Critique my final(ish) design

[puntloos]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

I'd suggest:

• moving the future lift so that it's adjacent to the existing stairwell; based on the current positioning the Office & Bed 3 would effectively become a second hall (one is enough).

For what it's worth, this is how the "elevator situation" would look like.

 

 

While indeed there is a certain extra amount of walkway, I'm not too certain if the elevator can be anywhere else. Perhaps the onlyl thing I could imagine is swapping the service shaft with the elevator but the shaft needs to be as central as possible. Also moving the elevator down would clash with ground and loft layouts..

 

1 hour ago, Mike said:

• if you're thinking ahead to a possible lift, it might be worth enlarging the doors so you could at least get out of Bed 3 and into the bathroom in a wheelchair

Good point, to be clear - as above you'd have to get out of master bed. But yes, master and bath should have slightly larger doors

1 hour ago, Mike said:

• rationalise the various recesses against the back wall of the office

I'm not sure what you mean? I assume you mean the side wall- elevator, service shaft, network cabinet/

My current plan is somewhat 'organically grown' - for example the network cabinet needs a small door that ends up in front of the speaker so it can't be all the way in the corner.. Elevator shaft is located into master bed as well as into loft etc.?

1 hour ago, Mike said:

• adopting one of ECT's suggestions, or similar, for Bed1 - you don't want to walk into the bedroom via a cupboard

 

Why not? I mean, a "walk through" wardrobe is a very common idea, do you not like it? As mentioned part of the reason is the two partners going to bed typically at different times so it's designed so dressing/undressing can be done without disturbing the other..

1 hour ago, Mike said:

• ditto removing the recessed doorway into Bed 2

This is the difference (while standing on the through-walkway on the ground floor)

 

If Bed2 were cramped I'd agree but it's not, and this costs 1m2.. not huge?

 

1 hour ago, Mike said:

• consider a roof terrace above the dining room - in which case you might want to move Bed 1 into this corner & associated changes. Would have to consider the height of roof insulation to that flat roof.

Ha, we had this. Didn't manage to get through planning permission  - but the bed1 has provisions so we can still do it when we try for planning again later

1 hour ago, Mike said:

• planning a wardrobe for the recess that backs onto the family bathroom shower, to provide sound insulation, if you're not already doing so

Yes that's supposed to be a closet!

 

1 hour ago, Mike said:

• moving the HWC - you're unlikely to get a well insulated one of adequate volume into the space planned - into the utility room, which I presume will hold other other plant

Well, assuming you mean here:

 

then yes that will actually exactly fit the HWC we have in mind! Checked with manufacturer and everything. But, to keep plant together we still are likely going to move it to the loft plant room anyway

 

 

1 hour ago, Mike said:

• make sure you're fully aware of the problems of pocket doors (cleaning, ratting over the tracks, poor sound insulation, maintenance issues...), not just their benefits.

 

yeah I'll do some mowork on this, especially the master pocket door is crucial. But this is why:

 

:re

 

1 hour ago, Mike said:

BTW, I assume that the planner don't require you to have a garage?

 

 

Well the garage space (utility+bike) is the right garage size, 5x3m - tight but acceptable. But no, planners are ok with just sufficient outside spots.

 

Thank you for your thoughtful points. Stuff to think about!

[Iceverge]

On 19/11/2021 at 22:03, puntloos said:

2 dressing rooms help with the waking times though, core point is that you need privacy, light, and some noise isolation while you undress. 

 

It's the diplomacy of keeping the area tidy and whodunnit when it resembles a yard sale! !! For noise isolation I would scrap the sliding doors. build a proper separate room.

 

Thermal bridging isn't rocket science. You just need a completely continuous layer of insulation. If you can draw with a pencil anywhere on the plans where you can go from inside without bumping into a good layer of insulation you'll have a thermal bridge. Concrete is bad, steel is terrible. 

 

 

 

 

 

Having a look at the plans I'm beginning to wonder about the wisdom of the non aligning front wall. It'll add a lot of steel to the design, a lot of cost and be very hard to get right thermally. 

 

I would propose something like this. You'll end up with the same floor space but much less hassle. I appreciate the aesthetic value to the front of the house as is,  but a good architect should be able to overcome this pretty easily. 

 

Also while we're at it bin the PIR in your roof between the timbers. It's difficult to fit (rarely done right), shrinks, leading to thermal bypass, offers poor heat protection (decrement delay), is poor in fire, burns toxically, is expensive, and offers little noise protection. Blown cellulose, mineral wool batts or woodfiber will be much better in real life. Have a look back at @ProDaves roof or @Jeremy Harris for good examples.

 

[Mike]

5 hours ago, puntloos said:

Perhaps the only thing I could imagine is swapping the service shaft with the elevator but the shaft.

That's what I'd choose.

 

5 hours ago, puntloos said:

moving the elevator down would clash with ground and loft layouts

Not if you turned it 90° to open on the landing(s).

 

5 hours ago, puntloos said:

Quote

• rationalise the various recesses against the back wall of the office

I'm not sure what you mean? I assume you mean the side wall- elevator, service shaft, network cabinet/

Indeed

 

5 hours ago, puntloos said:

a "walk through" wardrobe is a very common idea, do you not like it?

Yes, common when space is at a premium, and then best if you see through to the room beyond when standing in the doorway. I'd not like it myself.

 

5 hours ago, puntloos said:

it's designed so dressing/undressing can be done without disturbing the other.

I'd be more worried about the sound made by opening a door on runners, compared to silent regular hinges...

 

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by Mike

[puntloos]

17 hours ago, Iceverge said:

It's the diplomacy of keeping the area tidy and whodunnit when it resembles a yard sale! !! For noise isolation I would scrap the sliding doors. build a proper separate room.

 

Hm, well in my experience they block noise nicely, but indeed opening/closing them might itself be noisy as mike said

 

Reordered your post slightly for flow

Quote

Having a look at the plans I'm beginning to wonder about the wisdom of the non aligning front wall. It'll add a lot of steel to the design, a lot of cost and be very hard to get right thermally. 

 

I would propose something like this. You'll end up with the same floor space but much less hassle. I appreciate the aesthetic value to the front of the house as is,  but a good architect should be able to overcome this pretty easily. 

 

Makes a lot of sense but what's a little cold bridge between friends. Seriously though, given that we have PP and completed (draft) designs I suspect doing this would cost me 4-6 months. Do you think it's really that serious/

 

Quote

Thermal bridging isn't rocket science. You just need a completely continuous layer of insulation. If you can draw with a pencil anywhere on the plans where you can go from inside without bumping into a good layer of insulation you'll have a thermal bridge. Concrete is bad, steel is terrible. 

 

 

 

Good example.. I don't know if I personally should try to do the non-rocketsciencey homework.. but in general, how does one go about resolving these? A thermal expert architect? A builder who knows how to fix this? I do have some passivhaus builder who's helping me with this stuff (for a fee) so I suppose I could ask them..

 

A few general questions: the "looking for the continuous yellow" exercise of cold bridge finding turned up nothing on the floorplans (except 'all windows').. but I assume that's somehow fine?.. or?

The sections, as you point out, are much more messy:

 

Below:

1 - probably just add a thermoblock

2- thermoblock?

 

Below:

1 - Thermoblock

2 - Unknown, not sure why this is done this way?

3 - thermoblock, or at least make the wall not go there?

4 - Is the 'air gap' a problem?

 

In general I hope someone is able to fix this as  well as possible rather than redo

 

 

Quote

Also while we're at it bin the PIR in your roof between the timbers. It's difficult to fit (rarely done right), shrinks, leading to thermal bypass, offers poor heat protection (decrement delay), is poor in fire, burns toxically, is expensive, and offers little noise protection. Blown cellulose, mineral wool batts or woodfiber will be much better in real life. Have a look back at @ProDaves roof or @Jeremy Harris for good examples.

 

Sounds like you're not a fan of PIR - Why only in the roof then? Why not use blown cellulose everywhere?  

I think my architect was under the impression that blown cellulose is only done for retrofits since you can't just 'insert pir' in existing walls?

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by puntloos

[puntloos]

17 hours ago, Mike said:

That's what I'd choose.

 

Not if you turned it 90° to open on the landing(s).

 

The only snag is that at the loft, there's empty space there (no landing). It'll be a few meters straight down

 

17 hours ago, Mike said:

Yes, common when space is at a premium, and then best if you see through to the room beyond when standing in the doorway. I'd not like it myself.

 

Fair. I'll reconsider and play around. 

 

17 hours ago, Mike said:

I'd be more worried about the sound made by opening a door on runners, compared to silent regular hinges...

 

Our initial thought is to perhaps still use th pocket doors, but not connecting the closing mechanism, and then for the night being able to only open one section. Was also considering a bifold byt probably overkill, possibly just curtains.. 

 

As you probably have gathered a lot of these designs have gone through many versions.. sadly with space at a premium indeed there's always tradeoffs.

 

[Mike]

On 22/11/2021 at 19:51, puntloos said:

The only snag is that at the loft, there's empty space there (no landing). It'll be a few meters straight down

If I was to take the lift up to the loft, then I'd add a helter-skelter. Though if Building Control are really insistent I might just settle for a landing :)

[puntloos]

On 21/11/2021 at 18:17, ETC said:

 

Oh! I completely forgot that you had updated a few designs, sorry @ETC . The lift location is a good suggestion. Your exact location doesn't work because of the loft (it would hit the ceiling) but if I provision the elevator where the ground floor office door is, that would work. We'd have to move the office door down towards the front when installing the elevator but that's not a huge deal!

 

The circulation space, I think I prefer the recessed aesthetic (pictures above) over the slight extra space for the bedroom I think. 

 

Thank you for all your ideas, these have certainly helped sharpen our thinking further!

[joth]

On 22/11/2021 at 13:31, puntloos said:

Good example.. I don't know if I personally should try to do the non-rocketsciencey homework.. but in general, how does one go about resolving these? A thermal expert architect? A builder who knows how to fix this? I do have some passivhaus builder who's helping me with this stuff (for a fee) so I suppose I could ask them..

 

I think you said you've done a PHPP model? If done properly (and/or reviewed by independent PH certifier) that should flagged it.

We had detailed THERM models done for the various potential issues flagged, and iterated on a few of them to reduce the impact. The concern was generally less about the energy losses, and more about the cold bridge causing condensation magnet and possibly encouraging mould/rot to form in the service void hidden behind the plasterboard, or in the wood flooring around the front door. So worth getting right!

 

Our architect used  http://www.heatflux.co.uk/ very recommended

Edited December 4, 2021 by joth

[puntloos]

On 04/12/2021 at 13:45, joth said:

 

I think you said you've done a PHPP model? If done properly (and/or reviewed by independent PH certifier) that should flagged it.

We had detailed THERM models done for the various potential issues flagged, and iterated on a few of them to reduce the impact. The concern was generally less about the energy losses, and more about the cold bridge causing condensation magnet and possibly encouraging mould/rot to form in the service void hidden behind the plasterboard, or in the wood flooring around the front door. So worth getting right!

 

Our architect used  http://www.heatflux.co.uk/ very recommended

 

My 'SAP guy' said that while he doesn't do it, a TM59 assessment is the most appropriate since it's in particular the whole overheating thing. 

Perhaps ALL OF THEM?

Heatflux sounds reasonably priced (depending on how often you iterate..) - thanks for that tip!