what makes a great family house? Wish List.

speedy said:
these suggestions are fantastic. thanks so much to everyone.we're meeting the architect on thursday so i'll print this off and some of onq's other posts to bring along.
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(bows)

I'm honoured speedy, but complainer makes some sense [as he usually does].

The benefit of making suggestions your own really means not adopting two conflicting aims. You could start this process with the advice notes here perhaps by condensing them by cutting and pasting them into one coherent list. You could list them in order of priority, and then again organise them in order of house level or by room name. Any two conflicting aims [you may also have other sources than AAM] might become more readily apparent if you carry out this exercise.

In terms of complainers advice, you DO need to make the suggestions people have made here your own. The aim of this exercise should be to help develop your own ideas of what YOU want in the house as well as the WOW factors or dream elements you might like. Don't remove things from the list because you think you cannot afford them. Leave them in with a question mark or an asterisk * beside them. They may be too expensive, but an aspiration for a glazed conservatory may indicate an underlying desire that could be satisfied by clear-storey lighting or reflected light from above, or perhaps an internal balcony. Tell your architect your dreams for you house and see what results.

There should be no concern about what your architect will think of the source. Many clients use both plans, pictures and words of advice sourced elsewhere. Many architects [myself included] prefer to see the source text or pictures that the client is using for inspiration rather than the client's interpretation of them.

This proved very important when we were finalising a design for a house once and the client wanted a conservatory like the one they had seen in a book. No matter what permutation we tried, it didn't seem to satisfy. When it was the right size for the house, it was too small. When it was the size preferred it was half as big again as the main kitchen, living, dining space and prohibitively expensive.

When I eventually saw the source picture the problem became apparent. The original was a conservatory to the side of a French Chateau, small by French Chateaux standards, but large by Irish house standards - plus it was a two storey Chateau, and the house was a dormer bungalow. Once the mismatch of size had been identified we worked within the constraints to give give the client the essence of what was required, not a facsimile.

Finally, just a wee word of caution on my posts - while I make every effort to proof read my posts, errors may still get through - usually unintended typos - so if you're looking at using one of my longer, and/or more technical posts, it might be useful for you to print it out and bring it along. Its probably better not to interpret a long piece of text written by another. Any typos in it will be apparent, or should spotted by someone with technical training, and you won't both waste your time mulling over something that your architect should spot straight away that may have been a simple error on my or someone else's part.

Have a good read of the FAQs on the top of the Forum, particularly the "what to ask your architect at your first meeting FAQ" as this may help prepare you.

I hope it all works out well for you and you might let us know how matters progress on your great adventure.

ONQ

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.
 
Ballyman said:
Is this something you really need with the way things are going wirelessly?
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I think so, but some people disagree.

Wired is faster than wireless. Wireless is great if you dont want the
expense and hassle of retrofitting cable, but you never see a professional
company using exclusively wireless unless they have to, because its
just not as good.

If you are wiring a house anyway, the cabling will cost virtually nothing.
You will always have it and I suspect you will use it and never regret it.
 
There is always the sneaking fear in my mind that someone will hack into a wireless system.

We have two standalone computers - a PC and a laptop - on our wireless system.

That is - we don't have a network per se - small office, works fine.

But I know some people are getting into watching and/or downloading films and so forth from the internet.

A cabled system allowing for connection to the home TV would be excellent.

ONQ.
 
For me:
  • Underfloor heating (air to water) with 24hr hot water!
  • A large utility with toilet/shower off it and a 'cloakroom/wet room/laudry room' for muddy shoes/wet jackets, bags etc, keep all out of the kitchen!
  • A large kitchen come dining area
  • a Sun room off said kitchen/dining
  • Study/office which can be turned in to a 'den' in years to come!
  • Play Room
  • Would have all bedrooms ensuite with built in wardrobes and walk in wardrobe in master bedroom.
  • A bath in master bedroom ensuite
  • be able to drive around the house
  • large garage.
  • No carpets anywhere!
  • Plenty of storage- if building a bungalow be sure and leave place for actual stairs and build room high enough that attic could be converted in future. if building a dormer use the roof edges as storage. In two storey make the third story high enough with place for stairs (ideally behind double doors on the landing!) for conversion/storage and access.
  • The bigger and more windows the better!
That's`about it!!
 
Get some good interior magazines (library?) and spend some time going through them - some of them involve major renovations of existing houses - you might get some ideas. I think the suggestion to think ahead to when your kids are teenagers is a good one. Plenty of space for hobbies etc having said that I personally don't like houses that are so big that there are practically separate wings and you don't know if the kids are even up there or not.
I remember Daniel O Donnell was on some chat show recently saying he doesn't live in a house he built recently because it turned out much bigger than he thought it would be. Some houses just seem to be needlessly huge, people got ahead of themselves.
 
anastasiablu said:
.............the key to a long and happy marriage according to Larry (J.R) Hagman, and I belive him.
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+1, stayed with friends in Madrid and they had 2 sinks in their bathroom. They were shocked we didn't have it in our house.

Never thought something so simple would be so useful.
 
onq said:
There is always the sneaking fear in my mind that someone will hack into a wireless system.

We have two standalone computers - a PC and a laptop - on our wireless system.

That is - we don't have a network per se - small office, works fine.

But I know some people are getting into watching and/or downloading films and so forth from the internet.

A cabled system allowing for connection to the home TV would be excellent.

ONQ.
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You can't blame wireless technology for other peoples failure to 'switch on' even basic network security. You don't leave you doors open at night, or your cars: so why not do the same with your wireless ?


huskerdu said:
I think so, but some people disagree.

Wired is faster than wireless. Wireless is great if you dont want the
expense and hassle of retrofitting cable, but you never see a professional
company using exclusively wireless unless they have to, because its
just not as good.

If you are wiring a house anyway, the cabling will cost virtually nothing.
You will always have it and I suspect you will use it and never regret it.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but that's plain just not ture. Cable is faster than wireless. Maybe so. With wireless capable of 54Mbps, and the country lucky to have any broadband anywhere, than your local (even wireless) network is always faster than your broadband. It's like say a Porsche is faster than a Mercedes. Maybe it is, but both easily exceed the speed limit..........

And, you're forgetting that a lot of Eirom exchanges use wireless for their broadband provision: so, what's good for the goose is .........including Eircom Phonewatch systems as well, btw.......

I have yet to see a cable, nor the installation of it, be free. And my experience is the opposite of yours: I've wired my last two houses with CAT5 and then CAT5e. Waste of time, seeing as I have a wireless broadband provider, and IP phone..........
 
[

I have yet to see a cable, nor the installation of it, be free. And my experience is the opposite of yours: I've wired my last two houses with CAT5 and then CAT5e. Waste of time, seeing as I have a wireless broadband provider, and IP phone..........[/QUOTE]

Agree with the security aspect of your reply but disagree with the statement that a structured wiring system is a waste of time in a family home. Built a home a few years ago and was persuaded by a friend to install a structured wiring sytem- coax, cat5e to a central room. At the time didnt know what this cable would allow me to do but the cost was small (Electrician charged-approx 500 euro's for running miles of coax and cat5e cable to multiple locations around the house). Said what the heck and went for it. Im finding many more use's for it than I originally thought possible.

Some example's SKY,free-sat etc distribution, every room has multiple coax's going to it allowing Sky in every room along with control with magic eyes.
Related point- all Cat5e data points can become a phone point from a simple change over on a patch panel- very handy for when sky came looking for my two sky boxes to be connected to a phone line not too long ago.
Provision of sending HD material along a single or dual Cat5e balun system- central blu-ray player in study sending this to a plasma in master bedroom (IR control possible also).
Not too mention the obvious of bandwidth- wireless is fine for light internet usage but OP has a number of children- what happens when little Jimmy is online gaming on the PS3 and little Mary is downloading episodes of sex and the city? That will suck any wireless bandwidth available.
Have a sonos system for central audio (granted works very well wirelessly) that is hardwired. Am venturing into a central visual system - i.e. all dvd'd, Blu rays on a central NAS and available to all room's using media streaming devices. Try streaming a blu ray wirelessly? Same for printers, photo sharing etc
Internet Tv- the ability to watch sky player, BBC player etc on any TV using a wired connection from the PC to the Tv.
Increasingly all new Tv's, Blu ray players, amp's etc are including some network access features- updates, access to you- tube etc

Maybe none of these issue's interest the OP and thats fair enough but as shown the benefits of a wired network are there, whether it warrant's the extra cost (relatively small in the overall scheme of things though) is another matter.
 
Floor to ceiling windows across the whole back of the house so you can watch children in the garden while inside.

Stairs that goes straight up so you don't have a funny few steps to stick stair gates on. These are also much much cheaper to put the stair lift on when you are older.

High door locks, gives you a few extra months before kids can open doors and escape.

Separate bathroom with full shower so when babies are asleep in mum and dads room you can sill have a shower.

Space in bathroom for baby changing unit.

Hotel bedroom wiring, light switches above the bed, bliss.
 
Ideal family home

Must have ...
An upstairs ... No fear of visitors wandering into messy bedrooms.
No toy room ... Kids play where you are ... Why separate them ... In no time at all they won't want to be near you so enjoy it while it lasts. Lots of storage in every room.
Giant utility room with access to outside. With all the sorting of recycling, washing etc the bigger the better. I've often fantasied about a laundry chute from upstairs into the utility room .... Kids could post the dirty clothes down ... Keeping rooms tidier.
Carpet on the stairs ... Keeps the noise down!
 
a laundry chute from upstairs into the utility room
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I've never really understood why a laundry room was downstairs in a two storey house?

You don't get dressed or undressed downstairs (well, adults don't anyway!), you don't have your wardrobe / bathroom etc., downstairs either.

You drag all your laundry downstairs, wash, dry, fold (iron if you've nothing better to be doing with your time!) and then proceed to drag it all back upstairs again.

Why not have the laundry upstairs?
 
We put our laundry room upstairs in our house and it is the one thing everybody that comes into our house comments on. Also got some basic, but very deep, wooden shelving up to the ceiling built in to that room so we can store towels, bed linen, spare duvets there. We have underfloor heating upstairs so have the area where the pipes from downstairs come upstairs in the laundry room and it makes the room slightly warmer than the rest of upstairs and it is fantastic for drying clothes - have a big clothes horse and can turn around clothes in 24 hours. Never use the drier as hang clothes out when the weather is good. It also saves a lot of mess downstairs containing all clothes to one room. Works really well in my opinion. The down sides are getting the washing machine upstairs - its heavy! And also if you have a leak from the washing machine - we put that stuff you use for tanking in the room and a drain in the middle of the floor.
 
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