Ideas to maximize window placement
I’m a first-time homebuilder and would love to get some opinions on my houseplan. I want to build a Pretty Good House, if you’re familiar with the concept. Basically, build above code until it stops making financial sense.
Here’s the set-up: I/m in climate zone 5b, high desert, lots of heat with cold winters. I have property on the north side of the access road that has great views to the north, west and east. I’ve put the shared living space on the north side to take advantage of the views, with clerestory windows to try to maximize solar gain while not turning the bedrooms into saunas in the summer.
What are your opinions on the design I have below? I’m trying to minimize glazing acreage while still getting pleasant amounts of light and views in the various rooms. I was thinking to make bedroom windows taller, put in a window above the toilet in master bath… North is up.
I appreciate any and all thoughts!
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Replies
Any chance you can turn those into a PDF?
Posting your drawings in word is too small and hard to read dimentions and heights. Try to flip printing page to landscape and PDF to larger page size.
A quick observation, not knowing your wall and roof assemblies nor energy analysis, I would move pluming fixtures to interior walls, and I would install large windows in the Living and Dining room, as there're really good performance windows that will enhance the views and won't loose too much heat thru to make a difference.
I've designed quite a few homes in CZ5B, high desert. With high quality windows and keeping your glazing to wall ratio at ≤15%, you shouldn't have too much energy penalty. To be sure, run an energy analysis and play with different options.
After a second look, I would consider having a shaded porch(s) outside the kitchen and/or Living room to spend time outside.
I switched the plans to pdf and enlarged them some in my original post, hopefully this is better.
After a third look, placement of bed in primary bedroom should be against the East wall, away from door or traffic patterns. I would think of tall narrow windows on each side of the bed, and a patio door or double window to the North.
I would love a patio on the north side! This would be fairly involved, though, as the land slopes downhill to the north. That may be a project in another couple of years. I was thinking of building that part of the wall for an easy conversion to a patio door once I have the budget to add this. For now I will be having a patio just to the east of the kitchen.
I really like the idea of tall narrow windows on each side of the bed in the primary bedroom, thanks. May look good in the two secondary bedrooms as well.
A patio east of the kitchen sounds great. And given that it doesn't have solar exposure it doesn't need a porch roof.
The window thoughts are good too. But keep in mind that at least one window in each bedroom should meet emergency egress requirements. Tall and "narrow" means you'll need to keep the width not too narrow. IRC2021 requires a minimum "net clear opening width" of 20".
My personal opinion is that insulated shutters (external) or internal insulated curtain/blind/drape systems are going to become more popular. Windows are a huge hole in the building that you don't look at 90% of the time. You may look into a few options. Motorized awnings. Insulated roller blinds. etc.
Windows to the north will be open most of the time. We get intense sunsets in the summer, were you thinking these shading systems on the south and west walls?
I made the comment before even seeing the plans. My rough thinking is along these lines:
People end up going with smaller windows than they want because of the efficiency hit of having big windows. But you don't windows all night long or anytime you are away from the house. It sounds like you are building in a fantastic location. Why not go for bigger windows and then find a way to keep them better insulated when you aren't using them. I saw a video of a guy in Europe using an insulated roller blind that I thought was pretty clever.
WestSlopeCO,
I know it's the north side, but I agree with Armando. Take an energy penalty and use much larger windows in the Living and Dining areas.
A floorplan! Well, you know I'm going to comment!
Your front entry is too narrow - it's just a tiny room with a closet and three doors. I would make it at least 3' to 4' wider and include a bench next to the closet with a window over it - and keep the garage door and living room door directly aligned. I would also pull your south front entry wall further south so you can have an inswing front door that when open rests against solid wall (it doesn't interfere or overlap with the garage door when open).
In the living room you have a long, long blank wall running east to west. Can you pull that wall south by one foot (the whole bedroom/bathroom side of the house would move forward one foot) and use the new one foot recess along that living room wall for built-in bookcases and display cases?
In bedroom #3 you walk in and you're immediately faced with a closet wall 42" away. Can you increase that to 48-54" to make the entry more spacious?
In your laundry room you could move the wall that the washer/dryer are backed onto north 18 inches to give yourself a bigger master closet (a closet doesn't need a window).
You don't need a separate room for a linen closet (and linens get damp when they're stored in a steamy bathroom). Keep linens in the laundry area.
Move your south master bedroom wall further south 18" to get a bigger bedroom, and now that the linen closet is gone make the shower longer.
In the master bedroom the only logical place for the bed is on the east wall so you don't want an operable window over the bed. Two narrower windows flanking the bed above the nightstands are a better solution.
In the kitchen, you will HATE having a window over the stove. All the grease and food particles from cooking will coat the glass and you should never reach over a stovetop to open a window. Widen the kitchen by one foot, switch the locations of the sink nd stove, lose the east kitchen window and put in a good overhead exhaust hood vented to outside. Or you could put the sink and dishwasher in the island but do put the stove where the sink is now.
Finally, if you leave the master bathroom layout as it is I think you will have to build a second "service cavity wall" about 6" deep on the south side of your master bathroom in order to keep plumbing supply, waste and vent pipes out of the exterior wall .
Personally, what I would do is: with the south master bedroom wall moved 18" further south, and the north master closet wall moved 18" further north, I would have the door to the master closet open from the corner of the master bedroom, not the master bathroom. Then on the west side of the bathroom I would put the double vanity and on the east side turn the shower 90 degrees (make it about 42" deep and about 6 feet long) and put the toilet on the east wall. Then put a window between the vanity and the shower on the north wall and align it with the bathroom entry door.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Rockies63,
I enjoy your plan reviews. They are always very insightful.
Couldn't all the plumbing for the Master Bath be accommodated in the interior walls on each side of the fixtures?
Wow, and here I thought I had already thought of all this! I appreciate the detailed analysis and suggestions. I am constrained to a max of 1500 square feet, as this is technically an ADU. I will have to look to see how many of your suggested changes I could fit into that envelope. I would love to not have to walk through the bathroom to get to the closet, but couldn't figure out how to avoid that.
Malcolm, thanks for your kind words! I'm not sure on the plumbing codes, or distances vents can be from fixtures, etc but the main thing that guides my suggestions are sightlines and storage. When you look into the master bathroom from the bedroom the first thing you see shouldn't be a toilet. Also, having the only bathroom window in the shower is a bad idea - no real view opportunities and a window in a shower is just a recipe for water problems, condensation and mold.
I also don't like doors and windows that don't align across a room - it messes up sightlines. And if you're going to build a long blank wall anyway, why not pull it back 12" and install bookcases, display cases, or pantries? If you add a 10' wide by 1' deep bookcase that has 7 shelves in it you've just added 70 sq' of storage (10 x 1 x 7). All it takes is moving a wall this way a bit, that way a bit and you have a much more functional space.
rockies63,
Yes, sorry - I was only speculating on the plumbing. You bathroom re-design makes a lot of sense to me.
Take the time to build the computer model of your home in BEopt.
When I did, I found with my house in my climate when I spun the house in every direction the change in my heating/ cooling cost was almost nothing. Any winter passive solar gains were canceled in the summer. Your milage may vary.
I like the light from the clear story windows but I think you could delete every other one.
Do you have an HVAC plan?
Walta
Walta, I am planning on using a ducted ERV system with separate minisplits. It's not designed yet, I will be reaching out to a local HVAC company soon.
I find that keeping the window area to 15% of the square footage of the walls gives you a concrete measure to shoot for.
If you're emphasizing views, maximize the amount of the window you can actually see through. You can't see through clerestories. Get them up off the ground, you can't see through that bottom part either, and low windows make furnishing the rooms a pain. I know the floor-to-ceiling windows look great in the architectural magazines, but they work a lot better with the bottom at about 36" and the top no higher than 80".
Be careful with windows facing west, on winter afternoons you get really annoying glare.
If you are trying to minimize glazing, omit the south window in your walk-in closet.
Hello, you might have to adjust things a bit from my drawing if you have to keep below 1500 sq'.
In my design I added one foot of extra width to the bedroom wing (bumping it out in front by one foot) in order to add in the bookcases/buffet/storage wall. However, this will take you over 1500 sq'
Therefore, you will probably have to keep the south bedroom exterior wall where it is and remove a foot of width from the bedrooms and mechanical room if you want to keep those built-ins (the pantry, master closet and master bath will remain the same size as what I've drawn).
You might have to also trim 6 inches off of the living/dining/kitchen width in order to add that square footage to the entry. Everything can be adjusted a bit this way or that, but the two main areas of improvement, in my opinion, are the front entry and the master bedroom/closet/bath area.
I hope you like my suggestions. Let me know if you have any questions.
rockies63,
Nice! What do you think of the windows in the living/dining area?
Hi Malcolm, it's hard to say about the windows in the main space. He said that his site slopes down a lot on the north side so he's hesitant to put a patio there.
Personally, I would change the double west window to a single in order to gain a bit more wall space for a TV and entertainment unit (you could extend the base unit as a bench over into the northwest corner under the remaining window) and the single window in the dining area I would change to a double outswing or sliding doors in case he ever does build a patio or deck there.
Needless to say, the door from the front entry to the living room should have glass in it, as should the east kitchen door. The best thing to do, once he's finalized room sizes, is to do a plan with to-scale furniture drawn on it - then he can finalize window sizes and placement.
One last thought: if you find you need a bigger mechanical room than the smaller space that's shown, you may consider turning the buffet and storage wall built-ins into a shallow depth pantry and use the pantry space for more mechanical room.
Hey, Westslope! Here's Option 2, which may be a little simpler to implement.
The south side of the house remains the same as in Option 1 but the main living space has had its width reduced by one foot. If you add that square footage to the entry you should still be under 1500 sq'. I also shifted the garage south a bit so its back wall aligns with the back wall of the entry - less corners.
Now compared to your original plans, by adding in the built-in bookcase wall you lose one foot of width in the living room on the south side (so your entry door to the living room will have to shift north a foot) and one foot of width on the north side so the total depth of your living space will be 2' narrower. This may seem like a lot but in a wide open room like this you'll never notice the difference.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks Rockies63, I appreciate the time and nuance you've put into this. I'll post here later once I get my plans finalized in the next couple of weeks.
Here are the updated floor plans, incorporating a lot of the excellent ideas here! I'm realizing now that I don't have a broom closet, but I could probably put a shallow one in the buffet or built in bookcase. I'll probably not put a window in the closet due to cost, even though I love the idea of natural light in there. Any other insights or tweaks before we start building?
WestSlopeCO,
Looks good! Two small suggestions:
- Consider omitting the window in the shower. They can work, but they have to be done perfectly.
- Extend the small sloped roof over the entry 3 ft to provide some shelter at the front door.
Hello, nice to hear from you again. I will look at the plans tonight and reply in more depth tomorrow but from my quick glance they look pretty good.
Hello, I made a few small tweaks to your plan.
On the north living room wall the center window remains in the same place but the spacing between it and the two side windows has increased a bit. The reason for the change is so that the smaller window on the right will be centered on the bedroom hallway (see red line on plan). The window on the left will move further left as well so the spacing between windows will be equal (somewhere between 8-10 inches apart). I also made the center window the future door (if you put the future door where the small right window is it will be at the end of the dining room table and everyone going in and out will have to maneuver around the table and chairs).
In the kitchen I removed the upper cabinets to the left of the stove (they project over the peninsula). Upper cabinets in this location are notoriously hard to access so instead I added a window so you have a view to the north from inside the kitchen.
In the master bedroom I narrowed the east windows by 6” so the spacing between them goes from maybe 6’6” to 7’6”. Visually, this will make it look like the windows aren’t crowding up against the sides of the headboard.
In the master bathroom I removed the window in the shower and changed the north shower wall into a full height stub wall (about 3’6” long) and changed the northwest corner of the shower to floor to ceiling glass (also, shower doors should swing out – if they swing in you have to go all the way into the shower in order to make room to close the door). This change will let a lot more light into the shower while still giving some privacy to the toilet area (it also makes it feel like the toilet isn’t at the end of a long narrow “hallway”). I removed the window in the master closet – you’ll never be in there long enough to enjoy a window so it would just end up being a waste of money.
The wall between the primary bathroom and the pantry/laundry got moved east 6”. As it was, the door in the primary bathroom was almost hitting the edge of the vanity and I also think taller people would like the added benefit of a 5’6” tub. In the laundry/mechanical room I went with a stacked front loading washer/dryer which will leave you room for a broom closet. If you can fit the washer/dryer in next to the water heater that would be even better (with all water connections through the one plumbing wall) and you could add a base cabinet and countertop next to the broom closet. The pantry door could also be a little narrower, maybe 28”, but that’s up to you.
In bedroom 3 I increased the distance from the east closet wall to the entrance door from 3’ 5 ½” to 4’ just so you don’t feel like you’re walking right into a wall when you open the door.
The last things I’d suggest is to consider changing the double bowl kitchen sink to a large, deep single bowl (it makes filling and cleaning large pots a lot easier) and changing the east kitchen door to an outswing that opens up against the exterior master bedroom wall.
As always, these are only my suggestions. I enjoyed working on this project and please let me know if you have any questions!
rockies63,
Good work - as usual.
What do you think of continuing the theme of through views by moving the window in the second bedroom closer to the closet, so when the door is open you see through it from the dining area? That might also make the bed feel more protected and cozy.
Hi Malcolm, thanks for the compliment. At that distance I don't think people will have much of a view, and few people are going to keep a bedroom door open that is visible from the dining table. Plus, I think he is trying to keep windows centered on walls (which I like). Either a window is way off in a corner or it is centered on the wall, anything else looks like a mistake.
I do, however, like long sightlines where a window is centered across a room on a door or a hallway - nothing bugs me more than walking down a hallway and the door or window visible at the end is a few inches off the centerline of the hall.
All in all, this turned out to be a pretty well thought out plan, even before my tweaks, and I'm also impressed that he kept the house one square foot below his 1500 sq' size limit!
Yes it looks like it will be a nice place to live in.
rockies63 and MALCOLM TAYLOR, excellent ideas! When I started this house building journey off six months ago, I had literally no experience in house design, and quickly got lost in technical issues. What I’ve picked up here is that if you focus on the practical and the aesthetic (or “flow”), that the technical sort of takes care of itself. I like the tweaks you’ve suggested, and will get them drawn into the plans. Thanks so much!