contemporary house with basement

[saveasteading]

5 minutes ago, sheelg said:

"nice to have"

Note also how much floor space they take up. You're paying, say but probably more, £2k/m2 for the building then using a lot of that space for the stairs and landings, although two are external public building types.

[sheelg]

3 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

You may get fed up with carrying laundry, food and bins up and down stairs.

Bins would be a pain to carry and drag out to the collection point. We live in a terrace house at the moment so we are used to carrying food/laundry basket  up and down two floors.

 

3 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

The overheating will be a massive issue to the point where some rooms will be unusable.

 

You will need a huge budget to get this built, so do your sums regarding finished values.  As others have said, forever home is a nonsense.

 

I am worried about overheating as well. I will have to look at a combination of roller blinds + trees on GF + Brise soleil to tackle the overheating.

 

build budget estimation vs finish value assessment is taking all my spare time at this moment 🙂

[Alan Ambrose]

Ah we have some vegetation outside some of our west facing windows. Not only does it look good from inside but it loses leaves anyway in the winter and we trim it in the autumn -  so it provides lovely seasonal sun screening. If you choose the right plants, they'll love it also.

 

There's a bunch of useful info here on BH re outside blinds btw.

Edited February 23 by Alan Ambrose

[Bozza]

 

“I am worried about overheating as well. I will have to look at a combination of roller blinds + trees on GF + Brise soleil to tackle the overheating.”

 

so like @Conor I have an overheating issue on my south facing elevation,  have a look at my profile pic.  The 6 windows on the main gable - lounge & bedroom - are a small fraction of your sqm of glazing on your south elevation.  And you’re in a warmer part of the country.

 

my daughters bedroom  - she has to close the curtains during sunny warm days even with windows open..  The main livingroom is rarely used in the summer even with all the windows open.  

 

You can get glazing finishes that can help.   You’re definitely going to have to make this a number one priority in terms of mitigating,  if you’re committed to that glazing design otherwise you may find parts of the house difficult to live in. 
 

like you say you can create shade via planting but the sun is high in the summer., so you’ll need to ensure most of that glazing is shaded me thinks.   

 

one thing we do is we have some roof windows in the hallway.   These help the rising heat to escape. If you think about it with modern insulated homes effectively the heat has to have some way to escape.

 

100% don’t think “it’s probably going to be ok” as is. Hate to think a major part of your house will be unusable. 
 

 

 

[Thorfun]

overheating - our solution is external blinds, brise soleils, overhangs etc. we also installed AC and solar panels. in the summer the PV will generate enough to power the AC. and then in the winter the AC can be used for supplementary heat if required as we have no main heating on the first floor.

 

emergency exit from the basement - we were told we needed those stairs too. only later in the build did I find out I could've done away with those if we installed a fire suppression system. I would suggest investigating the costs of such a system and how that will effect the other things it resolves, e.g. first floor emergency egress windows, protected staircases, fire doors etc.