Please critique my plans

Jared Drake · February 20, 2013, 05:11:57 PM

And one with the "toggle" view

MountainDon · February 20, 2013, 05:21:47 PM

I have a couple thoughts, but it would help me a lot if there was an explanation as to what level each of the three refer to.

February 20, 2013, 05:27:38 PM

Sorry, my mistake. From the top of the post down goes like this: Ground floor, second floor, another view of the second floor with the "toggle" view showing the ground floor walls.

SouthernTier · February 20, 2013, 05:42:38 PM

My folks have a corner sink, and my brother used to. It seems like of all the places in the kitchen, that is the place you spend the most time in front of. A person there blocks off a significant amount of counter space (i.e. corner, and the counter on either side). Seems like I was often waiting for someone to finish washing a dish or something when I just wanted to pull out a drawer or something.

So I am not a fan of corner sinks, but then again I am not exactly an expert on interior decorating as Alan Gage correctly pointed out.

What software were you using for design?

Jared Drake · February 20, 2013, 05:46:36 PM

SouthernTier, I use 3D Home Architect Deluxe 3.0.

February 20, 2013, 06:08:35 PM

Thanks.

My first thought was about aligning the wet wall in the upper floor bathroom with the wet wall for the lower floor bathroom (off the bedroom). That keeps all supply runs in an interior wall too.

Then along with that make the wet wall thicker for space for the pipes. Our wet walls are all doubled 2x4's.

Where/how does the vent piping for the kitchen sink and adjacent bathroom run up and through?
Closets in the bedrooms? Back to back on the shared wall can help dampen noises.

Closet on second floor, to the right of the bathroom door, instaed of that blank dead end space.

Where do the mechanicals go? HVAC. Water heater.

The position of the range presents a problem for me. At the corner there it makes use of the undercabinet space difficult to impossible. These can help make use of the space

And, just a personal thing, but we dislike any sliding doors unless there is physically no way to avoid them. We had patio sliders as our house was originally built. We were so much happier when I removed and replaced it with a double french door set. But that is an item of (intense) personal dislike and nothing more.

Is there a door to the main floor bedroom on the interior? Probably an oversight?

Is the bathroom with shower needed on the main floor along with the 1/2 bathroom in the master bedroom? With a bathroom upstairs as well, I might have gone in the direction of a 3/4 or full bathroom upstairs with the same off the master bedroom and a half bath adjacent to the kitchen wall if you wanted to provide the MBR with a totally separate bathroom. But again, just a different approach.

MountainDon · February 20, 2013, 06:09:51 PM

My first thought about the corner sink was maybe a good idea as under the sink is wasted space in some ways. And corners under lower cabinets also seem to be wasted space.

Jared Drake · February 20, 2013, 06:32:37 PM

OK here goes:
There will be two 'wet walls' on the lower floor due to the shower/washing machine and sink/toilet down below.
You're right, the wet walls should be thicker. Thanks
Good call on the vents. Maybe I can put a small closet or something above it to provide for a wall to run the vent through.
Closets. Right. I guess we do own clothes, don't we?
Closet on the second floor by the bathroom is a great idea. I'll relocate the bathroom door.
I totally forgot about the water heater. I need to find a place for one of those on demand heaters.
HVAC - that's another post entirely. I need some opinions on "zone heating/cooling" instead of whole house heating/cooling.
I'm not sure what to think about the oven placement. I put it there so my wife could see into the living room as she cooked, but I see what you mean about the cabinet. Crap.
Yep, the door to the bedroom was an oversight.
I'll look into that bathroom suggestion. I definitely want my wife and I to have our own bathroom. I want my two daughters to have a bathroom upstairs. I want the washer/dryer outside of our bedroom, so I put it in the bathroom. I could possibly make a half bath with washer/dryer in the main house and put a full bath in our bedroom. I'll look it over.
Thanks so much, Don. You're a huge help.

Jared Drake · February 20, 2013, 06:35:43 PM

Quote from: SouthernTier on February 20, 2013, 05:42:38 PM
My folks have a corner sink, and my brother used to. It seems like of all the places in the kitchen, that is the place you spend the most time in front of. A person there blocks off a significant amount of counter space (i.e. corner, and the counter on either side). Seems like I was often waiting for someone to finish washing a dish or something when I just wanted to pull out a drawer or something.

So I am not a fan of corner sinks,

Seriously, I'm not going to be in the kitchen jockeying for position at the sink. The kitchen is my wifes and she wants everyone out if she's in there doing something. And I won't tell her you said she'd block off "a significant amount of space".

February 20, 2013, 07:00:56 PM

QuoteHVAC - that's another post entirely. I need some opinions on "zone heating/cooling" instead of whole house heating/cooling.

Split minis can be very good for heating and cooling needs. In many climates they can heat and cool. One main unit outside and separate indoor room units.

I just recalled that I have seen a range in a corner like that where the drawer to the left, 90 degrees round the inside corner, could not be accessed unless the oven door was opened. Ranges can/will stick out further than the cabinet faces. Check out that too. The idea of being able to view acroos the range top does have merit. Corner cabinets are problem areas as far as easy access goes. We've done our best with one for 28 years... but there was no better solution than one of the rev a shelfs... we have added several of their other units to under the counter base cabinets.

Jared Drake · February 20, 2013, 07:21:54 PM

I don't like the position of the stove. It'll have to be moved somehow, so back to the drawing mouse!

Jared Drake · February 20, 2013, 07:30:40 PM

I really desperately wanted to use the Little House plans for two reason:
1. I already own them and,
2. There's not a house in the Gallery that's made entirely from Little House plans and I wanted to be the first. haha
If I add another lean-to room on the left side, I might be able to narrow the main house down to 14' and use the Little House plans like I'd like to.

Erin · February 21, 2013, 09:52:28 AM

Personally Jared, with a house with a small house, I wouldn't waste space on the private half-bath in the bedroom. That's better used as a closet. Or even shuffle things around a bit more to have a small mud/laundry/utility room. (My house is only 4' longer but a mudroom was a MUST). That might also give you the space for a backdoor so it doesn't have come right through you dining area.

To the corner sink, all I can say is that it looks like your wife is begging to do supper cleanup by herself for the rest of your lives.

Because that's the only time my husband and I are both at the sink. Although, no matter what, that corner will probably be cramped, even if you do a standard sink next to the fridge...And the corner sink might give you the most useful cabinet space.

I can't quite figure out your other floor though. Is that the second floor? In which case, are your stairs running through a wall?
I'm with Don on the range. I don't like it so tight into the corner, but not so much for operation of drawers/cabinets, but because it's uncomfortably crowded. I like to cook, but have lived in houses where the range was that tight and it was extremely unpleasant. You might consider just scootching it a 9" drawer/cabinet length to the left. Speaking of cabinets, consider a door on the living room/hallway side of that blind cabinet's end. You've just opened up more accessibility, or created a space to store games, the good china, etc.

MountainDon · February 21, 2013, 10:35:57 AM

QuoteSpeaking of cabinets, consider a door on the living room/hallway side of that blind cabinet's end.

Excellent. I have seen that done now that you mention it. The one I saw did not have an actual wall across the back of the counter/range space. Just the cabinet bases with finished panels and a door in the back of the corner cabinet. That one also had a countertop lip of about 10 inches or maybe 12" running along the back edge full width behind stove and all.

February 24, 2013, 04:30:04 PM

I couldn't figure out the second floor either. It'll be about 13 steps down from the top before you have 6'8" headroom. Then draw in the stairhole and figure out how to frame that, figure your joist depths and overall rise. Then draw a section cut through the stair area to confirm headroom. Then redraw the second floor walls.

This is a section through the stairs on the house I've been drawing. Notice I was getting into headroom trouble and got creative. Look at how far down the flight the hole needs to be, you typically have to start the hole before the 3rd step... about 96" ceiling height, you need 80" headroom, and you're coming up 7.5" per step.

waggin · February 24, 2013, 10:13:19 PM

Agree with the folks that mentioned getting rid of the half bath in the master BR. The main bath is begging for some pocket doors, as the existing doors would drive me bonkers. Always having to step into a small space to use the toilet/shower area and having to close the door to get to the dryer, then open it again to carry the laundry out would bother me. You show a pocket door in the master; why not in the main bath?

getwilde · March 05, 2013, 07:00:43 PM

Our cabin is a bit smaller than this, but similar layout: bedrooms are on second floor, and bath on main floor. We've never wished for a bathroom on the second floor. But we have treasured every square inch of closet/storage space.

A friend of ours had trouble with frozen pipes in exterior walls until they remodeled. Might the location of fixtures on your second-floor bathroom give you similar problems?

My wife and kids have enjoyed our bathtub. It's small -- maybe 4-1/2 ft long, but it's useful.

Ohh that we had a washer/dryer. (We're not sure they are viable as there's a chance of overloading our septic system, and we don't have room anyway.) Have you considered a stackable unit if space is at a premium?

Pantry for the kitchen? (Maybe that's planned for under the stairs?)
Fireplace?

Mechanical room: You mentioned a on-demand water heater. We looked at a unit for our cabin, but were told that 1) our water is hard enough that calcium/deposits would become a problem, and 2) the units are very difficult to winterize.

Speaking of winterizing (if that's a reality for you)... consider running all of your pipe, every inch of it, downward and out into the yard, with an exit valve on the hot and cold water lines. To winterize, you just close your water main, open those two exit valves and a few faucets (to break vacuum), and then let the water drain out of the system. Flush toilets, add a bit of RV anti-freeze to the drain p-traps and toilet bowl, and you've winterized in about 2 minutes!

Anyway... just some thoughts. Good luck!!!