There was a search recently about shimming above mud sills. I do not know the particulars of the problem, but the general rule is....You are building the house now...But you have to live with it for years and years presumably. Get it right the first time. Plan...try out..adjust...but when you move on to the next step, try to make sure it is right. If the foundation is a bit crooked, get out the chisel, or get out the cement and perform the correct steps to fill in to the correct level. If the joist is crooked...get another one and re-do it.
When something is a little off, you continue to build on that little mistake until it becomes a really big mistake. Shims tend to collapse under great weight...Take it apart and do it over, or you will regret it in the long run.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Saturday, June 15, 2013
A Little Two Bedroom With Little Wasted Space.
You must understand that the designs I am putting forth are meant to be jumping off places. They are meant to make you think. What can you live with? How much can you reduce? What modifications would you do? Can you really live with flat storage under platform beds instead of closets and tiny refrigerators?
It seems to me that designers/architects get paid by the number of lines they make on the blueprint. In Europe, the houses tend to have no closets(many have caves and storerooms) for storage. People tend to use free standing furniture instead of built in. There is so much storage under a bed(beds tend to be higher off the floor these days than when I was a kid.) so it only makes sense to ditch the plastic bins and plastic garbage bags, and build a simple cabinet under the bed with large drawers on good heavy duty full extension slides. Window seats, and dining nooks in bay windows all need to be hollow chests with hinged covers. All the internal walls of a building can hold shelves or cabinets inside the fabric of the wall.
Lifestyle will also need to be altered. Excess must be gotten rid of. Old clothing must go, especially if it does not fit anymore. Clothing that is wearable without being hung up should be favored over more temperamental clothes.
Also, it is not necessary to have ten changes of sheets and three hundred towels.
Remember too that it is necessary to drill holes in chests where condensation may collect inside, and then you need to provide repellant for bugs and rodents. Possibly the holes would benefit from screen on the inside, especially the screening that has the heavy reinforcement wires meshed into it.
I am thinking of a house perhaps a little larger than some of the others discussed, but still very compact and on one level. Also, I am trying to avoid space wasters like hallways etc.
The basic plan is meant to give plenty of light from south facing glass, for beauty, comfort and for solar gain. Attic space should be set up for storage, with access through ceilings.
I wanted too, to place all the potential wet areas of the house very close together to make construction as cheap as possible.
I seem to see pretty good French doors or slider units in the discount houses along route one in Massachusetts and finding three the same or a single larger and two slightly smaller or different design ones seems to be a distinct possibility at a reasonable cost.
A double square building, one in front of the other will contain from back to front, seven feet of bath, five feet of kitchen and 12 feet of living space. On either side, and connecting to "Jack and Jill" type doors to the bath, there would be two more twelve foot squares for bedrooms, The south facing walls in the living space and two bedrooms would be glass doors of some kind. East and west would have generous, but smaller(perhaps decorative) windows on the east and west walls. The north walls would have no windows at all, or just decorative windows. This may be a bit easier to bear with light tubes conducting light from above into the bath and kitchen. I am assuming that one would rather live cheaply with no windows in those rooms than worry about natural light in a room that does not require it and a second one that derives plenty of light from the adjoining living space.
Of course, you could ignore my advice and put a nice window in the bath, but make it a good one that will save energy. To take my design to excess, continue the roof on the north side, almost to the ground, insulating the north side of the house from north winds and providing general storage across the entire length of the house.
I am just doing a bare drawing of the house, allowing you to use the construction methods discussed elsewhere.
Across the front of the house, there would be, from left to right, a set of glass doors as big as you can afford, a smaller set of windows or doors facing west, a south facing set of glass doors, an east facing set like the west windows, and another large set of glass doors. Smaller glass on the east and west would still give you some solar gain, but the lesser amount of sun and lots of inefficient glass would net out at a loss in heat. Really great drapes would allow less heat loss though. Making the side windows non functioning, double or triple pane, stationary panels would reduce air infiltration as well. Dark floors anywhere the glass lets in sun will increase the heat gain.
Another option is to do super efficient stationery panels on the south side of all the spaces, and put super efficient doors on the east and west along with stationery panels.
The total square footage of the building would be around 576 square feet, assuming that you can be creative with clothing storage. If you feel cramped with this, you could easily increase all of the squares to 16 x 16, or just the bedrooms to 16 x 16. The square footage would be 1024 and 800 square feet respectively. You could easily set up some normal closets with the extra space.
Along with the solar gain from the front doors, this long narrow house would provide plenty of south facing roof to mount solar panels. As with the other houses I have posted, I recommend a pergola across the front of the house to shade the glass with deciduous vines, and deciduous trees planted across the front of the house would shade a deck and parts of the roof (If there are no solar panels) to help control the summer sun. Solar panels, slightly off the surface of the roof would also provide some shade for the roof.
My kitchen space would have my favorite partition between the kitchen and living space of just a couple of columns supporting a large archway. Alternatively, I would perhaps put in a drape from wall to wall, or a folding accordion door or glass doors opening the kitchen to the living room as much as possible. You could also just do nothing at all. There does not need to be any support above if trusses are used to support the roof, with contact with a supporting wall along the bath kitchen wall, and a beam across the living space where the bedroom walls attach to the living space walls. Another beam across the living space would give very complete support.
You would just have the kitchen along the back wall of the living space. The twelve feet or so of wall space would be plenty for cabinets and all the appliances necessary. This is the time to decide if the European norm of under counter refrigerators is for you. A rustic dining table would be good for an island, or extra work space for the kitchen, without intruding on the living space.
You might also think about the ridge of the roof running across the 12 foot mark, from east to west. This would mean that you could put in clerestory windows in the bedrooms, above the doors, and the roof would fall away to the north and have no south facing slope. That would also mean that the entire burden of solar panels would be on the living room roof on the south side. If the area is sufficient for your needs, then great. A solar panel contractor will give you some advice on this. Beware of contractors trying to sell panels though. Perhaps it would be best to hire an independent consultant rather than a salesman.
This house would be no GREAT beauty, except from the front, but we are after efficiency and affordability rather than just beauty.
It seems to me that designers/architects get paid by the number of lines they make on the blueprint. In Europe, the houses tend to have no closets(many have caves and storerooms) for storage. People tend to use free standing furniture instead of built in. There is so much storage under a bed(beds tend to be higher off the floor these days than when I was a kid.) so it only makes sense to ditch the plastic bins and plastic garbage bags, and build a simple cabinet under the bed with large drawers on good heavy duty full extension slides. Window seats, and dining nooks in bay windows all need to be hollow chests with hinged covers. All the internal walls of a building can hold shelves or cabinets inside the fabric of the wall.
Lifestyle will also need to be altered. Excess must be gotten rid of. Old clothing must go, especially if it does not fit anymore. Clothing that is wearable without being hung up should be favored over more temperamental clothes.
Also, it is not necessary to have ten changes of sheets and three hundred towels.
Remember too that it is necessary to drill holes in chests where condensation may collect inside, and then you need to provide repellant for bugs and rodents. Possibly the holes would benefit from screen on the inside, especially the screening that has the heavy reinforcement wires meshed into it.
I am thinking of a house perhaps a little larger than some of the others discussed, but still very compact and on one level. Also, I am trying to avoid space wasters like hallways etc.
The basic plan is meant to give plenty of light from south facing glass, for beauty, comfort and for solar gain. Attic space should be set up for storage, with access through ceilings.
I wanted too, to place all the potential wet areas of the house very close together to make construction as cheap as possible.
I seem to see pretty good French doors or slider units in the discount houses along route one in Massachusetts and finding three the same or a single larger and two slightly smaller or different design ones seems to be a distinct possibility at a reasonable cost.
A double square building, one in front of the other will contain from back to front, seven feet of bath, five feet of kitchen and 12 feet of living space. On either side, and connecting to "Jack and Jill" type doors to the bath, there would be two more twelve foot squares for bedrooms, The south facing walls in the living space and two bedrooms would be glass doors of some kind. East and west would have generous, but smaller(perhaps decorative) windows on the east and west walls. The north walls would have no windows at all, or just decorative windows. This may be a bit easier to bear with light tubes conducting light from above into the bath and kitchen. I am assuming that one would rather live cheaply with no windows in those rooms than worry about natural light in a room that does not require it and a second one that derives plenty of light from the adjoining living space.
Of course, you could ignore my advice and put a nice window in the bath, but make it a good one that will save energy. To take my design to excess, continue the roof on the north side, almost to the ground, insulating the north side of the house from north winds and providing general storage across the entire length of the house.
I am just doing a bare drawing of the house, allowing you to use the construction methods discussed elsewhere.
Across the front of the house, there would be, from left to right, a set of glass doors as big as you can afford, a smaller set of windows or doors facing west, a south facing set of glass doors, an east facing set like the west windows, and another large set of glass doors. Smaller glass on the east and west would still give you some solar gain, but the lesser amount of sun and lots of inefficient glass would net out at a loss in heat. Really great drapes would allow less heat loss though. Making the side windows non functioning, double or triple pane, stationary panels would reduce air infiltration as well. Dark floors anywhere the glass lets in sun will increase the heat gain.
Another option is to do super efficient stationery panels on the south side of all the spaces, and put super efficient doors on the east and west along with stationery panels.
The total square footage of the building would be around 576 square feet, assuming that you can be creative with clothing storage. If you feel cramped with this, you could easily increase all of the squares to 16 x 16, or just the bedrooms to 16 x 16. The square footage would be 1024 and 800 square feet respectively. You could easily set up some normal closets with the extra space.
Along with the solar gain from the front doors, this long narrow house would provide plenty of south facing roof to mount solar panels. As with the other houses I have posted, I recommend a pergola across the front of the house to shade the glass with deciduous vines, and deciduous trees planted across the front of the house would shade a deck and parts of the roof (If there are no solar panels) to help control the summer sun. Solar panels, slightly off the surface of the roof would also provide some shade for the roof.
My kitchen space would have my favorite partition between the kitchen and living space of just a couple of columns supporting a large archway. Alternatively, I would perhaps put in a drape from wall to wall, or a folding accordion door or glass doors opening the kitchen to the living room as much as possible. You could also just do nothing at all. There does not need to be any support above if trusses are used to support the roof, with contact with a supporting wall along the bath kitchen wall, and a beam across the living space where the bedroom walls attach to the living space walls. Another beam across the living space would give very complete support.
You would just have the kitchen along the back wall of the living space. The twelve feet or so of wall space would be plenty for cabinets and all the appliances necessary. This is the time to decide if the European norm of under counter refrigerators is for you. A rustic dining table would be good for an island, or extra work space for the kitchen, without intruding on the living space.
You might also think about the ridge of the roof running across the 12 foot mark, from east to west. This would mean that you could put in clerestory windows in the bedrooms, above the doors, and the roof would fall away to the north and have no south facing slope. That would also mean that the entire burden of solar panels would be on the living room roof on the south side. If the area is sufficient for your needs, then great. A solar panel contractor will give you some advice on this. Beware of contractors trying to sell panels though. Perhaps it would be best to hire an independent consultant rather than a salesman.
This house would be no GREAT beauty, except from the front, but we are after efficiency and affordability rather than just beauty.
Door Storage.
If you are using doors at all in your little house, perhaps they will only be the bathroom door or the bedroom door. Privacy is an issue if you have guests. Even the most stalwart will have a hard time dealing with a bathroom without a door, even if you are married.
Well...You might as well make storage out of any door that you can. It is a little haphazard looking to just plunk a set of shelves on the back of a door. You must make it neat and beautifully finished in order to make it look like it belongs there and sleek enough to keep it looking like the fabric of the building rather than a clumsy add on.
Remembering that the thickness of the door frame will impact the swing of a newly thickened door, you must make the storage unit much narrower than the door. The unit will be on the side of the door that does not have the hinge pin. The hinge pin is on the flush side of the door, and the opposite side has the thickness of the wall and the woodwork.
You can really make the unit as deep as you want, but if it is too deep, it will impact the useful space of the room inside.
Decide ahead of time where the shelves will go along the sides of the unit. Pre-cut the dadoes for the shelves, or make a simple saw cut to hold the glass shelves.(have plate glass shelves cut at your glass company, and the front edge only finished and polished). Cut about half way through the sides of the unit boards..
If you are working with a bathroom door, you should measure your usual toiletries or rolled up towels etc., and use the largest as the width of the shelves. Make a simple rectangle to fit the space(remember that the shelving unit must be narrow enough that it does not affect the swing of the door past the jamb. Top and bottom are less important) using butt joints, glue and screws or finish nails. It is unimportant which as they will not show. Use one by whatever width, pine, Poplar or other hardwood. The hardwood will need to be pre-drilled to accept the fasteners.
Mount the rectangle onto the door with construction adhesive and finish nails through the sides, top and bottom at an angle into the door.(from the outside) Hollow core doors will require special toggle hangers and tiny angle irons to secure the unit to the thin skin of the door. These will be hidden by the trim.
Slide in the shelves. Gluing will not be necessary.
Drill through the frame, about 1/3 of the way above each of the future shelves, and 1/4 of an inch from the front edge. Slide in a dowel, brass or stainless steel rod across the entire unit to prevent things from sliding off the shelves as the door is swung. Rubber like matting used for shelves or the rubbery matting for under area carpets can be cut to fit on the shelves to minimize sliding around on the shelves.
Picture frame the shelf unit with layers of molding. Cut out bits of the inside corner of the molding to go around the angle iron if present. Do not glue this molding except at the mitered corners, in case it has to be removed in the future. Attach the frame with finish nails. If the shelves are deeper than any commercial molding available, make sure that the joints of the initial rectangle are invisible from the sides.
Make several layers of molding to get large or deep moldings, filling voids with bits of board. (see the drawings).
When the frame is done and attached, cover the front edge of the unit with half round or astragal molding so that no seam is showing from the front. Miter the corners.
Paint or finish as you like.
If you would like a set of shelves to use in a kitchen, try the following:
I am thinking of a useful unit to serve from(in a modest way) and for storage(also in a modest way).
Mount a heavy half door in your kitchen doorway. I assume that complete privacy is rarely necessary in the kitchen unless there is a trend for clouds of black smoke to emanate from it.
Make the unit at a comfortable height for serving, and the door should swing out from the kitchen.
You can make this plenty deep, again allowing for the swing of the door on the knob side. Make sure you have at least three heavy duty hinges even on this half door, as the weight may be excessive.
The attached shelving unit should be flush with the top edge of the door.
Drop on a counter top of granite or any other composition material. Choose a thinner granite or marble that will be available in limited colors and do not put heavy weights on the counter top. The sides may go right up to the side of the door at the leading edge of the door, and may hang out into the room(again, allowing for the swing of the door on the outside this time, and curving the inside of the counter top to allow for the swing from the inside). Make both sides mirror images despite the fact that the inside hinge side will not affect the swing of the door. At some expense, stone or composition materials can be formed into moldings to epoxy onto the top edge of the counter tops so that things will not slide off the edge of the counter if the door needs to be opened.
An alternative counter top might be mahogany or teak, as they both resist spills if well sealed.
Well...You might as well make storage out of any door that you can. It is a little haphazard looking to just plunk a set of shelves on the back of a door. You must make it neat and beautifully finished in order to make it look like it belongs there and sleek enough to keep it looking like the fabric of the building rather than a clumsy add on.
Remembering that the thickness of the door frame will impact the swing of a newly thickened door, you must make the storage unit much narrower than the door. The unit will be on the side of the door that does not have the hinge pin. The hinge pin is on the flush side of the door, and the opposite side has the thickness of the wall and the woodwork.
You can really make the unit as deep as you want, but if it is too deep, it will impact the useful space of the room inside.
Decide ahead of time where the shelves will go along the sides of the unit. Pre-cut the dadoes for the shelves, or make a simple saw cut to hold the glass shelves.(have plate glass shelves cut at your glass company, and the front edge only finished and polished). Cut about half way through the sides of the unit boards..
If you are working with a bathroom door, you should measure your usual toiletries or rolled up towels etc., and use the largest as the width of the shelves. Make a simple rectangle to fit the space(remember that the shelving unit must be narrow enough that it does not affect the swing of the door past the jamb. Top and bottom are less important) using butt joints, glue and screws or finish nails. It is unimportant which as they will not show. Use one by whatever width, pine, Poplar or other hardwood. The hardwood will need to be pre-drilled to accept the fasteners.
Mount the rectangle onto the door with construction adhesive and finish nails through the sides, top and bottom at an angle into the door.(from the outside) Hollow core doors will require special toggle hangers and tiny angle irons to secure the unit to the thin skin of the door. These will be hidden by the trim.
Slide in the shelves. Gluing will not be necessary.
Drill through the frame, about 1/3 of the way above each of the future shelves, and 1/4 of an inch from the front edge. Slide in a dowel, brass or stainless steel rod across the entire unit to prevent things from sliding off the shelves as the door is swung. Rubber like matting used for shelves or the rubbery matting for under area carpets can be cut to fit on the shelves to minimize sliding around on the shelves.
Picture frame the shelf unit with layers of molding. Cut out bits of the inside corner of the molding to go around the angle iron if present. Do not glue this molding except at the mitered corners, in case it has to be removed in the future. Attach the frame with finish nails. If the shelves are deeper than any commercial molding available, make sure that the joints of the initial rectangle are invisible from the sides.
Make several layers of molding to get large or deep moldings, filling voids with bits of board. (see the drawings).
When the frame is done and attached, cover the front edge of the unit with half round or astragal molding so that no seam is showing from the front. Miter the corners.
Paint or finish as you like.
If you would like a set of shelves to use in a kitchen, try the following:
I am thinking of a useful unit to serve from(in a modest way) and for storage(also in a modest way).
Mount a heavy half door in your kitchen doorway. I assume that complete privacy is rarely necessary in the kitchen unless there is a trend for clouds of black smoke to emanate from it.
Make the unit at a comfortable height for serving, and the door should swing out from the kitchen.
You can make this plenty deep, again allowing for the swing of the door on the knob side. Make sure you have at least three heavy duty hinges even on this half door, as the weight may be excessive.
The attached shelving unit should be flush with the top edge of the door.
Drop on a counter top of granite or any other composition material. Choose a thinner granite or marble that will be available in limited colors and do not put heavy weights on the counter top. The sides may go right up to the side of the door at the leading edge of the door, and may hang out into the room(again, allowing for the swing of the door on the outside this time, and curving the inside of the counter top to allow for the swing from the inside). Make both sides mirror images despite the fact that the inside hinge side will not affect the swing of the door. At some expense, stone or composition materials can be formed into moldings to epoxy onto the top edge of the counter tops so that things will not slide off the edge of the counter if the door needs to be opened.
An alternative counter top might be mahogany or teak, as they both resist spills if well sealed.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Sitting on the Front Porch
Thanks to Wikipedia for the image of Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts.
I am sorry to say that the only thing that sitting on the front porch ever gave me was unnecessary public exposure when I was in Junior High and trying to learn to dance. Too public to escape comment.
However, I do remember sitting on the front porch with our pet monkey in the summertime and attracting plenty of admiration and provoking not a little fear in passers by.
Porch sitting is a time honored pastime. Unfortunately, like letter writing, calling cards, and long, land line phone calls, it has almost disappeared. Many people have removed somewhat historic porches from their vintage homes, leaving the houses lacking in ornament...somewhat design cripples. We have gravitated toward the DECK in the past forty years. These are oriented mostly to the back yard, where, like email, we tend to isolate ourselves from the community.
Whether you choose to face the street and watch the NON-CAR world go by, or site it on the rear of the house, there is a great deal to recommend a porch, or some sort of roofed or semi roofed structure over the DECK.
The deck, of course, is defined as a device one attaches to a house that is used to broil the occupants to a crisp, drench their parties when sudden showers occur and reflect heat and ultra violet into the house.
If you live in a dry climate and plan to fill your house with all white, synthetic fiber upholstery and tempt fate, with leather-like skin and skin tumors...then a deck is for you!
Some sort of shelter is by far preferable to an open deck. A roof need not be solid. A pattern of beams with cast cooling shadows across your deck or terrace. If the broad part of the beams or joists face the south or southwest, broader shadows will be cast. Pointing the joists in the direction of the hottest sun of the day, will shelter less. As in the photo below, you can roll out bamboo matting or cloth over the beams for more complete coverage.
Growing vines such as grapes, Wisteria, Campsis(trumpet vine), Laburnum(Golden Chain Tree) or other sun lovers can completely shade an area below the open rafters of a Pergola.
My grandmother's family home on Salina in the Aeolian Islands. See the shadows cast by the twig matting over the rafters.
Note the overhanging vines, shading almond tree, pergolas and holes in the masonry for rafters on this arid, sun baked island. Again, my grandmother's house. This is springtime so there is plenty of green, but later in the year it can be very hot here.
I chose to put up a pergola in my house in Massachusetts. It is a very simple idea. It would drive the local codes man crazy. The posts that support it on the side away from the house, rest directly on the ground. If the bottoms of the posts rot, I will cut them off with a chainsaw, a few inches at a time and replace the bottom with blocks of stone or cement. The frame does not rack side to side because I put in wrought iron corner braces. These could just as easily be wood. More on these later.
The only thing holding the structure up is the connection between the rafter on the side of the house and the connection to the top plate of the post wall. a couple of nails on either side of the joists. It will never fall apart, because the corner braces keep it steady on one direction while the entire structure is held tightly together by my Grasping, Twining, Wisteria vine that hugs the thing into a single immovable structure.
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Doctor Willem Van Fleet rose, the parent plant of New Dawn growing on my pergola
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Notice the corner braces bolted into the beams and plate to keep the structure rigid side to side. Chinese Wisteria growing over it. This and many vines must be trimmed away from the house to minimize damage to shingles etc.
The bottoms of the posts are just sitting on a concrete block set in the sand base of the terrace.
Notice the corner brace and the massive vine holding the entire structure in place and immovable.
The terrace floor is on a clay soil base, sloped away from the house. Sand is leveled on top of the base soil, and the stones are placed in the sand and leveled. Sand is swept into the cracks. The smaller spaces were eventually filled with smaller scraps of stone.
The stones are scraps from a counter top stone cutter, glad to give the pieces away as he has to pay to have them removed otherwise. They are fine almost all the time, but in the winter can be slippery under the snow. To minimize the problem, turn them dull side up, and use neutral stone colors so the color does not matter so much as this mostly yellow granite would when turned over. You could help too by growing thyme or chamomile in the cracks.
The pergola when first attached to the house. Simpler construction cannot be found.
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The fountain under the pergola is cut into a niche carved into a yew tree at the end of the pergola.
You could also plant a row of flowering trees along the perimeter of the terrace or deck, and train the branches to grow into a roof that is unsupported. A simple support would hold a Laburnum tree or row of trees trained into a roof. In fact, if the snow load is not heavy in your area, no support is necessary if the span from the tree is not huge. A simple iron or wooden frame is best if snow and wind are an issue. Do not attach them tightly, as tight wires, ropes or strings can cut into rapidly growing branches. Allow gravity and interweaving of branches to do most of the work.
A painting of Sicily with the stone support columns and simple branches that inspired my pergola.
Laburnums can be trained into a shady roof for a terrace. They grow very quickly, too.
The corner braces are an interesting story. I designed them and had them done by an out of state blacksmith. I had done some blacksmithing in the past. Not a farrier, who makes horseshoes, but decorative work. I am not trained to do anything so careful as horseshoes.
I had a very nice design, but it was misread by the blacksmith. Instead of it all being on one plane, it became three dimensional, a simple twisted bar with a stem springing out from it, and a grape leaf on each one. I gave him options of Oak, Maple or grape leaves, and the maple seed or the oak's acorn. What I got was a grape leaf, set at an odd angle, with a cluster of odd grapes that looked like a bouquet of pendulous breasts, all painted in rather lurid colors...Well.....those would never do...I got plainer single leaves in all black to replace them. I could have done these myself, having done it at Kings Landing museum in New Brunswick and as an art teacher, but I did not have the equipment. A forge is a wonderfully simple thing to make, but you really have to live somewhere where burning your forge building to the ground would not be an issue for the town, neighbors or insurance people. Otherwise it all has to be built in masonry and steel. I do not live in such an area, nor did I have the money to build in masonry.
I would recommend this art. Anyone who is creative would love blacksmithing. It is not common, and much that is seen, is done with stamp out and pre-cast parts. A real crafts man could make a good living from this, and it is really satisfying.
Read a little about a fine blacksmith in: "Under the Tuscan Sun" by Francis Mayes.
My grape leaves were cut out of flat steel and marginally molded for a slightly realistic look. They are a far cry from the beautifully forged and tortured forms that a good craftsman can make with a little effort. Nevertheless...they are attractive without the bouquet of breasts.
More to come on this post.....
Monday, June 3, 2013
Blithewold
I visited this restored museum mansion in Bristol, Rhode Island today. Of course, very little about this house would be appropriate for use in a tiny house, but there were a couple of things that made me think about possibilities for a cute house. I include some of the photos of the house here. I was especially interested in the grounds, and found a single 17th century Delft plate that is identical to one I own. I bought mine in Amsterdam a few years ago and paid it off over time. Although there were very few of that time period there, they had a number of others there. I have the one 17th century and a couple of others that are more modern.
Blithwold is a wonderful place for a day out, a perfect place for a picnic, and ideal for a wedding or other function. The docents were just wonderful to us. Well worth the rather modest admission charge. The temperature was a good ten degrees lower than at home in Mansfield, and the wind off the water was a God-send.
http://www.blithewold.org/ I understand that the Christmas displays are fascinating, and that they offer Opera in full production as well as recital format.
Please mention to them that you saw this post in my blog if you go there.
Blithwold is a wonderful place for a day out, a perfect place for a picnic, and ideal for a wedding or other function. The docents were just wonderful to us. Well worth the rather modest admission charge. The temperature was a good ten degrees lower than at home in Mansfield, and the wind off the water was a God-send.
http://www.blithewold.org/ I understand that the Christmas displays are fascinating, and that they offer Opera in full production as well as recital format.
Please mention to them that you saw this post in my blog if you go there.
The mansion from the seaside lawn.
A Breton box bed. Possibly rebuilt, though it would not surprise me if it was the correct size given the smaller size of the people in that time period. The shelves were added. Also posted elsewhere in the blog.
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A stone roundabout bench in the water garden.
The bridge in the water garden.
Part of the rock garden.
 
The ticket booth and gift shop, front and back. What a nice design for a little house. Very elegant and cheap to build. I particularly like the setting in a little garden. John especially liked the view below. I think it was the poppies that drew him in.
  
Would this be a beautiful interior for a tiny cottage, or what? The lattice is real and quite heavy. Imagine this interior in the little cottage in the photos just above!!! They are just about the same size.
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Sunday, June 2, 2013
Honeymoon Cottage or Tiny Residence
As I look at this drawing, I shudder at how small it is, but I remember all the years of my youth when motel cottages were common. We have become spoiled over the years, and like most things in America, spaces have become SUPERSIZED. We cannot seem to live without a king sized bed...or larger. I remember these tiny cottages, which are sometimes offered as condominium units in resorts at several hundred thousand dollars a pop, having tiny electric or gas heaters, and sometimes communal shower rooms(buildings) and toilets. Ah the romance of a communal shower on your honeymoon.
Anyway, this is dramatically larger than those old cottages, so I suppose it will be OK, if you are creative. Everything is sized to just a bit more than the bare minimum, with room to walk around the bed, a little kitchen, and a small bath with a dual purpose linen and clothes closet.
Smaller than normal fixtures would help in all cases. An under the counter fridge, which is standard in Europe for a family, an apartment sized stove, a small toilet and pedestal sink will not be hard to find. If you are frugal, you may have room for a big shower, and if you put a nice deck on the front of the house, there would probably be room for a hot tub, half the size of the house! If you start the construction of this house with ten rather than eight foot walls, you might get away with extending the main roof out over the kitchen and bath, I would absolutely extend the roof out over the front to provide shade for the glass fronted bay, but if you are going to use eight foot construction, you will absolutely need to make a gable end at right angles to the house for the two 5x12 wings.
Face the house to the south south west as described in very early posts, and extend a pergola out over the deck for vines to shade the deck and front of the house. Either that, or plant large trees in front to cast shadows in the summer. Use something tall and deciduous so the leaves will fall and provide solar gain for the winter.
You could replace the front window with a masonry wall, and a tiny wood stove, but local codes will restrict the wall space and heat shield issues and force redesign of the bay to accommodate it. Not a big issue really if you plan in advance. Tiny stoves are available, especially if you look at European sources. They will be fine for mild climates or three season use. I once looked at a house in Italy that had a heating chamber the size of a cracker box, and it heated the house. It had ingenious piping to maximize the heat extraction. Of course, Italy in general has rather milder winter temperatures, and they are used to keeping chilly rooms. They have great gas heaters available there, too.
A full sized fireplace or stove, might require a dramatic redesign of the space, perhaps utilizing the bathroom wall as a site for a fireplace or wood stove and heat shielding masonry wall. In that case, I would use the masonry wall as the wall for the bath, to conserve room.
I have marked the interior wall dimensions, and have placed a little mark on the walls where I suggest a window. The clunky asterisks are sites that I suggest a little oval window or stained glass. Where there is a plain dot, I suggest the possibility of using a glass door as an option. Exterior dimensions will depend on the size of the wall studs, either 2x4 or 2x6.
I have made a scale drawing for you, but have ruled it on the outside of the space to approximate the thickness of the 2x4 construction. You should try to preserve the size of the interior if you go for 2x6 construction. You can up-size with no problem, perhaps going for the nice easy 12 foot dimensions where possible, but going smaller will undoubtedly feel cramped.
The two arrows are the suggested deck perimeter location. Use recycled plastic bottle, deck materials to get maximum wear if not minimum price.
The entire house could be on posts with no problem, but do not try to extend floor joists out into the wings across the entire width of the house or the bay. They should be treated separately with a double rim joist separating the main space from them. Also, support the line of those interior walls from below. In other words. you are building three rectangles and a trapezoid when you make the floor and foundation. They just happen to be touching each other.
Also, as with any house, give extra support where you place heavy stuff, like a masonry heat shield.
If this is to be year round, you also need to be mindful of a foundation that will protect the plumbing from the elements.
Concrete blocks on a nice poured footing might be a good solution for this, especially if it is in a remote location. If you draw a rectangle out of the wings and the center of the living space, you could do a full foundation there and put the bay and the bedroom on posts.
If you were to be really creative, you could easily site your shower at the front of the house and use an aluminum and glass door for the back wall of the shower in common with the front wall of the house, leading to the deck and perhaps a hot tub sited outside the bath.
You could certainly use part of the kitchen for a closet or something else, especially if this is a "summer only" cottage and will have an outdoor kitchen. However, I feel gyped if I do not have plenty of room in the kitchen. I like to cook, and feel that having a nice kitchen is a luxury that makes other sacrifices worthwhile.
Many feel the same way about a bathroom. Personally I feel it is a strictly functional space. But, many people would gladly give up plenty if they can soak in a big tub or have a large and luxurious shower. That is why I suggested the outside door to the deck from the shower to a hot tub.
I will continue this post in the near future, with floor joist patterns and bay framing patterns for roof, floor and walls.
Anyway, this is dramatically larger than those old cottages, so I suppose it will be OK, if you are creative. Everything is sized to just a bit more than the bare minimum, with room to walk around the bed, a little kitchen, and a small bath with a dual purpose linen and clothes closet.
Smaller than normal fixtures would help in all cases. An under the counter fridge, which is standard in Europe for a family, an apartment sized stove, a small toilet and pedestal sink will not be hard to find. If you are frugal, you may have room for a big shower, and if you put a nice deck on the front of the house, there would probably be room for a hot tub, half the size of the house! If you start the construction of this house with ten rather than eight foot walls, you might get away with extending the main roof out over the kitchen and bath, I would absolutely extend the roof out over the front to provide shade for the glass fronted bay, but if you are going to use eight foot construction, you will absolutely need to make a gable end at right angles to the house for the two 5x12 wings.
Face the house to the south south west as described in very early posts, and extend a pergola out over the deck for vines to shade the deck and front of the house. Either that, or plant large trees in front to cast shadows in the summer. Use something tall and deciduous so the leaves will fall and provide solar gain for the winter.
You could replace the front window with a masonry wall, and a tiny wood stove, but local codes will restrict the wall space and heat shield issues and force redesign of the bay to accommodate it. Not a big issue really if you plan in advance. Tiny stoves are available, especially if you look at European sources. They will be fine for mild climates or three season use. I once looked at a house in Italy that had a heating chamber the size of a cracker box, and it heated the house. It had ingenious piping to maximize the heat extraction. Of course, Italy in general has rather milder winter temperatures, and they are used to keeping chilly rooms. They have great gas heaters available there, too.
A full sized fireplace or stove, might require a dramatic redesign of the space, perhaps utilizing the bathroom wall as a site for a fireplace or wood stove and heat shielding masonry wall. In that case, I would use the masonry wall as the wall for the bath, to conserve room.
I have marked the interior wall dimensions, and have placed a little mark on the walls where I suggest a window. The clunky asterisks are sites that I suggest a little oval window or stained glass. Where there is a plain dot, I suggest the possibility of using a glass door as an option. Exterior dimensions will depend on the size of the wall studs, either 2x4 or 2x6.
I have made a scale drawing for you, but have ruled it on the outside of the space to approximate the thickness of the 2x4 construction. You should try to preserve the size of the interior if you go for 2x6 construction. You can up-size with no problem, perhaps going for the nice easy 12 foot dimensions where possible, but going smaller will undoubtedly feel cramped.
The two arrows are the suggested deck perimeter location. Use recycled plastic bottle, deck materials to get maximum wear if not minimum price.
The entire house could be on posts with no problem, but do not try to extend floor joists out into the wings across the entire width of the house or the bay. They should be treated separately with a double rim joist separating the main space from them. Also, support the line of those interior walls from below. In other words. you are building three rectangles and a trapezoid when you make the floor and foundation. They just happen to be touching each other.
Also, as with any house, give extra support where you place heavy stuff, like a masonry heat shield.
If this is to be year round, you also need to be mindful of a foundation that will protect the plumbing from the elements.
Concrete blocks on a nice poured footing might be a good solution for this, especially if it is in a remote location. If you draw a rectangle out of the wings and the center of the living space, you could do a full foundation there and put the bay and the bedroom on posts.
If you were to be really creative, you could easily site your shower at the front of the house and use an aluminum and glass door for the back wall of the shower in common with the front wall of the house, leading to the deck and perhaps a hot tub sited outside the bath.
Many feel the same way about a bathroom. Personally I feel it is a strictly functional space. But, many people would gladly give up plenty if they can soak in a big tub or have a large and luxurious shower. That is why I suggested the outside door to the deck from the shower to a hot tub.
I will continue this post in the near future, with floor joist patterns and bay framing patterns for roof, floor and walls.
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