Please critique our 20x34 plan

[tristan]

First, this forum has been a wealth of information.  It's very encouraging to hear others' experiences in building a home.  It's a piece of cake right?!?!?!? please critique our slightly modified universal cottage.  some details:

Budget build as much as possible
primarily wood heat with electric baseboard backup
to be located in western oregon
crawlspace foundation
i-joists and attic storage trusses.
The "nook" in the plans will actually be a small office and the "office" will actually be a bedroom (only allowed two bedrooms here)
The utility room next to the kitchen will have a upright freezer washer, dryer, sink and toilet (we have the combined utility room/half-bath now and like it)

below are the plans as well as some perspective views.  It's not perfectly refined to its final form but pretty close.  Let us know what you all think!

[lobster]

very well thought out design.
i can only say you probably should have one 36-inch wide entry door so you can easily get large objects such as refrigerators inside, not to mention a person in a wheelchair.
-bruce

[MountainDon]

probably should have one 36-inch wide entry door

Good idea. Not sure what code requires, but a 36" door makes sofa moving, etc much easier. Even with a 36 I need to remove it for one or two things.
Also check the windows for size to qualify for emergency egress.

Chapter 3 IRC covers details in planning, doors, windows, stairs......
http://publicecodes.citation.com/icod/irc/2012/index.htm

[Rob_O]

Ummm.... I'd be inclined to mirror the second floor layout and make the porch roof a walkout off the master bedroom. Losing the nook would allow you to add a master bath, although the office space may be necessary for you

I like it, good job.

[cryandavis]

Thanks for posting this, it looks great especially since I've been looking at the Universal Cabin for our build. Don't know if snow is a factor for you, but if so you might consider a little more space between the windows and porch roof.  Had a similar porch at our cabin in Maine, and it wasn't uncommon for 12"-24" of snow to stay on the porch roof for extended periods (ours was North side) and bury the bottoms of the windows. 

[metolent]

Aren't there 2 36" doors?  I see 2 marked 3068.  Maybe it's been updated?

So I guess you'll tie in the kitchen sink vent into the bathroom vent somewhere in the wall between the two windows (master br and upstairs bath) before going through the roof?  Will your vents be near the exterior wall or will you run them up near the ridge?  I'm guessing your 3" drain for the upstairs bath will go just to the left of that 3-window cluster on the first floor? 

Edited - I originally asked about the bath window being tempered, but missed the SG markings on your plan for the bath and the stairs....  never mind - you're way ahead of me!   

Really nice layout and great renderings.  My wife would have really appreciated such articulate drawings.... 

[tristan]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. 

Yeah, both exterior doors are 36 inches.  Actually though it probably would be nice to have an even wider door- it does make moving things in and our a lot easier. 

Cryandavis: yeah we toyed with the porch roof and windows a lot and this is what we ended up with.  Not much snow to worry about here but we may still reduce the slope of the porch roof to give a little a little more room for flashing.

Metolent:  That was a good catch on your part, thanks.  My wife is just getting into planning out all the DWV pipes and ran into the problem with the three windows right under the toilet.  I think she plans to mirror the bathroom layout to shift that stack over to the left.  DWV seems like such a pain!     

[tristan]

oh- and one more thing to see if anyone has any experience on: we've put our woodstove right next to the stairs which will have open balusters (easy to see in the rendering).  The distance between the stove/stovepipe will be adequate for combustible clearance but i wonder if inspectors will have a problem with the hot stovepipe being so close to the stairs where someone could grab it?

[JRR]

I have seen balusters run all the way up, a "wall" of balusters, .... and the handrail mounted inside.  Pretty neat! ... I thought.