The Cove House: Semi-Final Design
Finally getting time here for an update on the Cove House design/build custom home project. Since we’re now in the final drafts stage of the design phase, I thought post some pictures. Nothing fancy yet. When we get closer to being done, I’ll post some ray traced POV models. Just some simple top down floor plans similar to those you’d see in the home plan magazines.
 |
The image at right shows the left and right side elevations. As you can see, we’re building a three story house here. The ground floor is the basement area, and the living quarters are above. I believe I said in a previous Cove House article that the original plans the client wanted to start with called for an 8/12 roof. I had to replace that with a 4/12 roof in order to meet the height restrictions for the area the home will be built in.
In the original plans the house was also built on concrete pillars. You can see remnants of them in the drawing here as I haven’t yet gotten around to “skinning” the drawing with the beautiful stone facade that will be used for the fully enclosed walk-out basement.
But rather than simply forming concrete, the basement area will be built out of ICF’s. That saves time, concrete, and provides built in insulation for the basement level.
 |
At left you can see the basement floor plan. It’s been completely re-done from nothing more than a car port (complete with lattice work between the pillars) into a full walk out basement with a washroom and a shop.
We have stairs leading up to the first floor, washer and dryer hookups, a wash room (just a toilet and sink) off of a shop area on the left hand side. You probably can’t see it in this photo, but the rectangle at the foot of the stairs is a water softening system.
Below the stairs is the radiant floor central heating system, providing a nice even heat at much less cost than forced air. Since we’re heating water for heat, we’ll also use that hot water for the potable hot water supply.
 |
Serious changes have also been made to the first floor. In the original drawings the bedroom at the bottom right did not have a bathroom attached, and the stairs leading up from the basement did not exist.
I designed the new bathroom to be very handicap friendly, since the occupant of that room will be an elderly woman. Notice that all the facilities are arranged in “turns”: Toilet opposite sink, bath/shower stall opposite the door, which is a full thirty-six inches to facilitate easy entry at right angles with a walker or wheel chair.
Handicapped friendly bathrooms are not something many home owners think about when designing their retirement home. Mostly, I think, because we a) don’t like thinking of ourselves as handicapped (unless we already are) and b) because our use of that word (”handicapped”) is almost exclusively pointed at handicapped individuals, not the elderly. And while the two sets of needs are not a perfect fit (you may not need grab bars in a shower for an otherwise healthy handicapped individual, for instance), there is a great deal of cross over.
Also note where the stairs from the basement come out. I had wanted to match them up to the existing stairs headed up to the second floor, since stacking stairs takes up the least amount of space (and stairwells consume huge amounts of real estate. That, however, would have eliminated the little Powder Room you see beneath the stair well (across from the kitchen) — not an option for the client. So, in order keep the necessary overhead clearance, I had to trunk the new stairwell out into the living room a bit.
You can also see the stairs coming down off the side deck at the front of the house in this picture. Something practically invisible in the elevation.
 |
Not many changes have been made to the second floor. The whole left hand side is the Master Suite; bedroom at the front, bathroom along the back half. The yellow lines in the bedroom show the tray ceiling overhead, with two sky lights. The tray ceiling was part of the original plan, but I had to modify it when I changed the roof pitch. The sky lights are also new editions.
Also note the laundry room there at the head of the stairs. Yes, the client wanted two laundry setups. The tub you see in the master bath is to be an old cast iron claw foot tub, completely restored, of course!
Once the plans have been finalized I’ll skin them and give you a bit of a walk through prior to construction. So stay tuned!
Technorati Tags: design build, new construction, custom home