Category: Design

Buffer Zones

Planning a house layout? or considering builders standard layouts?

Thinking about buffer zones when you are will save you on heating and cooling costs.

So what are buffer zones?

Buffer Zones are basically rooms and spaces that may be heated to a lower temperature, only heated occasionally, or even left unheated in winter.

In summer the situation is reversed and these rooms and spaces will not need to be cooled to the same extent as the main rooms.

As these rooms and spaces are at a temperature between the main rooms and the outside they act as additional insulation reducing the cost of keeping the main rooms at a comfortable temperature.

Examples of Buffer Zones

Typical  ‘Buffer Zones’ are:

      • Roof space
      • Garage
      • Guest bedrooms
      • Laundry
      • Study
      • Toilet
      • Bathrooms
      • Porch
      • Conservatory

An example of using buffer zones can be seen on the following floor plan.

The study, laundry, main bathroom, toilet, en-suite are all enclosed rooms on the South side of the house.

They don’t need to be heated/cooled all the time.

For instance in winter the bathroom only needs to be heated for around half an hour in the morning.

All this reduces the volume to be heated in winter and stops heat loss to the North.

A popular buffer zone in England is a Porch.

We haven’t had one in an Australian house yet and they don’t seem to be very common in standard designs. . .but if you live in the High Country, or Tasmania, one could be well worthwhile.

Conservatories are also less common in Australia probably because of the overheating risk in summer.

They can however be useful for increasing ventilation through the house if properly designed with large top vents.

Has a buffer zone worked for you?

For more posts about plans see the Design Category.

To save money on Heating and Cooling see Insulation

 

Placing Your House On The Block – 10 Things To Consider

There’s lots to think about when you are positioning a house on a block.

Here are some things that you should consider when comparing blocks and then deciding how to place your house,

    • Statutory Limits There are usually the following limits on where you can place your house:
    • Local Council Setbacks (the rules should be on the council website, it may refer to the building envelope)
    • Sewer or Drainage Easements (check your title documents for these)
    • Driveway Crossover Many blocks now come with the driveway crossover already constructed which causes further restrictions unless you want the expense of removing the crossover and constructing a new one in a different location.
    • Take Advantage of the Sun My aim to get most of the main rooms facing North for a solar passive performance and which helps with the energy rating performance (A good orientation can boost the environmental rating by at least one star).
    • Avoid Shading I like to place the house fairly close to the Southern Boundary so that the I can have a garden on the sunny side of the block which you can see from those North facing rooms. The wider garden also helps prevent shading from the house next door.
    • Overheating from Afternoon Sun Avoid or at least minimise West facing windows.
    • Welcoming Entrance Front doors should be facing, and clearly visible from, the street . . . it looks more welcoming and improves security.
    • Outdoor Entertaining Areas Decks and alfresco areas with a westerly aspect are good for having a beer in the evening while watching the setting sun.
    • Kitchen Views In our last house the kitchen window had the most interesting view. . . as that is the one you find yourself looking out of the most.
    • Storage Areas Do you want to store a caravan, trailer or boat on the site.
    • Pets If you have a dog does it have somewhere to run around without damaging your main garden? and somewhere where it can sleep away from rain and summer sun?

 

What do you think is important when placing you house?

Feng Shui

When people see Lion Dogs outside my house they sometimes say “Surely you don’t believe in Feng Shui” to which my initial answer is “ Not really, but I’m told it works whether you believe it or not.”

The real answer is a bit more complicated

A lot of the principles of Feng Shui make good sense in making a house more liveable and welcoming.

Things like:

  • Not having a mirror directly opposite a door.
  • Avoiding long straight passages, or at least breaking them up.
  • Don’t put the bed head in front of, or below, a window/
  • Controlling the amount of clutter.

The reason why Feng Shui has lasted is that these sort of principles work.

They may be passed on in a spiritual language but the principles, like the ten commandments from the Judea/Christian religions, do make sense in a civilised world.

A word of warning is that Feng Shui was developed in the Northern Hemisphere for the conditions that apply there.

When you live in the southern hemisphere some of the directions are reversed and you need some ‘Aussie’ Feng Shui such as:

  • During the day the sun is in the north so open that side of your house to the ‘Phoenix’.
  • The South side needs to be protected from the cold weather by the ‘Turtles Shell’.
  • The sun still rises with the ‘Dragon’ in the East, and Sets in the West with the house protected by the ‘Tiger’ so these two aspects stay the same as the Chinese texts.

And as for the Lion Dogs, well they are a bit of fun and a good conversation point.

What Feng Shui principles work for you?

 

See Design for more posts.

 

Plumbing – Kitchen and Laundry

Make sure you have thought about all the following plumbing fittings:

Kitchen

There are a wide range of sinks the choice is a lot wider than one basin or two so you need to spend some time looking at various options.

Similarly there a wide range of mixers.

Boiled /Chilled Water Service used to be an office fitting but they are becoming more common in homes. (I think they can waste a fair bit of energy and are a scalding safety riskn so I can’t recomend them myself).

Dishwasher are normally installed as cold fill but there are some hot and cold fill machines around or you can just use the hot water.

If you like refrigerators with a chilled water you will need a water supply to the refridgerator location..

Butlers Pantry

In many larger houses a Butlers Pantry is included rather than a simple larder.

This is somewhere where the messy part of food preparation can be done when you are entertaining.

Depending on how much room you have these can be almost second kitchens so they may need a similar range of plumbing fittings

Laundry

Do you really want a laundry trough?…….. why not have a standard sink basin?

If you go for a trough why not think about a smaller size.

Whatever your choice you will need either a mixer or taps.

Washing machine – although you may only have a cold fill machine its always worth getting a hot water service installed.

People that do a lot of gardening like a toilet with wash basin off the laundry to avoid them going through the house with dirty boots.

Roof Water / Recycled Water

With roof water tanks and recycled water becoming more common in suburban properties you need to think about where you will use this supply, which has to be kept separate from the mains supply.

Will it be toilets only? or are you going to use it for the laundry?

Its simpler if you live on a rural block because it will be all roof water!…………. If so I would seriously think about a domestic water filter, although I wouldn’t bother for a suburban house with mains water.

Addititionally

My son is a concretor and I work for a drainage company so my wife prefers to wash our overalls in an old washing machine on the back veranda and keep the newer washing machine for her clothes and our non work outfits.

 

For similar posts see Plumbing

More plumbing information and 24 pages of Check Lists

in the ‘Selection / Pre-Start Guide’

 

Large or Small

While new houses are getting bigger apartments are getting smaller . . . so how much room to we really need?

Reasons We Need Less Space

  • Flat screen televisions can now be mounted flat on the wall.
  • Saving your music on a smart phones mean your music collection now fits in your pocket.
  • With a Kindle, or other E-book reader, a thousand books can be reduced to the size of one.
  • The new standard for computers is the laptop or tablet computer 20% or the size of the old tower and monitor computer of 10 years ago. You might also save on having a desk..
  • With computer storage being so cheap you might not need filing cabinets, or even a home office.
  • When I was small I had boxes and boxes of toys but now its all about the games console.

Reasons Why We Need More Space

  • Home theatres, when you already have a large TVs!
  • Butlers Pantries.
  • Kitchens with 2 dishwashers and Multiple Ovens. (I blame ‘The Block’)
  • Because the screen size is so big you need to sit further away.
  • Reclining chairs take up more floor space than ordinary chairs.
  • Kitchen Cupboards for all those kitchen gadgets you never use.
  • The treadmill you never use but bought instead of taking a walk outside.

 

Do you need more space, or have you got too much room?

 

For more posts about planning how to build a new house see Design

 

Insulation Basics – Double Glazing

Large single glazed windows are one of the biggest reasons for heat loss in a modern house.

It is also a major source of heat coming into the house in summer.

So what can you do?……………here is a comparison between single and double glazing.

Single Glazing
A single glazed window with an aluminium frame has a U value of around 7watts/degree C/m2 (an R value of 0.14 )

So if your house has got 30m2 of windows and its 5 degrees C outside.

You will be losing the following amount of heat through the windows if you keep the house at 20 degree C

30 x (20-5) x 7 = 3,150watts = 3.15kW/hour

For refrigerated cooling from 300C to 200C you will need the following amount of cooling to balance heat gain through windows:

30 x (30-20) x 7 = 2,100watts = 2.1kW/hour

Double Glazing

If you have double glazing with timber or uPVC frames you will reduce the U value to around 3 watts/degree C/m2 (An R value of 0.33 ).

For the same conditions as the above example the heat loss through the windows will be reduced to:

30 x (20-5) x 3 = 1350watts = 1.35kW/hour

For refrigerated cooling from 300C to 200C your heat gain through windows will be reduced to:

30 x (30-20) x 3 = 900watts = 0.9kW/hour

Other ways to reduce heat loss are

  • Reduce window size. As walls are better insulation than windows this can offer significant reductions in heat loss
  • Curtains or Blinds. Will provide similar performance to double glazing. . . but only during the time when they are closed.

Extra Benefits of Double Gazing

Improved Security: Its much more difficult, and noisy, to break in through a double glazed window.

External Noise Reduction The bigger the gap between glass the better the performance.

See Insulation for similar Posts

For Posts about Green Building see Sustainability

 

Electrical Planning – Kitchen

I was walking around a ‘Good Guys’ electrical store last week looking at the kitchen equipment.

In addition to the items we have got there must have been 20 or 30 items we haven’t got.

For example appliances for making: bread, pies, crepes, yoghurt, popcorn, donuts, hot dogs, etc, etc.

Well here are the Appliances you will most likely need power for:

  • Oven and Hob. Even if they are gas you will probably need power to run the ignition system, warning lights and timers. If you go for one of those electrical commercial ranges you may need a heavy duty supply.
  • Range hood. Some people question them but I wouldn’t be without one, with extraction to outside!
  • Microwaves. We have got one but I have heard of people having two, and can understand why.
  • Dishwasher
  • Fridge
  • Freezer
  • Kettle, unless you have one of those boiling water taps
  • Toaster

Beyond these items its up to you what you think you will need.

In our case its:

  • George Foreman Grill
  • Slow Cooker
  • Coffee maker
  • Milk frother
  • Stick mixer

Non cooking items include:

  • Lap top charger (See Mission Control)
  • Phone charger
  • Cordless phone charger

For the worktop items you will need plenty of sockets either just under or just over the benchtops.

For fixed appliances its best to have the power inside the cupboards.

In addition to the power lighting is fairly important. We have the following:

  • Centrally mounted ceiling fitting for general lighting
  • Wall lights either side of the hob
  • LED downlights over the bench

What are your ‘must have items’ that’s not on my list?

For similar posts see Electrical

More Electrical Planning including 24 pages of Check Lists in the‘Selection / Pre-Start Guide’

 

How Much Longer For Artificial Stone?

Over the last 20 years artificial stone benchtops have become more and more popular. . . . but there is a dark side to this material.

There has been a massive rise in cases of Silicosis (260 in the last 3 years), a disease which has been linked to exposure to the dust when manufacturing and cutting stone benchtops.

What Is Silicosis?

Silicosis is lung disease which can be fatel, caused by breathing in small pieces of silica.

Silica is a mineral found in natural materials, including sand, rock, and ore.

When these materials are cut, ground, or blasted, the dust contains varying amounts of silica.

Compared to natural stone, many artificial stones contain over twice the amount of silica.

Cutting and grinding artificial stone to create benchtops thus massivly increases the risk of exposure to silica dust.

Acute silicosis can lead to weight loss and fatigue with just a few weeks of exposure.

Is A Ban Likely?

Australia has strict regulations for activities that generate silica dust.

They require the use of extraction fans, water spray systems, and respirators. helped severely reduce the prevalence of silicosis.

This sort of equipment is not however common on construction sites where the stone is installed!

Without stricter enforcement of health and safety regulations, Australia will  continue to see a rise in silicosis.

There already calls for the material to be banned.

As with the asbestos ban in the late 20th century, implementing a ban on engineered stone benchtops will help save Australian lives.

In the meantime increasing public awareness of the dangers of silica dust may reduce demand for engineered stone benchtops.

Conclusion

Silicosis ris a threat to thousands of workers throughout Australia.

Until a total ban occurs consumers and businesses can help reduce exposure by selecting other materials for their kitchens.

What’s On The Roof?

A METAL ROOF

This covers zincalume, galvanised steel and colorbond. Following are a few thoughts:

  • In general a metal roof is noisier as you can hear the rain (which I like)
  • They are fairly light so they don’t put as much load on the structure.
  • With modern screw fittings they can be extremely resistant to very high winds and hail.
  • Might get dented but will still be weatherproof in extreme hailstorms.
  • Less likely to leak.
  • Can be laid at lower pitch Which means the roof isn’t as high.
  • They are capable of lasting over a 100 years with minimal rusting.
  • Available in zinc finish or a wide range of colorbond colours. Zinc finish will be best for reflecting heat, followed by lighter colorbond colours.
  • Can be more expensive than tiles.
  • Fitting solar panels will be cheaper and easier on a steel roof.

One drawback is that you will need an external TV aerial and mobile phone coverage may be worse than under a tiled roof.

Tiles

Can be clay, terracotta or concrete. Their characteristics are:

  • Concrete has lower initial cost although some clay tiles and terracotta tiles can be very expensive.
  • Provide better insulation both heat and noise.
  • Heavier.
  • Brittle.
  • Need to be individually screwed down in high wind areas.
  • Wide range of colours.
  • Can add character especially as they age.

I have previously had a steel roof but now have tiles.

If building again I would probably go for metal.

Do you like the sound of rain on the roof?

For Similar posts look in the Design Category

Why I don’t like a Flat Roof!

 

 

Upstairs and Downstairs

In my first 35 years living in England I always lived in 2 storey homes.

I was never that keen on stairs for the following reasons:

    • During that time I thought that the worst job around the house, when helping my mother, and later my wife, was cleaning the stairs!
    • When we had young children there was always the worry about them falling downstairs.
    • If you got a leg injury you could be forced to stay on the ground floor until you recovered.
    • As you got older, if you didn’t want too move, you might need to buy a stair lift.
    • Moving new furniture is also a problem with 2 storey houses particularly when the stairs have a bend in them. . .The ones that double back are the worst!

Most people in Britain aspired to living in a single storey house, or as they call them in England ‘a Bungalow’.

Imagine my surprise when we moved to Australia and found that two storey houses were seen as the premium end of the market. I quickly said there was no way I would be living in a 2 storey house again.

Changing Circumstances

If I was a first time buyer with the current problems of urban sprawl and housing affordability I might be forced to think differently.

Perhaps the developers and builders also need to think again and start offering designs and subdivisions that are aimed at smaller two storey houses.

You do see a few smaller houses but they tend to be in body corporate infill developments as these are generally built closer to the city there isn’t the same saving for the first time buyer compared with newer subdivisions.

There are also often issues of limited parking.

 

Would you be happy to get a start in the housing market by buying a smaller 2 storey house, and then moving up to a larger two storey house as your family grow?

Exit mobile version