly appreciated. Look forward to seeing you around the boards. Danni Custom build Perth Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=44112 Purchased block: May 2009 Building approval: July 2011 Bricks complete: Jan 2012 Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 2Feb 08, 2010 8:34 pm I'd go for the terrace house layout. That is, hallway on one side, with bedrooms to the other side. Hallway then opens up to living area. You want to get as close to the sides as you can get. Garage, if you want one would go on the bedroom side. Perhaps ten go up a story for the bedrooms. With a width of 8.8 metres, you want to only have 0.9 m per side, leaving 7.0 metres for the house. Subtracting hr outside walls you're down to 6.5 metres wide. 1.2 m for the hall, 0.1 metres for the internal wall leaves 5.2 m for the room, which is generous. Bit narrow for a double garage however. I think it would be fun to design for your block. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 3Feb 08, 2010 8:48 pm Hi dayow, We have a narrow block but not as narrow as yours. I have a link you might want to have a look at. They are for 2 storey homes but might help with layout etc. http://www.goldaward.com.au/NewHomeDesigns/results.aspx We didn't build a 2 storey home and no I don't work for this company either. I just found these home designs when looking for a house to fit on our block. Jose27 PCI Done Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 5Feb 08, 2010 11:45 pm PD have narrow long houses that would fit on that block. Double story to make up for the lost space, in their access range ---------------------------------------- Building the PD Lisbon 24 http://www.porterdavis.com.au/#homeviewer/lisbon/24 Blog of our progress. http://lisbon24.blogspot.com/ Homeone build thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28665 Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 6Feb 09, 2010 2:17 am Fantastic thanks all! Unfortunately WA hasn't quite caught up to the narrow block idea so plans are pretty limited. I have quite a few development provisions too so it makes the design process interesting to say the least. Have listed them just to give you an idea; Fence type and colours have been specified Porch must be 2m from the front verge Balcony must be 3m from front verge Main building must be 4m from front verge West wall must be on the boundary East wall must be 1.2m from fence line Back of house must be 1.5m from back verge House must orientate towards North Must have a habitable room with a window to the rear of the building Minimum open space is 35% Danni Custom build Perth Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=44112 Purchased block: May 2009 Building approval: July 2011 Bricks complete: Jan 2012 Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 8Feb 09, 2010 8:57 am Wow, Could you picture this if every house was built like that with a garage in between each house and suddenly there were gale force winds. Yep, I recon it would have a domino effect!!! Gander, that is one different looking house. PCI Done Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 9Feb 09, 2010 12:46 pm Danni, I recently built a pair of duplexes (common garage wall) on a sub-18m wide block (i.e. sub 9m for each house). Own design with a hallway that is "stepped" in the middle. Location of the hallway at the front is dictated by width of the garage. Depending on where BR1 is, having a WIR may be problematic. If you want a door in the hallway (eg to close off the back of the house), get a flush jam cavity slider (hallway will be narrow as it is, so don't need door sticking out). If you're getting a rainwater tank, make sure it's in the backyard before frame goes up. Probably lots of other things, but this is all I can think of right now. Chris Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 10Feb 09, 2010 1:23 pm Hi Danni we also built on a cottage lot in Perth...a few years back now and a bigger block had similar issues. Up here in butler there a loads of homes being built on 250sqm blocks near us they are the 'flutes' range by HBC http://www.homebuyers.com.au/go/home-de ... ges/flutes I think Dale alcock has some too ( well judging by the sign at the end of our street)...also im sure ventura does too...not sure of these 2 builders range titles as they are newer ones. Hope this helps Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 11Feb 09, 2010 5:51 pm Jose27 Wow, Could you picture this if every house was built like that with a garage in between each house and suddenly there were gale force winds. Yep, I recon it would have a domino effect!!! Gander, that is one different looking house. lol well every house on the street has the same conditions so yep they will all be the same (fingers crossed for no gale forced winds). We have a laneway at the back so the garage must be at the rear. Torrie77 I will check out the flute range but Dale Alcock and Ventura have already knocked me back. Its nice to know there are small blocks elsewhere though - where abouts are you? ChrisL thats a great idea about the cavity slilder, I would never have thought of that so thank you. Im thinking that because of all the requirements, I will probably build a second level so it's not so crammed. Just have to see how far the $$ can stretch. Danni Custom build Perth Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=44112 Purchased block: May 2009 Building approval: July 2011 Bricks complete: Jan 2012 Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 12Feb 09, 2010 5:59 pm Hi Dayow - We are building in WA and are having the same problem. We ended up finding 2 homes that could be built on the space from builders but much too expensive. I ended up designing myself but before you go too far check with your local shire as they may be able to show you other examples of how and what has been built. Are you looking at 2 storey or 1 storey? THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE IS 495 SQM OF BEACH SAND AND WEEDS! http://missvintageshouseofpain.blogspot.com/ Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 13Feb 09, 2010 6:52 pm Hey Danni we built up in Butler....our block was 433msq but we had the problem that the front age was 5.5m wide and the back was 29 m wide...so really weird shape...meant we had to push back one side of house...but did leave us with a large yard.......so yep had our problems. Ours is also cottage with a garage at the back... Yep went and had a look on dale and Ventura...even went down and read the sign....those 2 builders have 'already built' homes up here so they obviously bought a huge block and then built lots of little houses close together. The "flutes' ones are quite common up here...I think they are using them to tailor for people that want to lock and leave.....or what I think is they are selling such small blocks someone has to put a house on them!! lol Where are you building? We are going through the motions of starting the build experience again....when they release the blocks!! Good luck!!! Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 14Feb 09, 2010 8:37 pm Hi guys.. Plunkett (in WA) has some nice designs for narrow block. You can have a look at http://www.narrowlothomes.com.au. Our block is 10x50m and we have just signed a prelim agreement with them to build a single storey. Currently they have a temporary display home in Dianella for 10m frontage single storey design. Danni: Plunkett also has a design for 9m frontage. Hope that helps Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 15Feb 09, 2010 10:08 pm I think of our block of land being a narrow block, but you would laugh at it - the block size is over 1000 sq m! The "short" side is about 18m long as opposed to the long side which is about 50m. So really quite spacious in comparison but it's all relative! The "short" side faces north, so to gain as much sunlight as possible our architect has designed a layout with a courtyard in the middle. This allows more light into the south east rooms. Check the link in my sig if you want to see more! Built 3br house in Glenorchy, Tas in 2001 * * * Built 5br courtyard house in Lenah Valley, Tas in 2011 - Homeone thread / Blog Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 16Feb 10, 2010 12:20 am I love the idea of a courtyard in the middle but Im not sure my block is deep enough. Space is going to be tight enough as it is. Thats why Im leaning towards a second storey. To be fair Dale and Ventura knocked me back in June last year so perhaps smaller blocks are becoming more common in WA (well I can only hope!). Might just have to have a visit to Butler to check out some ideas. Are they in East Butler or the new part (I built out there in 2001 so still consider the parts around the lake to be true Butler lol). I am building in Darch, not my ideal block of land but it gets my foot back in the door (sold my Butler house in 2008 as part of my divorce) and its an area I am familiar with. Plus a small house means less cleaning right? Custom build Perth Thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=44112 Purchased block: May 2009 Building approval: July 2011 Bricks complete: Jan 2012 Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 17Feb 10, 2010 1:49 am I really like Webb & Brown-Neaves narrow lot designs http://wbhomes.com.au/#/homes/narrowlothomes/urban I think they are all slightly too wide for your block at 9m, but it might give you some more ideas for layout Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 18Feb 10, 2010 10:26 am Hi Danni I am building a narrow house in Karrinyup, I have signed with APG. They have a range of homes called Discovery for 10m wide blocks that can be modified. http://www.apghomes.com.au/narrow-lot-h ... -homes.php Our block is 9.39w x 40m deep with a slope so we have had plenty of issues with overlooking, too close to the fence etc etc... Our slope meant that we had to have a split level on the ground floor which cost us a bit but means we will have 40c ceilings, which turns out is fantastic when your house is only about 6-7m wide! Took us a while to get through council but we are through now and looking forward to seeing some action.. We found it hard to find someone to build on this block to start with but it seems more and more builders are doing them now. If you want single storey I know Webb Brown Neaves have some great designs, they also have great doubles for narrows. Renowned Homes or something i think its called does narrows. And Plunkett. In terms of design features, I would try to have as much northern light as you can, windows, windows, windows.. Not sure how you feel about backyard, but we worried more about our alfresco than having yard as such. Your front elevation is nothing more than garage and front door but you can do some great things now portico's and structures to give it a little bit more.. I am new to this forum so I am not sure how to load plans or anything otherwise I would put some pictures up.. Good luck! Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 19Feb 10, 2010 10:30 am Alot of the provisions will not apply to you.. The council has pretty much approved this parcel of land, and it is in it's best interests to have it developed. So they will be more than likely to bend the rules here and drop some of the provisions. It happens everywhere, and you just have to ask, and get the builder to fill out the forms etc. I think in council terms its called a SEPP 1 or something. Re: Tips for building a narrow home? 20Feb 10, 2010 10:53 am There is a whole bunch of display homes in Belmont that are 2 storey and quite narrow. Even if it isnt as narrow as you need 9 times out of 10 they have actually built it on a narrower block and can show you a plan of how it has been modified. We have gotten around the overlooking issues by building as far against one side as possible and using alot of highlight windows on that side and then we had a bit of yard on the other side. Mostly its just about finding a design that you can live with and then cutting and pasting to suit your block. It has taken over a month to get the design where we want it but I think its worth taking the time with a small block especially as you really have to make the most of your room up front. A couple of companies I found that have narrow designs are: http://www.lorimerhomes.com.au/site/ http://www.residentialattitudes.com.au/ http://www.redboxhomes.com.au/ http://www.avernahomes.com.au/narrow_lot.html http://www.rossgriffin.com.au/productra ... narrowlot/ http://www.perceptions.com.au/news.asp THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE IS 495 SQM OF BEACH SAND AND WEEDS! http://missvintageshouseofpain.blogspot.com/ So it looks like we finally have some movement on site! Definitely later than expected, but I'll take any progress at this point. I'll drop by over the weekend to get… 5 27706 Thanks again for this information. If you do hear anything different, would be great to know 4 8242 dimensions on your original plan are inconsistent and with accurate dimensions (including site plan, upstairs and down) i could make a proper scale drawing with furniture… 3 7515 |