Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Custom Design floor plan thread post them here!! 2198Feb 06, 2017 4:08 pm To summarise the relevant parts for your questions: it's not just about direct sunshine, it's also about ambient temperature and thermal inertia. Ambient temperature is significant because it changes the effects of direct sunlight - in the morning, temperatures are lower, and extra heat from direct sunlight (from the east) is more easily dealt with. In the afternoon, temperatures are higher, and the extra heat from direct sunlight (from the west) is then thrown directly on top of that - making things even hotter, at exactly the worst time of day to be hot. And the reason that temperatures in the morning are lower than in the evening is due to thermal inertia - when temperatures change in response to sunlight, they don't do so instantly. Objects (like walls and rooms) that are exposed to direct sunlight don't fully heat up instantly - they take time to heat up. They also don't cool down instantly, either - they stay warm for a while, slowly radiating heat (and heating up everything else around them). A westerly wall, heated to a high temperature by the afternoon sun, will continue to radiate heat into the house for many hours after the sun has gone down (including when you're trying to sleep). An easterly wall in the morning will heat up, but not as much because of lower ambient temperature, and will then lose much of that heat during the day (when it doesn't really matter much) and be back to 'normal' by the evening. That's why a westerly bedroom will be hotter at night than an identical easterly bedroom. I fully understand hating the easterly morning light - but it's a lot easier to keep light out in the morning (with blackout blinds or shutters) than it is to keep heat out in the evening (with expensive awnings and insulation and a huge electricity bill). Re: Custom Design floor plan thread post them here!! 2199Feb 06, 2017 6:04 pm sm_boxhill algernon If you're going for 'wow' factor then you'd be after the biggest entry void that you can fit, noting that the required structural complexity is going to cost extra. Small, simple voids can be cheap - but they don't provide much 'wow' (and can even look worse than no void at all). 'Wow-some' voids will end up adding a lot more to your costs (you are, quite literally, adding extra structure that contains nothing) - so you should factor that into your planning, too. More specifically, the particular staircase layout and placement that you have doesn't lend itself well to a spectacular void space.. If you really want that a spectacular entry void, my suggestion is to do that first and then design the rest of the house around it. On a blank floorplan, place the void at your entry first on the floor plan of both levels, and don't have the upper floor 'projecting' into the void space (unless you also plan for pillars and/or structural steel). Next run the staircase up/around the sides of that void. Finally, fill in the rest of the house around that. I hope that makes sense. Your energy efficiency will be reduced and you'll have higher running costs, but that's the price of voids. Make sure that you're also aware of the significant price differential between open and closed staircases (side timber vs central steel stringers) to factor into your design as well. Taking a step back, though, if this is your first house there's a number of potential other issues I can see with the design. As Craigasaurus pointed out, your bedrooms are quite large - what's the living pattern that you're aiming for here? Younger kids, older kids, how many? Do you want people to stay in their bedrooms all the time, or do you want to encourage greater use of communal space? More generally, it's a very large house for a first timer - do you really need all that space? Do you have a clear plan as to how it's all going to be utilised? Where is your furniture going to placed? I can see a risk of ending up with a lot of poorly-utilised space if you're not careful - just make sure you have a clear idea of exactly what you're going to do with all those spaces before you finalise your design. Thank for your detailed feedback. It has certainly stimulated my brain in relation to how void need to be designed for 'wow' factor. I will sit down with my drafsman to see how it can be fitted. My builder gave me heads up that void will going to cost me extra $$$, so i am kind of prepared and factored into budget. In relation to family situation, we are young family ... daughter turning 7 and there will be a new arrival.. my parents are staying with me, so they will occupy bedroom downstairs ... I agree with you that house is somewhat bigger than i expected and getting little out of our set budget .. i am trying to reduce about 35sqm from 370sqm too from this design so that i can finish turnkey home within $500k budget. I am thinking to make lounge little smaller .. reduce garage size, kitchen, pantry and laundry. Also hallway is 1610mm .. do you see if i can trim to 1400mm, will it look ugly ? In relation to furniture arrangements and window position, i have something in mind as follow... sorry drawing is little messy, hope you get an idea. Do you see any blunder or any scope for improvements ? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ The only little thing I would consider is removing the 720 laundry door and putting in a sliding door in the hallway to make a walk through laundry instead of boxing it in so much. Re: Custom Design floor plan thread post them here!! 2200Feb 06, 2017 6:20 pm staceyrussell Oh man, I wish I found this thread earlier. Any comments on my custom house plan would be greatly appreciated. We are about to continue to Full Working Drawings, so if we discover any major issues with the design we might want to revise it first. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Thanks in advance! Hi I quite like your design. The few things I see is the garage has a lot of doors. You'll need small cars to be able to access them all easily. I would consider switching the laundry and pantry so that the laundry can go straight outside. And have access to fresh air. I would also look at moving the fridge more into the kitchen as it looks a little disconnected. Hi, Seeking volume or semi-custom builder in victoria(east), which have existing double story wide floor plans. Seeking 18-20m wide homes with depth of 12-15m long. Or… 0 26276 6 57368 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 22088 |