Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Apr 29, 2018 12:50 pm Hi Everyone,
Please see below the 2nd issue of our floorplan and would like to get any advice or ideas before we submit to our builder. It would have been nice to try and centralise the doors going into the office, but bringing the front door forward would mean the wall going straight across the front. Not sure what would look better? Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. Re: Final Floorplans - Advice & Ideas 2Apr 29, 2018 1:57 pm Just confirming that the street is to the North? Is that due north or off to the east or west? Re: Final Floorplans - Advice & Ideas 4Apr 29, 2018 4:39 pm Just a small thing. I would personally not put a built in desk to the study. Not ideal having your back to the entrance (I have a study very similar and originally put my desk there but the moved it) That would also allow it to be more easily configured into a 4th bedroom which would be important for valuation and resale. majestic35.weebly.com Re: Final Floorplans - Advice & Ideas 5Apr 29, 2018 7:27 pm My own personal thoughts: I'm assuming from your other thread that you're building in Adelaide (or nearby). Your family/meals area is going to be fairly dark with little natural light, with the major windows to the south and covered by the alfresco. Unfortunately, your block orientation isn't great (street to north is generally considered the worst orientation for both natural light and energy efficiency), so your options are limited - clerestory windows would probably be the best option for you, although skylights would most likely be cheaper. While I appreciate the convenience factor of having your garage open directly into your WIP, this is not something I personally would do, as you'll be introducing dust from the garage directly into your pantry (even if your garage floor is sealed you WILL be getting dust in your garage, and if your garage floor is not sealed it'll be a LOT of dust), as well as giving insects and other pests direct access to your food storage area. I would seriously consider putting an extra wall and door between your pantry area and the garage - you could do this with minimal change to the current plan by adding a wall running north from the laundry exit, creating a small four-way vestibule between the garage, laundry, back door and WIP. I'd also hate to be a resident of bed 2, for the simple reason that not only is it sandwiched between two wet areas, but both adjacent walls are significant wet walls. In particular, as a resident of that bedroom I'd quickly become intimately familiar with the toilet habits and timings of the whole household. Personally, I'd swap the arrangement of bed 2 and the bathroom block - not only will that resolve the noise issue, it'll also keep most of your wet areas together (which shortens plumbing runs, saving construction complexity and improving both water and energy efficiency). Anyway, those are my thoughts - hopefully it gives you ideas for a few improvements. Re: Final Floorplans - Advice & Ideas 6Apr 29, 2018 8:53 pm algernon My own personal thoughts: I'm assuming from your other thread that you're building in Adelaide (or nearby). Your family/meals area is going to be fairly dark with little natural light, with the major windows to the south and covered by the alfresco. Unfortunately, your block orientation isn't great (street to north is generally considered the worst orientation for both natural light and energy efficiency), so your options are limited - clerestory windows would probably be the best option for you, although skylights would most likely be cheaper. While I appreciate the convenience factor of having your garage open directly into your WIP, this is not something I personally would do, as you'll be introducing dust from the garage directly into your pantry (even if your garage floor is sealed you WILL be getting dust in your garage, and if your garage floor is not sealed it'll be a LOT of dust), as well as giving insects and other pests direct access to your food storage area. I would seriously consider putting an extra wall and door between your pantry area and the garage - you could do this with minimal change to the current plan by adding a wall running north from the laundry exit, creating a small four-way vestibule between the garage, laundry, back door and WIP. I'd also hate to be a resident of bed 2, for the simple reason that not only is it sandwiched between two wet areas, but both adjacent walls are significant wet walls. In particular, as a resident of that bedroom I'd quickly become intimately familiar with the toilet habits and timings of the whole household. Personally, I'd swap the arrangement of bed 2 and the bathroom block - not only will that resolve the noise issue, it'll also keep most of your wet areas together (which shortens plumbing runs, saving construction complexity and improving both water and energy efficiency). Anyway, those are my thoughts - hopefully it gives you ideas for a few improvements. Thank you for your detailed feedback. I too am concerned with the natural light in the family/meals area. Not sure if clerestory windows would be able to be done with the roof line? The Kitchen area will have natural light coming in from the glass on that wall, but not sure how far the light will travel, maybe into the meals if lucky? I thought about bedroom 2 as well, but I tried to flip the bedroom and bathroom, but this would restrict access for bedroom 3. Unless I made bedroom 2 considerably smaller. Other concerns / thoughts I have.. - Office Doors are not central due to front door (Would it look funny to have the front door inline with the front windows to centralise the office / home theatre doors? - Other option was potentially removing the doors to home theatre and putting a cavity sliding in the passage way near bedroom 3 to access room, so it becomes more of a kids retreat. Could have a normal door on the main entry side for access.(might have more wow factor the way it currently is and making it feel more open due to smaller office) Re: Final Floorplans - Advice & Ideas 7Apr 29, 2018 8:55 pm Rocchet Just a small thing. I would personally not put a built in desk to the study. Not ideal having your back to the entrance (I have a study very similar and originally put my desk there but the moved it) That would also allow it to be more easily configured into a 4th bedroom which would be important for valuation and resale. Thank you for your reply. I wouldnt be able to convert this room into a 4th bedroom unfortunately as it would not have a window for light. This room is most likely going to use for my wife to do her puzzles etc, which has an opening in the wall going into the family and meals area, so you can look out the back on one side of the bench Re: Final Floorplans - Advice & Ideas 8Apr 30, 2018 7:28 pm Trent Smith Rocchet Just a small thing. I would personally not put a built in desk to the study. Not ideal having your back to the entrance (I have a study very similar and originally put my desk there but the moved it) That would also allow it to be more easily configured into a 4th bedroom which would be important for valuation and resale. Thank you for your reply. I wouldnt be able to convert this room into a 4th bedroom unfortunately as it would not have a window for light. This room is most likely going to use for my wife to do her puzzles etc, which has an opening in the wall going into the family and meals area, so you can look out the back on one side of the bench Sorry I meant to say the office (not study) majestic35.weebly.com Re: Final Floorplans - Advice & Ideas 9Apr 30, 2018 11:59 pm Quote: I too am concerned with the natural light in the family/meals area. Not sure if clerestory windows would be able to be done with the roof line? The Kitchen area will have natural light coming in from the glass on that wall, but not sure how far the light will travel, maybe into the meals if lucky? Clerestory windows would require you to redo the roofline, unfortunately; you'd want a skillion over the living area, and would have to redo the other roofing to match (probably requiring a box gutter, unless you went for a low pitch to the front section). Hence why skylights would be the cheaper option, although with the tradeoff that they wouldn't get as much light in. Re: Final Floorplans - Advice & Ideas 10May 01, 2018 12:03 am Trent Smith I thought about bedroom 2 as well, but I tried to flip the bedroom and bathroom, but this would restrict access for bedroom 3. Unless I made bedroom 2 considerably smaller. Unfortunately, I don't have an easy answer for that either, without flowing into the media room and/or living area. But I will note that beds 2 and 3 will have a very different feel anyway, with bed 3 receiving much more northern light, so making bed 2 smaller won't be as noticeable as it would otherwise be. Personally I'd go for the smaller bedroom that isn't surrounded by toilet noise, but that depends on whether you want to use bed 2 as a bedroom or something else. Re: Final Floorplans - Advice & Ideas 12Jul 23, 2018 9:54 pm For what it's worth, I prefer the new plan - I think that it has a better flow between areas and makes better use of natural light into the main living areas. However, I personally would look at swapping bed 2 and the bathroom for the reasons in my earlier post (also, Jack-and-Jill bathrooms definitely have their disadvantages and put off many people - I suggest that you really confirm that you actively want one before locking it in). If you keep the current floorplan, I strongly suggest that you consider double-stud walls with acoustic insulation between bed 2 and the powder room and ensuite. i would suggest nothing is unreasonable for PCI. we did all sorts, including checking the hot water, checking all the GPO's had power, testing that the showers were… 9 79473 Hi, I am approaching end of the build. My final invoice will be given to me soon to pay. Some context before I ask my question. 1. My builder wont do the landscaping or… 0 3038 regardless, your contract stipulates a payments schedule and SOPA doesn't give provision to that scenario. Your contractual terms appear to stand. Hence get a lawyer, it… 4 8936 |