a book on the design of new homes
Ch apter
7 part 2
Oh to Arrange
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A few more words:
Time for an interruption. I know I promised we would
be on to the good things by now but a little interruption is needed. In fact if you went through the bubble diagram exercise you
may have noticed that other floors of a house as well as garages are
important elements. In fact a useable basement and a usable attic can
triple the amount of floor area, if conditions are right.
Considering there are a number of points to be made about these it is
worth the interruption to dwell now rather the going too far forward.
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Topics
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to Basement or Not to Basement
Talk to almost any builder and they will sell you on a full basement.
While there are certainly many many cases where a full basement is
warranted that does not mean you should always do one. Lets
break this down. You have read the Chapters on site planning and design.
You now have an idea of some 'Green' issues associated with sloped land.
So let's divide our topic in half; sloped and non sloped sites.
Consider the following points: |
Level Sites
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Any basement space will be fully underground or you must raise the
first floor up high enough to allow light and air.
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If fully underground do you need an entire floor of space for
largely secondary uses; storage and or garage?
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If the area is half underground does the 4 to 6 feet raised height
of the first floor work for you? In your old age? For resale?
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There is cost associated with a basement. The cost is much less than
finished lived in space above but do you need this space? (Lets say for
easy numbers an unfinished basement will cost $15 per sq. ft. Notice I
said UNFINISHED. If you do a full basement and your next upper floor is
1500 sq.ft. the basement construction will be $22,500. If
you need 1500 sq. ft. of underground unfinished space then this is a
good deal. If not, well ??)
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Builders want a full basement rather than a partial
basement because It simplifies their administration of construction and
helps their profit margin! (laying out a partial basement increases
the supervision time of site grading and foundations. Not a big amount
compared to the entire extra cost of a wasted basement space but an
item the builder would rather build into their profit).
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If there are not several feet of permeable soil below the basement
floor and a water table nicely below that -- beware!!
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See the next section for discussion of garage locations.
Slope Sites
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Review the Green implications of excavated soil and drainage 'dams' on
sloped sites. (Chapter 5).
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If impacts are acceptable a full basement is a logical and
reasonable depending on those slope to house width ratios
discussed in that chapter. (If your slope achieves a full story in
height less 3 ft. in the width of the house you have an ideal
walk out basement. For example the slope for a house 30 ft wide would
need to fall 7 ft (10ft less 3ft) or one in 4 +- feet).
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If impacts are not attractive then consider the added
cost for a full basement and the possibility of a half basement instead.
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Consider carefully the uses you put in the 'walk out
basement'. (Principle living space in a walk
out basement may prove unattractive).
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Also review Chapter 5 for driveway access issues. Driving to the
house from below will either require walking upstairs with all the
groceries or putting the main living areas downstairs.
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See the next section for discussion of garage locations.
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TIP: Think about the
savings from a full vs a half basement if you turned that savings into
upper floor habitable space. Lets do the math: a half basement under a 30
x60 house saves 15 sf x 60 sf x $15 = $13,500. Use of that money as first
class upper floor space would allow you at $100/sf a 135 sq ft extra
bedroom (10x13ft)). Where would you prefer that bedroom, down in the
basement or on the main living floor? |
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the Garage -the 1000 lb Gorilla
Personally my wife and I think the attached American garage is the worst
thing that ever happened to single family houses, especially the smaller
more affordable homes. Its one thing to have a large home or an estate
with a 3 car garage off to the side or around back, its another to have 3
cars fitted onto a lot for a 2000 sf home. Having a parking lot and 2 car
garage sitting in front of your house just is not attractive. Furthermore
a garage is hard to handle architecturally. The doors are big and dominate
the wall and cost a fortune unless the tacky economy models are used.
People then get silly to compensate and try to make the rest of the garage
walls look acceptable; bow windows right on down to draperies. So
what are the choices? There are about a half dozen ways garages are
handled none of them are ideal:
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Garage level to the main floor,
attached to house with
 doors
facing the side yard.
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Garage level to the main floor, attached to house with doors facing
the front yard.
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Garage level to the main floor, attached to rear of house with
driveway from alley or through side yard..
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Garage level to main floor but unattached. Location varies.
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Garage embedded under 2nd floor. Locations as above.
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Garage in the basement. or no
garage.
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The problem
really is rather complicated but the solution
was ironically provided historically and then discontinued with the
advent of today's cul de sac suburb. First for discussion of the
problem; the garage is a multifunctional space and the largest
single volume in most houses. Although as listed above many locations are
possible the size combined with the function of sheltered loading and
unloading convenient to the kitchen is the heart of the challenge.
The instant you access a garage from the front street you have the size
(crude and ugly) in tension with solving an important function of getting
the car as close to the kitchen as possible and out of the weather.
The photo above shows a perfectly acceptable garage with side access from
the front street. Still the long banal wall faces the world. The amount of
pavement for 2 car access to a side garage aggravates the problem with a
sea of hard surface taking up a significant area of what could be
attractive landscaping. Are there better solutions?
There are good solutions; two as a matter of a fact and the basement
(by itself) is not included. (If it was not for the utter tiresome inconvenience
of dragging all the groceries up stairs to the kitchen the basement would
be first on the solution list). Here are the two and some of the issues
involved. |
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Is there a down side though?
Unfortunately yes, the same ones as in the horse and buggy days. A larger lot is required to
accommodate all the driveway navigation, to say nothing of the extra
cost of the Porte Cochere itself. Here though we have some good
combo permeations that can help save the day. Consider the following
alternatives:
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Build the drop off under the main body of the roof or
under a second floor. This will save construction costs by sharing walls
and or roof.
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Place the Porte Cochere at the end
of the house where the driveway goes to the garage at the rear.
This arrangement
can be architecturally strong as well as saving money. (Driveway as well
as walls/roof).
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If your land slopes or drainage is favorable, do put
the garage in the basement. Use that savings to build a nice Porte
Cochere and benefit from the best of both.
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There is Gold In the Attic
Converting the attic was once an American family planning tradition.
It seems to have lost attractiveness for a number of unforeseen reasons.
Leave it here to say it can still be a viable solution to a growing family
IF several important design matters are attended to when the house is
first designed.
TIP: Even if you find an
attic bedroom unattractive think of it this way: It is an economical worse
case contingency which you can prudently allow for. Then if nothing else
your resale value might increase.
At any rate here's what must be done (and not done).
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Provide a steep roof slope. Design
this in 'section' to determine if the width of the converted space is
adequate. Remember codes require a minimum head height of 7 ft.
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Do not use conventional roof
truss. Occurring as they do every 2 ft. you will not have the any
useable space left.
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Instead use conventional stick
rafters or a special truss. (see the truss provider for these).
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Increase the attic floor joist size to
at least 2x8s depending on your span distances.
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Plan your stair location where it
can be extended to the attic at a later date. Pay attention to the attic
roof heights above the location you choose.
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You can put in the floor decking,
roof insulation and attic finishes at a later date.
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You can even reuse the 1st floor ceiling
insulation to insulate the roof provided you use batts not
blow in
insulation.
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Please see the complete book for the following
topics :
the Rough Size and Layout
the House Starts Talking-LOUDLY |
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purchase this book .
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read more
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(1) The term defensible space is from a
book specifically about design arrangements which deter or promote crime.
Primarily about urban situations there are numerous useful tips. |
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of an alley with garages to the rear. After years of disfavor among
planners and developers this solution is finally seeing a return in the
"New Urbanism" town planning. Not really 'New' it is as many of us can
remember the urban solution to convenient storage of the car. There are
many reasons for the loss of popularity in the alley garage. Alleys
present extra cost to the developer and fire and sanitation issues
for town officials. Crime was probably the biggest hatchet with
dirt and unsightliness close on its heals. These last two are
still at issue. As neighborhoods age alleys do represent a less than
ideal 'defensible space'(1). One can only hope the good out way the bad
and people buy cameras. Or go to the second solution.
For these folks the Porte Cochere
evolved from its horse and buggy roots to provide an often architecturally
attractive element for the fronts and sides of the house. . A simple solution.
Pull up under cover and unload (guests as well as groceries) pull around
to the back and park in the garage. This garage could then be attached to the house or by a
breezeway as preferred. Moreover the banal solid garage mass out front is
now a light and airy edifice beckoning comfortable entry and begging
for creative articulation.