First plans draft

[Declan52]

You could put another sky light over the stairs. You will already have a set of double truss for the skylight over the landing so won't require much extra work.

@Nickfromwales you spot the room upstairs???

[NIreland]

Enjoy the drawing stage as it's going to get tough when u get to detailed stage. Lovely open plans, I'm a little jealous. A word of advice, the kitchen/dining/lounge area as detailed in your revised drawing is long, my parents have this arrangement, when there are several conversations happening at one time, it can get quite noisy from one end to the other, this is distracting when trying to watch the F1 and in my view leads to talking over one another. I'd put the dining area out to the left. Glad to see you've moved the hob out of the island, hob in island is a NO according to my wife

 

really good idea to post your plans on here, great to read feedback 

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Declan52 said:

You could put another sky light over the stairs. You will already have a set of double truss for the skylight over the landing so won't require much extra work.

@Nickfromwales you spot the room upstairs???

Another 'hot press' ? ?  

[jack]

I may sound like my mother in law saying this, but it's a long way from the bedrooms to the utility room!

[Ferdinand]

@Ryan8087

 

I think that has come on significantly - looking really good. I love the variation of the S-facade. Further quick comments:

 

1 - You have not posted details of tech spec, but if it is anything towards what is "good" these days, those fireplaces will be mainly ornamental. I think I would argue for doors to outside and a terrace outside the 'living area' to give a good flow to the back garden for BBQs etc. Brick pizza oven outside ?

2 - Personally I would also argue for similar French Doors from the playroom to the garden.

3 - Playroom/study. Perhaps you need to think about how that will cope with being on the phone to a billionaire client while the kids are murdering each other in the background or practising the trombone. There are ways ... or the lounge could be an alternative study.

4 - For the showers, you have space for bigger showers (ie bath sized footprint) rather than cubicles except for the master ensuite. It makes a big difference, and in the one downstairs you may need room to shower down a large muddy dog. I like fixed screens not doors.

5 - I think now would be a good time to think about house / garden integration - axes, views and outline design of your garden and the landscape, prevailing winds and shelter/microclimate, vistas, what is hidden to be discovered later as you go deeper in, hiding or showing sheds and garden buildings, playing with the route followed by visitors and what they see, inside/outside living and so on. Lutyens was really good on this on a larger scale.

6 - What about all the things you will need to store, and where they will go. eg If the width of the porch was increased slightly, does that give you a place where potentially bikes, mobility scooters etc or other stuff could go at some point. A bike store is likely to be a planning requirement - but that could equally go at the back.

 

Quick points:

 

7 - If you are planning for sprinklers, then just check your room sizes. I may be wrong here, but I think that some of those sizes may be just over the line to requiring an extra sprinkler head in practice. May or may not be significant. That is based on a nagging memory of a project. 

8 - Pair of ensuites between bedrooms 3 and 4, or built-in wardrobes?

9 - The potential grannexe. Perhaps bear in mind the idea of a door in the hall corridor and a potential future door into the lounge opposite the d/s bathroom such that it could be a 1 bed annexe if desired. That really means do not put any infrastructure across the potential door that is expensive to move later eg core electrics.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited September 21, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

@Ryan8087

 

You may find this "spending regrets" thread helpful:

 

Somewhere there is an excellent post about overdoing the future-proofing, but I cannot find it. 

[Ferdinand]

 

12 hours ago, jack said:

I may sound like my mother in law saying this, but it's a long way from the bedrooms to the utility room!

 

Laundry chute in the Hot Press or corner of Landing :-).

 

(Edit: Or dumb waiter.)

 

F

Edited September 21, 2017 by Ferdinand

[jack]

That's one direction (the gravity-assisted direction!) taken care of. 

 

Given the amount of laundry we get through at the moment, utility room accessibility is pretty high on our list of priorities.

[Ryan8087]

Thanks for the responses folks very helpful!

 

On ‎20‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 19:27, Declan52 said:

You could put another sky light over the stairs. You will already have a set of double truss for the skylight over the landing so won't require much extra work.

@Nickfromwales you spot the room upstairs???

I think this is good idea and something we will incorporate for additional light.

 

On ‎20‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 21:48, jack said:

I may sound like my mother in law saying this, but it's a long way from the bedrooms to the utility room!

Yes that is playing on my mind but I don't fancy having a laundry room upstairs!

 

On ‎20‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 20:46, NIreland said:

A word of advice, the kitchen/dining/lounge area as detailed in your revised drawing is long, my parents have this arrangement, when there are several conversations happening at one time, it can get quite noisy from one end to the other, this is distracting when trying to watch the F1 and in my view leads to talking over one another. I'd put the dining area out to the left.

I'm not sure of the technical term but we are going to put a wall with in-built stove between the dining room and snug but with the ability to walk both sides of it. I'm hoping this will block out some of the noise from the kitchen but point taken that conversations will travel. I don't want to put the dining out to the left as that would hinder the views I think. by having the long open planned section on that side of the house we wanted to ensure all the rooms were parallel to get the same views. I hope that makes sense!

 

I also want to have the west facing window in the snug / living area to be a large frameless window but need to weigh up the pros and cons of this.

 

Thanks Ferdinand as always, very thorough! I've made comments in red

On ‎21‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 08:53, Ferdinand said:

@Ryan8087

 

I think that has come on significantly - looking really good. I love the variation of the S-facade. Further quick comments:

 

 I think I would argue for doors to outside and a terrace outside the 'living area' to give a good flow to the back garden for BBQs etc. Brick pizza oven outside ?

2 - Personally I would also argue for similar French Doors from the playroom to the garden. - Yes something to think about, this would lead to the north facing garden which at the minute needs completely land filled as it's a 10 foot drop to marsh land! I suspect the garden area that will  be used most is the west facing area from the dining room patio doors.

3 - Playroom/study. Perhaps you need to think about how that will cope with being on the phone to a billionaire client while the kids are murdering each other in the background or practising the trombone. There are ways ... or the lounge could be an alternative study. - Agreed, potentially splitting the rooms but a sound proofed wall is one option. The room at the minute is extremely long so maybe two rooms would be better.

4 - For the showers, you have space for bigger showers (ie bath sized footprint) rather than cubicles except for the master ensuite. It makes a big difference, and in the one downstairs you may need room to shower down a large muddy dog. I like fixed screens not doors. We are going to take the bath out of the master en-suite and make the bathroom slightly bigger I think. But yes, bigger showers will be requested as there is definitely space!

5 - I think now would be a good time to think about house / garden integration - axes, views and outline design of your garden and the landscape, prevailing winds and shelter/microclimate, vistas, what is hidden to be discovered later as you go deeper in, hiding or showing sheds and garden buildings, playing with the route followed by visitors and what they see, inside/outside living and so on. Lutyens was really good on this on a larger scale. - Absolutely, it's hard to visualise (for me at least!) the built house on the land and what area that leaves but we definitely need to start thinking about the garden integration. As I said previously the large garden section will be north facing so not sure how much that will be used. It will be mostly the west facing area from the patio I suspect.

 

Quick points:

 

8 - Pair of ensuites between bedrooms 3 and 4, or built-in wardrobes? Between bedroom 2 and 3 do you mean?

 

 

A few other changes that i'm considering

1) I want the utility room to be bigger / longer but need to think how this impacts the rest of the house

2) The door from the hall into the living area annoys me, I want that as a contained space and not a walk through area from the back door!

3) Moving the door into the kitchen further back so that the entrance is into the dining room rather than directly into the kitchen. This would mean moving the stairs forward closer to the door.

 

Thanks again for such valuable feedback!

[Jml]

What about moving the stairs to the other side of the hall, subject to headroom for access to the playroom?  This would allow you to move the kitchen door and upstairs you could change the door access to bedrooms 2 and 3 to make them both square.  Access to the lounge could also be made from the hall leading to the playroom to give you more room along that wall.

Edited September 22, 2017 by Jml

[jack]

23 minutes ago, Ryan8087 said:

Yes that is playing on my mind but I don't fancy having a laundry room upstairs!

 

That wasn't what I was suggesting. Our laundry room is just near the bottom of our stairs, so minimal transit in the downstairs area with laundry. I personally dislike the idea of walking through multiple door openings with awkward laundry baskets. I can see why you've put it where you've put it (natural light and all), but it's a shame it's such a hike from the bottom of the stairs.

But hey, house design is full of compromises. At least we get to choose our own compromises when designing our self-builds!

[Ferdinand]

I am sure those small rooms could be further optimised to give you a door from the hall to the utility. The WC, the Heating Store, the Bathroom and the Hall can probably be juggled to save some space. Get that WC nearer to being back-to-back with the bathroom one and you will make your soil pipes less complicated.

 

What is in the heating store?

 

One option could be a corridor straight from the hall to the back door, but it perhaps all needs playing with on graph paper.

 

Another could be to turn the bathroom into shower room, with shower where bath is now, shunt Heating Store at same dimensions 1-1.2m to the right on plan, and make the utility L-shaped extending to the hall with a door opposite the stairs. If you feel something straight off the Hall needs to be a little more important than a utility, then make it a walk through wine store, or something else you need more. (What do you need more than a wine store?) 

 

 

[Declan52]

Your down stairs toliet is 1700mm wide which for just a toliet and sink is massive. In order to get access to the utility room from the hall you could reduce this to 1000mm and then take 200mm from the heat store to give you a door. Put a door into the heating store ( what's going in here with a hotpress upstairs) from the hall and it will give you another wall for more units in the utility room. Will still give a floor area of 1200mm wide between the units so won't feel small. 

Green are the new doors, pink is the units and black is the walls.

 

 

[Dudda]

In the masterbedroom flip the ensuite and walk in wardrobe so you can put in a window on the east gable wall for the ensite. It's nicer to be able to open a window in a ensuite and a lot easier than trying to open a rooflight when you get older.
I'd also consider flipping the upstairs shower room and hotpress so the shower room is more central and closer to bedrooms 2 and 3.

[AliG]

A few simple suggestions.

 

1. Lose the vestibule It is too small to be of any use, we have a larger one currently and still stand in the hall whilst people walk through. I have done away with it in the new place. Without the vestibule you will have a much larger and more pleasant area in front of the stairs.

 

2. Could you put the washing machine in the hot press? Depends on if you like to hang washing outside, but if you use a dryer, then keeping all the washing upstairs is a lot easier.

 

3. I would always rather have fitted wardrobes in bedrooms if possible.

 

4. What was the architect thinking with the chimney up the middle of the wall in the bedroom. Does the lounge really need such a big fireplace taking up a lot of room. If it does I would try to route the flue out the wall, not up the way. Decide what fire you want before you start, it has been a nightmare trying to get fires to fit with all the flue requirements.

 

5. As mentioned try to get larger walk in showers without doors.

 

6. Move the door into the kitchen/dining room behind the stairs. Walking in facing the island so close to the door will feel quite unpleasant and will be bad for circulation. It's better to enter the middle of the room with the option of going right or left. The dining area will also probably be the quietest least used area so better to walk into. You could then have a straight stair and wider hall.

 

7. Turn around the WC and enter from the hall. You can then lose the rear hall and incorporate it into the utility room.

 

8. There are currently no cupboards downstairs, there will be space if you lose the rear hall and rearrange that area.

 

9. Put cistern and pipework under the eaves in the upstairs shower room.

 

10. How low exactly do the walls go in the bedrooms? If that roof slopes at 45 degrees in the master bedroom then you will end up at floor level at the end of the room. You might have to cut a metre off the room. I would not really want to end up much lower than 1.2/1,3m at the side wall. That room might be much smaller than it looks. Even the other bedrooms may have an issue.

 

 

Edited September 23, 2017 by AliG

[Ryan8087]

Thanks folks for the additional suggestions.

 

We're going to go back to our architect with some of them including the below..

 

1) Moving the entrance to the utility / WC from the main hall so laundry isn't too far away from stairs / bedrooms!

2) Removing door from living area with the above door

2) Making the WC slightly smaller and utility larger

3) Potentially moving stairs to the right of the hall so bedroom 2 and 3 could be more square

4) Moving the door into the kitchen a further down so you are entering into the diner area

5) Adding French doors to the 'playroom'

6) Larger showers

7) Switching the Walk in wardrobe and en-suite in Master bedroom and adding a window in gable

8) Switching the hot press and upstairs bathroom so easier access from other bedrooms

9) Built in wardrobes between bedroom 2 and 3

10) Removing fire place from lounge, it's south facing and we'll probably put in a gas fire.

 

I'm also toying with the idea of a corner frameless window in the living area looking out to the countryside views - is this a good idea? highlighted area in yellow below.

[AliG]

Corner window might be good for views, I hear that they are mighty expensive though especially as it may cause structural issues.

 

Changes make sense, was I right that the headroom was going to be very low in the bedroom, are you adding a dormer to fix that?

 

I wouldn't put wardrobes between bed 2 and 3 as it pushes the main room area to be under the lower height area. I'd put them at the side, especially in the smaller bedroom 3, I or even put them under the lower height ceiling, although it may be too low for this. It depends on the roof pitch.

[Declan52]

I have a corner window in my sun room. Not that difficult to do. It's basically a heavy wall box section with a plate on the bottom bolted down. Then it's 2 steel catnics that bolt together and sit on a plate on the box section. Nothing to expensive or difficult although having a large steel post in the room will be a cold spot but sometimes you just have to except you will lose a bit of heat for these kinds of things. 

Have no pics on my phone but will post one tomorrow when I get back from work if it's still light.

[Ryan8087]

11 hours ago, AliG said:

Corner window might be good for views, I hear that they are mighty expensive though especially as it may cause structural issues.

 

Changes make sense, was I right that the headroom was going to be very low in the bedroom, are you adding a dormer to fix that?

 

I wouldn't put wardrobes between bed 2 and 3 as it pushes the main room area to be under the lower height area. I'd put them at the side, especially in the smaller bedroom 3, I or even put them under the lower height ceiling, although it may be too low for this. It depends on the roof pitch.

Yes good thinking about built in wardrobes to the side of the rooms. Will change that.

 

Still need to confirm how low the walls go in the bedrooms - Would you suggest putting a dormer window in the master bedroom only?

 

10 hours ago, Declan52 said:

I have a corner window in my sun room. Not that difficult to do. It's basically a heavy wall box section with a plate on the bottom bolted down. Then it's 2 steel catnics that bolt together and sit on a plate on the box section. Nothing to expensive or difficult although having a large steel post in the room will be a cold spot but sometimes you just have to except you will lose a bit of heat for these kinds of things. 

Have no pics on my phone but will post one tomorrow when I get back from work if it's still light.

 

Would love to see a picture @decland52 of your corner window, it's something I'd like to incorporate but wasn't sure if it was A) too expensive to include or B) made the living area cold.

[Declan52]

No problem I will post one when I get back from work. 

As far as costs go I think my post was £100 and the catnic was £300. That was 3 years ago and like everything we get it much cheaper than the rest of the UK. My windows either side are 8ft long so thats why the catnic was expensive. Got it all from a steel guy in Banbridge.

It's not that it will feel cold it's just that no matter how you work it the metal post is sandwiched between 3g passiv Windows so will always lose more heat than the Windows. You wrap the post in aerogel as it's very thin but is an excellent insulator. 

[Declan52]

Was monsoon conditions outside so inside pic it is.

[nod]

Really nice 

[Ryan8087]

Very nice @Declan52 that would definitely work in our proposed house.

 

I may give you a PM at some stage re who got everything off as I'm less than 20 miles from you.

 

Appreciated thanks.

[Declan52]

Got it from these guys based just outside Banbridge.

http://www.steellintelsireland.com 

 

[PeterW]

I'll dig out the detail but I've got the section for an insulated corner column somewhere at home that we had done for a design with full height panels to a corner of a building. 

 

Bridging was pretty low on it from memory - it used 2 steel angles one inside the other to provide the vertical strength and only had a slim profile. Would need to be confirmed by an engineer though as this was a single storey building.