Updated plans following design meeting

[Omnibuswoman]

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)

[ProDave]

I have a feeling there will be fire issues with the loft staircase remote from the main staircase. Someone more up to date with regs will be along shortly I am sure.

 

Personally I would have all the bedrooms downstairs, i.e swap your upstairs master bedroom for the downstairs living room.  I just feel you will never go down to the downstairs living room unless you have a really good reason to do so. 

[Dreadnaught]

Bedroom above bedroom, noise transmission through the floor? Rearrange so they are not stacked?

Which way is north: path of the sun around the dwelling?

Edited July 9, 2020 by Dreadnaught

[Omnibuswoman]

30 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I have a feeling there will be fire issues with the loft staircase remote from the main staircase. Someone more up to date with regs will be along shortly I am sure.

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. 

[Omnibuswoman]

32 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I just feel you will never go down to the downstairs living room unless you have a really good reason to do s

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 ?

[ProDave]

I would not bother separating the entrance from the hall. That is very similar to what we have and it works well just as one space. Again personal preference.

[Omnibuswoman]

16 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I would not bother separating the entrance from the hall. That is very similar to what we have and it works well just as one space. Again personal preference.

It’s for the Hounds of the Baskervilles ?

It literally is an enclosure for us to wipe off muddy paws before they come into the house. We planned an outside porch originally but have abandoned that in favour of a modest entrance hall. 

[Omnibuswoman]

49 minutes ago, Dreadnaught said:

Which way is north: path of the sun around the dwelling?

North is to the left of my sketches - the wall of the wetroom and en-suite faces north. So the juliet balcony will face south, overlooking the garden. 
 

Dan told us that we may face overheating issues from the East and West facing windows (it will be a passivhaus) so we must factor that in alongside capturing the distant view of Dartmoor to the East. 

[the_r_sole]

can you put up a site plan and some elevations?

[Omnibuswoman]

3 hours ago, the_r_sole said:

can you put up a site plan and some elevations?

 

this is the original plan which obtained planning consent. Our house will be the same location and same primary footprint, but without the external sunroom on the south side. The garage to the rear (north) will be a large shed/workshop. 

[Omnibuswoman]

Our garden will incorporate the eastern paddock eventually, so will be the full width of the image above. 

[the_r_sole]

is the boundary to the west a road?

For me it's a very ordinary plan but with some curiosities, if you've got dogs, put a door into the utility and have that as a mud room/ wet weather entrance, having a big lobby and then a hallway which is all doors doesn't really feel that right - where are your views coming from? you have a lot of doors and hallway in there

The bedrooms look they are all west facing? or am i reading it wrong? It's hard to read when all the plans are in different orientations (or is the door on the site plan the "back door" for that house?

 

In my opinion, it doesn't look like the house has been designed with the site in mind - which may not be the case at all, why the loft extension? you'll have building regs issues coming from enclosed stairs to a room, to a stair, to a lobby before exit - if it was me, I'd look at putting an upstairs on the garage for a home office and get the floor plan of the house working much better

[joe90]

1 hour ago, Omnibuswoman said:

Our garden will incorporate the eastern paddock eventually, so will be the full width of the image above. 

is the paddock deemed “agricutural” like ours is, planners said “don’t think you can make that a garden, requires planning fir change of use”.

[Omnibuswoman]

1 hour ago, joe90 said:

is the paddock deemed “agricutural” like ours is, planners said “don’t think you can make that a garden, requires planning fir change of use”.

Yes it is... we haven’t acquired it yet, but we are calling it ‘the paddock’ for that reason. It used to be a market garden. It seems rather odd that our plan to grow fruit and veg in this area would constitute a change of use!

[Omnibuswoman]

1 hour ago, the_r_sole said:

s the boundary to the west a road?

For me it's a very ordinary plan but with some curiosities, if you've got dogs, put a door into the utility and have that as a mud room/ wet weather entrance, having a big lobby and then a hallway which is all doors doesn't really feel that right - where are your views coming from? you have a lot of doors and hallway in there

 

 

The western boundary is with a field - grass pasture. 

 

I agree with you it is very ordinary - we have a tight budget and have tried to keep the plan as simple as it is possible to make it affordable. 

But I like the idea of having a back door in the laundry/utility area for doggy ablutions, and an uninterrupted front hallway.

[Omnibuswoman]

14 minutes ago, Omnibuswoman said:

- where are your views coming from? yo

 

We have views towards Dartmoor to the East, and what will be a lovely garden on the south side of the house.

[the_r_sole]

9 minutes ago, Omnibuswoman said:

 

 

The western boundary is with a field - grass pasture. 

 

I agree with you it is very ordinary - we have a tight budget and have tried to keep the plan as simple as it is possible to make it affordable. 

But I like the idea of having a back door in the laundry/utility area for doggy ablutions, and an uninterrupted front hallway.

 

Yeah, it's a difficult balance, what I'd always say to people (and it's not really what a lot of the people on here would say by the looks of their builds) - but build the smallest thing you can build and finish well in your budget, and allow for an extension in the future should you need it. 

With your site, I'd be tempted to look at a longer, thinner plan as most of the current plan has 1m/1.5m down the middle given over to circulation - with a tight budget you want to look very carefully at the amount of space being used for getting to useful space! Also, the stair position in an upside down house is absolutely key, you  kind of want the front door at the base of the stair, but also think about where you arrive and what you face at the top of the stair, for example, would it be desirable to have a straight stair which arrives facing the view over the fields, rather than a stair which turns back on itself so you arrive looking directly at the sitting area. Could you have the dining table somewhere that it gets both morning and evening light? any opportinty to look at bringing in light from above to the living space etc etc, there are lots of things you can do with a simple geometry, the idea is to build with value in mind rather than just bottom line costs

[joe90]

1 hour ago, Omnibuswoman said:

It used to be a market garden. It seems rather odd that our plan to grow fruit and veg in this area would constitute a change of use!

if you continue to grow fruit and veg I am sure you are ok as it used to be a market garden. My wife’s late father used to grow spuds in our field. We were told the fence between the two (garden/field) would need to be re instated (removed to help with the build).

[Omnibuswoman]

The plan is to acquire it later on, quietly, and eventually put some raised beds and fruit bushes on it. We have a very nosy neighbour unfortunately who seems to be on to the council complaining every 5 minutes, so we shall need to tread very carefully!

[Omnibuswoman]

[the_r_sole]

Do you have planning permission in place for this already? The more i see of the site the more it looks like a potential missed opportunity, especially if you're planning to buy the bit next door!

[Omnibuswoman]

43 minutes ago, the_r_sole said:

Do you have planning permission in place for this already? The more i see of the site the more it looks like a potential missed opportunity, especially if you're planning to buy the bit next door!

 

There is existing planning consent on the plot for the house on the plan, but we haven’t submitted our planning application as yet.

 

i’d love to hear your ideas!

[the_r_sole]

Well, as much as I'd do it differently, its your house ?

What is it that you're looking for? if it was me I'd be much more tempted to look at maybe an L-shaped plan with a single room depth plan so that you have dual aspect for most spaces (the plot looks lovely at ground level so the distant view is more a bonus imo... I'd maybe look at having the kitchen diner on the ground floor with a mezzanine level sitting room over it.

Wouldn't necessarily go two full stories on it all either.

 

Try to imagine how you will use the house, like you've been out to the shops and coming back in the rain...

Whats the way through the house to put the shopping down in the kitchen/larder?

Or its a nice day and you want to open the house up, how does it work?

You've got friends coming for dinner, how does that all work

Etc etc 

I don't know your lifestyle or anything so can't help much apart from ask questions ?

 

Everyone always wants to build cheap but when you're doing your own house, you can tweak things to work for you, at the moment the Layout doesn't really feel very personal,  for example on the site, it looks like there's a massive tree to the south east corner of the site, if it's worth looking at put a window looking at it!

Edited July 9, 2020 by the_r_sole

[Omnibuswoman]

10 hours ago, the_r_sole said:

don't know your lifestyle or anything so can't help much apart from ask questions ?

 

Thanks, I do appreciate your thoughts. The generosity of buildhubbers’ contributions is something I never cease to be touched by. It really does make all the difference when embarking on a project like this.

 

We have an unusual preference for upstairs living, probably generated by having lived in upstairs flats for upwards of 25 years. I’ve amended the design to add in a back door into the utility/laundry room for wet dog entry, and potentially to a tea-making point so that when we’re gardening we can pop in to make a cuppa and have a wee without having to take off our muddy boots.

 

The downstairs has been in part designed so that it could function as a semi self-contained living space, should my parents need a bit of TLC (we are moving 250 miles to be nearby as they approach old age). We plan to put a wooden balcony on the first floor outside of the French windows by the dining table, for a small table and two chairs. Just an outside space to sit and have a coffee in the morning, or a glass of something cold in the evening should the sun be shining. The planning application for that will be done a bit later on as we’re trying to get the plan thorough as a minor material amendment to the existing consent (which is free of CIL due to its age).