Floorplan thoughts ?

[Big Jimbo]

So I should be getting permission through for Two houses, once the s106 is completed. 

I'm pretty much stuck with side windows where they are, due to the 27page objection from my neighbour. 

However, as this is my own design, I'm sure that some things could be juggled in order to make the layout better. 

Any thoughts ? 

[JohnMo]

First thing that jumps out is the lounge is small compared to other rooms, the hall looks bigger. Maybe move stairs towards kitchen diner would balance things a little and possibly a narrower hall, would give a nicer lounge.

 

Utility looks a little small to be practical.

 

Office looks wrong in the corner of the kitchen. The island in the kitchen looks a little close to the door, so is a bit of a pinch point. From a practical perspective would the kitchen in a L shape be better or even swapping kitchen and dining rooms around? So not filling a whole wall. Washing up against a blank wall is just sad, so maybe re-home sink.

 

Have a trip to a beach and draw each floor in the sand full size, walk through the build to see how it really feels. Make changes as needed, photo update plan. I found that to be best for our build.

Edited Thursday at 11:35 by JohnMo

[Mike]

I agree with @JohnMo.

 

You also have problems upstairs. The two bedrooms on the left are small; the upper one due to its dimensions; the lower one because the WC door (and the route between it and the other door) means that, by the time you've added a wardrobe, much of the space will be unusable. The first of these two is also between 2 bathrooms, so deserves some sound-proofing.

[Iceverge]

Is this for selling onwards or for occupation? 

 

Where's north please? 

[Big Jimbo]

Thanks for all the comments. I value all of them. West is to the rear. East to the front, etc.  i'm very restricted as to windows on the right hand side. North facing, and problems with the neighbour. This house will be for sale. There is another house on the site, that when built, i will keep. That is exactly the same layout (not a mirror)

Thanks for all your thoughts.

[JohnMo]

33 minutes ago, Big Jimbo said:

West is to the rear.

You will gets of solar gain through the big windows at the rear, unless you have some mitigation.

[Iceverge]

On 04/09/2025 at 11:10, Big Jimbo said:

I'm pretty much stuck with side windows where they are

 

How stuck are these windows?  Stuck on both houses? 

 

How about your ultimate neighbours to the very south, can you make more of the south facing glazing here? Maybe a deidentified aerial pic would help. I under stand the desire to keep everything standard but as you will actually be living in one house I would consider making that one as nice as I could by maximising the use of the sun. 

 

I would certainly include a walk in shower on the ground floor and a room that could be a bedroom too. The walls appear a little skinny. I would get them to at least 360mm to stand a chance at getting good insulation with a timber frame. 400mm if masonry. work on 130mm internal walls as a minimum rather than 100mm. 

 

For me 4 x W/C is an overkill for the size of house. I would do 1 x ensuite, 1 x family bath and 1 x ground floor showerroom. An option might be to move these to the north side of the house and use frosted glass and/ro roof lights to avoid the overlooking issue. 

 

Perhaps a pic of the street scape too if you have one might help. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Big Jimbo]

I will get a pic showing layout in the plot, drawn up over the weekend, and post it.

Once again thanks for the imput.

[ETC]

No great tbh. Bit disjointed.

You’ve got all the right bits but not necessarily in the right order. Give me a shout if you want me to take a look. Also what does it look like? Is there a bit of pitched roof and a bit of flat roof to the back?

Strange kitchen layout - might need a bike to get from one end of the units to the other.

Utility is too small.

Little to no storage.

Try putting furniture on the plan.

[ETC]

@Big Jimbo

[garrymartin]

WC door on ground floor needs to open outwards I believe.

[ETC]

4 minutes ago, garrymartin said:

WC door on ground floor needs to open outwards I believe.

Nope.

[garrymartin]

3 minutes ago, ETC said:

Nope.

Just to help me understand better, why is that? I thought, in a new-build, there must be enough space for someone in a wheelchair to manoeuvre, and if not, the easiest thing to do is for the door to open outward or slide? It just didn't look like there would be enough room on the plan.

[DevilDamo]

48 minutes ago, garrymartin said:

Just to help me understand better, why is that?

 

[ETC]

6 hours ago, garrymartin said:

Just to help me understand better, why is that? I thought, in a new-build, there must be enough space for someone in a wheelchair to manoeuvre, and if not, the easiest thing to do is for the door to open outward or slide? It just didn't look like there would be enough room on 

Edited 13 hours ago by ETC

[ETC]

6 hours ago, garrymartin said:

WC door on ground floor needs to open outwards I believe.

Other than that?

[Susie]

4 hours ago, ETC said:

Other than that?

My BC and architect has also said the door should open outwards as in the green UK documents WC facilities 1.17 d (shown above) mentions opening outwards. 

The red document you are quoting I think is the from Technical Booklet R NI Section 10 Sanitary Convenience in a dwelling which does seem to allow opening inwards. 

Does the OP build fall in the NI guidance rather than UK?

 

I am based in the Uk and would love my door to open inwards if possible so guidance documentation I can show my BC would be wonderful.
 

 

[dpmiller]

1 hour ago, Susie said:

Does the OP build fall in the NI guidance rather than UK?

 that would be GB then surely

[Big Jimbo]

@ETC Wow. Thank you so much. That is like a 100 times better than my efforts. I really like it.

The two houses are side by side, with only 1.9 meters between both properties. On the outer side of each property is 3.7 meters to the boundary. However the house on the right would have to only have first floor windows that could be obscure. This would be a problem with the  middle bedroom.

No such problem on the left hand house. Between the houses, i was hoping to avoid clear glazed windows, opposite each other.

You efforts have shown me how poor my design is, and i am very grateful for your clear demonstation of how much better it can be.

[Mr Punter]

Another decent design by @ETC.  There is still scope to make main living / kitchen / dining area more generous if you went with the larger ground floor and make any other tweaks, but I think it is looking good.