Trixee's Passive Solar Build Perth

trixee · Aug 07, 2014 10:53 pm

I've been holding off on starting a thread until we sign the actual contract, but we will soon be demolishing so I thought I'd start one anyway.

We're doing a custom passive solar build on the inner city fringe.

Floorplan (I've rotated it so that the entry is on the left):
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You’ll notice that it’s a weird shape because of the orientation of the block. We wanted to maximise the north-facing areas to take advantage of the sun. However, the front of the house appears parallel to the street, so it doesn’t look unusual from the front. Notably, there’s also a double-brick wall between the master bedroom and the living area, as the architect wanted to add more thermal mass to achieve better solar efficiency.

Front Elevation:
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It's fairly simple. There will be 2 steps leading to the front of the house, and the portico will have a glosswood-lined ceiling.

Timeline-wise, we first contacted the architect in June last year, and are coming to the end of the design process. Just small internal tweaks at this point.
Our planning application is in with the city council, so it's a waiting game with them. Things remaining before we can start construction:

- Demolish existing house
- Sign building contract
- Get finance from the bank
- Get more variation quotes from builder as we think of more stuff to add!

I've enjoyed following many builds on here, I hope this thread gives a little something back as we make progress.

asha · Aug 07, 2014 10:56 pm

Yay!!!

So happy you now have a thread I can follow Trixee. Hope everything runs smoothly for you

joannek · Aug 07, 2014 10:57 pm

Looks like a very exciting project Trixee. What flooring are you looking at?

AKB · Aug 07, 2014 10:59 pm

Yay Woot Woot :-)

Finally!!!!! :-)

deluxes · Aug 07, 2014 11:11 pm

Fantastic! I love the look of it...

Following! :-)

trixee · Aug 07, 2014 11:24 pm

Thanks guys! Feels good to finally have a thread!

trixee · Aug 07, 2014 11:26 pm

@joannek We're looking at dark grey porcelain tiles for the main flooring, and floorboards (possibly marri) in the library and bedrooms.

joannek · Aug 07, 2014 11:27 pm

Sounds lovely. Dark grey looks so nice with timber.

trixee · Aug 07, 2014 11:29 pm

Some of the bedrooms are actually marked wrong on the plan. What's marked as the study will actually be the guest bedroom, and bed 2/3 will actually be separate caves for DH and me.

Melsie68 · Aug 07, 2014 11:36 pm

Hi trixee ,thats one great plan .we lived in maddington and there was a house that had all the angles like your home has . I always wondered how it could look like on the inside. My friends house plans has alot of angles but when your in it you dont even notice .goodluck and have fun

trixee · Aug 07, 2014 11:40 pm

Thanks Melsie!

trixee · Aug 09, 2014 9:39 pm

Is anyone going to/been to the Perth home show this weekend? I'm planning on going tomorrow.

asha · Aug 09, 2014 11:02 pm

Ooo I didn't even know about it but I'm coming up to ikea instead. Might have to reschedule ???

yvonneh · Aug 09, 2014 11:38 pm

Trixee that floorplan looks wonderful! Really love how you have the his and her caves

and I love the library!! Are you getting built in shelves? I'm going straight to your blog to see if I can glean the info about your library after I finish posting here.

The added thermal mass will be wonderful. Are you doing anything special with the brick wall or is it rendered/plasterboard?

For the library are you putting in a rug as well or just leaving it as floorboards for now?

is there a reason you went with sliding servery windows? Only because I saw a bifold window servery today (and even took a photo of it) and was getting a bit wistful since our kitchen doesn't have an oppty to have a servery at all.

OMG! COFFEE area!?!? Super jealous. It's going to be so fantastic!

Really looking forward to following your progress and build!

trixee · Aug 09, 2014 11:55 pm

Thanks Yvonne! The his and her caves are a must because we have separate purposes - mine will be a combined craft/meditation/study room and his will be a study/computery stuff room. So to keep the peace we need separate areas! :lol:

We don't intend on doing anything special with the extra thermal mass, just plastering it. Hoping an interior designer can come up with some good ideas for decorating it though! Briefly thought about brick but ruled it out in the end.

With the servery windows, we ended up deciding on sliding because the bifolds might end up impinging on seating/cooking area. Also, the sliding windows are cheaper. And to be honest, we're not entirely sure we're going to end up using this as a proper servery, but wanted the option just in case.

Coffee area will proudly display our pride and joy

As for the library, we're still a little bit uncertain about the cost, but the plan is to have custom bookshelves on all walls, some of them to have glass doors for protection - a bit worried about how much this will cost, so will do it after handover, might end up doing one wall at a time or something. We're thinking a low couch below the window would be nice, sort of like those built-in window seats but more comfortable. Maybe a modern-looking chesterfield type. Definitely a rug, I think, and a chaise longue or two. Nice chandeliery light-fitting. We want it to look cosy but not too stuffy. You know, I haven't done a blog post on the library yet! Must rectify that. I was almost going to at some point but DH didn't like some of my ideas (bah, I say!).

trixee · Aug 09, 2014 11:58 pm

asha

Ooo I didn't even know about it but I'm coming up to ikea instead. Might have to reschedule ???

Yeah I thought it might be useful as I think we're at the point where I can actually go around with proper plans and get some useful quotes as we *should* hopefully be starting construction in a few months.
Also, I want to check out the Enjo stand and see if it's all it's cracked up to be!

belzey · Aug 10, 2014 3:07 am

Awesome trixee...posting to follow along! Plan looks awesome!

trixee · Aug 10, 2014 11:27 am

Thanks Belzey, I love your colour scheme!

ardie514 · Aug 10, 2014 1:34 pm

Hi trixee. So glad you've started a thread. I have stalked your blog periodically:) let me know how home show goes. We went to the one earlier this year and were a bit disappointed. Thought the home base expo show was excellent. Was literally just exploring the enjo site this am! I think I may give it a go in new house. Under a spending moratorium until we move or at least have a roof up

Hope demo and construction start soon. Would love to see your colour choices and other design choices.

trixee · Aug 10, 2014 6:08 pm

Thanks ardie! Well the home show was pretty crap. Got a few quotes but not really of anything I was actually interested in.