Thoughts on layout

[Bluebaron]

First draft came through on may self build. In general it's where i want to be but some feedback would be appreciated.

 

In particular not sure on the dining table area, it's an odd shape to maximise internal area. Upstairs i've lost a small front central bedroom to get natural light in hallway and made the whole upstairs left hand side two bedrooms instead on one large master suite. Im guessing this would be better or saleability (4 bed 2 bath over 3 bed/3bath.

 

If i did decide to make the whole upstairs LHS 1 room ideas for ensuite/wardrobes keeping window placement at front and rear.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

[JohnMo]

Which direction is south?

 

Dining area is just odd. I would just do kitchen and dining as a single room.

 

From the look of the amount of glass you could rapidly cook in there when the sun's out.

 

Where is the hot water cylinder going? Assume ASHP is planned where is that going. Or where is the boiler going?

 

Concider stacking the washer and dryer on top of each other. Give your self some worktop space in utility.

 

How are you doing ventilation, if MVHR or MEV you need to find a home for that also.

 

Stair direction doesn't sit well, open front door and look straight up the stairs? Someone coming off the bottom stair could easily collide with the door being opened.

 

Very little general storage space?

[Crofter]

Upstairs, there's a lot of space given over to the hallway. Mostly in order to access that bottom left bedroom. Maybe that's a feature you want but it might be possible to tinker with things to make a more efficient use of space.

[Redbeard]

What is the plan for insulation in that rear monopitch roof? If, for example, you are trying to use something 'friendly' (and perhaps to achieve a'better than Regs U value) whether below rafters as a cold roof or above them as a warm one, you may find yourself 'fighting' with either the GF windows on the inside or the FF windows if the insulation is above the rafters.

[ETC]

Get rid of the garage.

Flat roof over the back bit.

K/D/L along RHS front to back.

[Bluebaron]

Thanks for feedback.

North is to the left, font is west facing. 
boiler/plant could go in the utility or garage?

stacking WM is good idea, thanks.

i may turn the stairs and could put the wc to the left of the front door. 
haven’t thought about insulation/building regs yet. But could maybe go flat roof although a pitched roof does have a nicer/softer look.

I need a garage and no room on plot for external. 
Not sure  what K/D/L is?

 

 

[ETC]

Kitchen/Dining/Living

[ProDave]

Lack of light to landing, fit a Sun Tube (they come under a whole load of different names) and a glass panel above the small bedroom door to let some borrowed light in. Then you can have the layout you want without the big landing just to get natural light.

[Mr Punter]

If the red line is the boundary you would need to get an easement from the neighbour to allow fascia and gutter overhang.  You may do better with an l shape on both floors by going further back for part.

 

21 hours ago, ETC said:

Get rid of the garage.

+1

 

Allow for wider external walls. More storage, less glass.

[Bluebaron]

Thank-you all for your input.

 

I can see the benefit of getting rid of the garage but is a small plot and apart from maybe a small shed there not much room for storage. i'm also not sure if for resale-ability people would want no garage for, say a dining room or second lounge? It would be a fairly easy conversion project if someone wanted that? 

 

Pretty much the RHS is for K/D/L. Are you saying make it more open plan?

 

I'll probably live here for 3-5 years, I'm going for a 3 bed/3 bath (left hand bedrooms will be one). I thinking now to turn the stairs to gain more downstairs hallway space and for the WC. I am conscious that the hallway upstairs is wasted space i've had my guy amend slightly but still not right IMO. 

 

Assuming all the windows stay the same position anyone ideas for better layout?

 

[Bluebaron]

site plan

 

[ETC]

You won’t get a car (with open doors) into that garage.

[garrymartin]

42 minutes ago, ETC said:

You won’t get a car (with open doors) into that garage.

Maybe not both doors on either side wide open, but you'd be able to manoeuvre a car in that space and get the driver's door open for exit.

 

1 hour ago, Bluebaron said:

 

I'll probably live here for 3-5 years, I'm going for a 3 bed/3 bath (left hand bedrooms will be one).

If that's the plan, I'd stick with 4 bedrooms and a higher resale value. Also, there is nowhere near enough wardrobe space for the master bedroom. If you need the cupboard that opens onto the landing, then move it to the bathroom - you don't need 2.125 metres of space for a standard bath. Then you might even consider coming around the corner towards the door of the bedroom, creating an L-shaped wardrobe space. You could even move the door closer to the bay window to provide more space for further wardrobes or a dressing table.

 

In the two bedrooms on the left (assuming you keep them) swap the wardrobes around so that the bedroom at the top left doesn't have its door opening onto a wardrobe but instead onto a wall.

 

It's not clear from the plan, but what type of road do you exit the drive onto? Will the LPA want to see you exit in forward gear at all?

 

I can't make my mind up about the best options for the space on the ground floor, but I'd respectfully say it needs work. Others have provided some good options. If East is to the back of the house, you're getting morning sun, so kitchen and dining room would not be too bad. I think I'd probably move the set of six doors to the left, losing the two doors on the left in the process, and replacing them with a window at the far right. This would allow more work surface in a U configuration to the rear wall (sink with window to garden?) and the potential re-alignment of the island as a peninsula.

 

Or play with the dining room and utility location (with a bit of kitchen redesign) to give you a kitchen/dining/living space from the back to the front of the house, and your utility behind your garage. Then the garage door could be into the new utility space giving you space for cloaks where you currently have some wasted space to provide a door into the garage.

 

Think that's probably enough to confuse you for now! 😉

 

[ETC]

 

Maybe not both doors on either side wide open, but you'd be able to manoeuvre a car in that space and get the driver's door open for exit.

 

It will be as tight as a gnat’s chuff - so tight that it becomes almost unusable.

[LDNRennovation]

Look at your local councils design standards for how many parking spaces you need, find out the sizes and draw them on the site plan. I think you might need to prove there’s enough spaces for so many bedrooms.

[Bluebaron]

The garage would be mainly for storage and my motorcycle. My current garage is 2200mm wide and works fine. This would be 900mm wider. 
 

most people don’t use garages for cars anymore but a quick google search would suggest people wouldn’t buy a house without one. (Excluding inner cities maybe). My mother-in-law converted hers to a dining room years ago and has forever regretted it. Loss of storage for a room she uses a few times a month at most. 
 

im at the end of a cut-de-sac so entry/exit shouldn’t be a concern. 

[ETC]

Why have you shown a cavity wall through the FF plan?

[LDNRennovation]

Seconding the upstairs double skin wall. Why… 

 

The massive span on the back so you can support the ff wall over the kitchen is just so silly. 

Fyi wall needs to be thicker for fire reasons around the garage, but then the door to the garage is set in walls that are not thick enough. You also need a step down into a garage. 
 

The WC door is not to visitable standard. You should move the door down.

 

your window openings are also pretty random, go to brick dim sizes? And make your front door wider so people in wheelchairs can access.

 

 https://www.wienerberger.co.uk/content/dam/wienerberger/united-kingdom/marketing/documents-magazines/technical/brick-technical-guidance-sheets/UK_MKT_DOC_Brickwork Dimension Tables.pdf

Edited Monday at 20:33 by LDNRennovation

[Roundtuit]

No idea what you're planning in terms of space heating/DHW, but as mentioned earlier, be careful not to underestimate the area needed for plant.

 

I'd maybe get a kitchen designer to look at getting best utility out of that area; the current design looks a bit awkward tbh, and you need to plan drainage runs. No dishwasher?

[ETC]

1 hour ago, LDNRennovation said:

Look at your local councils design standards for how many parking spaces you need, find out the sizes and draw them on the site plan. I think you might need to prove there’s enough spaces for so many bedrooms.

Good idea….I think you might need one for each bedroom plus another couple just in case there are any visitors to the house…..oh and don’t forget a space or two for disabled drivers and electric vehicles……FFS!

Edited Monday at 20:33 by ETC

[ETC]

21 minutes ago, LDNRennovation said:

The massive span on the back so you can support the ff wall over the kitchen is just so silly. 

Fyi wall needs to be thicker for fire reasons around the garage, but then the door to the garage is set in walls that are not thick enough. You also need a step down into a garage. 
 

The WC door is not to visitable standard. You should move the door down.

Yep…..the wall around the garage needs to be at least oh I’d say about 10 feet thick……FFS!

[ETC]

Sometime I despair at the sh*t written on this forum!

[ETC]

On 23/05/2025 at 17:01, Bluebaron said:

First draft came through on may self build. In general it's where i want to be but some feedback would be appreciated.

 

In particular not sure on the dining table area, it's an odd shape to maximise internal area. Upstairs i've lost a small front central bedroom to get natural light in hallway and made the whole upstairs left hand side two bedrooms instead on one large master suite. Im guessing this would be better or saleability (4 bed 2 bath over 3 bed/3bath.

 

If i did decide to make the whole upstairs LHS 1 room ideas for ensuite/wardrobes keeping window placement at front and rear.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

GF.

Need to thermally separate the garage - the cavity wall needs to completely enclose the garage including the door access.

You don’t need a step at the door - ideally yes - but other options are available.

Need at least the width of the staircase at the bottom of the staircase.

Garage front piers are too short.

Steel work across the back is a bit of a design flaw.

GF WC is not wide enough.

Other than the above it should work.

[ETC]

5 hours ago, Bluebaron said:

Thank-you all for your input.

 

I can see the benefit of getting rid of the garage but is a small plot and apart from maybe a small shed there not much room for storage. i'm also not sure if for resale-ability people would want no garage for, say a dining room or second lounge? It would be a fairly easy conversion project if someone wanted that? 

 

Pretty much the RHS is for K/D/L. Are you saying make it more open plan?

 

I'll probably live here for 3-5 years, I'm going for a 3 bed/3 bath (left hand bedrooms will be one). I thinking now to turn the stairs to gain more downstairs hallway space and for the WC. I am conscious that the hallway upstairs is wasted space i've had my guy amend slightly but still not right IMO. 

 

Assuming all the windows stay the same position anyone ideas for better layout?

 

FF.

No need for a cavity wall to run front to back through the house.

Need a bigger hot press.

Look at the section in relation to the roof and how it works over the front bay window - should be ok.

Cavity walls look a wee bit narrow - looking at 170mm cavity nowadays for good thermal efficiency.

Other than the above it looks ok.

 

[LDNRennovation]

10 minutes ago, ETC said:

Yep…..the wall around the garage needs to be at least oh I’d say about 10 feet thick……FFS!

I meant it needs to be thicker around a garage, to insulate it from a house. I was pointing out the thin walls where the door is are too thin.
 

“Need to thermally separate the garage - the cavity wall needs to completely enclose the garage including the door access.“

 

that’s what I said ugh.