Omnibuswoman

It’s my tv room! The only room in the house with a telly, so that’s my space. HWMBO May join me by invitation for selected viewing such as Grand Designs or Make My House Perfect ?

Spot on! I’ve just received an email from the designer to say that we’ll be obliged to install a sprinkler system due to the length and narrow width of the driveway, so the attic stairs will now just be an extension of the main staircase, continuing up.

Like greyhounds out of a gate we were straight down to Cornwall at the weekend, desperate to visit the plot which is now ours. We spent a very rewarding few days strimming and removing debris (photos to follow), and met with our designer/preferred builder Dan to look at the drawing he has come up with (attached). Following on from that, I have tinkered around with the layout a tiny bit and have come up with what may be the final design (hahahaha!!). Posted below for comments. The porch has been done away with, and the entrance is now on the east side of the building where the car parking area is (the top of the picture is East which is where the distant views are to be found). Dan has suggested putting in a juliet balcony to the south wall next to the dining space, and then making a separate planning application later on for a wooden balcony suitable for a small table and a couple of chairs. This is to try to assist us in getting these plans through as a minor material amendment rather than having to submit a full planning application (and invoke the CIL). We've decided that we will go up into the loft to make the most of the space, and will put the office up there with a large roof window to capture the view. I've squeezed a small staircase for that next to the ensuite and sacrificed the walk-in wardrobe that the builder had drawn in. I will find out what the fire regs are in relation to the need for fire doors/escape route. We still don't have an upstairs visitors' loo, but decided that we were happy to let people use our ensuite if they were disinclined to go downstairs to the second bathroom. Any and all comments will be most welcome! (The two pictures may appear different sizes but in fact are both the same external dimensions - 11.3m by 8.7m with a 450mm thick outside wall)

Good advice @ProDave. I'm in WPD area so will be taking tips from @BotusBuild for when the time comes. How far in advance did you contact WPD Botus?

Thanks @timsk. I hadn’t even considered that possibility! I will mention it to the designer we are working with as he is presently generating some proposals based on my ‘starter for 10’.

This might sound daft but what is it useful for other than compacting hardcore?

thank you @puntloos!! I showed your layout to my other half and we both thought there was real merit in having a sitting area that we could close off from the kitchen/dining area. Great idea!

Thanks @BotusBuild! That makes perfect sense.

Hi Dinwood, We are in a very similar position - likely reverse living house on the Devon/Cornwall border, aiming for PH or close to it, and will have UFH on ground floor only. I was wondering whether we would need anything further on the first floor too, so am glad of your question and the answers above. @A_L, I didn’t quite understand what you said about ‘where a post heater in the ducting of the MVHR to the first floor could easily cope with first floor heat demand’. Would you mind unpacking that a bit for me please?? Cheers M

I’m interested in this, but can’t quite picture what you mean. Do you mean put the stairs in the dining table corner?

I’ve just learned that the field to the north of us has had a planning application put in by a developer for five large houses. On the plus side, the plan involves the property next door being half knocked down and extended backwards into the plot. That would really open up the view, albeit with a price of huge building works and a new cul-de-sac next door!!

No, ours are all grown up now, so those two spare rooms will be for the visiting adult offspring (there are four of these) and grandchildren (two of these, so far) plus my local ageing parents who may one day need some live-in care for periods of time. I can see the attraction of single storey living, but I really enjoy the light/ vista aspect of living upstairs. We live upstairs now in a flat, as I have done for 25 years. I love seeing over the chimney pots into the distance.

That sounds like an absolute nightmare to be stuck with. I wonder if anyone has successfully sought judicial review of a harsh decision such as this. The law requires authorities to make decisions that are fair, and not perverse.

? there's something I hadn't thought about... the inconvenience of stairs! Thanks for the idea about seeing the view - I think that's a brilliant idea and something we should do before we do anything else. Unfortunately with lockdown we can't currently get down there, but we're planning to visit just as soon as overnight stays are permitted. We can't stay with my parents who live nearby but are self isolating, but we could pitch a tent on the plot for a short stay. Getting a sense of the view, and therefore exactly where we should place the house and windows, is a top priority in order to be able to agree on the design. Very much appreciate your input.

Will do! Thanks Dan.

Looks brilliant. Such a clever use of a small space. We have the same bathroom sink and cupboard as you!

Thanks James!! I'm having fun at the moment playing with ideas and thinking about how our lives will be living down there. I hadn't thought about the stairs being open, but it's useful to hear your experience. I've never lived anywhere with a stairwell directly into a living space, so I hadn't even considered what impact that might have. We are not certain how good the views will be from the first floor - the architect designed house that has PP already in place on the plot added a mezzanine level above the living area with a large window. That makes me think that they thought that the view from the first floor would be restricted by the house to the east, so we need to look again at the roof height and the height of our first floor. I may look at having the ground floor with a 2700mm ceiling to raise the first floor a bit more. We live in an Edwardian property at the moment which has high ceilings, and I do enjoy the feeling of openness and space that a high ceiling creates. It is a bugger to clean and decorate though!

thanks @Ferdinand, those are all really thoughtful comments. There is actually a shower in the downstairs bathroom, but the shower screen doesn't really show up well on the plans. It is in the north-west corner that appears empty. I don't know a lot about the space requirements for stairlifts, but this is something we think we might need in the future and I would definitely want to plan the house in a way that enables us to make it accessible for us in later life. I also really like the idea of a small terrace on top of the porch - our budget is quite tight at £300k, but I think we could probably sacrifice a little bit of the overall footprint of the house in order to afford a modest outside space on the first floor that would at least give us a spot from which to admire the garden and sit with a G&T after work on a sunny evening. I love your accessible bathroom - such a clever use of a small space, and beautifully finished. ???

That's a brilliant idea @AliG, I wouldn't have thought of having the dressing room as a corridor to an ensuite in the back corner. It makes sense to have a separate visitor toilet so that guests don't need to encroach on our private space as much. I agree with you that the appliances are probably not going to disturb me as much as we fear, and I suspect the greater issue will be my husband penchant for radio 6 whilst in the kitchen. I'm lucky that I can switch my hearing off if I need to! I realise that the two spare bedrooms (for visiting adult children and grandchildren) are really generous, so I have stolen a bit of room 2 and a little bit of the bathroom to make the snug a little less snug. This might end up being a sitting room for my mother if she ever needs to move in with us for a period of time, and with the laundry converted into a kitchenette we could create a sort of private granny area within the downstairs of the house. I will revisit window sizes and locations to see how to bring light into the hallway downstairs - I think we will have as transparent a front door as possible to allow light from the porch to come in, and will keep the downstairs doorways open as much as possible to allow light to penetrate from each room. Very much appreciate your thoughts and feedback! M

Someone did suggest that we move the porch to the east side instead of the south, so as to make the best use of the views to the garden from the office and guest bedrooms, which I think is probably a good idea.

We are not planning to have a garage, but instead will probably move the house north a small amount and instead have a workshop/large shed at the back of the house where the garage is currently planned.

Yes, that's the murky water I was paddling in. It seems that my local authority are happy to clarify that we would not be penalised for work done to comply with planning permission where the CIL does not apply, even if we later need to apply for full planning permission and need to submit an application to waive the CIL.

exactly!

@AliG No, the discrepancy is that the images are screenshots, and one has been taken at a greater height - the two rectangular floor shapes are the same dimensions, it's just that the pictures are not to scale

No, the ground and first floor plans are meant to be the same size - a simple box-shaped house with a two-way pitched roof (east/west). The porch would be on the south side of the house. If there's a discrepancy it's down to my poor drawing!