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first time building - what do you think of our plans

6 years ago

It’s a small narrow block but within our budget. We’ve maxed out build space. Any thoughts on the plan? I’ve marked north and south. I don’t know much about how this affects natural light in rooms.

Also not indicated on the plan is a long splash back window in the kitchen below the overhead cabinetry

Featured Answer

ddarroch

6 years ago

Another way to get northern light into the home is to raise your windows, by having clerestory (highlight) windows. I'd recommend you look into this, as this could also increase privacy also. You don't want your windows too high, at the eave height, as it will be permanently shaded, leaking heat in winter. Long narrow windows, high up, can be of a similar size (area) to a normal shaped window, but receive less overshadowing, & be more private.

Another way to reduce overshadowing on a narrow block, & receive more northern light, is to change the roof shape, & build a skillion roof, with north facing clerestory windows. This is a a GREAT way to do this! I'm guessing you're on a limited budget, & this may increase costs. Of you have a single storey northern neighbour that is likely to overshadow you I'd definitely investigate if this is possible. At least for your living areas, as they'd be much brighter, & greatly increase your sense of privacy for any northern windows.

Here is an extreme example of a skillion roof & northern clerestory windows greatly increasing northern light & privacy.

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Comments (9)

ddarroch
6 years ago
I've just come from your other thread, & will again recommend you read ALL of the Your Home website to learn about harnessing natural light for energy efficiency & comfort. This is the section about orientation,

http://yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/orientation

Summarising, in Australia the sun moves across the northern portion of the sky.

So you want to locate your living areas to the north, where they will be lighter, warmer in winter, & cooler in summer (shaded by appropriate length eaves, as the sun is higher in the sky).

South facing rooms will be cooler & darker, as they receive very little direct sunshine. While eastern & west facing rooms are difficult to shade due to the angle of the sun in those directions, west facing rooms may become very hot.
ddarroch
6 years ago
My first question would be where are you located? Cairns will have very different requirements to Tasmania, due to their different climates.

While I agree with other posters, that flipping the plan will give you more light, the living areas will be similar in any case. Receiving N, E & S light. Flipping the plan will give additional bedrooms northern light, instead of the garage.

But the main point is trying to get northern light into your living areas, & direct sunlight into those living areas in winter. This is difficult on such a narrow block.

So my next question is what is to the north of your block? A neighbouring property I presume? If this is a two story property it will badly shade your living areas, no matter what you do.

So what's the best way to get northern light (other than going up & building a two storey home, to get northern light into the top storey)? It's to build as close to the southern boundary as possible, so your northern windows are as far from your boundary as possible. This will reduce overshadowing from your northern neighbour.

It looks like you have a zero lot boundary for your garage. How far is it from your meals area to the boundary, & how far is it from the kitchen to the boundary? If the plan is flipped, how far will it be from the family room to the boundary? What I'm getting at is, which orientation is less likely to have overshadowing of your northern neighbour of your living areas?
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ddarroch
6 years ago
You could also investigate having a split skillion roof for the front half of the home, with north facing clerestory windows above the hallway. This will GREATLY increase the amount of light in that very long, dark hallway. The roof would be similar to this image.
ddarroch
6 years ago
Oh, a couple of points I was going to make about the original design.

Flipping the plan looks like will increase size of a single north facing roof area for solar PV. An important consideration in this day & age.

Your master bedroom faces west. This could get VERY got on summer afternoons. If you have a rarely used guest bedroom, I'd consider changing the plans to move the master & locate the guest bedroom on the western side of the home. If this isn't possible I'd be adding a N/S clerestory window to the master, increasing cross-ventilation, to aid summer cooling. If also be looking at low-E glass/tinting of western windows, shading by trees/vertical awning/shutters.
oklouise
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
following ddaroch good advice another reversed plan to use northern light in all the bedrooms and living areas but unable to read the dimensions on your plans i've used some assumed measurements and added furniture to help understand the traffic patterns throughout the home
Elham Awan
Original Author
6 years ago
So much to think about. So helpful to have advice from people with so much experience! It’s a bit daunting the first time because there’s so much I’ve never had to think about. I’ll have to consult with our builder and see what our options are.

We live in Adelaide so it’s moderately cold in winter and quite hot in summer. Our northern neighbour is a one story house and there’s no two story houses around us. With the current orientation of the house, we have 900mm to the fence on the south side of the house (with the master bedroom) which comes in a bit to give us 1200mm after the kitchen. The garage is on the northern boundary and we have 900mm to the fence after that.

I really want a practical plan but also don’t want to over-capitalise because the other houses around us are fairly similar in size and seem pretty simple.
PRO
MB Design & Drafting
6 years ago
Seems ok to me.

If its from a volume builders plan I would avoid making any changes as they can sting you pretty hard for even relocating a door.

Spend time (and money) on quality fit out that will look good for years.

Don't forget landscaping, get a designer if need be, well worth money.
PRO
Paul Di Stefano Design
6 years ago
Be aware that to (technically) comply with building siting regulation buildings need to be either positioned on or within 150mm of a boundary or at minimum 1m offset. 900mm side boundary offset would require dispensation. Oklouise's suggested plan much better with bedrooms on the north and utilities on the south.

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