This 1m wide building was designed by German architect Nils Holger Moormann as a garden house.
The exterior walls have cupboards for gardening implements, tableware, and a barby.
The door even leads to an upstairs bedroom with a glass roof
You can see more photographs at Dornob.
I don’t know how you would go if there was a strong wind on the side though.
Just remember the fewer professional inspections the more you should take an active interest yourself.
Five Inspections based on the Standard Progress Payments
Three Inspections
To save money you could reduce the number of inspections to the following three.
Some people might only be prepared to pay for one inspection and go for the PCI.
My thoughts would be the Pre-Plaster Inspection would be the one to choose.
This is a chance to pick up any serious structural issues before they are covered up.
The PCI Inspection really is more about picking up finishing quality issues than structural issues.
Conventional wisdom has been that you needed a North facing roof to mount your solar panels . . . . . . but it might be time to re-think!
In the early 1990 when people first really started looking at solar power for the home the cost of pv panel alone was in the order of $7-8/watt and installation efficiency was very important.
Now with panels costing less than $1/watt, installed, adding a few extra panels isn’t as big an issue as it used to be.
The efficiency drop off from moving away from a North facing roof is not as much as you might think.
For instance panels on a roof facing either East or West can still produce more than 80% of the power of a North facing panel. (see Solar Alignment for more information)
A few years ago we were paid for every watt we put into the grid, at more than it cost to buy a watt from the grid. This meant that systems that produced lots of power when we weren’t using that power (typically around noon) had real advantages.
For new systems you are now typically paid less for every watt you produce than a watt costs to buy. It therefore makes sense to be generating power when you need it across the whole day so you use as much of the solar power yourself.
A couple of options are:
Here is an unusual balustrade I saw during a recent weekend away.
It’s at the Old Convent at Daylesford, Victoria.
Well worth a visit if you are in the area.
Earlier this week I posted about the quirky apartment we have rented in Rome.
Here are a couple more photographs.
The first shows the wall that separates the entrance hall from the Bathroom / Laundry.
The wall is a translucent material with a blue tinge on the external surface and a white surface on the bathroom side.
The lights are mounted inside the wall to illuminate both rooms.
I am sure you will agree that it gives quite an unusual effect.
Another interesting thing was the security.
This photo shows the locking mechanism on the steel lined door.
It looks more like the lock on a bank vault than a domestic dwelling.
Don’t think I have shown you all the quirks; I have left some for any readers to check out if they decide to visit.
See the previous post on a Quirky Rome Apartment to find out more.
NB. I have not been paid, nor received a discount on accommodation, for this post.
I am on holiday in Rome at the moment.
When I travel, rather than stop in a Hotel, I prefer to rent an apartment and feel a little bit more like a local.
The apartment I am renting here is more than a little bit quirky so thought I would share some of the design ideas over the next couple of posts.
The above photo shows the bed ‘cave’ . . . you go down 4 stairs to a ‘bed room’ which is only just bigger than the bed and has no windows; its easy to sleep late, with no curtains to let light in.
The next picture shows the stairs from the entrance door up to the living/dining area.
The individual stairs are cantilevered of the wall off the building with no balustrade, although there is an adjacent bulkhead.
Not as dangerous as this staircase (Safe Stair-Fail) but I don’t think it would meet the Building Code of Australia.
We are really enjoying staying here in very centrally located apartment at only 110 euros a night.
If you are planning to visit Rome and want to stay somewhere different you can find this apartment at www.airbnb.com
NB. I have not been paid, nor received a discount on accommodation, for this post.
It was on a 1930 house with a few Art Deco features.
It certainly made me smile!
Sorry about the picture quality but it was take with a basic phone camera from a considerable distance on a dull day.
I have since found out the chimney was in fact a ‘Secret Sign’ as this house was a “Sly Grog Shop’ (where you could get a beer when pubs had to shut on a Saturday)
If you want to redevelop or subdivide an existing urban house block, you might find that a planning condition is that you will need to provide On-site Stormwater Detention (OSD).
You may also find it is a condition on individual blocks on smaller subdivisions.
Before development of towns and cities a large proportion of the rain that fell in an area soaked into the ground or flowed slowly across the land to a creek or river. When areas started to be developed two things happened:
Initially while Australia had a small population this didn’t cause too many problems.
Since the mid 1950’s and the rapid growth in population more and more land has been built on.
The result has been more and more water has been discharged surface water drainage systems causing overloading of the piped systems and flooding of the rivers.
In order to try and reduce flooding Planning Authorities are attempting to reduce rainwater flows from developments to a flows similar to an undeveloped site.
If you buy a block on a large subdivision it is unlikely that you will be asked to provide OSD on your Block. This is because large developers as a condition of the overall development have to provide Stormwater Detention Storage for the whole development.
The way they usually do this is by making much of the open space they also have to provide as Ponds, Lakes or Wetlands, which can fill up during periods of rain and then slowly empty. (Now you know why so many developments have a reference to Water in their name)
Build a single storey house on a slab and you don’t need joists . . . . but if you have a suspended floor, or you have a two storey house, your structure will need joists.
When I first started getting interested in houses the standard joist was a solid timber section, something you rarely see these days.
Modern alternatives are lighter, use less wood and can span greater distances than the solid joists.
With the wide range of joists used in house construction I thought I would show three common alternatives to traditional timber joists.
These composite joists are lighter and use far less timber than a solid joist for an equivalent span.
They comprise of a solid timber ‘flanges’ bonded to a ‘web’ of plywood.
They provide room for services like heating and cooling ducts as long as the services run parallel with the joists.
In this photo you can see the ‘end blocking’ which is used to ensure the joints don’t topple over.
These trusses are assembled using standard timber sections for both the chords ( the top and bottom timbers) and the connecting webs.
Joins are with gang nail plates at each connection point.
This truss does give more flexibility with the direction that services can be run, than the HY Joists.
Pryda Span trusses have metal diagonal webs to save weight and cost.
They are better for shallower trusses where there is more clearance room to accommodate services than a timber web product.
In some instances, some of the diagonal metal webs may be replaced by timber websdependant on load or geometry considerations.
Webs may be on both faces of the truss or just on alternate faces depending on the design loading.
I often hear people talking about ‘Our Forever Home’ . . . . . . . well this is a $2,000,000 Forever Home.
Some of the features include:
I can’t think of many people who would be keen to ‘Move In’ though!
It’s actually a crypt in Melbourne’s Springvale Cemetery.
