Project Update August 2016

Project Update August 2016

So, moving onwards slowly!! I've been working with the Architects to shift the ridge-line left to right rather than front to back. This gives me a short roof to mount solar panels on. I've also been looking into Vortex wind turbines suitable for domestic use but my boundary is far too close to be allowed. It can work with turbulent air and we had a LOT of that this weekend so hopefully this or similar technology will emerge one day we can use in suburbia!

I got two drawings from the Architects last week, and decided to do a third myself taking things a little further. I blanked out the insides of one of the sketches and printed out a few copies. This gave me a blank canvas to doodle on using a pencil and rubber, haven't used these in years. I could have used Google Sketch-Up or something but I was travelling and it meant any changes only took a minute or less or if I wanted to review something, just a few seconds.

The stairs as always is challenging in a small house, headroom, where is pokes into the upstairs etc really determines the room spaces you'll end up with. I'm looking at the kitchen / living space at the back of the house but this space faces north. I'd like big windows but this poses a heating challenge and may not be possible. I wonder if the quality of light will be sufficient either? The current house I live in has a kitchen that is rear facing but two windows allow you to see out north and east which is not too bad.

I've opted for a small 2 meter by 1 meter washing / drying room off the kitchen but the upstairs bedroom is over this. In order to access two sides of the clothes horse I'm going to ask for no walls but rather a set of bi-fold french doors that open this space all the way. In other words the doors open the entire space and join it to the kitchen. Of course the upstairs bedroom needs to rest on something so I'd imagine some steel beam will be required. Then with a good extract duct this space can quickly dry clothes!

The rest of the spaces are fairly conventional. I measured all the rooms and the couch in my current house to give me an idea of the minimum space I'd require of each room in my new house. The laser pointer is really handy in this regard! A few doodles later and I was able to mark my own bedroom up in my head and see what space I would require either side of the double bed and to allow me to open the wardrobe doors comfortably. The living space was trickier but I felt a 4m x 4m space was ideal to allow me to walk either side around the couch, have space behind it and keep 2 meters away from the TV. That's 16 meters squared wasted though which is a lot!

Just waiting for the Architects to respond now and see if they think this layout if a runner or not!

Update: Well, there was a concern that the living space at the back of the house would be too dark but adding roof windows should help. As we've extended the depth of the building a bit I'm wondering if the vaulted ceiling / warm roof will stretch that far or if Glulam beams will be needed. There was also something new I'd learnt about fire regulations. I was hoping to look down on the open plan area from the top of the staircase and leave the hallway open but if you do this the Kitchen must be enclosed which defeats the purpose in my opinion. The risk of fire starting in the Kitchen is a strong reason to close off the front of my house to the rear, so we've added fire rated glass doors and shut off the top of the stairs to separate the open plan space to the rest of the bedrooms vs hallway / stairs which form the fire escape routes. So, now the Architects are off to render a few 3D sketches I can use to talk to the neighbours, pre-planning and the site owner etc. September should be an interesting milestone if I can exit Stage 1!!