Browse Forums General Discussion Re: Help with Layout 9Jun 07, 2015 8:36 pm Maximus: Thanks for the suggestion, I have been obsessing over the "stacker" for awhile now, must admit was a little surprised when I didnt see it on the plan, was the first thing I marked up, thanks. Onejohn: Considering everyone else's suggestions, I might leave the master where it is and go for sliding doors with deadlocks. Folks truly appreciate your feedback JT Re: Help with Layout 10Jun 07, 2015 11:46 pm John Taake, your plan has a lot of West facing windows. This means your house could get VERY hot in summer. Generally it's recommended that you have the majority of windows facing north, so the windows are shaded in summer, but the sun will enter the house in winter, when the sun is lower in the sky. Western windows should be eliminated, as it's very difficult to shade these windows from hot, summer, afternoon sunshine. Levels of southern & eastern windows should be quite low. This is most easily achieved by designing a house with the long axis facing north & south (the opposite to your plan). I'd recommend designing an L-shaped house, by moving the dining room to the Western side of the family room, & the outdoor area to the west of this. With this plan you'll greatly reduce the number of Western windows, while having a northern window in the dining room, family room & kitchen. Resulting in a cooler house in summer, & a warmer house in winter. The government has a website about efficient house design here, http://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design Re: Help with Layout 11Jun 08, 2015 8:46 am Agree with ddaroch above. West facing windows are a killer in summer so you need to either minimise them along that side or allow for generous shading devices. The only thing I'd add is that your rumpus is not the biggest so I'd cut back on the depth of that balcony and add that space to the rumpus. Numerous friends and clients have front balconies and have all admitted that they seldom use them so why not make that kids room a decent size. You also don't have to have the north wall for that study nook over the bottom tread of the stairs either. Seeing as it looks like you are going for 2700mm high ceilings you could move it up over that third riser to align with the bathroom wall so if you wanted to you could put a door in there. Stewie Re: Help with Layout 13Jun 11, 2015 9:58 am Stewie D, Joker & ddaroch, thanks you all for your valuable inputs, I have taken all your inputs on board, I sent a detailed mark up along with a number of questions to the designer. Will update you soon. Cheers JT Re: Help with Layout 14Jun 11, 2015 12:10 pm You really are very lucky with your block shape. It's very desirable to have a north facing backyard, as living areas can face this direction. However most modern blocks are quite narrow, meaning that not many rooms can face the backyard. You're very lucky that your block's width increases towards the rear. You'll be able to have more rooms facing the backyard, & more importantly these rooms will face north. So they'll stay warmer in winter & cooler in summer. There are plenty of designers who have very little knowledge of passive solar design, & some architects too (thankfully that's changing). I'd recommend you read up on the website I gave you, & arm yourself with as much information as possible. It is you, who will be living in this house, not your designer, so you definitely want to get this right. Re: Help with Layout 15Jun 24, 2015 11:50 am Joker If worried about cutting too much light then consider skylights for top level. I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of skylights. Yes they're necessary in occasions, but you can usually get by without them. Due to their lower levels of insulation, & the fact they're at roof level, skylights leak a lot of heat in winter. As they can't usually be shaded, they let in a lot of unwanted heat in summer. My parents upper storey apartment has a long, narrow design. With living areas on a short, North facing side. Bedrooms on a short, South facing side. Longer East & West facing party walls. Much like a terrace, this could have lead to a very dark central section of the home. But instead of skylights, this apartment has North facing clerestory windows, over its central section. These central rooms, a short hallway & two bathrooms, are very well lit, & the apartment is very light & airy. These Clerestory windows also allow ventilation in the bathrooms, which is often difficult to achieve in apartments. As these windows are north facing, with appropriate length eaves, they are shaded in summer, but let in abundant levels of sunlight in winter. Clerestory windows should be double glazed in colder areas, as like skylights, they can leak heat in winter. But in summer they can be opened up at night. Due to the stack effect (hot air rises), they are very effective at ventilating a house. Re: Help with Layout 16Jun 24, 2015 1:15 pm ddaroch, you really should check out later styles of skylights. They are more roof windows and far removed from the older style acrylic domes of yesteryear. The Velux range has a lot of sizes and can be fixed, opening, double glazed with accessories like automated, solar blinds etc. In this situation a couple of decent sized double glazed roof windows would be ideal. They aren't cheap but are very effective. Stewie You never have a fridge against wall as you’ve drawn. The doors can’t open past 90 degrees and it’s difficult and maybe impossible to remove drawers 2 17099 Thanks for the suggestion. The space between shower and sinks was too tight. I agree about the toilet location. So I have tried two other options: The lower one is… 3 6290 Possibly both depending on the sizing. Idea of working from the centre is that you dont have a 20mm thin tile at one end and a 400mm at the other end. A quick search on… 3 8552 |