Browse Forums Building A New House Re: New house floor plan advice please. 13Jul 04, 2017 1:51 pm My main concerns would be: It is always a preference for me to have a toilet on an external wall if at all possible for natural ventilation - if it were my plan I'd move the ensuite toilet to against the external wall and have more of a straight line flow from the bedroom into the WIR. We have two 1800mm x 900mm showers in our current rental and IMO they are too big. More space to have to clean and it doesn't really serve a purpose to me. 3000mm is the width of a minor bedroom. You could fit a bath and a shower in that space. Ultimately it's up to you and your likes/dislikes. The powder room door is almost straight off your living area - I'd move the door between the powder and stairs to be at the end of the corridor wall, before the powder room - then it shuts off the powder, stairs and laundry. 2000mm entry corridor is very wide. Most standard entry hallways tend to be approx 1200mm wide. Make sure you will be happy with that width and it wouldn't be more useful in the bedrooms etc. Lastly, having had sliding doors in the living room of our last house, and again in the rental we have now, I have decided I don't like them as it limits where you can place furniture because you need to maintain access to the doors (or just not use those doors). My preference is to have them in the meals area as the furniture generally is kept to the centre of the room, and access isn't an issue. Just think about where you would orient the furniture in your living area (TV, couches, coffee table, etc), how big they will be, and how you would access the backyard. If it were me, I'd move them towards the kitchen so the opening is basically opposite the corridor doors, and have windows in the living areas (one big picture window looking out to the pool would be awesome). Having said that, your living room is huge so maybe not so much of a problem. It's all a matter of taste really and everyone will have different opinions and needs/wants. Second Time 'Round Re: New house floor plan advice please. 14Jul 04, 2017 2:06 pm Thanks First_Timer_Ray. I like that advice about the ensuite toilet for ventilation. Agree the shower is too big. Had though about making the corridor width around 1800mm, adding that space to the bedrooms. Also after we received this latest plan revision, we have decided to remove the sliding door in the family room and just have it as a window overlooking the pool. Some awesome feedback there! thanks. Re: New house floor plan advice please. 15Jul 04, 2017 3:48 pm Looks amazing! The thing that would worry me is the unusable space in your ensuite/WIR that's used as corridor, but I can't think of a way to improve it. Love the suggestion of skillion windows. Good luck! Re: New house floor plan advice please. 17Jul 04, 2017 4:27 pm If you're going to switch the sliding door in the family room to a fixed picture window, you could make W10 and 11 louvre windows and put the pool close to the house. You will spend more money on piering but less on fencing... Building Monte Carlo 40- Wisdom homes Building Monte Carlo 40- Wisdom homes Re: New house floor plan advice please. 18Jul 04, 2017 4:37 pm Here is what I have spotted: - consider removing west facing windows for the master bedroom and lounge, move master bedroom's window to the south and lounge's window to the north. Western windows will be a real problem in the summer time. - make sure you introduce long eaves or awnings for your north facing windows (shading will be needed during summers). Alternatively, you can achieve shading with the trees. - consider reducing eastern glazing for the family and kitchen areas and increasing northern glazing instead; - consider moving your alfresco to the family area instead (so it gets a bit more of northern sun during winter); Just my 2 cents. Re: New house floor plan advice please. 19Jul 04, 2017 4:46 pm Thanks Alexp79, The west facing side is the facade, so not sure how it would look if we removed both windows. Currently we have planned to have 450mm eaves, should it be wider than this? Id prefer to remove the north facing windows in the family room so they dont interfere with watching tv. Re: New house floor plan advice please. 20Jul 04, 2017 4:53 pm With regards to the facade, consider reducing them to the minimum size (e.g. making them narrower) as well as tint them up and install Low E glazing. Invest heavily into western side wall insulation, too. I would invest into shutters/blinds to cover TV watching and I assume you would be mainly watching TVs in the evenings, anyway. Passive solar heating will create a huge difference during the cold months, on the other side, though. With regards to the eaves, the perfect size needs to be calculated based on the window height and positioning, but I do believe you would be much better off with much wider eaves (900 mm or even 1200 mm). See details here: http://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/shading 6 55354 isn't a garage level with the rest of the house a given? pretty sure they 'came around' long time ago. if you have a flat block, the garage is usually level with the rest… 1 17528 i thought the flipped plan initially but bec i want narrow pathway from entry to dining (dont like bend), also cannot fit the… 7 17285 |