house wish list

[Annpan]

We are in the process of getting our new extension 'ordered' speaking to our architect and trying to get our 'wish list' in order... what would you wish for in our situation?

here is my current basic list

Front to back access – as we are in a terraced house with a huge garden,

Large Dining Kitchen - to be the main room in the house.

Aga/ Rayburn – to run central heating and to cook on

Solar water heating - well, we don't have any hot water just now, so this would be nice

Lots of windows – as much natural light as is possible, and to take advantage of passive solar heating.


The rest of the list has more to do with our lack of upstairs bathroom, etc.

Any other suggestions?

[Jobi1canobi]

Oooh - a new extension - how exciting!

I don't suppose there is scope for a 'Green Roof' is there?
All that lovely wildlife would appreciate it I'm sure.

Possibly a ground source heat pump? And walls injected with recycled newspaper for insulation...?

Personally I'd love a straw bale house but that's just me...

[Annpan]

Oh yes I forgot to put in insulation - yes we would like to go for blown recycled newspaper (that is also on of the few options that we have in our roof cavity any way.

re - straw bale, as lovely as that would be in our dream eco-home, this will not be one. We have budget, time, planning and insurance restraints - strawbale has just not been proven on a suitable scale as yet IMO. - I personally prefer cob, but you try talking to the builders and planning dept about that one I think JohnM (OH) is looking into structural insulated panels (sips), but I'll wait to hear what the architect thinks.

Ground source heat pump wouldn't be possible really, from the research I have done you have to put a unit of electricity in to get 3 units of heat out, and with the price of electricity these days, and the initial outlay it would not be feasible, plus we often get power cuts - it will be great to heat the house with out electricity at all. I have heard heat pumps work well for large buildings though.

[Odsox]

Aga/ Rayburn – to run central heating and to cook on

I don't suppose I need to state the obvious and NOT get an oil fired one.
Also get a Rayburn or Waterford Stanley, Aga is snobs and you pay a lot extra for the name.

[Annpan]

should have said - it will be solid fuel, mostly burning wood

I use the term 'aga/rayburn' (who are made by the same folks) as a generic name, we haven't picked the brand that we want yet, and probably won't for a year or 2 yet anyways

[pogostemon]

I love my Stanley
My sis calls it the bum warmer because she parks hers on the rail when she comes to visit
I'd like a solar panel to sort us for hot water in the summer
I'd also like to sort out the back porch conservatory to a more efficient design heat wise - if we could open it up to the kitchen/dining room that'd be fab too.
Not do-able finance wise at the moment but I can dream & plan.
Pogo

[marshlander]

A big, north facing, pantry would be on my wish list.

And a room of my own to do crafts in that i can leave in a mess!

[Annpan]

A big, north facing, pantry would be on my wish list.

And a room of my own to do crafts in that i can leave in a mess!

Oh yes, a pantry....hmmmm

and I will unfortunately be loosing my 'craft room' which is also our dining room... otherwise known as the room where stuff gets dumped and forgotten about and Ann tries to find her sewing machine under the pile of ironing, balls of wool and fabric. lol

[Amaranth]

Sounds like a fun adventure!

Would you tell us a bit more about what is in the other parts of the house, so we will know what is already there? That might help us to be sure we include everything.

Mudroom/Laundry room off back entry

A cabinet for each person/future person where outdoor clothing and shoes and items going to work or school the next day can be kept.

General closet/armoire for coats, outdoor gear, sports items.

Good ergonomic kitchen design with the cooker/sink/refrigerator triangle placement well thought out
Versatile cookware so you need fewer items (A paring knife rather than an egg slicer for example)

Versatile storage

Pantry

Root cellar under extension with different temperature/humidty zones and separate storage for brassica and for apples. Apples give off a gas which ripens/spoils the other food faster so it needs to be vented off separately.
Apple drawers in the root cellar
Consider an outside ramp into this as well for easier movement of large amounts of apples, pears, or grains
If there won't be a shed, a place to store garden tools

>Aga/ Rayburn – to run central heating and to cook on
Also connect hot water to this
Easy path to bring wood to Aga/Rayburn, perhaps a ramp at back
Easy to clean area around it for clean up of dropped bits of wood and ash cleanout

Covered wood storage close by back door to extension

A place in the garden to store a 2 year supply of wood (the year's worth you are using and the second years which is drying out)

Drying racks above the cooker to dry some of the garden produce/herbs for winter use

A way to vent some of the warm air to a laundry drying area

Multipurpose table for eating and projects

Safe roof access for the chimney sweep

A way of cooking something simple when you don't want to have the full cooker going such as a 2 element gas or electric cooktop.

Solar electric with battery storage

Water collection for house and/or garden

Southside of extension designed as suntrap to increase the light and warmth into the extension

Some bay or greenhouse windows on the southside for plant starting
Deep windowsills for plant starting
Or better yet, a conservatory room

Window seats with built in storage

Good quality windows that keep out the cold air.

Coordinate edible landscaping with the window placements for nice views.

Natural local materials as much as possible
Green building

Long lasting and easy to clean floor
Floor type and color that collects heat during the day and radiates it at night

Solid roll down exterior window covers (like a roll top desk) to reduce the cold at night and to shut out the wind during gales

Interior window coverings with insulation (if you like to do needlework the Italian or American style quilted ones are pretty)

Good lighting in kitchen and project areas. Option for minimal lighting. Lights on separate switches so you can turn on only as many as you need.

Put in lots of access points for internet/tv/satelite/phone/music system speakers and plenty of electrical outlets while building, and leave some room for wiring for things which haven't been invented yet. It's fairly inexpensive and easy to run the wires while the walls are open.
Also put in 3/4 way switches where appropriate.

Well insulated water faucets on outside on all sides and in multiple locations to make watering the edible landscaping easy. Collected water system may be need to be kept separate from mains water system to keep treated water from mixing with untreated water.

Might be fun to tie the water collection system into a fish raising pond as well. Trout in the back garden!

Recycle storage
Compost container for taking peelings to compost bin in garden
Worm bin

Flexible storage for current and future projects

Bookshelves

Also consider how you or your descendents in the next 500 years might be able earn income from a home based business if there is better economic localization(Transition towns). Work areas for a large loom might be helpful. Storage for handspun yarn or linen might be useful. Food production often requires a separate kitchen with a stainless steel sink for jam or cheese production to comply with local food laws for example.

Would you like a stillroom or brewing room on the main floor or in the cellar?

Storage for edible/medicinal/dye herbs.

Easy to clean workshop room--perhaps for making willow baskets and structures or furniture making.

As a general strategy, think about all that goes into running a smallholding and see if there are provisions for doing what you need already in your house or other buildings or in the garden, and add any that are missing if you can. Going through several different John Seymour books as well as Andy and Dave's new book might be helpful in considering everything. Also you need not include everything now, but if you leave space for future desired/desirable things, it keeps the options open.

[Odsox]

A big, north facing, pantry would be on my wish list.

Yeah, I can vouch for one of those.
This house had a north facing coal store that I converted into a pantry/larder. I don't know how we could live without it, it's only small (abt 8' x 3') but it is always 10 degrees cooler in there.

[Annpan]

wow Amaranth - you have been busy, lots of food dor thought there I like many of your ideas and some of them are in our extended plans already, but what a comprehensive list

We currently have a standard Scottish 2 bed cottage - 2ft stone walls, 2 'living' rooms down stairs, 2 bedrooms upstairs(in the roof space). It has been badly extended in the past first adding a bathroom, then a back corridor, then a kitchen - all of these are badly built, riddled with damp, flat roofs, etc - and are being knocked down. The cottage its self is 150 -200 years old with the extensions all being added since the war (we think) The livingroom has a fireplace inwhich we have put a huge multi fuel burner which can also get hooked up to the central heating and hot water system, the chimney runs up an internal wall getting heat into the side corrider too, where the front door is.

The whole cottage is so poorly laid out that we have found it almost impossible to carry out simple day to day tasks... any kind of extension would be an improvement, but we are trying to cover all the possibilities for the best kind of house.

We are planning a 1 1/2 storey extension the full length of the cottage a bedroom and family bathroom upstairs and a big kitchen downstairs. The new extension will be south west facing so we will have plenty of opportunities to build in passive solar and solar water heating.

Oh, how good it is too pick other peoples brains

Thanks everyone.

[marshlander]

http://www.dreverandheddle.co.uk/proper ... rop_ID=749

Is this like your house annpan? lol - lovely views but oh says he too old to take on another fixer upper.

[Annpan]

not far off - hole in the roof is a bit smaller though, and my garden isn't that big...lol that kind of scale and age though.