House floor plan

last year

Hi everyone,

I'm building a house in the Northern Territory and have attached a draft of my floor plan. I don’t have any prior experience—this layout is based on a mix of display homes and my own ideas.

I’m unsure if the design meets building compliance requirements, so I’d really appreciate any feedback or suggestions, especially around compliance or improvements.

Thanks in advance!

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Comments (7)

dreamer
last year
Where is north on your house plan/block of land? Have you allowed for verandahs around the home to keep the hot NT sun off the windows, and to hang the washing to dry when it is continuous rain.? The living areas are very small in proportion to the amount of bedroom space. What is the ratio allowance for your land, eg: open space to built space?
dreamer
last year
This article will be helpful

https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/1362146/cool-homes-guide.pdf
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I think there's an underlying issue here that isn't being confronted. Unless you've got megabucks or you live out in the country with a few acres, you're going to end up with a block/house which doesn't have ideal orientation. A lot of people, ourselves included, bought a slice of land where the garage gets the best aspect. We trade that off for proximity to services, shops, and the rest of it. It's all very well to talk about how a house should be designed for views, cross breezes, orientation to sun, etc, but a lot of that has to go by the wayside if you need a place close into town, and you're looking at a brownfield site being redeveloped. You buy for the location, not the orientation. The house might be facing north, and the garage has to do so because that's where the road is, and there's no other option. So, what then? The question is to make a liveable house out of a less than desirable orientation, with areas that don't get enough light and others that get too much. I'd love to see a long article on Houzz about this, because it's a reality for a lot of us. What I do know, from our last 9 months living in a house with the wrong orientation but the right location, is that there are things that work around some of the problems. Skylights are one, shade sails another. Good insulation is of course imperative as well. Our house isn't perfect, but ultimately, we'll put up with a bit too much of the western sun at certain times of year because we want to/need to live in this location ( walking distance to shops, cafes, medical clinics, dentists, vets, and three private hospitals). I'm off topic, but it's an issue I feel strongly about: making good design work in less than optimal circumstances. The house the OP is planning is just such an example. I don't think it's quite right and I do think more thought has to go into where the smaller bedrooms and kitchen are located, but if the OPs block is as small as ours, there aren't too many alternatives. And that's reality, so how do we best deal with it? I'd like to see a bit more of that on Houzz.
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Emily A permanently roofed al fresco will reduce some summer heat gain (although sitting out there may be uncomfortable) and will do the same for winter. From scanning the comments it appears that you are at a point where you can still may major changes; I cannot recommend strongly enough getting the orientation of your new home right, it will be warmer in winter, cooler in summer and be significantly cheaper (if not free) to run with some appropriately detailed insulation. I do understand the appeal of a floorplan that seems to be all you have aspired too but have seen many a case where people have later regretted those decisions. If you are unsure about the pros and cons of various floorplans then get a design professional (building designer/architect) to give you guidance on an hourly rates basis. good luck
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Somehow the plans only show up on mobile, not on PC for me... I think that the kitchen/living/entertaining area in the front with the sea view is gonna be gorgeous. I'm guessing you and your family have guests over often? I love that there is a good separation between the entertaining area and the private areas. Some questions though, would the 2 garages have separate entrances? Would the astro turf / courtyard area on the lower floor be covered by the top floor? What's the distance from the building to the boundaries on each side? From the top floor, would you have to go through the stairs and garage to hang the laundry? For the en-suite in the lower floor, might be a good idea to future proof it, by starting to plan for hand rails, ease of access with walkers, etc. The gap around the vanity seems to be quite tight on the drawings.
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dreamer
last year
I would also assume that the occupants would be driving a 4WD. 5.7m for a depth of the garage, would be very tight for a large 4WD with a bull bar, and a towbar.
oklouise
last year
last modified: last year
it looks like your block is 13.5 m wide but not sure of length or orientation but my suggestions include a few modifications to your original plan to improve cross ventilation, reduce length of hall and increase size of garage, living area and screened alfresco and there's alternate placement of biw, ens and wiw ... dreamers "cool home" article and similar guidelines also provides more information about building construction including lightweight walls and window placement etc and our own experience in far north Queensland found that generous louvre windows, external shading, light coloured walls and roof with suitable insulation and landscaping were also great improvements to our hot climate homes
bigreader
last year
Good point on the garage size. Mine is 5.8 wide and 5.6 long. I only drive a medium SUV and really it’s a one car garage. And even then I have to remember to unload the boot before closing the door.
Kate
last year
Def need to consider garages more. Large suv is 5400 long. So a 6000 length doesn’t all space to walk around front or back. Garages used to only have entry and no extra connection into house. 6.0 m is great for mid size cars 4600 allows space front and back. Large car 4900m space at one end. Then the width. 5500 is fine if you can drive straight in and can position each car straight. and don’t need to open all doors fully. But with the large suv and bigger doors and mirrors it’s really tight. In all this we haven’t talked about storage in garage.
dreamer
last year
last modified: last year
Further to the garage conversation, while waiting for orientation for above house floor plan post.

Our garage is 6000mm x 6000mm. Our 4WD is about 100mm short of that. (Note in photo of front of vehicle. The line is the 6000mm) When we built our home we incorporated an extra two metres in half of the garage for this exact reason, which allows ease of parking. This extra space is also used for a retractable full clothesline for winter and very hot days. And also for storage.

When building a home, all aspects of how you live…and drive, have to be considered.

Most importantly orientation and air flow.

House floor plan

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