Build A Sustainable House & Save Money

When the stricter energy standards came in the big builders all complained that it would make houses more expensive.

Well a recent CSIRO report ‘The Evaluation of the 5-Star Energy Efficiency Standard for Residential Buildings‘ has found it can actually be cheaper to build a sustainable house.

Here are three reasons why a more sustainable house can be cheaper to build:

Smaller Windows Plain brick walls are more energy efficient than single glazed, or even double glazed windows. The plain brick will be about a third the cost of double glazing. (See this link: Smaller Windows for more information)
Shape A more rectangular shape is simpler and cheaper to build and can have 10-15% less wall area for a given floor area. See how the walls and floor areas change for variations on a basic house shape in the sketch below:

Right Sizing Builders try to sell you the biggest house they can and you often find there are rooms that you will hardly use. With Project Builder cost/sqm ranging from $1,100 – $1,600 saving one room can drop the cost by $10,000 – $15,000. See How Much House to plan how much space you need

Don’t forget that the sustainable house will also be saving you thousands of dollars every year!

Is Modern Kitchen Design Making Us Fat

When I was young (about 50 years ago) obesity wasn’t really an issue.

In those days most houses had a small kitchen where a meal was cooked. We either ate in the kitchen or a small dining room. The rest of the time indoors was spent in the living room.

Since then there has been a move to more open plan houses and big kitchen with lots of food storage.

Now, for a lot of us, the most used room in the house is a family room containing the kitchen and a big television. Meals are often eaten at the kitchen counter.

What all this means is that we spend a lot more time sitting near cupboards, and jars, full of tempting snacks like:

Cake
Crisps
Nuts
Biscuits
etc, etc.

We are also a lot closer to that fridge with those sugary drinks, and the freezer with tubs of ice cream.

I don’t know about you, but the only way I resisted temptation, and lost 12kgs a few years ago, was to keep biscuits and ice cream out of the house.

Will you be too close to temptation in your new house?

See Kitchens for more posts

Underground Garage

Basement, or underground garages are becoming more popular.

Its one way of getting a bigger house on a smaller inner suburban block.

Before you make a decision to go for this solution its worth thinking about the cost, and the risk.

Cost

They aren’t a cheap solution for a few reasons:

There is a lot of additional excavation with all excavated soil needing to be removed. Expect to pay over$100/cubic m
Supporting adjacent properties during excavation. You are probably going to be excavating below the foundation level of your neighbours, so its not just digging a big hole. Specialised techniques to do this safely will add to the cost
Not only are the basement floor and walls going to be strong they are going to have to be waterproof.
As the garage floor is probably going to be below the Storm Water Drains you will need a pumping to keep the garage dry.

Risk

The drainage company I work for has had to pump out several flooded basement garages over the past few years. The reasons for this are:

Even in Melbourne a heavy storm can easily result in over 25mm/hour.
For a driveway like the one in the photo above with a total area of around 100 m2 that means about 2500/hour litres flowing into the garage.
With that sort of rain you might also get water coming off the street, or the garden.
If the pump blocks, or there is a power cut the water can quickly build up.

Haven’t got room for a ramp? . . . Check out a different idea at this link: Spot the Garage!

Have you ever had problems with an underground garage?

Children’s Bedrooms

Some people want children’s bedrooms to be big!

I’m not so sure!

Reasons for Big Bedrooms

Room to play, study, have sleepovers and for all their stuff.
Room for adult children.
Better for resale value.

(Big for me is 9 square m or more.)

Reasons for Small Bedrooms

Discourage children from staying in their rooms.
Encourage children to move out when they become adult.
Keep initial cost down.

(Less than 7 square m I would consider to be small)

Overall

Well both my children have left home and we have now living in an apartment which is too small for them to move back!

If I was building a house for children I would probably go more for the smaller bedrooms.

I think being able to supervise children and encourage them to be more social is worthwhile. Most houses now have rumpus rooms so that’s where the toys can be stored and sleepovers take place.

What do you think?

Whatever size of bedroom make sure that you have thought about the power points, one thing which is often neglected by builders. See this link: Electrical Planning – Secondary Bedrooms

The Best House Shape

When you are looking at builders web sites the main things you can look at besides Facades are Floor Plans………But what is the best shape for the overall house?

Making good use of Winter Sun

If you have a Well Orientated site (Longest dimension runs East West) and you are not Shaded by tall trees or other properties the best shape will normally be a rectangle.

This will provide a long wall with North Facing Windows where most of the rooms can be warmed in the window. As the other dimension will be shorter the sun will penetrate well into the house. Just make sure you have proper eaves or a pergola to avoid the summer sun.

If you have got either a South or North facing site it’s probably best to go for as wide a house as you can fit on the block.

No Winter Sun

You should aim to provide the maximum amount of internal space compared to wall space. This is both economic in terms of wall materials and minimisation of heat transfer (Less heat lost in winter, less heat gain in summer)

The shape that fits provides the most internal space for minimum walls is a circle…….but not everyone wants to live in a yurt.

A couple of practical problems are:

Getting furniture to fit
Although the space is efficient the diameter is fairly large so larger round houses won’t fit into most rectangular blocks.

Don’t want a round house, then the next best thing is to make the shape as close to a square as possible.

Have you got a yurt or other type of round house?…….. What do you like about it?

See Bubble Diagrams if you want to design your own home plan

Tips for Setting up a 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

Can You Build On The Boundary?

I have previously talked about Setbacks but with certain limitations it is possible to build on the boundary.Generally rules about building on a boundary apply to all buildings constructed on or within 150mm of a side boundary.

Typical Rules

Walls of a building including carports can be constructed to the side or rear boundary of a block provided:

The maximum length of wall on a shared allotment boundary, with an adjoining property, must not exceed 10m plus 25% of the remaining length of the shared boundary.
The maximum average height of a wall or carport on or within 150mm to a side or rear boundary must not exceed 3.0m and the maximum height must not exceed 3.6m.

NB If the neighbouring block has a wall on the boundary that exceeds these dimensions then your wall can be constructed to the same height and width of the wall it will abuts.

As rules vary for different council areas check your councils website so you are sure of what rules apply to your block.

For more information about where you can build on your block see see Building Envelope.

Setbacks

When you are buying a block one of the issues that controls what you can put on a block is the Setbacks of the main structure.

Setbacks vary from council to council and can also vary between neighbourhoods in a council area.

To give you an idea here are typical Setbacks:

Street Setbacks

From the front title boundary the minimum setback is typically 5.0m, which is enough to park a car on the driveway.
In low density suburbs larger front setbacks may be required.
For older inner city suburbs the allowable front setback may be much less.(to match existing properties).
Side setbacks for corner blocks are generally less than the front setback, with 2.0m being typical.
Some councils will also have maximum setbacks,such as 1/3rd the total block length.

The following structures are usually permitted to project into setbacks:

Porches, verandahs and pergolas, with a maximum height of 3.6m.
Eaves, fascia, gutters, sunblinds, shade sails, and screens.
Decks, steps, or landings less than 800mm in height.

Side and Rear Setbacks to Adjoining Properties

Typical setbacks are:

Side 2.0m, plus 0.6m for every metre of height over 3.6m.
Rear 3.0m, plus 0.6m for every metre of height over 3.6m.

In addition to the encroachments mentioned above encroachments are also usually allowed for; masonry chimney backs, flues, pipes, fuel tanks, water tanks, and heating & cooling equipment.

Don’t want any setback?….see Building on Boundaries

Planning the Laundry

In England the washing machine and dryer are generally in the kitchen.

As a consequence the laundry in our first house we built was tiny. It was just big enough to fit the washing machine, dryer, laundry trough, and a walkway about 800mm wide to the back door.

After ten years in that house we decided that the next laundry would be bigger.

Our current house has a laundry that includes room for washing baskets, and a linen press. We also have room to store the ironing board, brushes and mops. I am still not sure however I have got everything the laundry right.

I have tried to list all the things below you might want in this undervalued room besides having a home for the laundry appliances and the trough:

Baskets for dirty linen and clothes baskets.
Room for baskets of laundry brought in from the washing line before they are folded
Storage of soaps, detergents, toilet rolls.
Room to set up an ironing board.
Rail for ironed clothes.
Airing rack.
Laundry press.
Television, to watch while doing the ironing.
Hooks for gardening clothes and a boot storage rack.
Pet food storage.
Dog basket.
Storage for mops, buckets, brushes, and a vacuum cleaner.

I am not saying you need to have room for all these things but its worth considering what space you want.

Other things to think about are

Installing a floor drain to protect the rest of the house in case of floods.
Putting the machines on a plinth to save all the bending over.
Making sure a drier can be vented to the outside.
Plumbing to allow grey water to be collected for garden watering.

Do you have any tips for laundry planning?

See Electrical Planning for Electrical fit out of your Laundry

Starting House Design 1- Bubble Diagram 1

A big mistake in designing a house is to get involved in detail too quickly.

Rough sketches of a floor plan, which you can easily change, are the best way to start. . . . Much better than using a computer drawing tool which can ‘Lock You In’ and stop you considering different ideas.

Decide what rooms you need and the approximate size of the house (see How Much House?)
Draw some bubble diagrams. . . . These are drawings where each bubble represents a room, or a feature of the house.
Work quickly, while thinking, and discussing, how you want the various rooms to relate to each other.
As you develop the plans try to draw the bubbles to roughly represent the room sizes, but don’t try to be too accurate.
Because the drawings are done quickly you can easily do new ones as your ideas develop.
Don’t throw the old one out though! You might want to go back to a previous idea.

The collection of diagrams will be a demonstration that you have gone through a process of developing a design rather than infringing someone else’s Copyright.

The above illustration is a tidied up version of the initial bubble diagram for our first Australian house. It was based on certain things we wanted in the floor plan. These were:

A rectangular plan to keep things simple and economical
A passive solar house with the main rooms facing North
A wood burning stove in the centre of the house
Our bedroom at the opposite end of the house to the children.

Next I will show how we developed the initial bubble diagram to a refined version which we could then use to develop the final floor plan.

Category: Floor Plans