Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Custom House Plan - Wanting Feedback and Suggestions 4Apr 17, 2018 8:25 pm Very good advice from Hillsbuilds. The yourhome.gov.au government website is a very, very good website. Start with the Passive Design section, designing for your climate, getting the orientation right, & designing for passive solar heating & cooling. Where's your location? A house built in Cairns will have different requirements to a house built in Canberra. But generally, you should locate living areas, & a large proportion of your glazing, facing north. This way living areas will receive winter sunshine (when the sun is lower in the sky), while being shaded in summer (when the sun is higher) by appropriate length eaves. You're lucky your block has a nice wide 23m eastern frontage. You should build close to your southern boundary, & have a northern side yard. This will prevent overshadowing by your northern neighbour in winter. Do not locate your garage or undercover outdoor area on the northern side of the house. These will rob the home of winter sunshine. Locate the garage in the SE corner. The undercover area could be located at the rear, western side of the house. It will help shade the home from hot afternoon summer sun, though could itself get hot on summer afternoons (a good sized tree for shading late afternoon sun would be a good idea). Bedrooms to the south, western bedroom windows are a bad idea (they get very hot in summer). Master bed or home theatre to the NE corner. Bathrooms to the south or west. The most efficient design is a rectangular shape, with longer sides of the house facing north & south. Also, better to keep the home's width to two rooms deep, for better daylighting & cross ventilation. Re: Custom House Plan - Wanting Feedback and Suggestions 5Apr 18, 2018 2:29 pm ddarroch Where's your location? A house built in Cairns will have different requirements to a house built in Canberra. Located in Red Cliffs, North West Victoria. ddarroch You're lucky your block has a nice wide 23m eastern frontage. You should build close to your southern boundary, & have a northern side yard. This will prevent overshadowing by your northern neighbour in winter. Do not locate your garage or undercover outdoor area on the northern side of the house. These will rob the home of winter sunshine. Locate the garage in the SE corner. The undercover area could be located at the rear, western side of the house. It will help shade the home from hot afternoon summer sun, though could itself get hot on summer afternoons (a good sized tree for shading late afternoon sun would be a good idea). Very true. Sounds good. I will take that all into consideration and see what I can come up with. Thanks! 6 55355 ideal house depends on the site and location as much as internal floor plan....what is the distance from the house to all four boundaries, where is north, describe your… 3 15171 Hi Mofflepop, I would recommend finding a building designer to prepare plans, they should design to your specified budget. The benefit is you can tender the project out… 9 20434 |