New Build Plans - Critique

[Duncan62]

Hi, been reading here avidly for quite some time, what an incredible hive mind!

 

I'm looking for some feedback on the floor plans, the good and the not so (I already have a list for both).

We own our plot and are in the process of applying for planning over the next few months, hence a sense check from the hive.

I hope to build an efficient house, phpp thinks it will be so far.

 

Structure: Timber frame, ideally I-beam + internal racking board filled with mineral wool, externally clad with wood fibre around the whole house. Backup is 240mm stick build standard timber frame, externally clad too. Open web floor joists. Internal air tightness membrane. Triple glazing. Insulated raft foundation. Internal walls double stud +2x NB PB each side to give enhanced acoustic dampening.

 

Services: Heat pump to OSO HW tank with immersion heater powered by PV in summer (actual # panels may be less than depicted). HW Circulation return loop with small runs to taps. Slab heating/cooling loop. MVHR with saline preheater/precooler and a post heater/cooler - heat pump controlled (I may split out the heating to downstairs plenum only and the cooling to upstairs plenum only). Fully insulated semi rigid ducting. Water softener to protect the plumbing.

 

Now the bit people came here for, the floor plans! There's a ridge height limit which dictates a 1.5 story house, planning on about 200m2. Views are to the north.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sure I've left a lot of detail out in the description, I will try to answer any questions, thanks for taking the time to read this far.

[Bozza]

Hi Welcome.  In my opinion, 

 

1.  Having a separate lounge / snug / tv room is a v.good idea with having an open plan living dining kitchen.

2.  Vaulted hallway good idea for feeling of light & space.  If you can add an additional external vestibule you can remove door from hallway to living area.  Giving an even more open plan light feel.

3.  Having an upstairs store good idea as restricted attic space.

4.  I would remove separate loo cupboard upstairs to provide spacious en-suite. The master layout needs re thinking you’ve got some dead space there I think there will be better layouts.   The en-suite area is bigger than the actual bedroom and the link corridor will be dark & unnecessary.   

5.  The little bedroom upstairs I would remove unless you absolutely need that many bedrooms, or unless your trying to create a prison cell feeling.    Trying to squeeze too many bedroom in upstairs, unless your building for £££££ reasons.  If you need that many bedroom upstairs then you need to make the others smaller and re jig the layout.  

6.  Your plant room is in a corridor with a bedroom and livingroom off.? You need to address that. Where’s your washing machine going. Don’t put it in an open plan kitchen living area.  I think you need a separate plant room/utility room as far away as possible from any bedrooms as the gubbins can be quite noisy.
8 .  Dan-wood have a few houses similar dimensions rooflines etc have a look at their plans for ideas. 
 

I have attached a very rough sketch of alternative for 4 bed upstairs but if you don’t need 4  then 3 spacious one perhaps?  Trying to get open plan living, separate lounge & 5 beds into 200sqm is a big ask.  You are doing exactly what I was doing initially with my house design, until someone told me straight I had to build bigger or reduce rooms.

good luck

 

 

[AliG]

I pretty much agree with these comments.

 

1. You are underestimating how much the ceiling will encroach on the bedrooms. When you step out of the beds on the left hand end rooms, you will have 5ft ceiling height.

 

2. The master bedroom layout is weird and needs to be redone. A bed with your feet under the eaves will be very very constricting. there is plenty of room to fix this. As mentioned the dark corridor to the en suite would not work well.

 

3. The sitting room and bedroom off the plant room is bad design. I'd maybe look to lose the side door if you don't need it. Then you can move equipment into the area where the door is and close off the plant room past the entrance to the sitting room and bedroom.

 

4. What is the small room upstairs next to the stairs? If it is storage, I would make it a laundry room.

 

5. I would steal a little space from the bathroom for the small bedroom.

 

6. You have drawn quite small furniture onto the plans. It looks like the beds are only 1.5m wide and the sofas and chairs are only around 700mm deep. Most nice sofas are closer to 1m deep. Wouldn't;t you want a kingsize bed at least in the master bedroom.

[JohnMo]

Similar to above.

Plant room, isn't right. Access to be bedroom via a plant room?

 

Quite long duct runs from MVHR due to its location.

 

You are doing double stud walls internally (waste of time in my opinion) but the noise will pass through the door undercut 10mm min.

 

Not sure about the two access doors to the downstairs toilet.

 

I would ditch the door between the bottom of the stairs and toilet. 

 

You don't seem to have a utility room?

 

Storage space is limited, where's the hoover going and other stuff you want out of the way?

 

Upstairs is a mess, just not right.

 

Our house is about the same size, but with 3 bedrooms, all rooms are good size without being small or huge.

 

 

 

[Duncan62]

Thank you all for the constructive comments, really appreciate your input.

 

19 hours ago, Bozza said:

Hi Welcome.  In my opinion, 

 

1.  Having a separate lounge / snug / tv room is a v.good idea with having an open plan living dining kitchen.

2.  Vaulted hallway good idea for feeling of light & space.  If you can add an additional external vestibule you can remove door from hallway to living area.  Giving an even more open plan light feel.

3.  Having an upstairs store good idea as restricted attic space.

4.  I would remove separate loo cupboard upstairs to provide spacious en-suite. The master layout needs re thinking you’ve got some dead space there I think there will be better layouts.   The en-suite area is bigger than the actual bedroom and the link corridor will be dark & unnecessary.   

5.  The little bedroom upstairs I would remove unless you absolutely need that many bedrooms, or unless your trying to create a prison cell feeling.    Trying to squeeze too many bedroom in upstairs, unless your building for £££££ reasons.  If you need that many bedroom upstairs then you need to make the others smaller and re jig the layout.  

6.  Your plant room is in a corridor with a bedroom and livingroom off.? You need to address that. Where’s your washing machine going. Don’t put it in an open plan kitchen living area.  I think you need a separate plant room/utility room as far away as possible from any bedrooms as the gubbins can be quite noisy.
8 .  Dan-wood have a few houses similar dimensions rooflines etc have a look at their plans for ideas. 
 

I have attached a very rough sketch of alternative for 4 bed upstairs but if you don’t need 4  then 3 spacious one perhaps?  Trying to get open plan living, separate lounge & 5 beds into 200sqm is a big ask.  You are doing exactly what I was doing initially with my house design, until someone told me straight I had to build bigger or reduce rooms.

good luck

 

 

Thanks for your input here Bozza, it really is very useful.

#4 I agree with your assessment entirely, there must be better layouts. My thinking is that I can work unsocial hours, therefore sleep when others may not be, thus the desire for 2x doors between myself and noise. This leads to an inelegant solution, thank you for your input improving it. (I'm a separate loo type of guy, hence this inclusion).

#5 This little room likely to be a study/short stay bedroom.

#6 My exuberance in efficiency led to the corridor becoming the plant room. W/M under MVHR. The bedroom downstairs is actually a study with planned fold down bed for guests - hence access to their own en-suite (downstairs bathroom). We may even have elderly parents in the future, if we closed off the door to the plant room there is then a self contained flat with bed, bath and living rooms. I agree that this leads to many many compromises.

Snug room likely to be little used by us, we haven't turned on the TV for literally months now, I guess that why the rooms been pushed to the corner.

 

Fantastic layout adjustments, thank you for taking the time. Particularly like moving family bath to front of the house.

 

Build bigger or reduce the rooms. Great advice.

 

 

 

12 hours ago, AliG said:

I pretty much agree with these comments.

 

1. You are underestimating how much the ceiling will encroach on the bedrooms. When you step out of the beds on the left hand end rooms, you will have 5ft ceiling height.

 

2. The master bedroom layout is weird and needs to be redone. A bed with your feet under the eaves will be very very constricting. there is plenty of room to fix this. As mentioned the dark corridor to the en suite would not work well.

 

3. The sitting room and bedroom off the plant room is bad design. I'd maybe look to lose the side door if you don't need it. Then you can move equipment into the area where the door is and close off the plant room past the entrance to the sitting room and bedroom.

 

4. What is the small room upstairs next to the stairs? If it is storage, I would make it a laundry room.

 

5. I would steal a little space from the bathroom for the small bedroom.

 

6. You have drawn quite small furniture onto the plans. It looks like the beds are only 1.5m wide and the sofas and chairs are only around 700mm deep. Most nice sofas are closer to 1m deep. Wouldn't;t you want a kingsize bed at least in the master bedroom.

Thanks AliG

#1 Agree, site survey this month to determine the ridge height, we may then be able to move the whole roof line up to give more room.

#3 This is a sound suggestion. My wishy washy idea was to get to the centre of the house (entrance to open plan bit after the main hall) and be able to see out in each cardinal direction (including through glass plant room doors), meaning anyone could instantly understand their place in the building. All sounds too woo doesn't it?!

#4 good idea, will run it past the family.

#5 Sound, Bozza also agrees.

#6 I googled double bed size when drawing and apparently it is 135 x 190 cm so 150cm with a bit of bed frame seems ok? sofa size does seem small for some, I have drawn a 90cm & 80cm sofa and single seat at 70cm. Will adjust upwards. Thanks, good spot.

 

 

 

12 hours ago, JohnMo said:

Similar to above.

Plant room, isn't right. Access to be bedroom via a plant room?

 

Quite long duct runs from MVHR due to its location.

 

You are doing double stud walls internally (waste of time in my opinion) but the noise will pass through the door undercut 10mm min.

 

Not sure about the two access doors to the downstairs toilet.

 

I would ditch the door between the bottom of the stairs and toilet. 

 

You don't seem to have a utility room?

 

Storage space is limited, where's the hoover going and other stuff you want out of the way?

 

Upstairs is a mess, just not right.

 

Our house is about the same size, but with 3 bedrooms, all rooms are good size without being small or huge.

 

 

 

Thank you John, 

I agree MVHR runs are long to other end of the house. Any suggestions for MVHR placement to help reduce this? Would this require a different location for the plant area?

Agree, Jack and Jill doors to downstairs bathroom is a big compromise solution.

Hoping to keep the hoover in the upstairs store room, as I do the hoovering and cleaning, I'm happy to take the walk each time.

 

 

Thanks again all for the fantastic input. Really appreciate the time you took to reply.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Duncan62

[ETC]

What on earth is going on with the elevations and why are the internal walls so thick?

[Bozza]

Duncan,

 

If you are able to share:

 

A.your household circumstances, kids, dogs etc, basically how you live & work now & how you may live in future.  For example you mentioned shift work & need for future granny flat. Is it a house for life or not.

 

B. Details of your plot eg good views / bad views etc, rural urban or whatever 

 

C.  your wish list in Terms of room/functionality.  You mentioned 200sqm.

 

then there are lots of us who spent hundreds of hours designing our own self builds (and making mistakes doing so) x lots of members = shed loads of experience ideas & solutions.  Collectively we can probably assist you designing the perfect house for you in terms of function.  Or get a good architect.  But we’re cheaper

 

in terms of aesthetics and house style, you should build what you like ultimately.  We all have different preferences on house style and hopefully other members will respect that.   But we can probably help in advice for tweaks to improve.

 

Once you’ve got your layout sorted there’s lots of folk with specialist knowledge on the technology side of things.

 

Bozza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Duncan62]

39 minutes ago, Bozza said:

Duncan,

 

If you are able to share:

 

A.your household circumstances, kids, dogs etc, basically how you live & work now & how you may live in future.  For example you mentioned shift work & need for future granny flat. Is it a house for life or not.

 

B. Details of your plot eg good views / bad views etc, rural urban or whatever 

 

C.  your wish list in Terms of room/functionality.  You mentioned 200sqm.

 

then there are lots of us who spent hundreds of hours designing our own self builds (and making mistakes doing so) x lots of members = shed loads of experience ideas & solutions.  Collectively we can probably assist you designing the perfect house for you in terms of function.  Or get a good architect.  But we’re cheaper

 

in terms of aesthetics and house style, you should build what you like ultimately.  We all have different preferences on house style and hopefully other members will respect that.   But we can probably help in advice for tweaks to improve.

 

Once you’ve got your layout sorted there’s lots of folk with specialist knowledge on the technology side of things.

 

Bozza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Super constructive thanks Bozza.

 

A. Married, one young kid. No pets now or in the future.

No prospect of me working from home, shift work which does mean I sometimes sleep odd hours.

Partner works at home now and is likely too choose to do so in the future with any new job.

House is for life. Never intend moving.

Granny flat idea is practical forward planning (would almost seem silly to not think of this given aging parents and cost of care?) - whereby house works with or without additional occupant/s. Hence small additional room upstairs for office space relocation should this happen.

 

B. Rural, private road East/ West in front of house. Front faces South to tree line along other side of the road. Back of the house faces North with views over farmland onto distant hills. East is more field. West is neighbouring property 30/40m away from plot centre. Plot is very approximately 30mx30m square.

 

C. Open living area with library facing the views North, no TV. Only TV in house will be in the snug.

Like the idea of kitchen, dinning area being East facing to drink in the morning sun and start the day bright.

Mixed use study/bedroom downstairs with access to bathroom.

Boot room to never have clobber lying around in the hall.

Upstairs adult bedroom bathroom separate from the rest.

Bedroom number is fluid, thinking was to maximise to ensure self build loan approval?

Would be useful to have additional smaller room upstairs for study relocation as mentioned in A above.

200m2 is nothing fixed, was just what I came to after drawing lots of layouts - we are trying to build the smallest house possible to fulfill our current and foreseeable needs.

 

Perhaps, in answer to your statement before, we'd choose less rooms over a bigger house. We really want to be efficient, sustainable and not build bigger, we aren't doing this at all for vanity.

 

I feel like I've spent 00s hours on this too!

 

It's all a massive compromise, we've been through countless revisions (with more to come!).

Nothing will ever be perfect, you'll be glad to hear we're not aiming for that!

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Duncan62

[saveasteading]

I don't do layouts, so no comment on the above.

What is the purpose of the glazing over the entrance? If only to light the stairwell then it is large and requires the complex dormer housing.

I resist valley gutters but appreciate the reason here. Just be aware of the risk of blockages, and need for cleaning regularly. I would make the gutter oversized, and feed a hopper outside the house. Unfortunately the dp would be above a door. Avoid internal drains as they gurgle and block.

Also I can't read the dimensions. What are the heights?

[Ferdinand]

3 hours ago, Duncan62 said:

 

A. No pets now or in the future.

 

 

I predict 3 dogs, and a snake or parrot. This will not be in your gift.

 

Quote

C. Open living area with library facing the views North, no TV. Only TV in house will be in the snug.

Like the idea of kitchen, dinning area being East facing to drink in the morning sun and start the day bright.

 

I think you are being insufficiently ambitious there. If you take with windows, glass above doorways, carefully chosen through views of the house, and perhaps stairwells you should be able to have sun of some kind visible from everywhere throughout the day.

 

Others have done some detail sweating, so I will add 2 points.

 

Try some "use cases" eg 2 people working from home, 2 friends come round for an impromptu meal, we want to eat outside at brunch time and suppertime, child stays at home to start a business, we need to care for a pair of grandmas, after an accident you end up in a wheelchair, someone in the family becomes a nudist etc.

 

Think about indoor / outdoor living. This is Scotland, so shelter and supper outside may matter.

 

Storage for lawnmover, garden stuff and bikes? Potting shed?

F

[Bozza]

Duncan, your circumstances are very similar to us / our needs.
 

I definitely think you only need three bedrooms upstairs.  En-suite for yourselves then family bathroom for the child. One dedicated spare room.  

 

4th bedroom downstairs with access to loo which can be for anyone elderly, including your future selves, but in meantime use that as spacious office for wife.   You could always use the spare bedroom upstairs as dedicated office if downstairs is used.  
 

A couple of thoughts.  A child’s room will become their future living space so make that one bigger than the spare one upstairs which really needs to be big enough to sleep in.

 

you could even future proof your design by allowing the open plan seating area to be sectioned off as a separate room.  Eg by socket locations, and UFH circuits.  Just need to ensure you have a spare internal door kicking about.

 

We have a downstairs TV / family room, separate to livingroom, which we use regularly.  Next to cloakroom/future shower. Easily converted to downstairs bedroom.  
 

I’ll pm you our plans.  
 

bozza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Duncan62]

4 hours ago, saveasteading said:

I don't do layouts, so no comment on the above.

What is the purpose of the glazing over the entrance? If only to light the stairwell then it is large and requires the complex dormer housing.

I resist valley gutters but appreciate the reason here. Just be aware of the risk of blockages, and need for cleaning regularly. I would make the gutter oversized, and feed a hopper outside the house. Unfortunately the dp would be above a door. Avoid internal drains as they gurgle and block.

Also I can't read the dimensions. What are the heights?

 

thanks saveasteading,

Yes the entrance glazing does give a complex dormer type scenario. The window idea is to give light to the back of the house through a glass wall and glass door behind the stairs. It will be a library so light for reading is the thought.

Agree, valley gutter not ideal but as you say, it's for the ridge height limit (currently guessed at 6.6m but survey this month to determine) and wanting a deeper house than existing. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

I predict 3 dogs, and a snake or parrot. This will not be in your gift.

 

 

I think you are being insufficiently ambitious there. If you take with windows, glass above doorways, carefully chosen through views of the house, and perhaps stairwells you should be able to have sun of some kind visible from everywhere throughout the day.

 

Others have done some detail sweating, so I will add 2 points.

 

Try some "use cases" eg 2 people working from home, 2 friends come round for an impromptu meal, we want to eat outside at brunch time and suppertime, child stays at home to start a business, we need to care for a pair of grandmas, after an accident you end up in a wheelchair, someone in the family becomes a nudist etc.

 

Think about indoor / outdoor living. This is Scotland, so shelter and supper outside may matter.

 

Storage for lawnmover, garden stuff and bikes? Potting shed?

F

Hi F thanks for your comments,

Very keen to incorporate the light into the building, do you have any suggestions? I think may be too concerned with that, leading to the compromises of door and window locations in cardinal directions already?

Use cases are a good tool, I hadn't formally though of them like that. Again tho, maybe I've over thought this leading to compromises?

Separate garage will hopefully store all the outdoor things. Will definitely need a potting shed, there is a keen gardener, who isn't me!

[Duncan62]

1 hour ago, Bozza said:

Duncan, your circumstances are very similar to us / our needs.
 

I definitely think you only need three bedrooms upstairs.  En-suite for yourselves then family bathroom for the child. One dedicated spare room.  

 

4th bedroom downstairs with access to loo which can be for anyone elderly, including your future selves, but in meantime use that as spacious office for wife.   You could always use the spare bedroom upstairs as dedicated office if downstairs is used.  
 

A couple of thoughts.  A child’s room will become their future living space so make that one bigger than the spare one upstairs which really needs to be big enough to sleep in.

 

you could even future proof your design by allowing the open plan seating area to be sectioned off as a separate room.  Eg by socket locations, and UFH circuits.  Just need to ensure you have a spare internal door kicking about.

 

We have a downstairs TV / family room, separate to livingroom, which we use regularly.  Next to cloakroom/future shower. Easily converted to downstairs bedroom.  
 

I’ll pm you our plans.  
 

bozza

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extremely useful again Bozza, thank you. Thanks too for the plans, they are interesting viewing.

Hadn't appreciated the size of the child's room as they grow and potentially hang around longer than previous generations?

Converting an existing bit of open plan area in the future is a cracking suggestion. I will play with some ideas and float them to the family.

 

Think I'll do some more drawing and see where it heads.

 

Many thanks again.

[CharlieKLP]

I think you need a designer and you’ve gone a bit too far yourself in a bit of a novice direction. I can tell you are very keen, but things like drawing on all the pipes for an MVHR when you’ve put it in a rubbish position is classic self builder. 
You need someone with some basic skills, like knowing how thick internal walls are (about 100mm) and how high fire escape windows need to be. You could also do with looking on Pinterest and copying something.
 

Another one is, it’s just a rectangle. There’s no reason for the roof shape to be like it is other than to trap water on your roof. 
 

If you want to use the idea of two blocks, then make them two blocks… not just one block with a roof that doesn’t make sense. Turning one block will give you more headroom. I think, step back, and go back to the rough design stage before you decide where your plugs are going.

[Thorfun]

If ridge height is a limiting factor can you consider a contemporary building with a flat/shallow mono-pitch roof? 
 

Mira not to everyone’s taste but with a good architect/designer on-board it could be a wow factor and also does away with the limited headroom upstairs. 
 

just a thought

[Ferdinand]

17 hours ago, Duncan62 said:

 

thanks saveasteading,

Yes the entrance glazing does give a complex dormer type scenario. The window idea is to give light to the back of the house through a glass wall and glass door behind the stairs. It will be a library so light for reading is the thought.

Agree, valley gutter not ideal but as you say, it's for the ridge height limit (currently guessed at 6.6m but survey this month to determine) and wanting a deeper house than existing. 

 

 

Hi F thanks for your comments,

Very keen to incorporate the light into the building, do you have any suggestions? I think may be too concerned with that, leading to the compromises of door and window locations in cardinal directions already?

Use cases are a good tool, I hadn't formally though of them like that. Again tho, maybe I've over thought this leading to compromises?

Separate garage will hopefully store all the outdoor things. Will definitely need a potting shed, there is a keen gardener, who isn't me!

 

(Another of my favourite use cases is "where will the drum kit for your teenage child go?" or "where will trombone practice happen"?)

 

For light penetration - it can be helpful just to *see* sunlight coming in in a corner rather than needing it everywhere. Here is a great interview with one of my favourite architects that touches on it:

 

 I use a tool where I draw a plan in the context of the garden, and mark up sun angles  through the year, views etc - then use that to think about how light comes in, shadows etc.

 

I'm a great fan of exposing yourself to many houses via estate agents or weekend stays. eg Modern houses owned by the Landmark Trust.

 

Ferdinand

[Duncan62]

On 30/07/2022 at 08:46, Thorfun said:

If ridge height is a limiting factor can you consider a contemporary building with a flat/shallow mono-pitch roof? 
 

Mira not to everyone’s taste but with a good architect/designer on-board it could be a wow factor and also does away with the limited headroom upstairs. 
 

just a thought

An excellent suggestion, unfortunately local plan dictates the roof style and mono pitch would not be allowed =(

[Duncan62]

On 30/07/2022 at 14:02, Ferdinand said:

 

(Another of my favourite use cases is "where will the drum kit for your teenage child go?" or "where will trombone practice happen"?)

 

For light penetration - it can be helpful just to *see* sunlight coming in in a corner rather than needing it everywhere. Here is a great interview with one of my favourite architects that touches on it:

 

 I use a tool where I draw a plan in the context of the garden, and mark up sun angles  through the year, views etc - then use that to think about how light comes in, shadows etc.

 

I'm a great fan of exposing yourself to many houses via estate agents or weekend stays. eg Modern houses owned by the Landmark Trust.

 

Ferdinand

Thanks Ferdinand for sharing this, I feel like I've seen it before?!

I Can see why you like this guy, great vision with such humble, cost effective design, really inspiring.

That shot looking through the house through the glass door into the garden @3:40 is exactly what I was trying to achieve with my Cardinal directions views from the centre of the house.

 

With regards shadows the best I've been able to simulate is with SketchUp, tho I admit this is mostly to assess which Windows need shading to avoid summer heat gain. Looking inside the house at the shadows throughout the year is something I'd only thought of in my head - great suggestion to actually stimulate this too.

 

Perhaps I should post some pictures that I used to inspire me, to give a sense of styles I like?

[Duncan62]

On 29/07/2022 at 22:36, CharlieKLP said:

I think you need a designer and you’ve gone a bit too far yourself in a bit of a novice direction. I can tell you are very keen, but things like drawing on all the pipes for an MVHR when you’ve put it in a rubbish position is classic self builder. 
You need someone with some basic skills, like knowing how thick internal walls are (about 100mm) and how high fire escape windows need to be. You could also do with looking on Pinterest and copying something.
 

Another one is, it’s just a rectangle. There’s no reason for the roof shape to be like it is other than to trap water on your roof. 
 

If you want to use the idea of two blocks, then make them two blocks… not just one block with a roof that doesn’t make sense. Turning one block will give you more headroom. I think, step back, and go back to the rough design stage before you decide where your plugs are going.

Thank you for your views Charlie, I appreciate you taking the time to contribute.

 

With your views on the current layout, could you suggest improvements that for example move the mvhr to a better location? Give a more optimal roof profile? Whilst keeping cost of building down?

Thank you very much if you do have any suggestions here.

 

Just to give some context regards wall thickness, I'd done some research into what wall build up gives the best sound attenuation (the Americans seem to be far ahead of us on this?) And numerous American STC charts show 2x stud walls with 2x plasterboard and mineral wool infill gives the best result. This gives a much thicker wall build up to 'standard' in the UK.

(Below image just an example, not gospel)

 

Regards fire escape, I'm happy I've allowed for this correctly.

 

Really appreciate constructive feedback, thank you.

 

[CharlieKLP]

You would have a valley gutter at present, which is doable but complex and prone to drainage issues. You could make that area flat but it it would ruin your design a bit. It’s never going to be a nice crisp V though.

 

I wouldn’t have two stud walls, overkill, just add some acoustic insulation. You don’t have the floor area to accommodate such thick walls, maybe pick ones that separate high noise and quieter areas.
 

If you have 1m high skylights then height is very restricted in the corners for beds etc. just make sure you have a protected fire escape on the stair.

 

the MVHR should be somewhere away from a bedroom. 
 

what is your downstairs smaller lounge dimension? I think maybe a bit pokey.

[Ferdinand]

OK, @Duncan62. Some more feedback.

 

It is really good that you are taking the time to let your design steep in your head - that is a real benefit. I think you are part way through the process, but there is still a lot of room to get something even better imo.

 

For example, you say it is a forever-house, yet say there is no prospect of working from home. How do you know? You may be a carer for a parent, child or spouse, or cared for, in 10 or 25 years' time - in which case you may have no option. All it needs is an accident, and it could all change.

 

An architect would start off with the plot, thinking about all the things @Bozza asked you about above (which are the most important questions on the thread imo). Then they would think about your statement of needs (do you have one of those?),. and come up with a house design to meet your needs using that particular plot. That is the defining expertise of the architect, combined with a knowledge and skillset to meet that.

 

The reason for the self-builder to spend time up front is to gain some elements of that skillset. As self-builders we don't have the design training, and too easily dive into the bits of the process we know or touch already, which is usually house layout or engineering detail or house features, rather than the context.

 

I use a simple tool to help me think about reconciling the two, which I call a "plot summary", which sits alongside the 'statement of needs'. It's just a diagram of the stuff Bozza was asking about in one place, and you add whatever is of interest. The statement of needs is what you use to sanity check each version of your design as you proceed.

Here's one for a much smaller house on a corner plot where a few of us took a user called @simplepimple through the process. He had purchased a plot with planning permission with a design that had just been taken through planning easily to sell the plot, and wanted help to think it through.

 

 

When you get into your design, you think about stuff like whether you want morning or evening or all day light in which rooms, if you want a window somewhere to throw the setting sun into your hallway, where your partner wants the herb garden, prevailing wind and sheltering from it, and so on. 

 

There are lots of examples of people doing this thinking in the blogs, and other threads. 

 

@simplepimple's design thread is here. He actually built it very quickly.

 

HTH and keep on trucking.

 

Ferdinand

 

 

 

[Duncan62]

Hi @Ferdinand, thank you again. I agree that starting with the plot is essential, certainly this is something ive thought about, light throughout the day is very important.

 

North is top. Which is where the view is. The sun rises on the right, into the kitchen and dining area in the morning. Sun moves round the bottom and to the left. light is captured by the front windows and sines through to the rear library, lighting it but not directly with sun (my preference). west windows are to a minimum to avoid summer overheating, as a low summer sun is hard to shade out and therefore overheats houses. Late summer sun will actually travel all the way round to the left and lights up the trees at the rear turning them gold. Its incredible and exactly why the library looks out that way for amazing evening sitting.

 

hopefully that gives some more context. much work still to do.

 

 

[Ferdinand]

@Duncan62

 

Thanks for posting the plot. My comments having reread the above. 

 

1 - Roof

 

Your aesthetic is roughly 'Grand Designs Barn-style'. That's fine.

 

But if that is your plan you need to think about maintaining that valley gutter. How will you deal with the heaps of leaves from all those lovely trees? I would suggest a top hung skylight onto the valley from the landing that you can get out of using an extendi-ladder - don't fit it where you fall down the stairs as well if you slip. That also means that your valley must be wide enough to walk in safely - which means 450 or so wide.

 

IMO that roof form is complicated and expensive. However. I expect that with a convincing argument you could get a flat or a monopitch, or something higher, through - if that is what you want. Even a small number of feet could make a difference.

 

Given the severe restrictions on your upstairs rooms, I would suggest considering an alternative form - perhaps a mansard or gambrel roof, perhaps in a vernacular style. Or even dormers for the smaller bedrooms. A mansard roof could easily give you rooms around 1m bigger in that dimension at head height, which would be transformative.

 

2 - Glad to see you have thought about the plot - great stuff.

 

I would be inclined to move it a little more to the West on the plot, without compromising the garage or space to work - eg at the least you need space for future scaffolding between the house and garage. I say that because imo you want to maximise the garden space for more fun.

 

I also note that the garden side is a potential plot for a nice retirement bungalow should you need - 8-9m width would be ample. You might prefer that to the potential grannexe when you hit 70-75.

 

3 - Front. It faces south, so I would make sure to get 2m high boundaries to give privacy - so you can sit or play on the S side, and for the veg garden. I think it needs a bit more drama, both to tease passersby, and to give a sense of occasion when someone comes to the door. I'm almost inclined to suggest a separate pedestrian gate.

 

I would think about making the approach to the door more intriguing.

 

4 - You asked about getting light into the house.

 

I think you have an issue with gloomy bedrooms on the N side plan above - perhaps with amount of light, but also with no sunlight. I would put a generous N-facing skylight in all the ones which touch the North side. I have these and they are gorgeous. A skylight lets in a *lot* more light than a window of the same size. With your roof pitch, there would be very little sun even in summer, and beautiful N-light all the time.

 

With your valley I would consider skylights on the N-face of the front roof section, including a big one above the well, to get light into the landing. 

 

5 - Flexibility for the future.

 

Are you planning another sproglet? If it's twins, what will you do living in this house?

 

6 - Stairs. They don't look stairlift-able. That could bugger your detailed layout - iirc there are requirements for clear wall at the top and bottom (without looking it up). What are your regs? My suggestion would be to find somewhere to incorporate a proper future domestic lift. Should be possible, and they beat stairlifts to a cocked hat.

 

Also stairs, make them generous in width and angle. My suggestion is 35 degrees and 1m wide.

 

Stairs are one of the places, along with shower cubicles, and kitchen sinks and hobs, where a small amount of extra space makes the whole house feel luxurious. In the case of a stair angle, something shallower may give you an extra 5 years of ability to get upstairs comfortably.

 

7 - Grannexe. Another good thing you have thought about. I think you could improve the layout by treating the machine room as part of a cloaks / Jack-Jill loo / machine room combo - which might involve turning the bedroom around by 90 degrees.

 

Remember to include the drains etc into the cloakroom so it can be a downstairs loo when the grannexe is activated. Can the cloaks and loo be side by side against the outside wall, so you get the soil drains by the edge? Does that matter?

 

8 - The bathrooms and plumbing seem to be quite spread out. Think a bit more about making it closer together, so that you get fewer water noises. eg Put the family bathroom next to the master, and swap with that mini-bedroom. And make sure the fittings do not back up against the master. And so on. The ideal is a single service core, but that is not always possible.

 

9 - Room layout. Yes, make the walls thinner, since it is tight on space. You have too many itty-bitty rooms upstairs. For the mini-study just in case the grannexe is required, you could leave that in one kid's bedroom such that it could be partitioned later - just need to think about placement of the extra door, two windows, skylights, heating and power sockets. (Will this decision have been made for you by 2-4 years when this is built?)

 

You could do the same with the "store", but I think one of those is wise. I'm not sure about washing machines upstairs. Someone will know.

 

10 - Double beds. I would say work to 2m x 2m for the Master, and 2m x 1.75 for the others. Have just measured mine and these are the actual sizes. The important thing is what size *you* need.

 

1.9m x 1.4m is now pretty standard for student accommodation.

 

That's me.

 

Ferdinand

 

[puntloos]

just a few thoughts
- cutlery and plates should be as near to the table as possible. Consider which stuff is needed close to which location(s)
Floorplan design is pretty weird
    - why are room names & functions not marked
    - what is the line between the dining table and the sitting area? A wall? Curtain?  
- two doors into a bathroom is weird and cn make for awkward moments (although rare, I suppose). Might even be able to fit two bathrooms next to each other. 
- The top left room goes through the utility which ... is a compromomise, perhaps unavoidable but I'd try to work on it. 
- ASHP and plant is 40cm from the head of sleeping people. Avoidable? Make sure it's done properly and even then UFH pumps etc will be non-zero noise level. 
- Location of the window at the end of the horizontal walkway. Why not have a window at the end, sense of space

FLoor2
Uneven windows on top (R4, R5 R6).. why?
Window with slats in front? Somewhat curious.. but if you must? Will be very hard to clean. 

[Remington]

On 30/07/2022 at 14:02, Ferdinand said:

 

(Another of my favourite use cases is "where will the drum kit for your teenage child go?" or "where will trombone practice happen"?)

 

For light penetration - it can be helpful just to *see* sunlight coming in in a corner rather than needing it everywhere. Here is a great interview with one of my favourite architects that touches on it:

 

 I use a tool where I draw a plan in the context of the garden, and mark up sun angles  through the year, views etc - then use that to think about how light comes in, shadows etc.

 

I'm a great fan of exposing yourself to many houses via estate agents or weekend stays. eg Modern houses owned by the Landmark Trust.

 

Ferdinand

It's videos like this that make me really regret not pursuing architecture and landscape architecture when i was a kid, thanks for the link @Ferdinand!