Month: April 2013

Tips for Setting up a Home Office

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When you are drawing up plans for a new house, you may want to think about including a home office. The number of telecommuters and home business owners is on the rise, with the advances in technology that make it easier to conduct business at a distance.

Office workers are drawn to the flexible hours and lack of a commute, while business owners are interested in cutting costs. This makes it a win-win situation for many.

Whether you plan on simply telecommuting to your regular job one or two days a week or starting your own ecommerce business, you’ll want to create a space that’s conducive to your productivity.

The following are a few tips to consider before you start constructing your home office.

Consider your Individual Business Needs

Every business will have different needs, so before you start designing and constructing your home office it’s best to sit down and draw up a detailed plan of action. This should include a list of all of the items you will need to store in this room, including both furnishings and storage.

A graphic designer or illustrator would need a large worktop, for example, while someone working for a web design company Australia might need multiple computers or printers.

If you plan on meeting with clients you would need additional filing space and a room for consultation.

Be sure to outline what you will need and allocate the proper space ahead of time.

Build Storage into the Room

Rather than filling up your new home office with bulky filing cabinets, you can get creative and start thinking about alternative storage solutions in your home office.

You can use a desk with file cabinets built into its base, or build additional shelving units into the walls. This will give you more room to work and help you feel organised and productive when the room is completed.

Purchase the Right Equipment

When it comes to designing the basic layout of the room, you’ll need to ensure that there’s enough space for all of the equipment you’ll need. Again, this will depend on the type of business you plan on operating. It’s worth investing in a chair with good back support.

Computers that can be used for your most important tasks. This could include everything from accounting to web development Australia. For my home I would tend to look at having a lap top and a desk top to allow convenient daily back up 

A desk with adequate work space is also very important, so don’t skimp on this aspect of your office.

Illuminate your Office

There’s nothing more depressing than a workspace without windows. You’ll want to choose a corner of your proposed house that has no shortage of natural light to help you feel more positive and productive. A bright working space is particularly useful if you need to see fine details or are meeting with clients.

Remember to  position your computer in a way so that you can reduce glare.

You’ll also want to plan for good artificial lighting with  lighting fixtures that help fit in with your overall design scheme and provide good general illumination.

More concentrated lighting lighting for desks and worktops may also be needed.

By taking the time to draw up detailed plans for your home office, you can enhance its use and make sure that you have a clean, organised, and useful space for all of your business needs.
 

Don’t need a Home office?……Perhaps you need a Mission Control

 

Lap Dog Window – Fail

Three horizontal windows, a Builder’s design “Wow factor” that was quite common in show houses around 5 years ago.

What is the point of that bottom window?

About the only thing that could see out of it would be a small dog. A cat would just jump up to the higher window cill.

It must be a real pain to get down on your hands and knees to clean!

Do you need to get 3 separate blinds fitted?

The extra cost of 3 separate windows with the lintels between them must be fairly significant.

Walking round a new Display Village the other day I couldn’t see any examples of this detail so perhaps its gone out of Fashion.

Think I am being unkind……….tell me why I have got it wrong!

 

For more Unusual Houses and Fails see What the………………….?

 

Reducing External Noise

 

It’s not always possible to build in a quiet area so there are a number of techniques for reducing noise that you can use in your new home.

Here is a quick review of the options:

  • Minimising  windows facing the noise. OK  as long as the noise source isn’t on the North side otherwise you loose the effect of sunlight in the house.
  • Screen walls. These reflect sound. If you are going for this approach at the front of the house put some thought into the design of the wall. A plain wall just looks ugly.
  • Buffer zones. I’ve previously talked about Buffer Zones in relation to heating and cooling but they can work well in keeping some rooms quieter.
  • Soft landscaping. Absorbs sound, rather than paving which reflects sound. If possible a landscaped bund (low embankment) can be effective.
  • Roofing material.  Tiles will absorb more noise than a colorbond roof.
  • Acoustic Plasterboard. It’s possible, on special order, to get a range of Plaster boards including ones with a denser core that help to reduce sound transmission. A second layer of plasterboard at a different thickness to the original can help.
  • Ceiling  and wall insulation. Ordinary heat insulation batts will absorb noise but for the best performance it is better to use ƒspecialist acoustic insulation.
  • Glazing. Thicker glass will help but double glazing with a larger air will give better performance. The use of  laminated glass can also improve performance.
  • Curtains Heavy curtains can be effective, when they are closed.
  • Solid Doors. Better performance than the standard lightweight doors.
  • Windows and door seals. Need to be  properly fitted, and maintained.
  • ƒRefrigerated Air Conditioning.  Unlike evaporative cooling this doesn’t rely on open windows.
  • Sound absorbing materials Although acoustic tiles, carpets, underlays don’t stop noise getting in they will absorb it better than hard surfaces like tiles or wood floors.

To get effective performance  will require a range of the above options rather than a single ‘Magic Bullet’.

When you are considering these options its also worth bearing in mind that most of these improvements will also improve the thermal performance of your new house.

 

For more posts about plans see the Design Category.

To save money on Heating and Cooling see Insulation

 

Choosing Bricks

If you want brick you really need to go and visit one of the brick manufacturers display centres where they have display walls built with the various bricks.

Make sure you look at the bricks in the builders standard range first. If you are happy with a brick from this range you will save thousands of dollars compared with the ‘premium’ brick.

Looking at a couple of square metres of wall gives you a much better idea than looking at a couple of bricks in the builders office.

Seeing a larger panel may also stop you going for one of the short term trends such as brightly coloured bricks.

When you are at the brick manufacturers check what colour mortar they use in the test wall as this will probably be the best colour for your house.

 

More about selecting finishes including 28 pages of Check Lists in the‘Selection / Pre-Start Guide’

 

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