Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 23, 2015 11:34 pm Hi there Planning this for a 1 acre block in Gippsland Victoria. Designed to be a passive solar house to face about 15 degrees east of true north due to block position. It is a very windy block and I was thinking of building a large colorbond shed on the west side instead of garage. It would have been 14.4 long 7.5 wide and 3.2 or 3.6 high but I thought it would be a bit unsightly so close to the house, and I can locate it 10 metres past the house down the back NW corner. This means I then need a garage or carport next to house, or am I better to build a 12 metre brick garage as part of house and forget the shed.? The house seems to grow in size each time I try and overcome some minor problem, I would like to make it more efficient, but not pokey, without reducing the home cinema size. I also need an undercover area for 2 dogs and their kennels,dog beds, outside table, chairs. The dogs will sit near the meals area door when they want to come in or go out. I have not come up with a good solution for this as yet. Our existing house has a 5 by 5 metre courtyard that works well but it is a completely different layout. Thanks for any suggestions Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Feedback on my draft house plan 2Apr 24, 2015 6:59 am If you want a passive solar house you will need to include eaves of around 900mm on the northern side or a pergola otherwise you will suffer from overheating. I think a corridor only 1.00m wide will look pokey and I would be going for at least 1.2m. Garage built onto the house as a buffer zone (see http://www.anewhouse.com.au/2012/02/buffer-zones/) is always better in my opinion. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Feedback on my draft house plan 3Apr 24, 2015 10:22 am bashworth If you want a passive solar house you will need to include eaves of around 900mm on the northern side or a pergola otherwise you will suffer from overheating. I think a corridor only 1.00m wide will look pokey and I would be going for at least 1.2m. Garage built onto the house as a buffer zone (see http://www.anewhouse.com.au/2012/02/buffer-zones/) is always better in my opinion. Thanks for that, yes I am thinking of a sunroom with summer shade sail or blind, or a north verandah with a roof of a mixture of colorbond and or laserlite so can get some shelter, some shade and some light. Pergola wont give me any rain protection for pets. My sister has a new house with 1200 wide passage and it seems very wide, I thought yourhome guidelines for disabled access was 1 metre passage ways. I may compromise and go for 1100 wide Re: Feedback on my draft house plan 4Apr 24, 2015 12:20 pm 1000 would be quite narrow for disabled. Cheers, Paul (& Lisa) Parkhill 36 by ClarendonHomes in Coomera Retreat H1 Build Thread And Blog Building Blogs List - Go Ahead And Add Yours!! Re: Feedback on my draft house plan 5Apr 24, 2015 1:15 pm Good on you for working on your own plan! A few things I can see; - You need to work on bed placement for Bed 4 (not against window) & Bed 1 is really not ideal either - your bed head should not really be on the same wall as the door opening. - I don't see your 1m passage being a problem as it is a short passage, so long as you can get all your furniture etc. into that home theatre. - Bed 4 door (do you have 2 in?) - Your WIP & Laundry are pretty generous if you are wanting a space efficient design. Good Luck! Re: Feedback on my draft house plan 6Apr 24, 2015 2:22 pm ajansen Good on you for working on your own plan! A few things I can see; - You need to work on bed placement for Bed 4 (not against window) & Bed 1 is really not ideal either - your bed head should not really be on the same wall as the door opening. - I don't see your 1m passage being a problem as it is a short passage, so long as you can get all your furniture etc. into that home theatre. - Bed 4 door (do you have 2 in?) - Your WIP & Laundry are pretty generous if you are wanting a space efficient design. Good Luck! Thanks, I have a few problems getting doors in the correct space or opening the right way with the drawing program, so bed 4 will be fixed, re Bed 1 if I put the bedhead on the south side the bed is under the window, I am undecided on windows size, but as the south side faces the road, was thinking of having full height windows on all bedrooms on the south side. Would this be normal? I can swap the bedroom 1 door so it is opposite the kitchen island bench. Do you think that would be better? RE Laundry and WIP size, my wife wants a bigger kitchen so large WIP will be appreciated, I thought if I went smaller I either make the ensuite larger or WIR in Bed 1 to maintain the rectangular shape of the house. I am making an assumption that a larger rectangular house with the same size roof trusses, straight brick walls and a simple gable roof is probably cheaper than a slightly smaller house on that corner and increasing cost of house construction. Any thoughts on this? Thanks for your suggestions, welcome any other ideas Re: Feedback on my draft house plan 7Apr 24, 2015 3:38 pm Yes those drawing programs can be a real pain to figure out. I don't think I would want a bed under a window, I have seen a bed placed that way with a window on either side though. Yes putting the Bed 1 door so it is off the kitchen would work better, it would be a little odd though walking out of you bedroom straight into the kitchen. The minor bedroom windows I have gone for (and seen most often in display homes) are 1500 wide by 1500 high (or possibly 1800 high if you have higher ceilings and raise all your windows). Bed 1 windows vary from builder to builder, but are often full length or close to it. As yours are on the South side where there is a road you might consider double glazing. Maybe consider changing your South side windows to awning? they seem safer to me and are often used for the front of the house windows. I think your wife will be very happy with that size WIP. Your ensuite is a good size, is your ensuite window on the same wall as the vanity, as a splashback window? Yes it does cost more if your building has a lot of corners - ours is an extra $3,500 as we had to vary too much from the normal rectangle shape due to the block. Re the 2 entry doors I imagine you are trying to create an air-lock? Maybe you could push the 2nd one against the wall or change to a cavity sliding door so it can just be left open when the weather is good. Re extra garage - depends really on what you need / would use, could possibly use part as a rumpus room in the future. I imagine it will add a fair bit onto your cost to have a second double garage. You're not building near a boundary are you? some councils have rules about how long your garage can be. Re: Feedback on my draft house plan 8Apr 24, 2015 4:53 pm ajansen - I don't see your 1m passage being a problem as it is a short passage Doesn't matter how short it is, he mentioned disabled and 1000 is too narrow for that. Cheers, Paul (& Lisa) Parkhill 36 by ClarendonHomes in Coomera Retreat H1 Build Thread And Blog Building Blogs List - Go Ahead And Add Yours!! Re: Feedback on my draft house plan 9Apr 24, 2015 5:06 pm warek My sister has a new house with 1200 wide passage and it seems very wide, I thought yourhome guidelines for disabled access was 1 metre passage ways. I may compromise and go for 1100 wide Generally its 1000mm between furniture but corridors of 1200mm. The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Feedback on my draft house plan 10Apr 30, 2015 10:49 am ajansen Yes those drawing programs can be a real pain to figure out. I don't think I would want a bed under a window, I have seen a bed placed that way with a window on either side though. Yes putting the Bed 1 door so it is off the kitchen would work better, it would be a little odd though walking out of you bedroom straight into the kitchen. The minor bedroom windows I have gone for (and seen most often in display homes) are 1500 wide by 1500 high (or possibly 1800 high if you have higher ceilings and raise all your windows). Bed 1 windows vary from builder to builder, but are often full length or close to it. As yours are on the South side where there is a road you might consider double glazing. Maybe consider changing your South side windows to awning? they seem safer to me and are often used for the front of the house windows. I think your wife will be very happy with that size WIP. Your ensuite is a good size, is your ensuite window on the same wall as the vanity, as a splashback window? Yes it does cost more if your building has a lot of corners - ours is an extra $3,500 as we had to vary too much from the normal rectangle shape due to the block. Re the 2 entry doors I imagine you are trying to create an air-lock? Maybe you could push the 2nd one against the wall or change to a cavity sliding door so it can just be left open when the weather is good. Re extra garage - depends really on what you need / would use, could possibly use part as a rumpus room in the future. I imagine it will add a fair bit onto your cost to have a second double garage. You're not building near a boundary are you? some councils have rules about how long your garage can be. I have made some radical changes, below is my latest plan. Hope to get morning east sun in living, meals area and sunroom/alfresco as house will face 15 east of true north. It rarely gets too hot in this area so extra morning sun is not a problem. Planning on ceiling heights of 2.7 metres, and double glazed sliding windows. It is 15% more for sliding windows compared to awning, but do have greater airflow for ventilation. Second garage is basically a large colorbond shed, at back of block, usually cost around 40000-45000 for 14.4* 7.5 metres by 3.6 walls with 2 roller doors, concrete floor and power, so much cheaper that a brick garage, no problem with boundary or neighbours as it is a rural area and adjoining property is a 125 hectare farm with farm house 300+ metres away. Will be used to store boat, trailer, ride on lawn mower, etc Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thanks for your input Re: Feedback on my draft house plan 11Apr 30, 2015 4:05 pm How do you get in to the cinema storage? Cheers, Paul (& Lisa) Parkhill 36 by ClarendonHomes in Coomera Retreat H1 Build Thread And Blog Building Blogs List - Go Ahead And Add Yours!! Hi everyone I have a terracotta tiles roof When I climb inside the roof cavity I can feel that there is a draft inside the roof as the wind goes through the roof which is… 0 4340 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 12391 6 55173 |