Homes between 500 SF and 2500 SF are designed to a large degree around the stairs. The reason for this is that the stairs tend to dictate much of the circulation pattern in the floor plan, on both floors. If I place the stairs in the wrong place, it seems impossible to find a room plan that works well. A lot of space can be wasted if it is placed poorly.

A linear stair case on a 9 foot climb extends about 11 feet, but it requires a landing which extends that to 14 feet. Then it requires a 14 foot hallway to walk from the top of one flight to the bottom of the next. This hallway is the wasted space. So this 8ft x 14ft space uses 112 square feet.

The switchback stair case, or the switchback with a winder, will only require 84 square feet, saving 28 SF over the Linear stair. You still need the landings, but you don’t need the hallway. There are three walls to the switchback stair that can all be in rooms being useful. If you add the winder at the turn, the switchback will only require 76 SF. These are best used in very small homes when every inch counts.

A “spiral” staircase is usually a grand and decorative object built on the site with extra craftsmanship. Most people use the word “spiral” to refer to a “circular” staircase, and could also be called a helix, which is usually prefabricated in a metal shop and then shipped and installed on the site. The national building codes do not permit a metal “circular” staircase to be a primary staircase, unless it is 36 inches wide and the railing ballasters are no greater than 4 inches apart. This is large and rare.

In larger homes, when space is not an issue, any staircase style can usually be designed to fit well.

written by pencilman \\ tags: Circular Stairs, Linear Stairs, Spiral Stairs, stairs in small homes, Switchback Stairs

I have had a few clients mention one thing or another about Feng Shui principals of design. Usually people quote something someone told them about Feng Shui, not realizing that out of context the statement might not apply. Feng Shui is a complex system with many interdependent elements that are actually applied somewhat differently for each piece of land and each occupant. To achieve good Feng Shui or Vaastu, you really should start from scratch.

I have studied Feng Shui (Chinese Design) and Vaastu (Hindu Design), and whenever I can apply a general principal from one or the other, I try to do so. Many of the principals are universally good ideas. However, my experience with both is that it is very difficult to apply these eastern design concepts to western small home construction with any real purity unless the owner has extra money, the house’s footprint is somewhat sprawling, and the land is allows for some flexible positioning of the house.

That being said, the fact is that when I design a home that is truly successful and makes the client very happy to live in, and I go back to look at it from a Feng Shui or Vaastu point of view as an afterthought, I do notice that some elements of both do appear to be there. Real truth never dies.

If you want to study Feng Shui for free, try this link to an entire book about it that you can read online.

Feng Shui Book Online

written by pencilman \\ tags: feng shui chinese design

The RS Means company publishes very extensive tables and software for determining the costs of construction for every imaginable structure.

http://www.rsmeans.com/index.asp

If you don’t want to buy all those books and learn how to read them, or you just don’t have that kind of expertise, you might want to try out one of these Estimation Calculators. If you have a pretty good handle on home construction, and you know exactly what your house plan is going to be, and you answer the questions very carefully, these calculators will give you a very close estimate of the cost for building your home. The final price will be based upon the assumption that you are hiring a general contractor to manage the entire project for you. If you do a lot of the work yourself, you will probably save some money, but only if you really know what you are doing. Here are two pretty good cost estimation calculators.

http://www.building-cost.net/

http://www.rsmeans.com/calculator/index.asp

written by pencilman \\ tags: construction cost, estimation calculator

The Internet has provided to me many tools. When I know the address of your lot, and can see a glance at the site plan, I can use Google Earth to see the terrain and vegetation, and much of the topography is visible as well. It is even better to visit the site and walk the property, which is the first thing I try to do, but frequently digital research is enough. However, if you want to know more about the site underground, you will need to hire a surveying company to conduct tests and dig holes to gather information. I can learn what they know from their report.

You can send me photographs of all the furniture in your present home that you intend to inlcude in your new home. I will design your new house to accommodate these choices. I also have a client kit with a couple of very thorough questionaires. If you fill out most of those forms, I will know more than I need to design the perfect house for you.

I use CAD software to render the design ideas, and assemble them into a presentation in PDF format, or I will sometimes use web pages construction to present the graphics online. In any case, if you have a computer connected to the internet with anything better than a dialup connection, we can dynamically and effectively commmunicate from a distance using the internet and the telephone.

written by pencilman \\ tags: my site design