my (amatuer) house plan

[beachedandbloated]

John, Glenn, and all the members,
Thanks for your encouragement on going ahead with my plans for the beach house in the Bahamas. Tackling this virtually alone, with no experience to speak of, it's comforting to know you're out there.
I'm going to build this on  3' piers, facing the water (east), and would like to know if any of you think one of the plans offered on this site could be modified to fit my needs ? Open, and encouraging, to all suggestions. Thanks, and Happy New Year to you all

[Ailsa C. Ek]

Looked your floorplan over (it's rather large, you might want to set the width to something a bit smaller, say 400 or so).  The one thing I am wondering is, in such a small place, why two bathrooms?

[tjm73]

And where would meals be prepared?

[Mark_Chenail]

Im wondering why two bathrooms as well and such small bathrooms.  Neither one is big enough for a full bath.  And what purpose are the little window bays in each bedroom?  Are they walk in closets?  Perhaps it might make more sense to make the one between the bathrooms into a shared shower room between the two bath spaces which could just have a commode and sink.  Also the bedrooms have very little wall space for a bed. If you put a full bed in each room on the blank wall, there would not be enough room on each side to open the doors unless they are very narrow doors indeed.  Also in a tropical climate, I would think you would want to take advantage of cross ventilation as much as possible.  Perhaps you should look at some typical indigineous floor plans for the tropics. You might find some inspiration at these sites:

http://www.news.ai/build/index.html

http://www.laheritage.org/CreoleHeritage/Color.html

I would consider a dogtrot plan with the wide veranda running through the middle of the house.  The bedrooms and bath on one side and the long kitchen down the other.  Just as easy to build and  in keeping with the vernacular architecture of the area.

[Jimmy C.]

If it were a true beach house those bath areas would be just a place to change into a dry set of clothes. I like the layout. Mostly the big screened in porch.
The bahamas? What a location to build!

[Ailsa C. Ek]

Here's my rework of the plan, with one tiny bath instead of two (you could do an outdoor shower in the Bahamas, couldn't you?) and some built-in bunks with bookshelves.

[Daddymem]

Have you seen the Tsunami House?  If I were to build in a tropical climate, I would consider this layout...tsunamis or not I like open floorplan and the sheltered overhangs.

[Mark_Chenail]

Alisa:

Heres a couple of quick sketches I pulled from my files to show what I meant.  Now lets see if I can post these.  :-/

[John Raabe]

Nice workup Mark! You have a good sense of space and a practical design sense.

The Dogtrot is an inexpensive and easy to build structure with a maximum amount of privacy in a limited footprint.

I have a version of the design (a bit bigger) that I've played with for some time. The dogtrot center is a sunroom type space with a glass roof. (Not for the topics but great in the temperate zone I'm in.) The right side is the public and social space (eat, cook, sit) and the left the private spaces (two bedrooms and bath). It could all be built on a post and pier foundation.

[ailsaek]

Mark:

You win!    Yours is great.  That'd make a marvellous summer cabin just about anywhere, I think.  I'm tempted to pass your design on to my father-in-law, who has a lot of land by a small pond in northern Maine.

[glenn-k]

One consideration I make since remodeling our rental is that one bathroom shoud be open to visitor use without having to go through a bedroom - Someone may want to sleep in.

[beachedandbloated]

You're all very kind to respond, and with such good ideas, too !
The initial reasoning behind the layout is the eventual (one to two years) use of this structure for guests (paying, and family), to provide them with bath and sleeping privacy. Another unit will be built behind, and above, this one, and will house the kitchen, dining, play rooms, and the master bedroom. By building as simply as I can now, I'll get out of my rental and onto my property !

I like that rework you did Ailsa ! How'd you do that ! Your suggestion, and Marks', has me thinking of making the two bedrooms into one, and incorporating the 'dogtrot' concept. Ventilation is a serious consideration (hence the windows in the baths and closets), and I have an adversion toward central air - on many levels. Yet, as you might imagine, screens are essential; the mosquitos and no-see-ums are preposterous here, at times. (just when the bonefishing heats up !).
Thanks for your input Daddymem, and the links. too. Mark, you took some time to offer your suggestions, thanks, man ! And Jimmy C. you'd love it down here - keep up with the help and I'll throw a party for all of you you'll never forget.
And John and Glenn, you guys are always there, thanks. I love this site !

[ailsaek]

Hey beached.  Glad you liked it.    I just grabbed your design, imported it into Photoshop, and played with it a bit.  (I know Photoshop isn't the ultimate architectural design tool, but it's one I know how to use.)

[mark_chenail]

Beached  and Ailsa:  I really need to pay attention.  I naturally meant those designs for Beached but saw Ailsa's rework and thought the original post was hers.  Sorry for the confusion.

John:  Thanks for the compliments.  They mean a lot coming from a professional.
If you like dogtrot designs perhaps you will enjoy the attached.  This was done for a couple from texas who have recently bought land near me in Missouri. They wanted a structure they could camp out in for the better part of a year while they built a permanent house that would lend itself to conversion to other uses later on.  I gave them a sort of dogtrot compound sheltered with an awning that would convert to a drivethrough barn later on.  The structures will probably have dirt floors to save money, except for the storage room, but  I suggested they might lay a bed of sand and put down patio blocks, which could be re-used later. The storage room will have a temporary sawdust toilet.  Comments are always appreciated.





Here is a printable gif file of the first diagram: http://www.countryplans.com/Downloads/DBLSHED.gif
and the outline framing diagram for a pole buiding: http://www.countryplans.com/Downloads/DBLSHEDFRAMING.gif

[jraabe]

Mark:

If you have the file above in a larger format (or PDF) you might try attaching it to the message (modify and then try attach). This new forum allows this but I haven't experiment with it much.

If that doesn't work you could email it to me and I'll post it to the website and provide a link. Done; see links above.

[ailsaek]

Oh good.  I like that plan.  Very practical.

[rita]

wow!  I love this dog trot barn.  Are the ends completely open?  could this be altered to be usable in colder climates?  I love the comcept.

rn/

[mark_chenail]

Rita:   Theres no reason you couldnt close both ends of the barn by putting in a good sized header and installing sliding or swinging doors.  You might want to install some clerestory lighting in the short upper walls as well.  A barn of this type is called a monitor barn.  Heres a pic of a modern version.

[jraabe]

Mark:

I know you feel you are ready to outgrow the paint program software you are using to do these designs, but I am interested in what you are working with and if you have an image library of shapes you can cut and paste into your drawings. For instance, the window and doors that you have in the elevations - are each of those hand drawn for each project? Are you able to draw to scale, with dimensions? Or do you need to calculate each wall shape before you draw it.

A simple program that would allow scale drawings and simple drop in elements could be very useful for others. I continue to look for an easy to learn, easy to use sketching program that doesn't require CAD level attention spans. It would be great if we could all standardize on one program and be able to share files, floorplans and details (the premise behind the //www.Planhelp.comsite).

Your simple drawings are actually easier to visualize than the 3D Home Architect elevations. 3DHA is much better at doing working drawing level floorplans. But for sketching up design concepts you are doing a great job with your colorful paint program.

[mark_chenail]

John:  I just use plain old paint program that came with my puter.  Actually it isnt that hard to do although it does take a good solid knowledge of the 12times multiplication table.   If you have ever drawn with paint, you may have noticed that it can be set with a grid pattern.  Ive always assumed that each grid was a pixel and I  generally use the scale of 1pixel:1inch.   So if I want a line 12 feet long  I draw a line that is 144 pixels.  You can set paint to draw a box automatically so I usually decide the dimensions of the building and draw the basic box first. I usually make all the walls 6inches thick just for convenience sake. I then draw the inside box of the structure and then just start measuring out the rooms and laying out the walls.  Its a bit like actually laying out the sill plates of a house or building with blocks. It goes fairly quickly.  As to doors and windows, once I have drawn one of the right size,  I cut and paste it unto the plan where ever I want another of the same size.  I do have a little file made up with basic windows and doors predrawn both in plan and facade and I can pop them in as I go along.
To draw the elevation, what I usually do is cut out the wall I want from the plan and paste it at the bottom of a clean page.  Then I set a base line above it for the floor level and draw the basic box of the elevation.  Then I  run lines up from the wall plan below it to mark rough openings and other details.on the facade.  Then I pop in the windows from my little library or draw the window free hand and then cut and paste that one into all the rough openings.
So its really a combination of free hand drawing and cut and paste.  For really small detail work I crank up the magnification and work on one area at a time.  Its a bit like doing needlepoint if you ever done that.
The major limitations are ones of scale.  At 1pixel/1inch, you cant draw anything much bigger than 50x40 feet and that fills the screen.  So for anything bigger, you need to change the scale. it takes a bit of math at the start but once u decide what scale you want u can go ahead.  Also very small structures are hard to do at the 1p/1" scale unless you use the magnification feature to work.
Another limitation is that u cant really draw a clean line unless it is truly horizontal or vertical.  The cleanest diagonal line is 12/12 pitch. Its a minor problem but does make drawing  gables and eaves a bit messy.  It takes practice.  And of course drawing in perspective is impossible.   You can do curves but its tricky.  Ive done a few round rooms and it about drove me nuts. :-?
My best advice is to just go into Paint and play with it a bit. Just take your time and you will figure it out.  If folks would find it helpful, I could  make up a little tutorial page we could post that showed the various steps for drawing a simple floor plan and  elevation.  It might take me a couple of days to do it, but if people would find it useful, Id be glad to do it.

[beachedandbloated]

I'd find it very useful, Mark, and would be grateful if you could find the time to post it !

[Daddymem]

Mark:

I know you feel you are ready to outgrow the paint program software you are using to do these designs, but I am interested in what you are working with and if you have an image library of shapes you can cut and paste into your drawings. For instance, the window and doors that you have in the elevations - are each of those hand drawn for each project? Are you able to draw to scale, with dimensions? Or do you need to calculate each wall shape before you draw it.

A simple program that would allow scale drawings and simple drop in elements could be very useful for others. I continue to look for an easy to learn, easy to use sketching program that doesn't require CAD level attention spans. It would be great if we could all standardize on one program and be able to share files, floorplans and details (the premise behind the //www.Planhelp.comsite).

Your simple drawings are actually easier to visualize than the 3D Home Architect elevations. 3DHA is much better at doing working drawing level floorplans. But for sketching up design concepts you are doing a great job with your colorful paint program.

Has anyone evaluated Deisgn Workshop Lite for this purpose?  Online tutorials and all.  I'm afraid I have far too much CAD experience to evaluate whether this is simple enough for someone without CAD experience...
From a review by ZDNET:
For people doing 3D with a zero budget, Artifice provides a basic no-frills DesignWorkshop Lite free for downloading. With DesignWorkshop Lite, the Save function is disabled for models of over 100 solid objects, or more than 1000 polygons, but projects of any size can be opened, viewed, rendered, and printed. Import and export translation for the DXF, PICT, and 3DMF formats built-in.  
With DXF capability, those who don't want to use the software could possibly open the plans in IrfanView or other free image viewer supporting DXF and for those with full blown CAD capabilities DXFs could possibly be created and imported into DWL.  I'll give it a shot when I have some time.

Looks like 6 ZIP files or an 8 mb exe.

[BinaryWhisper]

Mark_Chenail

Very nice I haven't seen, that I can remember, a design concept quite like that. The cottage would make a great retreat down south or up here in Canada.

The barn might just be perfect for us if we decide to build a house. Gonna have to play with the concpt and see if it can be made to work for us. Thanks

We are thinking of moving back out to the rurals and building a small efficient mildly alternative style home with a big ass work shop and a 4 car garage with a lof... LOST just came on .. cya