General Advice
Dharav Brahmbhatt
4 years ago
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Replacing flooring
Comments (3)Hello Karen, I love white floors. And as you say there a hundred and one possibilities. I have in the past painted floors white (Well not me, construction boys) These tend to mark easily, which I personally don't mind because I like that easy coastal lived in feeling. If you didn't want to go to all the trouble of painting and polyurethaning them you could buy already made boards. You know it can be easier than you think I deal with guys from Solomons Flooring in Stanmore they did a quote for me for a client just last week and they are great; they know their stuff and as well they offer lots of options. I have been using of late a lot of laminate flooring, because it has come a long way and the product now looks and feels amazing! Also, totally scratch resistant. They will come in and quote show you samples and install and you can ask them to quote for moving all your furniture so that you don't have to do any heavy lifting. I hope this is some help? Have a great day. Jane...See MoreAdvice on a floorplan for a new build - Country Victoria
Comments (19)Hi, Just a few quick tips to take or leave: -The nook will need some form of natural light & ventilation such as a skylight (you may already be aware). -You mentioned you wanted a slab on ground for thermal reasons. You would actually lose a lot of heat with an uninsulated slab on ground in Ballarat. Insulated underneath it and the thermal mass would be of benefit, but the general advice that a slab on ground will allow thermal mass to couple with the earth for a constant temperature would not work in Ballarat (unless you want it to be constantly cold) -Otherwise your plan has a lot of positives and you've put your thermal mass wall & fire to the north so you could also use it to store the heat from the sun via windows. I think there is a little wasted space which could be improved between the kitchen and N/E living area caused by the 'long & skinny' shaped living and island bench... Something which could be tweaked when you have your working drawings done? Or you could even take a metre out and push the kitchen/dining up to save some floor area (dollars) or add to other rooms....See MoreLooking for feedback generally with layout
Comments (9)Gas is for dinosaurs ;) I'd go an all electric house, electric oven, induction cooktop, RC A/C for heating/cooling (they are very energy efficient heaters), electric (or heat pump) hot water, bottle gas for the BBQ. Couple this with a large solar PV system (5kW inverter, 5-6kW panels) & you'll greatly reduce energy bills. Design your roof to accommodate this PV system (not a roof with a million little triangles). If you're around the Central Coast, a well designed house should require little to no active heating/cooling. It's all about getting the orientation right, & letting the sun do it's work, heating your house in winter, & shading it in summer. My parents apartment in Sydney is designed this way. They never turn the heater on, & they use the AC a couple of times a year, for an hour or two in hot summer nights. Designing with orientation in mind is called "passive solar design". More can be found here, http://yourhome.gov.au/passive-design Simply put, it's about locating your living areas to the north, where they will be heated by the sun in winter, & minimising western windows, which overheat a house on summer afternoons. Unfortunately you have a northern frontage, which limits your scope to locate living areas facing north, but I'd still consider locating an additional living space to the north, in lieu of the master bed. I'd at least remove the northern portion of the verandah, as it will eliminate any winter sunshine from entering your home. An appropriate length eave, which admits winter sunshine, while shading summer sun, is a much better idea. With an interesting roofline you could have north facing clerestory windows, which would allow northern sunshine deeper into your house. Your other major concern would be west facing windows. West facing bedroom windows are a particularly bad idea, making bedrooms unbearably hot on summer evenings. So I'd consider flipping the back section of the house, locating the bedrooms on the eastern side. The bathroom would take the brunt of the western sun in summer. As would the rumpus, which is not ideal, but it's better than western bedrooms. Shade any western windows with vertical awnings, trees or use low-e glass. I'd actually consider flipping the whole plan, also locating your living area & verandah in the west. This verandah will then shade your house from harsh afternoon sun. Of course other things must be considered. Views, privacy, access to cooling breezes, whether your outdoor living area will be comfortable to be used on hot summer evenings, just to name a few....See MoreExterior makeover help!!!
Comments (26)May I suggest that you could quite quickly and affordably: 1 - paint the roller door and the white beam above it in Terrain - https://colorbond.com/colour/terrain - which will stop them drawing your eye. You may still want to put in a wooden roller door but you will get the effect quickly. 2 - replace the eyesore round light fitting at the same time with a modern one 3- left hand side - the next door dirty cream fence is also eye catching either put a fence and gate there to block it from view or just paint it a dark colour so it recedes and separates from the house. 4 - yes the roof either needs a good clean or a repaint 5 - yes the down pipe - can it be replaced by a chain style into the garden bed? Paint it dark anyway to stop it popping. It may be possible to drain it to the side gutters Love the railings - 5- the house isn’t sitting in its own space visually planting darker evergreens to left and right will help to settle it....See More
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