New house design

Beene

Hi,
We are currently going through the planning process. I have worked with my architect on a storey and a half house design. We have previously been refused a 2 storey design and are hopeful that the reduced height will be acceptable to our planner. I have been thinking through the plan a lot and am hoping that the interior layout is the best it can be! With all of the experience on here, would anyone mind having a look at it and throw stones at it!
Thanks.

BryanF

Welcome
Feel free to check out the search function. You'll find many topic are covered. Perhaps start with stickies threads at the top of the C&p main page. you should be focusing on being the client. Asking questions of your professionals and reading up on as much as you can. Great times !!

Beene

Thanks. Believe me, I have been using this forum a lot already! Researching but not posting..

grazeaway

Well your house should be laid out to suit your lifestyle. If your a farmer like me or are active outdoors then put in a boot room with a simple bathroom and shower that is attached but separate to the house, beats having to change in garage walk to the house in the winter.

Try to lay out the way you want it when the slab is down with the location of piping and wiring and where your furtuinre will fit. A really good idea is to use a 3d room program to see what it ll look like cos believe me you ll make changes as you go. We used the ikea planner system even though we didn't buy an ikea kitchen but most companies you standard size units. Was great to show the layout we wanted as trying to locate switches and plumbing afterwards would have been a right pain.

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_IE/rooms_ideas/kitchen_howto/EU/plan_your_kitchen_in_3d.html?icid=ie%7Citl%7C20121108%7C100

Beene

Thanks very much grazeaway.

Yes, my husband is a farmer and the topic that you brought up about boots/wellies and shower is one of the big items I am mulling over a lot! The house outline is very a very simple rectangle and putting a separate room joined to the house outside is not possible in the design. In the current drawing we have a shower room off the utility which is intended for him to use. I want space in the utility for his coats, overalls, wellies etc also. However, I want to ensure I use the space that I have to the max and anyone I know with a shower off the utility doesn't end up using it at all!!

So, did you end up using yours regularly? I am thinking that if we didn't have the shower room I could do a walk in wardrobe type room for farming gear off the utility.

What do you think?

Beene

Also, great idea on the ikea room layout planner, will def look at this. Have tried out a few things on google sketch up and found it difficult enough to use.

grazeaway

Beene wrote: »

Thanks very much grazeaway.

Yes, my husband is a farmer and the topic that you brought up about boots/wellies and shower is one of the big items I am mulling over a lot! The house outline is very a very simple rectangle and putting a separate room joined to the house outside is not possible in the design. In the current drawing we have a shower room off the utility which is intended for him to use. I want space in the utility for his coats, overalls, wellies etc also. However, I want to ensure I use the space that I have to the max and anyone I know with a shower off the utility doesn't end up using it at all!!

So, did you end up using yours regularly? I am thinking that if we didn't have the shower room I could do a walk in wardrobe type room for farming gear off the utility.

What do you think?

Actually use the shower a lot. I can come straight in hang my stuff and have a shower before heading into the house. It is also very handy for when we have contractors around as they can also use the bathroom to clean up and leave their gear before having something to eat. Have found the best way for these kinda rooms is for it to have a very good door to stop the smell of work clothes and wellies, ideally you should put in a separate door way for your self. This will stop any farm smells entering the house. Once you have a rad the the clothes can be hung over to dry then it should be fine. He can have his indoor clothes there so that when he comes in he is clean and dosent need to head upstairs to change.

Beene

Yeah it makes sense. I have currently allowed for the shower room off the utility, i will just need to ensure there is enough space here to hang clothes there also. There is a separate downstairs wc off the hallway. Can't attach an image of the plan yet as I am not an established poster yet.

grazeaway

Beene wrote: »

Yeah it makes sense. I have currently allowed for the shower room off the utility, i will just need to ensure there is enough space here to hang clothes there also. There is a separate downstairs wc off the hallway. Can't attach an image of the plan yet as I am not an established poster yet.

Spent a good bit of time living and working abroad so picked up some good ideas, the Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians have a great insight into modern living, they do not wear shoes indoors so having areas for shoes, boots and winter clothes when you come in is a must.

A lot depends on how traditional you want the layout. We don't have a utility as such. This room is my boot room but also acts as a plant room but we don't have the washing machine in here (farm smells and such).

We put in a solar system for the water so don't have a traditional hot press. The storage tank, controls and pumps and heating equipment is all in the plant room. This also means that even in the summer there is heat in the pipes to dry my work clothes and wellies.

The area where the hot press would normally be next to the main bathroom is therefore not needed so we made the main bathroom bigger and double it up as a laundry room. Along one side is benching for laying out the clothes with the washing machine and dryer under that we have the laundry baskets and shelving. The bath, toilet and the wash sink are on the other side.

Beene

Sounds like an interesting variation on the norm. Is your house 2 storey or single storey? Just wondering if your washer/dryer is upstairs or downstairs? I thought of having it upstairs but think I would prefer downstairs to be closer external washing line. Was thinking of doing hot press/ drying room off the utility. Could even put washer dryer in there if it could fit. I am trying to do a lot with this area of the house so need to be sure on the room sizes.

Like the idea of the pipes warming/drying clothes and boots. Plan right now is to go with geothermal but still researching to ensure that this is the right choice for us. This means we would not have the traditional hot press with hot water storage. Do you have oil heating the house?

grazeaway

Beene wrote: »

Sounds like an interesting variation on the norm. Is your house 2 storey or single storey? Just wondering if your washer/dryer is upstairs or downstairs? I thought of having it upstairs but think I would prefer downstairs to be closer external washing line. Was thinking of doing hot press/ drying room off the utility. Could even put washer dryer in there if it could fit. I am trying to do a lot with this area of the house so need to be sure on the room sizes.

Like the idea of the pipes warming/drying clothes and boots. Plan right now is to go with geothermal but still researching to ensure that this is the right choice for us. This means we would not have the traditional hot press with hot water storage. Do you have oil heating the house?

We have the washer and dryer upstairs. Easier when getting and putting clothes away.

Yeah have an oil boiler but don't need to use it much. Also have a solid fuel stove hooked up to the heating system too.