In certain parts of Australia the water table is too high for basements, have you consulted a builder as to feasibility?

We have looked into that, there are many houses with basement in the immediate area. We have yet to conduct a geotechnical survey on the property but will be doing this soon also.

Hopefully this layout is easier to see.

I was mentally stacking your drawings and It looks like the garage door is immediately below the front door? ( I was lining up the stair well). If that right? If so that's is a problem unless you have some sort of bridge to get in the front door.

I love the idea of the basement. In a world of limitless budget, I would extend the basement a bit more and put in a cellar. If you extended it in the right direction, you could have a cooling tube to vent the area behind your fridge to make it more efficient.

I would look at using some sort of stay in place SIP form work for the basement construction. I think you can get a pvc one nowadays that reduces the stress of waterproofing providing it is continuous around the structure. - you should still put a drainage layer behind the basement walls to reduce the pressure on the wall though

I just noticed that your living areas face south and east. The lack of west facing Windows is good, but I would be trying to get more northerly aspects into the living spaces. Where are you located?

Hi Stephen B

Certainly like the centre staircase, would be interesting to see the elevations so as to get an idea of the whole look. The way I read the plan is that North is at the front, this would mean that the two front rooms are the best for winter sun and the back areas are not as good.

I just wonder if you could look at placing the living areas (including the kitchen) on the whole of the left side (north south) this would allow you take advantage of north sun and then develop the easement as a well designed landscaped living area with appropriate pergolas and planting to control the seasonal weather.

The kitchen could be centrally placed, maybe getting light from the a light-well close to the stair.

You could still get the views at the back an now your easement extends your living areas with a north, south and east exposure and completely protected from western weather.

The front left room (ground level) is well placed for an office (difficult to read the drawings even when blow-up to max). Although you are probably unlikely to have clients visit you at home it might be better to have the door to the office as close as possible to the front door, thus avoiding possible family disruption if you have client visit you.

The master bedroom at the back would be colder but generally we use bedrooms during the night and you would retain your views which appear to be a priority. Also as you are on the first floor you are less likely to loose your views from new built environment so it appears to be well placed.

The front bedroom upstairs could be moved back, thus making it closer to the bathroom, and thus giving the top common areas northern light exposure which would probably make the room more pleasant to use by the future family.

Looking at the wardrobe bedroom 1 seems be well catered, but the other two bedrooms seems to be slightly under, generally 3 metres is a good size, so you might look at a slight increase in robe areas.

Designing your own house certainly takes some effort, and its certainly stressful, but it will be worth in the long run. It is always easier to change drawings that the building.

I wish you the best of fortunes in your pursuit and look forward in seeing your next revision and your final design.

Michael Manias

Some ideas for the house elevation, still a work in progress...

I would like to have a basement cellar, workshop, cinema, gym man cave etc. but unfortunately the current design has maxed out our allowable floor space for the size of the block.

I've always wondered about that. Does the area under your stairs count as floor space?

Not really comments on your flor plan, just some practical advice if you go ahead as is

Can I suggest you look at the skylight having a mechanised opening, to vent hot air out of the house. The large stairway will make it difficult/ expensive to heat the house up in winter unless you put doors to close of the stairway/ hall/ media room? From the kitchen/ living/ dining


Also, the front room should have a single skillion roof, otherwise you are relying on the flashing for waterproofing. Much easier to direct the water away from the building.

Speaking of water, you will need to have a grated drainage channel in front of your garage, draining to a pit with a submersible pump. ( good idea to get the garage floor to also drain towards the roller door). You cannot make the drainage channel deep or wide enough, nor the pit big enough. My preference ( in that limitless world again) is a drainage channel wide enough for a spade to scrape the bottom clean when leaves and dirt build up. I would also have a spare bilge pump for redundancy. The subsoils behind the walls should also drain to this pit. The spare bilge pump should be connected so it can switch on automatically it ever looks like your main pump isn't keeping up with the flow- basically have a higher float switch for the second pump.

I would check the surrounding street for drainage- is your block the lowest on the street? If so, guess where all the stormwater is going to go when the kerb inlets block ( I am assuming that the easement is for stormwater). Regardless, I would try to ensure that the footpath portion of the driveway goes up before the drive descends, to reduce the risk of overland flow. I would also landscape with a berm on the sides of the garden at the driveway retaining walls, again to stop the overland flow

I'm wondering about ventilation for the downstairs bathroom? I'm sure there are ways to do it but perhaps there's a way to avoid that challenge in the first place?

For resale value I've got to say the crowded upstairs combined bathroom and wc in a house that size puts me off.

if you are going to build a house that big, you really should engage an architect throughout the whole process. Your design looks like a small house that has been enlarged. special consideration needs to be taken into the design and placement of your wet areas, public access, foundations, window placement to make the most of views and thermal dynamics, and finally, the needs of the occupants. Architects are worth their weight in gold.

While you're entitled to maximise floor space (within council regulations), I hope you're thinking about minimising adverse impacts on neighbours?

Thanks for posting your elevations and views - it certainly puts a little light on the whole proposal. The plans might require to be scanned at a higher resolution 300 dpi is generally good size, at the moment they only blow up to about twice the size but I think for this revision they are fine.There are a few things that you might like to consider;

1. The side easement seems to be left out of functionality in the whole arrangement (it appears that the designer is treating this space as a hindrance rather than an opportunity) which seems to be a pity as it is quite a large percentage of space. If you rearrange your living areas on the north south with maybe a central kitchen area you might be able to combine this space as a functional outdoor living space (as previous comment).

2 The western deck (in the living area close to your TV) is really a poor outdoor area, subject to wind rain etc. It might be better to extend the building out and provide shelter as you did for the external courtyard and retain large windows to take advantage of the view.

3. Similarly upstairs the deck could be L shape and shield the western weather and still retain views, as per ground floor example.

4. The front entry is somewhat stifled by the driveway, it would be good for this area to have a little bit of ambience. Maybe you could increase the porch area so that the railing over the driveway are not so close to the entry.

5. I do not know which Council or Shire you area in (I'm assuming you are in Australia), and I do not know if you have researched this, but generally you are only allowed 3 to 3.6 meters as access to the road. Your seems to be a lot more closer to 6 meters - you might like to look into this a bit further.

6. The gate and your front door do not really give justice to the house, when you open the gate you cannot see the front door. Maybe this is a bit early in the design to be considered but your gate and entry is "what you come home to- when your are tired" at the end of the day - you wont it to be welcoming if you can, maybe with a well designed path leading to a relatively opulent front door - and it should be well lit and seen from when you open the gate. (This might be a bit over the top but - It should have an embracing feel)

7. I do not know if you are going to have water tanks, if you are, it would be good to begin to show them in your design, these are relatively large items can be prominent and look like an eyesore if added as an afterthought later on. The same has to be said for all mechanical equipment like water heaters, solar cells and solar cell storage, air-conditioning pups etc. These items can influence window placement and noise issues so they should be considered as soon as possible.

8. As you are building new it would be good to consider what style you wish to express, this is a great opportunity for you to show your interest in a design type, rather than perhaps accepting a default solution.

9. Setbacks on your easement side appear to be apple, (assuming that the easement does not require height setback) but on the west side it might require further investigation.

I hope you find these suggestions helpful, I would be interested to hear your comments.

The best for your en-devours and hopeful success

Regards

Michael Manias.

We have easements on our property, and like Michael said, our outdoor seating area is over the easement. It's roofed, but has no walls, so can be accessed by water authorities. Can't put sheds or garage there, even a driveway. Paving can be lifted easily.

Thanks for all your comments and advice. I am trying to take it all on board and in the process of reworking my plans, especially trying to make the most of the easement, the north-south aspect, and to throw another spanner in the works, trying to integrate a pool into the design as well...

In response to some comments posted by Michael Manias

1. Currently redesigning to take more advantage of this, unfortunately I'm just an electrician/project engineer, not a designer. We are just trying to come up with something that works for us while we speak with building designers and architects as we are not currently getting much feedback until we "sign on the dotted line". Problem is we are trying to get cost estimates from builders to ensure we can afford to build this place before we go ahead. We are kinda set on the idea of the basement garage...

2. Noted

3. Required to add screening to both ends of the balcony for neighbours privacy which should help with western weather.

4. Noted

5. Live in the south of Sydney, correct driveway will be 6m or so to front property border but taper down to the 3.5m limit at the road, maximising driveway parking and access (hopefully not having to move one car to get the other out). Outline is property border, not the road.

6. Noted for new design updates

7. Planning on excavating for an in-ground water tank when we excavate for the basement, saving yard space, most likely under the deck. Planning on solar integrated roof tiles as a possibility, do not like the look of panels attached to frames on the roof, unless not visible from the ground/road. A/C, battery storage will hopefully be in a 'utility area' off the garage, I'll be sure to add this in.

8. This is the hard part, I like modern, wife likes Hamptons and federation styles.. still working on 'our' style at the moment, biggest reason we are getting building designers/architects involved.

9. West setback is 1.5m, all that's required for top level, bottom only requires 0.9m

Thanks for all of your feedback, much appreciated.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Glad to be of some assistance if you have some time I would greatly appreciate a positive review - as always "every bit helps" .

Will be happy to review your next revision, if you feel comfortable you can email me the revised drawings for some comments.

Best of luck with the project

Michael Manias

Oh, transitional is halfway between contemporary and traditional, so is great compromise for couples.

That's really good advice from Tribbletrouble44152k7 Trek - I had forgotten about the ideasbook - that a very good approach.

Like how he also defined "Transitional Style" - I will use it in the future - thanks.

And I like your comments. Very sensible.

Steve, sounds to me like you should be hiring Michael, if you are getting nowhere with anyone else. My main concern is your basement garage if you are building in a sandstone area - it is just permanently wet and stinks and can lead to no end of water problems.

Thanks for your kind comments "olldroo" - The basement garage would be a something to consider carefully especially in regards to drainage, cost, flooding, accessibility and the possible loss of parking space as it is uncomfortable to park on a slope - but sometimes it is a desired solution and can be achievable.

Thanks Tribbletrouble44152k7 Trek for your comments - wish you the best.

Michael, I'm so mindful of the problems sandstone can cause as I live in a high sandstone area and even just building against a rock face can cause massive problems which is why I always like to warn people. It amazes me, even new builds have problems before construction has even finished, the dankness and smell just cannot be healthy and is certainly no place to even consider storing anything, which would render any space under the house useless.

Hi olldroo - Sandstone is something that I'm not familiar with - I have not come across much in Melbourne in the last thirty years that I have been working as a Building Designer, but I fully understand your concerns. I always employ a Geotech engineer to give me a full report on the site that I'm working on, but even then so specific traits are not always evident even to professionals.

Maybe you could write an article for Houzz and see if they publish it so that others can be aware of the problems - it is certainly news to me and it might interest many others.

Michael, I think Melbourne is famous for its bluestone isn't it? Much harder product. Sydney sandstone, that we are more known for, is beautiful, and was used in the early days to build many of our historic buildings, but it is extremely porous and can weep for weeks after heavy rain. Afraid I'm not technical enough to comment any more accurately. I've looked at a lot of homes around me for sale and the mustiness and smell is very off-putting. Talking homes in the $2m price bracket too - I can understand issues with older homes, but when new builds are just as bad one would have thought modern building techniques would have solved this problem by now.

Olldroo , Well its all news to me - you are right about Melbourne and blue-stone and blue-stone certainly does not weep - wish you the best in finding a solution.

For me the bathrooms all seem too small a house this size should have one family sized bathroom. Although sculleries are on vogue right now you could downsize this to a walk in pantry, elongate the laundry and add to the main level bathroom. Or potentially lose the south back room make that a bathroom and add to the laundry and scullery and a storage closet.

Some of the bedroom wardrobes look small, make all doubles if you can afford to, you won't regret the storage.

I also couldn't see a linen or storage cubboard, one on each level. Not only good for towels and the vaccum cleaner. But also Christmas decorations, games etc. Again you'll never regret doubles if you can.

Given your new home is going to be so large, I presume you have a budget to match? This will not be a cheap build.

I cannot suggest strongly enough to engage a competent building designer or Architect. You may think you are saving yourself money by not having to pay their fees, but their expertise and proper detailing/specification could end up saving you more than their fees. Even coordination between the Architect, engineer, and builder can help prevent costly variations during construction.

Good luck!

Look at excavating across the site under the front rooms if possible rather than just for basement garage area only. I recall reading you were to do excavation for water tanks but it could be better (easier/cheaper/servicability/etc) to use a standard tank rather than a concrete in ground tank. Worth considering at this early design stage as is placement of services like HWS, Meter box, plant room, etc..

That was the design originally to have the entire footprint of the house excavated to the basement level (have a family member with all the required excavation machinery, so that is not really an issue) and then extend the garage, add storage, cellar, theatre, etc. at a later stage. I do like the idea of allocating some space for a 'normal' water tank instead of the expense of a concrete in-ground unit. Thanks for the suggestion.

In addition to my previous comments, try not to get too attached to your own design.

Find an Architect who's work you and your wife like and engage them to design it for you. If you go to someone with your current drawings, you'll essentially be telling them to reproduce what you have already done. It'll be hard to 'improve' on the design if everything is already locked in. Let them work through their process and you will be better off.

There are heavy duty plastic donut shaped water tanks designed for under driveways, that have a small footprint.

Just trying to study your floor plans which unfortunately I can't read so can only guess at the room use. I have no idea of the room sizes either, but I'm just wondering if you have actually done furniture layouts for each room to scale. This is really important. It seems to me like you have some great ideas you have picked up but then tried to make the rest of the house fit around them. How many people do you intend having live in the house? You have a lovely generous ensuite with a private toilet area for two people, but then have a main bathroom for how many people, jammed into a space almost half the size of the ensuite. Even the toilet is in there with no privacy whatsoever meaning that entire space can only be used by one person at a time. If you are planning this for kids, that will translate into lots of fights and arguments.

If you want to create a really luxe and practical space, create a separate enclosed toilet, the shower and bath in an enclosed space and the vanity open for use at any time. This would be more in keeping with the standard you have set in the ensuite and balance the house so much better. These sort of details have a major impact on the overall value and attractiveness of your home.

I don't know what you plan for the open space upstairs, but with a window along one wall a passageway the other side and only minimal wall space your use of this room will be severely restricted. Similarly the room under it will be very limited in its use. All the more reason to plan furniture to scale.

I have seen master bedrooms done with the double doors which look very grand in the right sized room but in the wrong sized room, it just looks ridiculously pretentious to fling the doors open with a flourish, take two steps into the room and fall over the end of the bed.

I'm sorry if I'm sounding harsh here, just trying to use my years of experience to help you create an amazing house. I've seen many pitfalls and I know how easy they are to make. You obviously intend spending a lot of money and you have some great ideas judging by your Ideas Books. Create more Ideas Books to cover every room of your house, then go talk to an architect, show him/her what you want, your Ideas Books will be invaluable to understand your likes and tastes and let him/her create something unique and special for you.

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I like the design of your master bed, especially the walk through wardrobe.
An idea would be to use the walk through as your dressing room, that way once you're out of the tub/shower you don't have to walk across the room to grab your socks.
I would also encourage you to increase the size of the cupboards in your other bedrooms. Children, or visitors surprisingly have a lot of stuff.
Good luck.