Stallllllling

Hi all. Well, it has been Easter here and the children have been off on holidays for about three weeks. During this time we have had the plans into council and we expect atleast another month before we get any type of approval. During this time we have been looking for a builder and it hasn't been that easy with everyone in Perth running around trying to get someone to build their house as quick as possible.   We will see what happens over the coming weeks as we hopefully get approval and  a builder pops his head up to say he wants to build for the price we want them to... ha.

In any case, thanks for watching this channel. It is a bit slow, I know..

T

3d Views

Hi all, I received the 3D views the other day and thought I would post them here.

View Full Album

You will see a bunch of 3d  views here. I will need to give you a bit of an overview…. but not today.

Decisions

Hi all. We are onto our third draft of designs for the extensions now. Decisions on windows and sizing are crucial at this stage as we have decided to open up the entire wall to glass from the lounge room to the dining room.  We have been told that we will need to use Low Emissivity glass for the doors and windows along that side of the building as well. This glass reflects radiant energy from the sun and supposedly reflects the radiant energy back into the room as well.  How it is made , there are two major ways of making the glass, but this is slightly unimportant. What this glass doesn’t do is stop conductive heat loss, which is not very good but if you were to compare it’s performance from plane double glazing to single pane 4mm you would find that this glass sits about in the middle of these two types in regards to performance. Why are we doing this. Well, I think if I had the choice and I could find double paned glass with Low E  included ( usually placed on the inside of the air pocket in the double paned glass) …. Price is the issue, especially in Perth, AU as there is little competition and not much take up on the product as people don’t see the benefit in this hot environment and consider double glazing as a cold climate necessity. If the government pushed on this I think there would be more of a take up but the government here has decided that market forces to be the front runner in the decision making. Not that important  I guess, but I have seen the markup on this glass as being rather exorbitant .  One local supplier is quoting that the Low E glass is 140 dollars per sqm more than regular 4 mm glass.Basically their cost price is around 70 dollars per sqm.  We are having to go with this as our glass area for the building is very high, higher than the council allows and the only way to get around this is to move to a more energy efficient design. If they come back to us and say that even with the Low E glass we will have to make changes I guess we will have some big decisions to make.  Next week I get to talk to the neighbors about a parapet wall that we would like to build to support the outdoor living roof which is about 3.3 meters high. I don’t think it will be a problem as it will protect them from the westerly sun and keep their house a little cooler in the late afternoon.   But you never know how people will react . So we will see.

Virginia has taken the week off to help look over the city for Bathroom, Kitchen, and fixtures  as we are focusing on the look and feel of the end result.  I should have the third draft for the designs in the next few days, will keep you posted.

2nd Draft on our designs.. just the floor plan at this stage.

Hi all… I have just had the second draft of our designs sent to us. We have been a bit busy this week to get back to the designer with any minor changes but I think we are there. Your impressions?   We have a few changes, the folding accordian style doors will become sliding doors that stack, this gives us the option of getting screens, where as  the accordian style don’t have this feature. To all of you Canadian and Americans out there, all the windows are single pane… eek. Not what I wanted eiter . Not even sure if looking into the price would  make me change my mind.. it will be pricey.  Have a look, be open….. t

 

Design process

Hi all, Gin and I are busily working away at our design ideas and have graph paper of varying size sprawled all over the outside table as I type away. We have a few concepts but I think that we will quickly realize that we are going to run out of space. Our current lot size is 594 sqm and the lot is 13.1 meters wide 43 meters long approx. So, We have come across many types of designers, drafts people, and architects who can do varying types of jobs. Obviously if you go with a draftsman you are supplying the design for them and you must ensure you have very clear vision as to your requirements. We have had quotes from 3000 to 45000 for design and blueprinting as well as management of the project. In many respects we are looking for  some good design ideas, and in a perfect world we would go with an architectural firm who could manage the project but for the size of the project it just doesn’t make sense to spend that much money.   Our wonderful bank isn’t interested in helping us finance the design process unless it is incorporated into the price of the builders price and we don’t want to chose a builder based on their inhouse design skills, we want the design first, then let our project go to tender. This is one of the rudimentary problems we are encountering. The bank is happy for us to have crap design just as long as the building comes in on budget and is worth the allotted loan.  Some of you would say, well just cough up the 20k for design and get on with it. Well, we could do that but then we would be diluting our ability to borrow by using up cash reserves.

So, we are going to have to start to think….

Functionality versus Luxury

So, the ultimate question comes to almost anyone who decides to put an addition onto an existing house. How much money do you spend? You have a lot of things to weigh up. How long you will be in the house after the Reno is done, is also something to take into consideration, as time acts as a buffer against the almost inevitable overspend. We are looking at  ensuring we have a house that is easily sold, a house that is perfect for a medium sized family or 4-6 people.  We live approx 5 km from the city centre from Perth in Western Australia. We are three blocks from a train station which takes fifteen minutes to get into the city centre. Once in the centre all buses are free. So it is a couple of dollars to get into the city and it takes relatively no time at all. This bodes well in any energy crisis which we will inevitably be ensconced in again some day soon. We also  have the luxury of being within five hundred meters of two primary schools. One a public school and another a Catholic school. We are within walking distance to a public library, tennis courts, bowling club, family day care and a few small restaurants as well as the required bottle shop. Ten minutes to the closest large grocery store and mall via car. So we have what most people look for in a house for a young family. We are ten minutes from the domestic/international airport, with no flight path over head, so for anyone travelling with work a lot like my wife, it is nice to know that you will be home in a short time once you hit the ground.  

So, I have given you the pros on the house, what are the cons, It is old, and I always worry about termites as WA is prone to them and this house has had them in the past. Each year we are here we get them treated but they are in this neighborhood and I am just going to have to be on the look out for them all the time.  The roof needs replacing, none of the plumbing is worth saving, all of the ceilings will need redoing as well as some of the wall plastering as I want new finishes. Most of the wiring is older now , though not original, basically new wiring will be required throughout. The house does not have any central air-conditioning , so this means that if this is what we want we will need to have all of this put in.   All in all, lots of money.  Houses on this side of the world rarely have basements, so we don’t have the added benefit of having extra space like most houses in North America do by having that space below you. As well you lose the ability to have a cool place in the house. This for Perth seems ludicrous as you would think it would be on of those places on the earth where a basement would be an important place to have.

Things I would like to have in the house. These things are things that are WANTS, and will definitely be on the short list.

A cellar, A large walk in pantry, a parents retreat with office space and reading space, a pool, air-conditioning through out the house, Polished concrete floors. self designed kitchen with industrial accents. I would love a Sauna close to the pool, I would love to have the current living area to have a loft put into it, with dormer style windows. The current bedrooms to have French doors off of them out to a new outdoor deck,  all new high brick fence between our property and the neighbors.

So, there are a lot of things to do to the current house and all are quite do able. There are a few things that we will definitely have to cut out of the plan and I am not silly to think that this will be a cheap Reno. But I am hoping to get clarity on important aspects to our design as well as purely functional aspects of the house into the future. I would very much like to have an open airy house, which when closed can be warm during the winter. Perth is a desert city and you really get extreme temperature fluctuations throughout the year and for this reason you can have a big swing in temperatures from day and night, as well as seasonal changes. Ensuring the house doesn’t get extreme sun in the summer is very important and it is also very important to ensure that there is also enough light coming into the house throughout the year.   Being able to adjust temperatures according to your needs without having to throw on the air-conditioning is important, sometimes difficult, yet possible ninety percent of the time if you build properly. Enough said for now, I will try and cleanse this drivel over time.

( the act of writing in itself is a great way of clarifying what I like and need for the house  )

thanks and i will write more later.  Tony