Feedback on floor plan

Hi,

We are planning to build a 30sq 2 storey house on our tiny 300sqm lot.
As this is our first time building looking for feedback on our flooplan.

TIA

Shuffle the internal garage door up so it doesn’t clash with the understairs storage door?

Which way is north?

Seems nice. Huge place!

A few random thoughts while looking at it.

Main bedroom will get cold as its directly above the garage (which can't be sealed properly due to the garage door). Hence you should get insulation between those two levels.

This might just be due to poor scaling of photos. But the ensuite bathroom looks a little off. Toilet area is huge, and the shower area is smaller than the main bathroom. (it appears to be about a wall thickness smaller so 6-9cm. I'd push the toilet wall up a bit to have a larger shower.
Also is that a window in the shower pointing to the lounge? or is that a niche?

Is there a door on either the ensuite or the 'hers' WIR? If not, and fan extraction is poor, the clothes might have dampness issues. (probably not, as its around a corner, and there is likely a bulkhead above. But something to consider).

To me the main bathroom seems nicer than the ensuite, even though its only fractionally larger. Although be careful of where/how the main bathrooms door opens, depending on where the door hinge is, it might end up hitting that basin.

No walkway exit from the laundry. Map the path to the clothes line. Is that okay? Also, make sure they add lots of noggins or include/build a double level area there so you can have the dryer sitting on a bench above the washing machine. That way you can make full use of that limited space.

Powder room downstairs looks like it will be a tight squeeze for both using toilet or using shower. Is this functional? (You have to squish yourself onto the toilet to shut the door). Also where is the towel rack? perhaps above the toilet? you will probably have to use a towel hook in there - but where do ppl put clothes when they are using that shower?

Do you need toughened glass on the top level? Do you want it obscure? (if its required due to neighbours but you dont want it, you can get them to add an obscure peel on it, which you can remove.

Where is the hot water tank location? If its on the left side, its good for the baths. But if its on the right its good for kitchen. (is it solar? If so try and locate it centrally to those, or closer to whichever one you prefer)

No window in the downstairs lounge/dining? Make sure you have adequate lighting to compensate.

Is bed 2/3 overlooking anything nice? If not (and its facing north) you might want to remove one of the windows in those rooms. Its still lots of light but removes the east/west sun.


Which way is north?

Thanks great tip moving the garage door. Attached another screenshot with arrow pointing north.

Thanks for your feedback. A couple of things you pointed, we are already thinking of changing. Like an exit from the laundry, 2 windows to the downstairs lounge/dining, adding a sliding door to ensuite, adding noggins.
That would be niche in the ensuite shower.


We are thinking to add a sliding door to the powder room to reclaim a little more space.
Not sure about the hot water tank location, planning to get a heat pump and I will ask the builder about the location.
We don't have a view for Bed2/3, I guess we should think about removing the windows from east/west side?

Thanks for your inputs.

Here's a couple of my thoughts.

Do you really need that understairs storage? As you could instead push your downstairs powder room into that space - sure, they'll be a slight slope on the ceiling at the end, but it'll save you squeezing into the room. Alternatively, push both powder and laundry wall and increase the size of your laundry, because that looks like a tight fit too - even your sink is placed end on to fit. Perhaps consider sliding doors for the powder room and laundry, it'll feel a bit bigger then.

So your main bedroom has a HIS robe and a HERS robe, but also one extra robe? Who's that for?

Personally I think your TV room is too big. At over 7m long, and doubling as a corridor, I can't quite figure out how you are going to put your furniture in it. Have you drawn some furniture plans too? And also (this is probably just my obsessiveness) the wall on that long side of your TV room dips in by 30cm about half way along, not sure it'll look great.

And lastly, your kitchen island. Are you planning to use it from both sides (ie sink on one side, and bar stools on the other)? If so, try to increase the depth to 1000-1200mm, otherwise people sitting on the other side will just get splashed. Just food for thought...

At the very least, change that door into the downstairs powder/shower room so it swings the opposite way. You don’t want the first thing you see to be the toilet, especially as that hallway outside is the only entrance into the kitchen/living/dining.

Seems like your rainwater tank is taking up prime location - North facing windows are best. I'd be relocating that water tank to the other side of the house outside the stairs or powder room/laundry and adding full height windows to that wall - even if just for the dining area, but dining and lounge would be better.

Looks like the place is orientated pretty well to me. Once the block deviates from north around 45° things get a bit difficult. As true north is a great orientation, warming the house in winter, while being shaded by eaves in summer. But NW is not a great orientation, as it's difficult to shade in summer when temperatures are hot.

So, although Possums is right in saying that northern windows are best, NW windows are not. So I'd disagree with Possums, & say that you want to leave the rain water tank there, & minimise NW windows (unless you're in a climate that is particularly cool in summer, unlikely).

NE is not the perfect orientation, but it's pretty good. So what I will say is that it's likely that your covered alfresco may offer too much shade in winter. At this time of year you sunshine streaming into your home, warming it.

If your living areas faced true north, I'd say don't have a covered alfresco, have appropriate length eaves that shade in summer, but not in winter. Attaching horizontal awnings (or a pergola) that will offer shade when required in summer.

But as the living areas face NE I'd say do more research, & look at shadow diagrams, to see if a covered alfresco will shade the home in winter, when you don't want it to. My general feeling would be that a pergola (with deciduous plants) or horizontal awning would be better. As it could offer shade in summer, but not in winter.

Can't tell in your plan (on my small phone), but it's have a door separating your downstairs living area from the rest of the home. Without a covered alfresco, this will be the warmest living room in the home in winter. You want to keep that heat in there, not escaping upstairs. As the upstairs TV room faces SE, it won't be warmed in winter. It would actually be better if it faced NE, with the minor bedrooms facing SE.