my plans

badger81

just looking for a critique of my plans,
just about to be put in a planning application,
any and all thoughts are welcome
thanks in advance
badger


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sydthebeat

BryanF

@ first glance: you must have lots of money;)

hope you have your detailing bang-on, high spec for windows, mvhr and air-tightness and really low U-values for insulation. because you've a lot of floor area and huge volumes of space to heat and some tough interfaces going on...you should do a phpp calc now (before PP) just so your arch can see what needs to be done for heating..

i appreciate a house with high ceilings and a sense of space but imho its not necessary in all three living spaces. for instance above the central living room from stairs you could have a walkway to more bedrooms over kitchen. there is definitely wasted circulation space and certainly scope to reduce the size of the other wing drastically!

for the most part i apprecaite that rooms are orentated to the sun (with exception of bathroom. but you've got a hell of alot of external walls/roof going on

sorry for the negativity, but this is your chance to change thing before planning, and I reckon you could save at least 20% of your ground floor area and in turn spend the money on having a comfortable cheap to heat space

ps imho bits of stone on a house like this look crap, have a look at this http://www.corkcoco.ie/co/pdf/57155115.pdf

best of luck with your project

baby builder

Badger - I think the plans are absolutely beautiful to be honest!

I'm not an architect, and I do see Bryan's point about the double height ceilings in all three living spaces requiring some serious consideration from a heat point of view - but I love the idea of it.

The kitchen was designed by a girl - there's plenty of room to work and yet you're not enclosed - the length of it is fab from a cooking point of view, and I love the island unit which can be for quick family bites or cups of coffee with friends while getting lunch ready.

The bedrooms are a great size as well - I don't see the need for two doors into the walk-in wardrobe in the master bedroom but as everything else has been thought out (I love the planned use of the outdoor space etc) I'm sure there is a valid reason!

I'm at the same stage as you - we've done our percolation test and the results are good enough for a septic tank - happy days!

My one complaint is that I was about to put up my house plans to see if people had any comments before we put in for planning permission in the next fortnight, and I'm now too chicken!!

Best of luck with it x

badger81

BryanF wrote: »

@ first glance: you must have lots of money;)

hope you have your detailing bang-on, high spec for windows, mvhr and air-tightness and really low U-values for insulation. because you've a lot of floor area and huge volumes of space to heat and some tough interfaces going on...you should do a phpp calc now (before PP) just so your arch can see what needs to be done for heating..

i appreciate a house with high ceilings and a sense of space but imho its not necessary in all three living spaces. for instance above the central living room from stairs you could have a walkway to more bedrooms over kitchen. there is definitely wasted circulation space and certainly scope to reduce the size of the other wing drastically!

for the most part i apprecaite that rooms are orentated to the sun (with exception of bathroom. but you've got a hell of alot of external walls/roof going on

sorry for the negativity, but this is your chance to change thing before planning, and I reckon you could save at least 20% of your ground floor area and in turn spend the money on having a comfortable cheap to heat space

ps imho bits of stone on a house like this look crap, have a look at this http://www.corkcoco.ie/co/pdf/57155115.pdf

best of luck with your project

baby builder wrote: »

Badger - I think the plans are absolutely beautiful to be honest!

I'm not an architect, and I do see Bryan's point about the double height ceilings in all three living spaces requiring some serious consideration from a heat point of view - but I love the idea of it.

The kitchen was designed by a girl - there's plenty of room to work and yet you're not enclosed - the length of it is fab from a cooking point of view, and I love the island unit which can be for quick family bites or cups of coffee with friends while getting lunch ready.

The bedrooms are a great size as well - I don't see the need for two doors into the walk-in wardrobe in the master bedroom but as everything else has been thought out (I love the planned use of the outdoor space etc) I'm sure there is a valid reason!

I'm at the same stage as you - we've done our percolation test and the results are good enough for a septic tank - happy days!

My one complaint is that I was about to put up my house plans to see if people had any comments before we put in for planning permission in the next fortnight, and I'm now too chicken!!

Best of luck with it x

thanks for you views Bryan. first of all i am building this monster on a budget,

i'm doing the best i can as far as detailing, i'm trying to get on top of it early and bang out every design feature and how it affects the interfaces within the build, i wont be reducing it's size, well only if the co co decide to dictate aspects of the plans, it's being built timber frame so hopefully that will offer good u values (company and specs to be finalized).

the vaulted ceilings in all three living areas will change imo, but they will be a feature in the kitchen regardless of all other changes, i want space, and symmetry, i have tried to orientate the house to achieve a good level of passive solar gain. oh and i agree on the bits of stone not looking great, with me and stone on a house it's all or none. oh and can you recommend by IM someone who could do PHPP calculations for me. you seem quite knowledgeable on the subject of building/u values/interfaces/design/spec so any and all advice will be taken with open arms.

baby builder, i love the kitchen as it's going to be the heart of my house and i love to cook so as the fella says "I actually designed it myself".
as i said the full height ceilings in almost half the house will inevitably change, i have spent a long time walking around this house in my mind and try t visualize each and every space in the house (in my mind). this one will be a keeper so i'm gonna try do it the best way i can.

thanks again for taking the time to look at these plans,
regards
tom

air

Hi Tom, well done on sharing your plans anyway, great to get other peoples opinions before you start.
The house looks lovely, however I would share some of Bryans concerns. A simpler rectangular shape would have a much lower ratio of wall area to floor area. As for building "this monster on a budget" I would encourage you to put as much of the budget as possible into the building fabric at the build stage.
As you intend to stay in the house for the long term, it's efficiency will have a big impact on your long term ownership costs. If I were in your situation I would hold off on some of the external landscaping and perhaps not finish all of the rooms internally initally / go for cheaper finishes. Those items can be finished / improved in later years as your budget allows whereas it is impractical to go back and try and improve the building fabric later.
Ask your architect for an estimate of the heat requirements in terms of kwh/m2/year to give you an idea of heating costs you will be facing on an ongoing basis.