Planning a house

We have never done this before, and we only want to do it once. It has been said that you need to build a couple of houses to get it right, but this is the one we want to spend the rest of our lives in, so it is a little challenging. We have put together a basic floor plan that we are starting from, and welcome thoughts from family and friends if you think we can do it better!

 

The (basic) picture above is how we see the layout of the house block, which is 60 x 80 metres. The current layout of the house itself is as follows:

We appreciate the quality isn't what it could be, but the design software doesn't convert particularly well.. In addition to the floor plan, we have notes as to the construction style we are planning. As you will read, we are looking at alternative construction styles and materials, so this will be an adventure for us all!

Notes on house build

We intend to erect an agricultural shed, and build in underneath it. The shed we are planning is 30 m x 15 m, giving a total water catchment area of 450 sqm. The shed will have steel posts, set at 6 m intervals down each long side, and none under the main structure. The roof will be zincalume (should reflect heat and light), and I have seen a non-standard guttering style that maximises the trapping of water but limits collection of debris and leaves.

The external walls of the house will be rendered straw bale, and will have a finished width of 500 mm. Internal walls will be rendered ‘hempcrete’, and will be 200 mm thick. Hempcrete is hugely insulative, and easy to erect. A light frame is erected, and the Hempcrete is rammed into a frame around it. It becomes incredibly light, is easy to use, and provides for long term use. The natural fibres are insect repellent, and the lime binder provides for additional protection.

Internally, the floors will be a mix of the following:

·            Wet areas/Kitchen – Polished concrete

·            Bedrooms – Poured earth (sealed with Linseed)

·            Balance of house – Timber

Where timber is used through the house, it will be cypress. As well as being local (reducing delivery costs) it is naturally termite resistant.

Walls internally will be rendered (so will not need repainting) and will have a picture rail embedded within for hanging art.

Windows on the western side of the house will be small, as that is the side that the bad weather comes from (Summer and Winter). The outside western wall will be clad in weatherboard (untreated Cypress) to provide further protection against the effects of wind and rain.

The shed we erect will stand 4.2 m at the eaves, and will have a gabled roof with a pitch of 10 degrees(ish), meaning it will be about 5.5 m high and the peak, running East-West. Internal ceiling heights will be approx 3 m, and the ceiling will be suspended from the roof. None of the walls in the house will need to be loadbearing.

Some of the ceilings through the house will be corrugated iron, with the exception of the kitchen, which will comply as a commercial kitchen.

The deck at the front of the house will be shaded with a pergola that we will grow plants over to provide summer shade and cooling, and allow winter sun to enter the house.

The cellar and pantry are on the south (cool) side of the house, and will have tile drains down to the granite shelf to draw up cool air to aid in cooling them. The pantry will have whirligig fans in the roof to keep airflow moving through the room to aid in proper aging of cheeses and hams.

The roof cavity will also have straw bales laid on the suspended ceiling to provide for additional insulation and temperature control.

We anticipate having an ‘attic’ for storage. We are thinking about a platform that is on a pulley system for raising/lowering stuff from the attic, and a drop down ladder for access.

Water will be collected from the roof into a 100,000l tank. Sewerage will be by way of septic, and we will have a grey water system for recycling water when we can.

The wood fired oven at the front of the house will generate huge amounts of thermal mass. I am thinking about building a small room on the northern side of the oven for the dual purpose of wet weather drying of clothes, and as a sauna. This will need some kind of pipe system that allows the heatflow to be managed (the oven temp will get up to 600 deg cel).