Hi everyone. Long time listener, first time caller here. Myself, my wife and 2 young children are heading towards our first and hopefully last build project here. We have pretty much finalised our plans for a knock down and re build and was wondering if we could tap the hive mind for anything obvious we may have overlooked. This is not quite the final design, we've asked the architect to make the main house 0.5m deeper to make the main living/dining area a bit more spacious. Also the 1st floor is to be flipped to put all the bathrooms above the utility room to simplify plumbing etc. Thanks in advance for all your help. 

 

A little context about the site as it's not obvious from the drawings. The front door faces NW, from the upstairs landing there are views across the countryside. The rear faces SE and opens out onto the garden. I hope this explains it well enough! Thanks again

the warehouse style layout, make some rooms. Plenty room for another en-suite.

You may not need the extra space But as always with me From a cost perspective Taking the single story room up to full height will cost you Pennie’s in the grand scheme of things 

We all have moans about what we should have done once complete 

But I can’t remember anyone complaining over building something to big 

 

Look good and uncomplicated to build 

The trouble with answering a post like yours is that I pretend to myself that I’m being objective but in reality I can’t help unconsciously putting my personal preferences forward.   So be warned….. but…

 

If I’ve understood correctly the main bed faces south east, and the end gable of the single story bit faces roughly north east, i.e. the direction the sun come up in in summer. 

 

I’m with Nod on making the single story bit double, and I’d be tempted to use it for a bigger and more luxurious main bedroom with a really nice sized bathroom and dressing room.  And I’d face the windows (plot and planning allowing of course) towards the morning sun, with the bed facing the windows.  (Oh look, I’ve just described our build lol)

 

It’s lovely that you appear to be giving your kids so much room but fast forward to when they’ve their own families and you may find that layout means you are cramped but not using a large area of upstairs.

 

I’d price up putting steel in so the wall between kitchen and snug could be removed (which would be a lot cheaper if you did go two storey above the snug) to allow reconfiguration of downstairs later as your needs and preferences change.

 

And I’d allow for plant somewhere (not the loft), maybe a decent sized cupboard.

Hi everyone. Thanks for all the feedback. We have had the discussion about making the snug double height, it would make a lovely ensuite, then we could make the family bathroom bigger or even squeeze in a box room. However, part of the brief was to have a vaulted living space, my wife particularly is a big fan of this! 

 

I appreciate that everyone has opinions, but it's nice too hear from people who have actually been there and done it. It's hard to get an idea of what works just from some drawings! 

 

With regards to a plant room, I was hoping there would be enough space in the utility. Im thinking wall mounted mvhr, air source heat pump on gable wall with associated hot water tank and what not just inside. Battery and electrical will hopefully be in the existing garage. Does that sound feasible, or is it wiser to have a separate plant and utility room? 

Looks like you've a gallery landing open to the kitchen space below. Have you looked at the fire safety impact of that? Possibly fire doors on the bedrooms and windows suitable as means of escape.

On 24/08/2024 at 22:39, torre said:

Looks like you've a gallery landing open to the kitchen space below. Have you looked at the fire safety impact of that? Possibly fire doors on the bedrooms and windows suitable as means of escape.

Fair point , thanks. I think the architect mentioned about needing fire doors. I'll keep in mind about escape windows

 

On 24/08/2024 at 12:19, edd05surf said:

With regards to a plant room, I was hoping there would be enough space in the utility

I have all plant in the utility, makes it a little cramped for washing etc. but yours looks double the size.

Have you considered flipping the bedroom layout so your bathrooms are over the utility? Reduces pipe lengths, hot water losses and unwanted noise in living areas.

Sorry for the slight off topic, but I am looking to do exactly the same regarding the glass front and gallery landing.  Have you had a quote for the glass front, and if so, can you tell me what you were quoted.  I have no idea what this would cost done in aluminium and therefore cannot determine whether it's such a budget blower, that I will have to bin the idea.

On 26/08/2024 at 08:09, Bonner said:

I have all plant in the utility, makes it a little cramped for washing etc. but yours looks double the size.

That's good to know, thanks very much. I've seen some people on here have some pretty extravagant plant rooms, which makes me pretty envious! 

 

We're planning on flipping the upstairs for exactly your reasons. Great minds think alike!

On 26/08/2024 at 08:51, flanagaj said:

Sorry for the slight off topic, but I am looking to do exactly the same regarding the glass front and gallery landing.  Have you had a quote for the glass front, and if so, can you tell me what you were quoted.  I have no idea what this would cost done in aluminium and therefore cannot determine whether it's such a budget blower, that I will have to bin the idea.

Hey. We haven't got as far as getting quotes yet. We're most likely going to be going for uPVC over aluminium and our architect assures is that larger areas of fixed glazing aren't that expensive, especially if you can keep each panel relatively small. Good luck with your plan