Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Mar 20, 2015 11:46 am I was wondering if anyone knows if we can customise the design of the roof with Custom builders like Coral Homes or Tullipan? We're keen on passive solar design like this: http://www.mycarpentry.com/image-files/ ... iagram.jpg We'll be building in Stonecutters Ridge in Colebee, NSW. TIA! Re: Roof design 2Mar 20, 2015 12:04 pm Hi pheazoid, lots of builders have designs or facades that include a skillion roof like this, although they don't always have the windows along the top (clerestory windows). There may also be coventant guidelines about the height of the angle of the roof - in my estate a skillion roof couldn't be higher than 15 degrees. You should definitely be able to find options though Jen (& Dave) Plantation Bronte, Ormeau Ridge, Gold Coast QLD 12/03/2015 - Commencement... 26/08/2015 - Handover! viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76446 Re: Roof design 3Mar 20, 2015 12:13 pm Thanks for the reply Ilaeria! In the design guidelines for my estate it stipulates: 1.6.3 Dwellings with hip and gabled roofs must provide a roof pitch in the range of 15° to 30°. 1.6.4 Skillion roofs are permissible in conjunction with parapet walls. 1.6.5 Dwellings must provide a minimum of 450 millimetre eaves excluding parapet and skillion roofs. 1.6.6 Where parapet walls are used, appropriate shading devices must be provided in lieu of eaves. Do you think this means that a skillion roof must only be used with parapet walls? It doesn't mention that the skillion roof should have a certain degree range. Re: Roof design 4Mar 20, 2015 12:29 pm Hey pheazoid, my interpretation of that is that you can only have the skillion roof if you have parapet walls and some kind of shading (which I guess means there must be a square wall across the front of the skillion roof that covers the angle? I haven't heard that term before). If you're unsure, and it's what you really want, it's probably worth discussing with the estate first to really understand what the requirements. Also, if the estate has a display village, if you talk to the sales people in there from a couple of builders that you are considering they should know what is permissible in the estate and be able to help Jen (& Dave) Plantation Bronte, Ormeau Ridge, Gold Coast QLD 12/03/2015 - Commencement... 26/08/2015 - Handover! viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76446 Re: Roof design 5Mar 20, 2015 1:13 pm Hi pheazoid, I really like skillion roofs, along with clerestory windows. But be careful to get the design right, as poorly designed clerestory windows can leak a lot of heat in winter. Also cathedral ceilings must be very well insulated, as it's extrememly difficult to increase insulation levels at a later date (unlike your average roofspace, where you can easily install extra bulk insulation). Re: Roof design 6Mar 20, 2015 1:18 pm Hi ddarroch. Do you know or perhaps you might know where I could find out how tall the cathedral ceilings would need to be? To be honest I'm rather perplexed. I like the idea of using/avoiding the sun with this type of roof design, but I have no idea how to achieve it. All the roofs in our estate are gabled and mostly black. After much deliberation I think that, especially being in western Sydney, these might cause the house to feel like a giant heated shoe box. The design guidelines state that skillion roofs should be built with parapet walls, and I don't know how these differ to normal walls. Re: Roof design 7Mar 20, 2015 4:25 pm pheazoid Do you know or perhaps you might know where I could find out how tall the cathedral ceilings would need to be? Cathedral and/or raked/skillion ceilings can be as high as you want but an architect/designer will set the height to be proportional to your overall design and ensure that it works with window/door heights and other features in the space with the lifted ceiling. pheazoid To be honest I'm rather perplexed. I like the idea of using/avoiding the sun with this type of roof design, but I have no idea how to achieve it. All the roofs in our estate are gabled and mostly black. After much deliberation I think that, especially being in western Sydney, these might cause the house to feel like a giant heated shoe box. Again, the architect/designer will do some analysis regarding how and when (hours of the day and time of the year) direct sunlight comes through the celestial windows. Have a quick look at my blog (http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/) for pics of my living room, the normal ceilings in my place are 2.7m while the raked ceiling in the living room is 3m up to 4.2m This allows 600mm high windows between the top of the outdoor room's roof and the internal ceiling. The eave above the windows is a bit over 750mm wide which are needed to shade the windows through the day in summer while allowing winter sun through. pheazoid The design guidelines state that skillion roofs should be built with parapet walls, and I don't know how these differ to normal walls. The parapet wall will be vertical to the 'sky' with no overhang. It's used to hide the skillion roof behind it. The photo below is the place currently being build behind mine. It has a shallow skillion roof off the side of the main building with a parapet wall in front (road side). From the road you'll only see the wall up the house and not the skillion roofline. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ This façade is made up of three parapet walls (no roof line is visible). Hope some of this info helps. ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Roof design 8Mar 20, 2015 4:37 pm That's great info PAB_34 and your house looks gorgeous, I love those blue lights in your kitchen! Jen (& Dave) Plantation Bronte, Ormeau Ridge, Gold Coast QLD 12/03/2015 - Commencement... 26/08/2015 - Handover! viewtopic.php?f=31&t=76446 Re: Roof design 9Mar 20, 2015 4:40 pm Ilaeria That's great info PAB_34 and your house looks gorgeous, I love those blue lights in your kitchen! Thanks. All of the colours, fittings and styling was done by my better half, I'm useless at it! Oh and those lights are actually silicon rubber....http://www.muuto.com/collection/unfold_pendant_lamp/ ----------------------------------------------- http://pab34newdigs.blogspot.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------- Re: Roof design 10Mar 20, 2015 6:00 pm pheazoid Hi ddarroch. Do you know or perhaps you might know where I could find out how tall the cathedral ceilings would need to be? The design guidelines state that skillion roofs should be built with parapet walls, and I don't know how these differ to normal walls. No, sorry, I'm just your average punter, not an expert. As PAB_34 says, you'll really need an architect/designer skilled with passive solar design, to work out your roof angles, eave lengths, levels & orientation of glazing & thermal mass etc. Of course, that can be expensive. Along with seeking advice here, & researching the http://yourhome.gov.au website, I'd recommend signing up to the Alternative Technology Association (ATA) forums here, http://www.ata.org.au/forums/. One user that I can think of who has a passive solar house with clerestory windows is Catopsilia (although his house is high thermal mass, which wouldn't be appropriate for Sydney). He posts regularly on this thread about Low-energy houses, http://www.ata.org.au/forums/topic/3. Assuming you're talking about north facing clerestories, I suppose the higher the angle of your roof pitch, the further winter sun will reach into your house (in Sydney, at the winter equinox the sun will peak at 33° above the horizon), but the taller your ceilings will be. As it's harder to heat rooms with cathedral ceilings, & harder to insulate, you may want to limit these ceilings to some of your living areas, & possibly hallways. What orientation is your block pheazoid? If you face overshadowing issues from your northern neighbour (common for narrow blocks with east or west frontages), or if you have a northern frontage (and a large double garage that will rob your home of a lot of light), then clerestory windows can be a great way to get light & winter sunshine into your home. That clause about parapet walls may scuttle your idea of using a skillion roof for a passive solar design though. Sounds like they want low pitched skillions, which won't be visible from the ground, so the look is more like modern cubic architecture. With such low roof pitches you won't be able to have clerestory windows, unless you have a split level block (or have a higher roof pitch, with large parapet walls). Re: Roof design 11Mar 20, 2015 8:22 pm You'd want to be clear on the reason why you want to do it. From a cost point of view, chances are for the amount extra it would cost, you could instead easily install solar photovoltaics on the roof which you could use to run a reverse-cycle airconditioner to give more heat on a sunny winters day than the celestory windows would. As others have said, those raked ceilings and windows also have their themal problems in winter. So don't expect to ever save money with it. However, these sort of designs can also give quite nice spaces inside, so can be worth pursuing. They tend to work best with split level designs and sloping sites. I did this with a house on a southen slope. With 2 storeys on the south, and 1 on the north, giving winter sun into the southern rooms, while the northen rooms were overshadowed by the house next door. Given a choice though, for winter comfort I'd rather have the ground-level north windows than the celestory ones if possible. Re: Roof design 12Mar 20, 2015 8:22 pm Thank you so much for your in depth responses ddarroch and PAB_34. I have much reading to do now! Our block has a frontage facing east, yard west facing. But I think you might be right ddarroch about the possibility of neighbours having double storey. We're intent on single storey so as a result might have to get create about the roof. Another issue is that the estate is saying that the lightest colour roof can only be the equivalent of colorbond windspray, whereas we wanted to go with the lightest colour, surfmist. They seem intent on us producing houses that feel like an oven! Lol. Do any of you think that this may be achieved with a gabled roof or is it only a skillion? Re: Roof design 13Mar 20, 2015 8:27 pm I think you could do it with a hip/gable roof in the front section, and a skillion out the back where it isn't visible from the street. Re: Roof design 14Mar 21, 2015 2:14 pm pheazoid Our block has a frontage facing east, yard west facing. But I think you might be right ddarroch about the possibility of neighbours having double storey. We're intent on single storey so as a result might have to get creative about the roof. In that case I'd recommend building as close to your southern boundary as possible. Which will increase the distance between your build & your northern neighbour, minimising overshadowing. I'd also do a mock up on Google Sketchup, detailing your northern neighbour's maximum allowable building envelope (setbacks & building heights should be readily available),& using the shadow tools to see how this will overshadow your block throughout the day, & throughout the year. As stated, for Sydney, at the winter equinox (June 21), the sun peaks at only 33° above the horizon, so you could face significant overshadowing issues, particularly if you have a narrow block. An estate that would prefer that we have dark coloured tiled roofs instead of light coloured roofs, I don't believe it! Thank you so much for the effort. We will use it to talk with builder. We also had idea of building duplex instead and seeking suggest ions. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=106744 11 10738 Once you know the basics, the rest is easy. Read my post in the thread linked below. viewtopic.php?p=1919271#p1919271 2 15451 Although I am a big opponent of using waffle pod slabs over H2/P soils under any circumstances, in your case I would certainly opt in to keep piers under central… 1 1929 |