Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 10, 2008 10:33 am Hello
We've had a few comments lately from people who have just moved into their new homes which what seem like minor points, but they wish they had checked/changed on the plans. The first was downpipes. A couple found they had downpipes near bedroom windows and these then made the 'dripping tap' noise after it had rained which made it difficult to sleep. They wish they had made the builder position then elsewhere. The other was light switches. This chap found the switches were not in good spots. Once your walls are up go through and double check your light switch positions and mark them up. This chap found switches behind doors etc so check the direction of the door opening. Another tip is to check you can get from the lounge to your bedroom and vice-versa easily if it was dark. If you have a passage or stairs a 2-way switch may be the go. Hope these tips help someone out there about to build. Regards Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 2Aug 10, 2008 11:02 am Good tips especially the light switches. I find going through displays and actually using the lights gives a feel for where they should be. Also the ability to put on a hall light from just outside the bedroom is important for those mid night toilet trips.
Can I add some of my own tips? These were primary considerations in my search. How easily can a toilet be reached from outside? (important when you're thinking littlies forgetting to take off gumboots , perhaps elderly gardeners who sometimes need to go in a hurry and of course for guests when entertaining. The practical movement from space to space. When I went through displays I walked from space to space. For example, standing in the kitchen and walk to the door to outside. Amazing the amount of homes where this is an obstacle course and no amount of moving furniture will help. Not too handy for entertaining. And from car to kitchen is another one. (shopping) Jo I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 3Aug 10, 2008 8:52 pm Hi there Best Builder,
If you need any lighting ideas, tips or specs, please feel free to contact us. We have been helping on the forum for over 6 months. Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 4Aug 10, 2008 8:57 pm Quote: The first was downpipes. A couple found they had downpipes near bedroom windows and these then made the 'dripping tap' noise after it had rained which made it difficult to sleep. They wish they had made the builder position then elsewhere this is a good one and one Ive never given any thought to at all is there anything you can do apart from repositioning I wonder if they are already in Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 6Aug 11, 2008 12:14 am bec Quote: The first was downpipes. A couple found they had downpipes near bedroom windows and these then made the 'dripping tap' noise after it had rained which made it difficult to sleep. They wish they had made the builder position then elsewhere this is a good one and one Ive never given any thought to at all is there anything you can do apart from repositioning I wonder if they are already in We had a downpipe near our bedroom window in our old house and another near the back rumpus room. I loved hearing the rain on the roof and water gushing out the pipes. Strange I know but it was comforting. Also don't modern pipes drain underground to the street?? Maybe this is the way they've done the s/water in our new house . Watch where they put the manhole and the doorways. Our upstairs bathroom has 3 doors in one area . Small things but they can be irritating in your new home. Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 7Aug 11, 2008 1:54 am heres a tip.
If you have a single story home, put you roof space entry / cover in the locked garage rather than in you hallway, that way if someone breaks in through your roof, they'll find themselves in the garage rather than in the house. Lloyd Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 8Aug 11, 2008 8:39 am As someone else found out in this fourm, place your towel rails and toilet roll holders on the drawing. One member had to resort to putting the towel rail outside the bathroom since it don't fit.
Also, when building your ceiling frame, make sure it's strong enough to store things in the roof. Things are build so cheaply these days that the roof cavity can't be used for storage since the beams aren't strong enough. Demolition August 2009, Construction Started September 2009, Completed December 2010 Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 9Aug 11, 2008 12:14 pm DeeElle bec Quote: The first was downpipes. A couple found they had downpipes near bedroom windows and these then made the 'dripping tap' noise after it had rained which made it difficult to sleep. They wish they had made the builder position then elsewhere this is a good one and one Ive never given any thought to at all is there anything you can do apart from repositioning I wonder if they are already in We had a downpipe near our bedroom window in our old house and another near the back rumpus room. I loved hearing the rain on the roof and water gushing out the pipes. Strange I know but it was comforting. Also don't modern pipes drain underground to the street?? Maybe this is the way they've done the s/water in our new house . Watch where they put the manhole and the doorways. Our upstairs bathroom has 3 doors in one area . Small things but they can be irritating in your new home. Gee I hope we find the noise comforting too - as our rainwater tank will be right behind our heads when we are asleep! never thought of this either... Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 10Aug 11, 2008 2:21 pm If you are going for higher ceilings, check the position of the windows. We only just realised that our builder shifted the entire window arrangement up 1 foot as we increased ceiling. So now all the windows are so high it looks weird. The little window in the bathroom is so high, I can't peep over it, and there is no way we can place shampoos, nick nacks in the sill because it is too high. The top of the window touches the ceiling as well. It will make window furnishing a bit tricky. Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 11Aug 11, 2008 3:55 pm sammy If you are going for higher ceilings, check the position of the windows. We only just realised that our builder shifted the entire window arrangement up 1 foot as we increased ceiling. So now all the windows are so high it looks weird. The little window in the bathroom is so high, I can't peep over it, and there is no way we can place shampoos, nick nacks in the sill because it is too high. The top of the window touches the ceiling as well. It will make window furnishing a bit tricky. Never thought of this at all will need to check our plan if the window height is shifted... For the downpipe, unfortunately have to have it close to the bedroom, hope the double glaze window will help to miminise the noise... The only tip i have (actually from my friends), for those that extend the garage, make sure you have enough lights too... my friend has extend the garage with a mini workshop, but forgot to put in additional light... have to work under insufficient light... Blog - http://clageonewhouse.blogspot.com/ Building Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=10886&hilit=milan I am in, with my husband and my beautiful bunny Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 12Aug 11, 2008 4:13 pm sammy If you are going for higher ceilings, check the position of the windows. We only just realised that our builder shifted the entire window arrangement up 1 foot as we increased ceiling. So now all the windows are so high it looks weird. The little window in the bathroom is so high, I can't peep over it, and there is no way we can place shampoos, nick nacks in the sill because it is too high. The top of the window touches the ceiling as well. It will make window furnishing a bit tricky. that's funny sammy, we have high celings too and have noticed the opposite problem - the windows are not centred vertically, so while we have not much room at the bottom of the windows, there is a great big expanse of wall above the windows which make it look unbalanced IMO. This is only with the big picture windows in the living areas for us - littler bathroom & bedroom ones are ok. Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 13Aug 11, 2008 4:15 pm donuts sammy If you are going for higher ceilings, check the position of the windows. We only just realised that our builder shifted the entire window arrangement up 1 foot as we increased ceiling. So now all the windows are so high it looks weird. The little window in the bathroom is so high, I can't peep over it, and there is no way we can place shampoos, nick nacks in the sill because it is too high. The top of the window touches the ceiling as well. It will make window furnishing a bit tricky. that's funny sammy, we have high celings too and have noticed the opposite problem - the windows are not centred vertically, so while we have not much room at the bottom of the windows, there is a great big expanse of wall above the windows which make it look unbalanced IMO. This is only with the big picture windows in the living areas for us - littler bathroom & bedroom ones are ok. What window coverings are you having donuts? Depending on what you are having they can sit higher than the top of the windows to give the appearance that the window is taller than it is. Does that make sense? They do it in displays sometimes. Jo I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 14Aug 11, 2008 4:20 pm I think what you have is normal- or what is suppose to happen. All the windows in the lower storey looks fine from the outside- just inside is weird. There is no brickwork above the window at all! When I stand next to the window, I feel very small And you can't tell from the plans until you really look into it. I guess the good part is that the kids cannot open the windows themselves- the lock is at least chest height! Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 15Aug 11, 2008 4:22 pm hmm thanks Jo had not thought of that! We are going to wait and see what wall coverings we feel like once we're in there, will keep that idea in mind. Do you think it'd work with wooden venetians?
The main thing that irks me about it is that you don't see as much sky through the windows, when there is so much potential to! Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 16Aug 11, 2008 5:37 pm Interesting point about windows and higher ceilings, our windows have NOT been raised therefore there is more brickwork above the window but I think that looks normal.
Underneath the dining, lounge, main bedroom, window there is about 6 inches of wall space above the floor before the window sill starts, but this won't show when the curtains are up on the front windows and will be good in the dining one as it means blind can be set inside the sill, which it couldn't if window went all the way to floor. Minor bedrooms have smaller windows, about 2 feet (?) from floor level. Lloydmav, good point about the man hole going in the garage, never thought of that but fortunately ours is there anyway. Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 17Aug 11, 2008 6:00 pm sammy I think what you have is normal- or what is suppose to happen. All the windows in the lower storey looks fine from the outside- just inside is weird. There is no brickwork above the window at all! When I stand next to the window, I feel very small And you can't tell from the plans until you really look into it. I guess the good part is that the kids cannot open the windows themselves- the lock is at least chest height! Yes I suppose our set-up is more normal than yours, but I think there could be a happy medium! I don't mind ours from the outside - it's the inside that looks funny. Here is a pic of what I mean - see all the nice sky up the top which will be covered with a wall soon? Then all we'll see is the fence and it's so close to the floor! There's another window the same in the next room over. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 18Aug 11, 2008 6:15 pm We actually added highlight windows above our windows when we increased the ceiling height in our house. It makes a world of difference, and makes the room seem so much bigger!
Is it too late to replace the windows? Sometimes it's better to push through changes then to regret it for all the years you live in the house. I too love to see sky! Re: Some recent tips for your new home design 20Aug 11, 2008 8:07 pm That is a good solution Amilelka
Donuts, I suppose it depends how much more light you need, I know in our house we are quite happy with the windows; design and placement on block is such that our house is not at all dark (its fully bricked and roofed now so can tell final result) We have no south facing windows except a window at the back of the garage, also where we live it is very hot in summer so we don't want strong afternoon sun thru high windows. I don't think close to the floor is a problem, in fact your windows look same as ours. Title: Expert Tips for Painting Your Own House: Insights from Brisbane Painting… 0 270 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 13832 Just be careful with building stability during construction, that is when the structure may be weakened, refer to your engineering drawings for stability methodology. 1 7223 |