I'm amazed that this discussion has carried forward for nearly two years! In that time I have moved to another coastal area (cooler climate and better proximity to children) and this time found most of the discussion still rings true. Finding another home here was an incredibly frustrating journey made all the worse by a mad investor rush in the area just when we arrived to start our home search. That search took the best part of six months and in the end there would only be three or four houses to choose from in any week. Result? A rushed purchase, a desperately inadequate building inspection and failure on my part to notice poor bathroom tiling, shortage of closet and storage pace, just how small the lounge room really was, and etc. I disappointed myself because I had let the pressures beat me and now we are trying to resolve all of these issues in a home designed and built by one of this states most respected project home builders 25 years ago. Having now studied the floor plan with more care I realise it was put together (designed) in modular fashion - most bedrooms have similar dimensions and the living areas are all approximately the same size as if the designer simply juggled three boxes of one size and four of another size and then worked out traffic flow. Then he must have thrown them all in the air to see how they would land and that was design number two! And etc and so on. This house aside, we looked at a great many during the six months because we had to broaden our search above and below budget trying to find something. There were massive termite problems, leaky roofs, asbestos galore, gazzumping at every turn, almost all but the most expensive properties suffered at least one substantial fail for the most basic of needs and to top it off the best home in our price range just happened to be built on flood prone land - approved by council who put the flood signs up less than five years earlier. We live and learn. Then there were the real estate agents, but that would take another two years and I doubt the internet has enough free page space available!!! OK, I hear you, they're not ALL bad...

Sorry but I would sack the draftsman. He/shes no architect. That roof is a nightmare. I try and think about the function of each room and how you would live in it. The entrance is like a cricket pitch but no where to put the bat and ball when you are finished. You come in from the garage or entry door and you are in the middle of nowhere.. Where you going to put you shoes and jacket. And if you want to use the toilet or wash your hands went you get home you have a 20m trek through the house.?? Don't like the bedroom 1 right at the front door and the doors are all hung wrong. You are going to be walking around them all day. The ensuite is badly sized. Shower to narrow, toilet too long and no basin. You going to be opening that door with dirty hands. Think about the floor space to dry your self and dress/undress. Cavity sliders are a pain. Like you have to open them almost all the way to get through where an opening door you glide through. With cavities also you mostly have to walk into the corner of a room to get in and out (study and rumpus) where as a normal door it 1/2 a step less. Master bedroom walk-in wardrobe is dumb. Draw it on the ground, work out how your clothes will hang, and see how much room you have left. Same for the bedroom 3 and 4 wardrobes..Dumb. What were you thinking with that pantry.. It like 8 steps in then 8 out again. Pantry should be more square, have a butlers sink in it. Be the food prep area, pots dishes etc out of sight especially in an open plan place. Be light and the food perpetration area be close enough to the door so you can converse with the guests or family other wise you might as well have a maid who is not seen or heard. Bed 3 and 4 are miles away from a bathroom. The toilet is probably OK in size, just needs a bigger door. 720 you are going sideways through it. Bed 2 backs onto the shower and toilet. Which room are you going to put your little kid in. Long way from mum and dad.

Hi Lorraine, sorry I missed your question. I only bought this house a few months back and the glue has deteriorated anyway so I used the steam mop to test it out before I get new flooring. Because many animals lived in this house I was hoping the steam would help kill germs. I've read so many opinions on the use of steam on both vinyl and laminate so I'm at a bit of a loss now. One of my joeys has laminate and has been using a steam mop on it for 12 years now with no ill effects at all, despite that supposedly being a big no-no, but she found it so quick and efficient when the kids were toddlers particularly and the floor needed doing almost daily. I just have to wonder these days how much manufacturers are protecting themselves and not giving consumers honest information. How often do you buy an item of cotton clothing and then find the label says "dry clean only". This does not mean the item can't be washed, it is to protect the manufacturer from someone doing something like washing in boiling water. We need more transparency in care instructions, only then can consumers make informed decisions on the right product for them. If steam is going to affect the glue, then it follows water will too so then it comes down to just how do you clean your floors. Manufacturers' special products that are always ridiculously expensive are not the answer and having access to these products is not always possible for country people either. I believe there are two types of vinyl planks too - one type are glued down, the others are a floating floor which would not require glue, but I was told in the event of damage, a glued plank is much easier to replace than one in a floating floor. There are so many glues on the market now too, there must be one that could be used to reglue a plank that has come adrift.

Hi Kezzle This is a bit intricate but it should make sense... The flooring industry has tried to move across from lineal metres (lm) to square metres. Normally carpet is 3.66m wide (12ft). It sounds horrendous to buy a 4m wide (15ft) carpet at $390 lm, but if you express it as $97 sqm it's not so bad. Nevertheless, the flooring industry buys it from the suppliers in lineal metres and calculates the quantities in lm also. The trick is to balance the number of joins vs the wastage when deciding the layout. There is also a little trick in the trade where they crimp the quantity but that is for another day... There are two ways of laying the carpet upstairs. The first way is front to back of the house ie 'down' the room in eg bed 1 as shown below. This way will mean you will have a join in bedroom 3 and two in the passage, 1 being in the line of the wir doorway and the other in the line of the bed 3 cupboard. Here is a rough mud map... I can't quite make out the measurements very well, so I have written down the assumed numbers in lineal (length) metres. You can change these if incorrect. In the games room, you will have 1 join which you can't avoid due to the size of the room. This will require around 22.9 lineal metres of carpet.... and at $97.5sqm it should be costing you about $8930. Alternatively if you were paying $9,600 then the real cost of the carpet is $105 sqm.... just like Dr Retro (and there is the trick) If you turn it around the other way, you will have more joins and could do it for around 21.5-22.5lm depending on how many pieces are used in joins... I would go into the shop and ask them to show you how they are installing it.... then crunch the numbers yourself... There are about 3 or 4 ways this can be done so the above is just one... Cheers