16 x 40 1.5 story, plus solar greenhouse

[ailsaek]

Hi all.  I just spent the day working on a houseplan.  What do you all think of it?  Do you think it could work?  I'm thinking of sending it off to FirstDay Cottages to see what they say about it.

http://www.ailsaek.com/ailsa/images/16-x-40.jpg

Sorry for the bare link, I can't figure out how to resize picturtes here (I can do it in HTML perfectly well, but I can't get HTML code to work in posts here).

[Daddymem]

Looks nice.  I haven't seen FirstDay's solution for the knife stairs on the narrow homes yet.  Have you gotten their information packet?  They have a DVD out now too.  Worth the trip up there if you have the time.

[Amanda_931]

Looks good.  

What is the greenhouse for?

Dan Chiras (?) in Home Power ? has a list of 10 or so of the worst mistakes that people trying to build green/solar make, and not being clear on what the greenhouse is supposed to do is high on the list.

Looking for the list, found another article by him on good stuff to use, also in Home Power

I have friends whose (small attached--as opposed to large separate) greenhouse they use for a)starting seeds for the vegetable plants they will sell in a couple of months and b) there's a blower to run heat into the house when the greenhouse gets up to 80^oF.  But you'd hate to lounge in there.  On the other hand yours gets morning sun, but not afternoon, so it might well make a great place for morning coffee, but it may run out of sun pretty quickly as the day goes on.  Not a bad idea at all for it to be sheltered from late afternoon sun in the summer, though.

[trish2(Guest)]

Overall, a nice first cut.  The rooms seem spacious and your furniture layout in the bedroooms appears well thought out.

You may want to take another look at the kitchen.  The flow of the kitchen seems awkward.  The refig and stove could use more counter space directly adjacent to them.  As a woman, I would find it difficult to function in that kitchen.  The traffic to the dining table is right in the path of moving food between sink, stove and refrig.

[trish2(Guest)]

00ps--correction.  I meant to say that there needs to be more counter space around the sink.  There's plenty around the stove.  Any chance of moving the sink to an outside wall so that you can put a window above it?

[Daddymem]

Some of your furniture may need to move.  The Original model has a 4' knee wall upstairs.  That tub up against it may need to move out.  The beds may be okay for kids.  For FirstDays the dimensions are interior since you don't know how thick the exterior foam insulation will be.  Bath over bath is good for hiding the pipes.  I think you can get two windows on the gable ends to fit upstairs (but I think I have seen four before...maybe narrower ones?).  You can put windows in the kneewalls upstairs...John's house has them and they are really nice, makes it feel more than the 16-feet wide it is.  Just so you know, anything other than the 24-foot wide, 1.5 story model or a standard "Original" (that may even be limited to the 18-foot wide for stair code issues) floorplan they already have is rumored to take a lot longer, waiting list iirc for "custom" homes.  They are swamped up there.  If you choose the FirstDay route, I wouldn't put tons of effort into laying it out...we did and ended up coming home with an entirely different floorplan.  Go meet David, tour some houses up there.  David is one of those people who knows what will work for you before you do.  I think David is either in or heading to the Bahamas now or soon.  John reads this page sometimes so he may or may not chime in too.  Feel free to join up in the Yahoo Group Mommymem set up for FirstDay Cottages (linked on Mommymem's blog in my signature).  Our hopes is that some of the families that have completed their homes will join up and help answer questions and provide guidance.  For you, you can at least benefit from others who have gotten as far as purchasing the plans.  Mommymem's current job (besides keeping the house running, the kids alive, and me out of trouble) is getting our building permit so she has become quite knowledgeable in permitting (good looks and brains to boot, yay me!), and is online a lot.

[ailsaek]

Proper answers for people later, but is this kitchen better?

Image resized gk

P.S.  Sorry about the too-large jpeg.  I realized it was too big after I posted it, and then I had a toddler meltdown to deal with and had to leave it for a bit.

[Deana]

The corner sink may turn out to be a nightmare, it has in my daughter's house. If you plan on a dishwasher, the only place to put the dirty dishes is on the counter above the place where the dishwasher will go. To do the dishes you are then crammed in between the open door of the dishwasher which is at a weird angle and the sink and  reaching awkwardly to the counter above said open dishwasher to grab the dishes.

[glenn-k]

No problem with the image resize, Ailsa.  I was just in checking the forum and having a bite to eat and thought I'd take care of it real quick.  Glad to have your input here on the forum.

[Ailsa C. Ek]

Hallo again all.  DH nixed the design, he wants a saltbox.  I've got a saltbox design pretty much worked out, but I figured I'd answer your comments first.

Amanda:

The greenhouse is for providing whatever passive solar we can get out of it, wintering over geraniums and other plants, starting seeds for the veggie and flower gardens, and mostly to be warm and green in the winter.  Heck, I'll even heat the thing at night (although I'd rather just give it lots of thermal mass and put in some insulated shades) to keep it above freezing if I have to.  The newest version of the greenhouse has a clawfoot tub in it as well.  A tubfull of water is good thermal mass, right?

Daddymem:

I joined your yahoo group today.    I'm working on rearranging the upstairs bathroom.  The kids' bedroom is, well, for kids, so the tucked-in beds are a feature, not a bug.  I'm pretty sure my son would adore having his own cave to retreat to.  I do want to make the trek up to NH to visit with the First Day folks and hash out some ideas.  DH is less sold on them than I am, though, so we'll see how it all shakes out.

Deana:

This I don't get.  Why not just stand on the other side of the dishwasher door to load it?  Mine's no distance from my sink now, and that's how I load it.  I'd never fit on the other side.