Review
traditionaltiny
| Posted in General Questions on
Please give us feedback on our current floor plan.
House information
Ground dimensions: 18 ft x 26 ft
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Search and download construction details
Replies
You might want to look at the Varm on the Unity Homes website (https://unityhomes.com/floor-plans/designs/varm/). The smallest plan does a good job of maximizing the space. With your plan, the main floor is chopped up quite a bit, and I think you really want to create more openness (by moving the stairs to the back wall, for example).
Hey Steve, that's a good point.
I'm not that fond of the open layout. I currently live in an open living/dining space with vaulted ceilings and it feels too open (i.e., not cozy). I am concerned that it will feel too closed, so I'll put more thought into it.
Traditional Tiny,
Please take this in the spirit in which it is intended: The floor plan has irredeemable problems. You should either hire a designer, or modify a plan you like from the internet.
Malcolm Taylor,
What are the irredeemable problems besides the open floor layout that Steve mentioned?
Traditional Tiny,
Each size and shape of house has specific layouts that work, and limitations on how the interior can be subdivided. What you have ended up with is a plan often seen in Four Square houses, with a central circulation and rooms on each side. They invariably also have a hall next to the stair. Unfortunately that can't work when your building is only 18 ft x 24 ft.
I understand the impulse to draw your own plans, but architecture, like most skills, has a learning curve. If you did this for a living, experience and repetition would mean that the designs you did after several years would be demonstrably better in every way than your first one. Without outside input you are going to end up living in your first attempt.
When people post their floor plans on GBA I can tell immediately whether they have had professional help or not. They often get very good input, as you have here, but it's rare that they bridge the gulf between what they started with and the plans that come from designers.
I want to reiterate that I'm very uncomfortable telling people what I'm telling you. But I know how much effort and expense goes into a house. It's worth making sure you are putting that towards the right result.
Malcom, We actually didn't do these ourselves - a professional builder/designer made these designs. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts although it was very uncomfortable for you.
I think your plans are a good start at expressing your personal housing preferences. There are some issues, especially with walking clearances, door swings, etc. I would recommend that you pick up a copy of "Human Dimension & Interior Space" - it's an older book so there are a lot of used copies available for a reasonably amount of money.
No matter how much further time you spend on your layout, I would put it in front of an architect prior to finalization. Building a home is expensive, and the time to get professional advice is before you start building.
Thank you for the feedback.
Traditional and Tiny,
Neat home!
One issue I see is the upstairs bathroom. To enter the toilet room, it appears that one must first enter the shower to do so. There doesn't appear to be space in this bathroom for a window either. While not required, they are a nice addition for venting, etc.
By putting the stairs in the middle of the home, you create some wasted space that would be better used to open up the dining room and bedroom by making them larger.
Does the house have any southern exposure? I prefer to keep closets, bathrooms, stairs, and utility rooms along north walls where windows are smaller. Also, in a perfect world, you can keep plumbing out of exterior walls and have the bathrooms stacked.
The 2nd floor bath is quite a ways from the bedroom and also requires a circuitous route to get there. Ideally, the master closet would be closer to the bathroom. For 2-3 people sharing a bath, a double sink would be great. I love your toilet room idea as this helps with efficiency.
Finally, some people would prefer to keep the half bath a little further from the dining area.
For such small rooms, I would add lots of windows and use light colors.
Thank you Rick for your feedback!
For the upstairs bathroom, we're planning to have a window there.
We thought about putting the stairs to the side and something we'll think about again. The stairs naturally create a separate with the living room and kitchen, which we want. We currently live in an open floor concept and prefer separation of those two spaces. This definitely could be down without a middle stair case. Sounds like many agree with you that the middle stair case is not efficient.
Southern exposure faces the back of the house (where the porches are).
Here is a home that I designed with a similar layout that captures some of the features I described. This home is quite a bit larger though... 26x38 (exterior wall to wall).
https://www.effektivplus.com/blank-page
You're welcome to use this floorplan if you like it.
One metric I like to examine in a floor plan is the percentage of space taken up by hallways. Hallways can be considered "wasted space", although sometimes a hallway serves a dual purpose (on the second floor one office is also a hallway to the bedroom). A small size home can't afford much hallway space. I'd suggest trying to move your rooms or furniture arrangements around to reduce hallway spaces. Moving the stairs to a wall was a good suggestion that would help in that regard. Open floor plans do help in that regard too. Combining rooms to be dual use is another option. For example, a bedroom with a desk off to one side, tho that can disrupt sleep routines, maybe not a good example!
The book Sam S recommended seems like essential reading. It would help to see dimensions on your floor plan. There are recommended clearances and minimum sizes for stairs (36" wide), hallways, bedrooms (min 7' wide each dimension, 70 SQFT minimum) and a requirement for at least one room of 150 SQFT. The winders on your stairs do not meet code, as the minimum inside run of each winder stair tread is 5" I think. For kitchen appliances, a refrigerator needs at least 2' counter space on one side, stoves at least 2' on one side and 1.5 foot on the other, and a sink 2' each side. These can overlap by taking the larger of the two overlapping counter spaces, and adding one foot. The total open counter space should be 11' minimum, tho many kitchens fail that metric. Your coat closet is tiny, even if you don't have cold winters in your climate. At least you do have a large walk-in closet adjoining the bedroom.
All bets are off in a tiny home, tho. Trying to live in a small space with a family can be a challenge, but I guess you know your family is up to it. One way to afford a smaller house yet get all the rooms or space you desire is to consider an addition to be built later. Another is to consider "outside rooms" in your yard as spaces that would expand your "home", weather or seasonally permitting. I'm guessing your consider your basement and attic to be that expandable space that wouldn't require much initial investment.
I imagine that you have a list of all the activities that all of your family members do, so that you can do them all without interfering with each other.
The exterior of the building looks good IMHO. Looks like a very nice lot if your drawings capture your lot (not a generic drawing background). Will you be using the outdoors a lot, or are your seasons not conducive to spending a lot of time outdoors? If so, having a least one large space (maybe the basement area) would be good for kids especially. Which direction (if any) has superior views? Do your windows and porch face those views? That would help add a feeling of space despite small office and dining rooms.
What is your climate? If a cold winter climate, do you have larger windows facing south (and smaller facing north and west)? That will increase daylighting and solar heat gain in winter, and avoid too much solar heat gain on summer afternoons. If a hot, humid summer climate, you would want to have less window area or shading of windows facing west, and perhaps east, due to excess solar heat gain in summer.
Best of luck, designing and building your own home is an adventure of a lifetime, and can be one of your most prized accomplishments!
Thanks Robert for your feedback. We're in New England USA. We have an amazing view towards the southeast (back of the house where the office and dining room are).
I'd reconsider the idea of three floors for living space. In a house with a small footprint, the stairs and necessary approaches take up a big proportion of the footprint.
Have you thought about a one story house with full basement or maybe build on a slab?
Building up saves some money here and there (smaller roof), but there are costs associated with working from staging to install siding and trim, painting, etc.
Yeah, I found that stairs really ate up a lot of space in my previous, not-so-tiny house. If Traditionaltiny has room, I would go with a one-story layout. Plans that puts the living and sleeping spaces in separate modules and then connect them with a bridge or hallway are appealing to me. They feel bigger and provide more opportunities for using decks and covered porches for increasing the usable space without big cost increases.