That’s beautiful ! Love your kitchen and tile selection . Looks like a nice open plan home !
Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Design suggestions 34Feb 28, 2020 9:36 am ddarroch gogo65 Do you need the 5 bedrooms upstairs? If not I’d be doing 4 good size bedrooms, rather than bedrooms that would only fit a single bed, however if you’ve got 4 kids understand that a small bedroom each is probably better than some kids having to share. In our last house we had a hafale hinge on our pantry door, it was a full 180 degree hinge, that is you could push it either way, I had a full handle less kitchen so it was important to me, to continue the Clean lines, not cheap but worked well, however the door was always open 😂 Australians & their large house sizes, is it a feeling of inadequacy 😜 We build the largest houses on the planet. The larger the home, the larger the cost, to both you & the environment. The larger the emissions to build the home, the larger the emissions to heat, cool & maintain the home. Thanks for your reply . I do appreciate constructive criticism ... provided it is helpful . No , it’s not a feeling of inadequacy due to which we build big homes . Some of us actually need them .Some of us have one set of parents staying with us 90% of the time . Some who are elderly and have the inability to climb a flight of 14 stairs to get to their bedrooms - so the bedroom downstairs wouldn’t fall under the category of a rarely used guest room . I do plan to use one of the bedrooms as a multipurpose room/ home office as I work from home most of the time . 3x3m is fine. If you're thinking about your children's futures, you should probably build smaller bedrooms, not bigger ones. You also shouldn't be building rarely used 'guest rooms', which are so common. But build multipurpose rooms instead, which can accommodate the occasional guest. As far as thinking about our children’s future goes , I educate my kids about playing their part in making the planet more sustainable . I consciously bought a block which was south facing , so we would get the maximum usage of natural light and heat in the places where we will spend majority of our time - which is the kitchen , dining and family rooms . I know Culturally and statistically , people prefer north facing blocks , without any consideration of how it affects the energy efficiency of the house . I have added upgraded insulation , double glazed north facing windows , lighter bricks and roof, upgraded to brick construction throughout the home just so the house is thermally more efficient and our carbon footprint is minimised . So even though it’s a big house , I have done my best to make it as energy efficient possible with a few design changes . I know most people don’t put too much thought into this but we as a family are definitely conscious about the plight of our planet and will continue to do our part . I think along with building sustainable homes , we can also play a big part by educating our kids about the issue and instilling in them a habit of being more environmentally conscious . Re: Design suggestions 35Mar 01, 2020 7:12 am sbanu ddarroch gogo65 Do you need the 5 bedrooms upstairs? If not I’d be doing 4 good size bedrooms, rather than bedrooms that would only fit a single bed, however if you’ve got 4 kids understand that a small bedroom each is probably better than some kids having to share. In our last house we had a hafale hinge on our pantry door, it was a full 180 degree hinge, that is you could push it either way, I had a full handle less kitchen so it was important to me, to continue the Clean lines, not cheap but worked well, however the door was always open 😂 Australians & their large house sizes, is it a feeling of inadequacy 😜 We build the largest houses on the planet. The larger the home, the larger the cost, to both you & the environment. The larger the emissions to build the home, the larger the emissions to heat, cool & maintain the home. Thanks for your reply . I do appreciate constructive criticism ... provided it is helpful . No , it’s not a feeling of inadequacy due to which we build big homes . Some of us actually need them .Some of us have one set of parents staying with us 90% of the time . Some who are elderly and have the inability to climb a flight of 14 stairs to get to their bedrooms - so the bedroom downstairs wouldn’t fall under the category of a rarely used guest room . I do plan to use one of the bedrooms as a multipurpose room/ home office as I work from home most of the time . 3x3m is fine. If you're thinking about your children's futures, you should probably build smaller bedrooms, not bigger ones. You also shouldn't be building rarely used 'guest rooms', which are so common. But build multipurpose rooms instead, which can accommodate the occasional guest. As far as thinking about our children’s future goes , I educate my kids about playing their part in making the planet more sustainable . I consciously bought a block which was south facing , so we would get the maximum usage of natural light and heat in the places where we will spend majority of our time - which is the kitchen , dining and family rooms . I know Culturally and statistically , people prefer north facing blocks , without any consideration of how it affects the energy efficiency of the house . I have added upgraded insulation , double glazed north facing windows , lighter bricks and roof, upgraded to brick construction throughout the home just so the house is thermally more efficient and our carbon footprint is minimised . So even though it’s a big house , I have done my best to make it as energy efficient possible with a few design changes . I know most people don’t put too much thought into this but we as a family are definitely conscious about the plight of our planet and will continue to do our part . I think along with building sustainable homes , we can also play a big part by educating our kids about the issue and instilling in them a habit of being more environmentally conscious . I applaud your efforts in making your home as energy efficient as possible, I truely do. You've obviously put far more thought into this than most people. But also be aware that the embodied energy - the energy used to manufacture & transport a home's components to the site - is very significant. Just think of iron ore shipped half way around the world to China, along with coking coal for the blast furnace, & thermal coal to power the manufacturing process. Then the final components are shipped back to us. This is a very energy intensive process! The bigger the home, the more materials used, the higher the embodied energy. "Research by CSIRO has found that the average house contains about 1,000GJ of energy embodied in the materials used in its construction. This is equivalent to about 15 years of normal operational energy use." https://www.yourhome.gov.au/materials/embodied-energy 15 years of operational energy, to equal the embodied energy in an average home! Even more for for a large home (more materials equals higher embodied energy) that is energy efficient (so uses lower operational energy). Along with size, the choice of materials plays a significant effect on determining the embodied energy of a home. Concrete is a shocker! It has a huge embodied energy, as cement manufacture produces very, very large CO2 emissions. This can be improved by asking your builder to use concrete which contains fly ash, a substitute for cement. Other high embodied energy materials are aluminium, steel, plastics, masonry is quite high. One reason a timber frame is so much more sustainable than a steel frame. The steel emits significant amounts of CO2 in its production. While timber actually locks CO2 into the building structure. Re: Design suggestions 36Mar 01, 2020 7:24 am It looks like you've got a pretty good roof for solar PV, I hope you're planning for it. Looks like you could have a decent amount of panels to the north (for maximum generation) & more to the west (for optimum generation in summer afternoons). No idea how you plan to heat your home & your hot water. But with an eye on sustainability, is ditch any thought of connecting gas. This will save you money (no daily service charges for gas), & the environment. I'd build an all-electric home. Split system reverse cycle air conditioning for heating (cheaper to run than gas), & cooling (along with fans, which use far less energy). Heat pump hot water (extremely energy efficient, using the same technology as air con & fridges). Induction cooking. Most people rave about these. Very responsive, like gas, without the struggles to clean up spills. Power or all in the daytime with solar PV. If you're interested about this approach, join the My Efficient Electric Home (MEEH) facebook group. Re: Design suggestions 37Mar 01, 2020 7:54 am Just to pick up on "useless" 900mm (actually appears to be 1400mm in this case) Depending on the orientation, 900mm setbacks will allow all day natural light to North facing windows in summer and winter with "std" 1650mm high fencing. Obviously it depends on the form of the building adjacent but the setbacks are not useless. It all comes down to design. Rows of townhouses with parti walls can still have great natural light and ventilation if they are well considered and oriented. And on the topic of electric vs gas heating, electric is not "cheaper". It uses less energy, but the price (retail, before solar PV collection is considered) per unit is much higher. Add to this, the fact that we use brown coal for a lot of our electricity generation and it means that electric appliances are not as environmentally friendly currently, as the argument may have you believe. The carbon contribution of energy production is never considered in this equation (I have raised this in industry and was told "you can only consider so many parts before it gets too complicated" and basically told it doesn't matter for the purpose of the debate) We can take the energy efficiency debate any direction, but there will never be a perfect solution. So long as each Individual land owner decides what to build and has to pay for it, there will be a myriad of road blocks 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 15157 Hi, Looking to add an ensuite to one of the bedrooms and make it a Master BR. Please see the attached current floorplan. Need suggestions on what's the best way to do… 0 7338 Suggestions please for acrylic rendering Color to match austral brick urban one pepper. Pic for reference. Thanks 0 5067 |