Another passive builder

[Simplysimon]

Hi all,

 

as the title says, i'm going to be building a passive house in the new year. we are old house people, however, having looked at countless houses, a couple which had iwi already, and was really suspicious about bringing the dewpoint inside and not finding a suitable propertry to ewi, we've bought a plot. As we only wanted a warm, relatively draught free house, the more i researched insulation, airtightness, cold bridging and ventilation, i realised the only way to do it properly is to go passive.

i'll probably be asking loads of questions as never having built a house from scratch and doing it in a manner which is totally different to anything i've done before, my head hurts from all the research.

 

have a merry christmas

 

 

 

 

[Crofter]

Welcome to BuildHub! Ask away, we don't bite

Whereabouts are you building?

[Simplysimon]

hi Crofter,

 

i'm building a bit south of you, though i suppose most are that!, i'm in Ayrshire so closer than some.

[ProDave]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Most people here are "south" of me, but not all.

 

[Stones]

A warm welcome to the forum.

 

I think I can safely say that everyone is south of me...

[Tennentslager]

Welcome Simon,

So you're building in the Shire...what size and shape are you going for...

[ProDave]

40 minutes ago, Stones said:

A warm welcome to the forum.

 

I think I can safely say that everyone is south of me...

I don't believe we have a forum member form Shetland. Yet.
 

[Simplysimon]

when we purchased the plot, planning had been granted, so we stuck with the shape, though changed the int. layout as we didn't want open plan. it's gone through phpp and works, though not the best shape for passive. the only change was to move velux from north facing to south

v7.pdf

Drawing 2 -Scaled Elevations of amended House Type v2.pdf

[PeterW]

Welcome ..!

 

nice looking house - just one observation, bed 3 (master suite..?) has no door between it and the family room and kitchen downstairs. 

 

Is that by design or omission ..? 

[Simplysimon]

hi peter,

by design, may not stay that way though . originally 1 bed upstairs to the front with double height ceiling to sunroom and kitchen and other three downstairs, seemed a waste of space. master suite logical option.

[MikeSharp01]

On 24/12/2016 at 19:08, Stones said:

I think I can safely say that everyone is south of me...

Think that depends on which way around you go - if I leave from here heading south pass through the zero point at the bottom and keep on going I will eventually be heading south towards you.

[Ferdinand]

Welcome @Simplysimon

 

Not planning extensive comments, however:

 

1 - It feels short on garages to me.

2 - That is a hell of a lot of circulation space. Do your corridors need to be that wide? To me a 1.4m wide passage is neither one thing nor t'other. The space could perhaps be better used in the downstairs shower room and utility. Perhaps others have opinions of living with corridors of that width - good or bad?

3 - I am not clear on the dead space between the kitchen and garage. What is it for? Is it outside the thermal envelope? I might be tempted to make it a cool pantry / wine room with a door for your produce, or put the boot room there.

4 - Is the front door prominent enough?

 

With a house that size, and listening to @ProDave's sales difficulties on a large house in Scotland documented elsewhere, I would want to give some careful thought to exit strategy - whether for you in a few years or 20 years. Will you have difficulty selling it? Presumably the local market is different to Inverness, but for a 230sqm house consider:

 

Personally I would try to make the plan such that it could be turned into a pair of semis with ease (see how some barn conversions do it without feeling like a suburb), provision for full separate facilities downstairs for when you are in your dotage etc, or for use as a B&B (all double bedrooms etc), or as a let. Not because you will need it , but because that will give you plans B C and D with no downside if you do it now. 

 

Ferdinand

Edited December 26, 2016 by Ferdinand

[ProDave]

I would be interested to see the plot layout, what's around the house, which way is south etc.

 

The point about being able to split the house is very valid. From what I hear, trouble selling large houses is not just a Highland thing. A regular customer of mine, their daughter has had a 4 bedroom house in Dunoon on the market now for 2 years. I would take that advice and design a house that works as one big house, but has a simple way to divide it into two semi detached houses. Having two staircases is a good start.  The builder that built my frame built a large house for speculative sale about 5 years ago (I wired it, and that's largely how I got to know this particular builder) he has only just now got a buyer after a staggering 5 years. I asked him what he would do differently if he had known and without any hesitation "I would have built a pair of small semi detached houses instead"
 

[Simplysimon]

7 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

Welcome @Simplysimon

 

Not planning extensive comments, however:

comments gladly welcome, it's taken a few iterations to get to where we are now

7 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

1 - It feels short on garages to me.

9m x 17m shed for stables and garaging inc in plans, got to keep the classic warm and dry

7 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

2 - That is a hell of a lot of circulation space. Do your corridors need to be that wide? To me a 1.4m wide passage is neither one thing nor t'other. The space could perhaps be better used in the downstairs shower room and utility. Perhaps others have opinions of living with corridors of that width - good or bad?

may end up narrower

7 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

3 - I am not clear on the dead space between the kitchen and garage. What is it for? Is it outside the thermal envelope? I might be tempted to make it a cool pantry / wine room with a door for your produce, or put the boot room there.

it started out smaller as a link to garage, enlarged as we can always fill space, hot water tank may be positioned there, not a plumber so i'm hazy on where to put things. looking at ashp with 300l tank and ufh, don't know whether i'll need it but would rather have it and not need it than not have it and need it.

7 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

4 - Is the front door prominent enough?

for what? back door will be usual day to day door due to parking

7 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

With a house that size, and listening to @ProDave's sales difficulties on a large house in Scotland documented elsewhere, I would want to give some careful thought to exit strategy - whether for you in a few years or 20 years. Will you have difficulty selling it? Presumably the local market is different to Inverness, but for a 230sqm house consider:

 house is being built just out of symington, just east of troon, prices eased slightly during recession but are now back to where they were.

7 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Personally I would try to make the plan such that it could be turned into a pair of semis with ease(see how some barn conversions do it without feeling like a suburb), provision for full separate facilities downstairs for when you are in your dotage etc, or for use as a B&B (all double bedrooms etc), or as a let. Not because you will need it , but because that will give you plans B C and D with no downside if you do it now. 

downstairs bedroom with ensuite has already been given thought for dotage. planning was given for four houses on 10 acre plot on roadside location to look like trad cottages. i have given thought to splitting into two in future. two daughters still living at home. if daughters do eventually leave, b&b has been considered.

7 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Ferdinand

 

simon

[Simplysimon]

Dave,

plans are a couple of versions back, show position of shed, as with any new build, trying to figure where to put everything so it works and flows, damned difficult! as well as a different build system and trying to do it as cost effectively as possibly

simon

Redesign application.pdf

[ProDave]

Looking at the plans with the layout it all makes sense.  do I take it YOU own the bit outlined in blue?

 

A couple of comments.you have two "Bedroom 3's" upstairs. I will refer to the "master" one with the dressing room and en-suite as "bedroom 1"

 

I would move Bedroom 1's dormer to the right (viewed from inside) so it's in the middle of the room. Otherwise I doubt you will get the full benefit of it. At the moment it's been positioned to look right from the outside. I think function is more important than symetry from the outside.

 

Bedrooms 2 and 3 appear to only have roof windows. I think you will struggle to get those low enough to meet the means of escape rules of building regs. Can you get a window to each in the gable ends? Alternatively a dormer for each at the front would be a lot better.

 

the large main landing upstairs may appear to be a waste of space, but with it's dormer would make a very good desk / work area up there. I have seen that done many times.

 

The layout does seem to maximise the south aspect for living rooms and put bedrooms and bathrooms on the more northerly aspect.

 

The utility room is probably the best place for the hot water tank. That gets it close to the kitchen and most of the bathrooms, but a bit far away from Bed 2 & 3's bathroom but with them split like that there will be no perfect solution.

 

There will probably be enough usable roof space to get a usable wardrobe for bedroom 3, between it and bedroom 1's en-suite.
 

[Simplysimon]

fair shout over the dormer, it would have been central prior to the inclusion of dressing room and the moving of the en-suite which was where the dressing room is now and has not been noticed. i agree about the landing, originally no bed 2 upstairs as double height sun room and even more wasted space but more of what some people want - the wow factor , i don't see why there should be a problem with gable windows but it would have been a good place for wardrobes. we would have liked dormers but i don't know if planning would allow though there are dormers across the road, planning was very difficult to come by, 20yrs on and off though not by us, and yes, we have the blue bit.

simon

[ProDave]

If you have all of the blue bit, you in fact have (as far as planning is concerned ) TWO plots.  Are you keeping the second one up your sleeve for later?

 

If not, I would be tempted to design a "straight" (rather than L shaped) house that straddles the "two plots" but designed in such a way that it could be later split into two semi detached houses.
 

[Simplysimon]

i do indeed, i would like to build on the other plot first, see how the house works for us, make any changes, build the other sell the first and relax. swmbo doesn't want neighbours there, just keeping access to the ground at the back, though i'm working on it.

 

simon

[Stones]

A couple of comments re the layout:

 

Large master suite accessed from family room - it strikes me that wherever you place your bed, unless under the dormer, you are going to have a head height problem of trying to get past the end of the bed under the coomb.  On paper it may look acceptable but in reality, you bob about when moving and will end up stooping over.  I also think the stairs in the family room that lead up to that bedroom will really limit the useable space there.  

 

I would suggest moving that staircase entirely to the corridor that connects the kitchen to the other part of the house.  Position the stairs parallel to the corridor over what is currently the utility door and part of the shower.  That would bring the staircase up into the bedroom on one side of the dressing room, allowing you to put your bed on the far gable, still create some decent 'walkthrough' clothes storage in under the other coomb opposite the stairs, and have your en-suite.

 

Downstairs you could then play around with the layout of the utility/shower room/bedroom/WC/Boot room.  I would move the utility and put in a large en-suite to the ground floor bedroom behind the repositioned staircase, ground floor bedroom with a waredrobe either side of the door into the ensuite, then use the remaining space (currently boot room and WC) for a large utility and WC. I'm not sure what benefit there is to a separate boot room at that side of the house when you've already said the other door will be the main point of entry. A bigger combined utility / boot room serves both functions and would be a more comfortable space. Using that are for as utility also means you have easy access outside with washing etc.

 

+1 on the study area upstairs

 

The living room is a bit of a corridor given it is the hub that gives access to the front porch, sunroom and hallway to the kitchen.  Maybe consider having this area open to the sunroom so it doesn't feel that you are losing as much?

 

I like the 'skews' shown on the gables.  What roof finish are you thinking of, and what are you planning for the skews?

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, Simplysimon said:

i do indeed, i would like to build on the other plot first, see how the house works for us, make any changes, build the other sell the first and relax. swmbo doesn't want neighbours there, just keeping access to the ground at the back, though i'm working on it.

 

simon

The plot you have shown built on in the plans is definitely the best one "for keeps". If you do develop one of the plots to sell, then make that the other one.  If you are going to do that, make the for sale house more modest, say 3 bedrooms, but designed so it can easily be extended. That will likely be easier to sell.

 

And shave just a little of the other plot which combined with your keep plot, will give you vehicle access to the paddock behind them.
 

[Simplysimon]

hi Stones,

the layout has been a bit of a compromise as the house worked open plan, the livingroom and sunroom was all one and we thought it too big. the depth of the house is too narrow for two rooms but really too much for one. if there was to be a wall across corridor then that would be a logical place to subdivide to enable two, two bed houses, with the livingroom becoming a kitchen.

i like the idea of the stais in the middle but there is someone who wants a utility next to the kitchen and would complicate if a split was ever required.

[Simplysimon]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

The plot you have shown built on in the plans is definitely the best one "for keeps". If you do develop one of the plots to sell, then make that the other one.  If you are going to do that, make the for sale house more modest, say 3 bedrooms, but designed so it can easily be extended. That will likely be easier to sell.

 

And shave just a little of the other plot which combined with your keep plot, will give you vehicle access to the paddock behind them.
 

there is a road to the side of plot 3 and a perfect area to shave 3m to keep access

[Stones]

2 hours ago, Simplysimon said:

hi Stones,

the layout has been a bit of a compromise as the house worked open plan, the livingroom and sunroom was all one and we thought it too big. the depth of the house is too narrow for two rooms but really too much for one. if there was to be a wall across corridor then that would be a logical place to subdivide to enable two, two bed houses, with the livingroom becoming a kitchen.

i like the idea of the stais in the middle but there is someone who wants a utility next to the kitchen and would complicate if a split was ever required.

 

I'm sure you've thought of this already, the space between family room and garage would seem the ideal boot / utility room and meet the next to the kitchen requirement.  Out of interest, why does the utility have to be next to the kitchen?