Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 01, 2020 3:01 am Need help in deciding whether to flip the dining and the alfresco area. The alfresco is facing north and I'm not sure if I should leave it as it is or flip it with the dining windows can bring in the northern sunlight and brighten the living space. Also do you think it's worth putting in window splashbacks to bring in more light? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Help where to put alfresco 4Jul 01, 2020 9:59 am I assume they wont let you swap wet areas downstairs as it effects the major plumbing from upstairs but could you flip the bottom section as GoGo suggests and leave the Alfresco but also ask to flip upstairs to help with the plumbing situation ? Re: Help where to put alfresco 6Jul 01, 2020 2:08 pm Swap your living with your dining and then with alfresco. Kitchen window is up to you, generally it is a bad idea due to constant grease cleaning and maintenance. Also, there won't be much of a view facing the fence. Re: Help where to put alfresco 7Jul 01, 2020 2:50 pm You could flip the whole house? I have 3000mm wide window splashback and love the look and extra light, even though it looks at a fence (we have planted some stuff on the fence. The glass itself is not hard to keep clean with a squeegee, but as Alex said it does get occasional splatters of grease on it behind the stove which are a bit of a pain. If I had to do it again i would still go for the window as it looks so good Re: Help where to put alfresco 8Jul 01, 2020 2:57 pm brokenstick i cant flip the whole house bec the driveway needs to be on the left. Would like to avoid changing the crossover. Did you find the window splashback helps to bring in light into the living areas or not much? alexp79 so living next to kitchen? Any reason why you want the living in that spot instead of dining? Thanks! Re: Help where to put alfresco 9Jul 01, 2020 3:41 pm The main "feature" of well oriented house featuring passive solar gains is to have living areas facing north. This is where you spend most of your time in the house, so makes total sense to me. If you place your TV on the western wall, it could be also seen from the kitchen, which makes it extra handy. Also, your alfresco and dining next to each other will create a unified summer/winter "dining" zone. Re: Help where to put alfresco 10Jul 01, 2020 4:43 pm Here is my layout, which works very well for us (North is to the right on the drawing, ie rear of the house faces north). I would not change it at all were I to start again, as it meets our goal of having open spaces and heaps of natural light, a lot of which comes from the splashbacks in the kitchen + same in the pantry. We also upgraded the ceilings to 2.8m Also, being able to see the the TV from the kitchen is a big plus (have a 75 inch on the wall) Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Help where to put alfresco 11Jul 01, 2020 10:07 pm brokenstick north to rear is the best alexp79 Might be a bit cramped to put living in that space but I'll see what the builder says. Thanks for the advice. I was not sure if the alfresco should be placed north or south in this scenario but I guess from your explanation, it's better to put the rooms on the north side. Re: Help where to put alfresco 12Jul 02, 2020 8:51 am I agree with alexp79. Orientation is critical, it plays a HUGE part in your comfort & the energy efficiency of your home (ie. the size of your heating & cooling bills). Your builder obviously doesn't care about your comfort or what type build will be like. The floorplan has NO north facing windows in living areas, except one that will be shaded by the alfresco. I'd also be worried about the western window in the dining room. It will allow a lot of hot afternoon summer sun in the home, so I'd be decreasing it's size, keeping it high under the eaves, or consider removing it. All in all, it's a very poor floorplan from a passive solar design perspective. I agree with the other posters. You want your main living area windows to face north. That is the living room & the dining room. So I'd be trying to flip the entire year of the home, from the laundry & powder room. You are paying for the build, you are the ones that must live with the consequences of poor design decisions. If your builder won't be accommodating, & or not actually interested in building a home that will be comfortable & energy efficient, take your money elsewhere. Learn more about passive solar design at the government's brilliant Your Home website. Here's the section about orientation, but I recommend you read the entire 'Passive Design' section, of not the entire website. https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/orientation I'd recommend your builder reads it too, they're supposed to be experts in the field. Re: Help where to put alfresco 13Jul 02, 2020 12:26 pm ddarroch thanks for the input! most volume builders won't flip when there's a wet area. I had already asked about flipping from the laundry but already got a No. Would this be a better floorplan from a solar design perspective? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Help where to put alfresco 14Jul 02, 2020 4:47 pm It seems like such a shame to have theatre and study along the north side. Theatre would be perfect for where the living room is as they normally have minimal windows. I would honestly try to push back on builder and see if they can actually design you a house to take advantage of that. Re: Help where to put alfresco 15Jul 02, 2020 10:04 pm the_doesnotexist i'm converting the theater into a guest room so happy with where it is now. But agree, I should push harder to get the floorplan that I want. 0 9761 I’m loving the potential versatility and practicality of a bench seat in a shower. Anyone had one of these done recently? Not sure if they are straight forward and easy… 0 745 Hello! I've alfresco pitch of 3 degrees sitting just below the highlight window. Need advice on below: 1. Will the 3 degree pitch be ok to drain the rain water? The roof… 0 4168 |