Final revision

This is exciting! We've revised the plans to eliminate the problem of the box gutter and the man to thank is our wonderful builder Charlie. He's managed to come up with quite a few suggestions that improve things enormously. So in getting rid of the box gutter, we can create an enormous attic space and not worry about flooding the house in a 1  in 1000 year storm.

I'm sure you might not even notice the internal changes so I'll explain them to you. We've simplified the bathrooms to create extra space and reduce the spend. Now we have a bathroom door directly off the loung which isn't ideal, but will save us on work and dollars. The other change is the laundry/pantry/skullery which I'm calling the room with glass doors. Although it could end up without any glass doors. We'll just call it that for now.

This elevation shows the new roof line with Dutch gable. I wasn't thinking we'd have it on the rear but perhaps it's needed. Does anyone else know?

The pink house plans

I've finally worked out how to add in our plans. It's taken me a while and I hope they're clear enough to understand. Having floor plans on here will hopefully give you a better idea of what we're working on and what we're aiming for.

This is our existing floor plan. We're hoping to demolish the rear room labelled "spare" as well as the existing bath and laundry. They will be replaced with a new integrated living space which is flexible enough to convert the home to four bedrooms. Two new bathrooms will be built in the old front part of the house and the existing kitchen will become the third bedroom.

Last night Buster asked me to cost double brick and Hebel block. I had already found Dincel which is a new light weight formwork type of construction. It's a plastic product that is dug into the ground and filled with concrete. It is supposed to be the equivalent of double brick construction in terms of sound and thermal insulation. The costs are apparently similar, but without the labour component of bricks and the finish only requires a light render. Dincel also claims to be waterproof so no damp course is required.

via av

All up I thought it a very exciting product. Buster didn't. He wants Hebel block. So I have to redo the costings and include all the extras that were previously not needed as I can't find the initial cost guides that I had. Back to the drawing board.

Addition layout

We have to decide between two floor plans for the proposed addition. Both are good, and both have their drawbacks. Which will we decide?

This is Buster's preferred floorplan. He likes the idea of being in the kitchen and having clear line of sight into the garden. The top of the floorplan is North so there will be loads of sun coming through two large banks of glass which will open onto a large deck spanning the width of the house. The garden is three or four steps down from the deck. I've considered reducing the size of the deck to half of what we currently have it planned as and we have a couple of alternative options.

The top left corner is the proposed family room, The bottom left is the third bedroom with the door being approximately where the gap is. Buster's plan is different to mine in the orientation of the kitchen and laundry. The bottom right is the laundry space with a window (or door) on that east wall to the side walkway. There is no other glazing on this side of the addition and the window will allow for light and increased ventilation into this corner space. The walkway goes to the front of the house (south) and will be blocked to the north by two proposed water tanks (near where the dining table is positioned), and maybe a clothes line as well. 

This is my preferred floorplan. We will likely go with Buster's layout, as it allows for the rear of the house to feel more open, as well as allowing better distribution of light and increased ventilation to the south east corner. The reason I prefer my floorplan is threefold:

1. It breaks the garden into zones and reduces the size of our oversized deck. We both love the idea of a large deck but at the moment it is going to be too big (3600x9765). I think by reducing the deck, we'll immediately see a drop in cost and the proportions will appear more suited to the space. My plan is to have a step down from the laundry to ground level where we could have a sunny little clothes drying area adjacent to the deck. Sun would be limited due to the shed to the north, the fence to the east and deck screening to the west, but I still think it would be sunny enough for its purpose as well as to create a kitchen garden.

2. I think the kitchen would feel more spacious due to that widened space in the centre. Open plans should feel open to me, but not overly so. I don't like the noise created in open plans which amount to great hall like spaces. This centre part is a concern to both of us though as it creates an unusable dead zone adjacent to what we refer as "the cricket pitch". The cricket pitch is the area in the centre which is at the rear of the island. It runs the length of the entire house, from front door to back.

3. I like the idea of having a laundry which doubles as a mud room. Come in from the garden, strip off all your grubby clothes and dump them straight into the tub for a soak, then wash yourself off before heading into the house. There is always the practical element to my planning.

So this is something that requires a great deal of consideration. We've got a while to think about it, but I'd rather have our plans finalised prior to lodging our DA which will hopefully occur sometime this week.

Any thoughts?