The idea of spending real money, giving a set of plans to a contractor and watching it be built 10x faster than I could do it, is very appealing. My previous sketch of a garage and driveway made me want to develop the front yard further, which led to trying to solve the floor plan. I drew three plans today, and I know how I would change each one for version 2.
Site Plan
The site plan is hard to read, but I considered ramps and steps and drainage in the context of the lay of the land. The basic ideas are:
- Move the driveway east, away from the base of the Douglas Fir
- Widen the driveway, so a car can get to the garage even if one is parked in the driveway
- Run the wide driveway to the street so that we might get 6 cars parked for a party
- The drive can't move very far east, but don't need to deal with the city's drainage pipe and we can preserve the brick tombstone with the post light
- I need to replace the front walk--the finish is shot, it's cracking, and...yeah. But this means I can plan for a step-free access to the breezeway. Pull in the driveway, wheel yourself to the street and over to the entry walk and you're in.
- I'm calling for pavers over the Doug Fir and Cedar roots--I was thinking pavers for everything, but they're pricey and the driveway is already 750 SF.
- I think I need a small retaining wall at the east side of the driveway--I'm thinking of interlocking blocks
- Finally, I think I have the trash bins where I want them--behind a modesty fence. Double gates--the north side with a cane bolt, the south gate by the garage for everyday. Wednesday night, open the south gate, wheel the bin to the street--paved the whole way--then wheel them back in.
 |
| Just fooling around. Green spot in driveway is a mistake; ignore. |
What would I change? Well, the this-way-and-that aspect of the entry walk is a little annoying, and I'm not sure what I'm doing with the dining room window and therefore the porch. Also, do I need paving to the east side yard? I can imagine a Rubbermaid garden shed over there, as well. Stepping stones (or nothing) don't work so great for pulling out a lawn mower (but I'm not planning on having lawn). I'm thinking of a gate to block people from walking up to the breezeway, but that's based on the floor plan.
I didn't call it out, but a hose bibb and area light at the north garage corner would be awesome for keeping the garbage bins clean. What a luxury.
 |
| Street number goes on brick tombstone--Chief Architect can't do that :-) |
First Floor Plan
Here's the deal: A "real" garage is 400-500 SF, which is $50,000, all things considered. When I go to list the house, it will still be about 1,600 SF, but it will have a garage. If I built a little higher and put in a floor, for a similar amount of money, I could have a 2,100 SF house with more beds and baths.
 |
| First Floor |
I could not come up with a way to get from the breezeway down to Casey's room and the garage and stairs up to the floor above the garage. I could do 2 of them, not 3. I could have the stairs to the 2nd floor enter from the west and enter Casey's room from the breezeway (essentially as it is now), but I think there's value in having two rentals, or one big rental.
Another consideration in all this is the electrical system for the house. The service entrance is on the breezeway roof, directly above the panel. The panel, you will recall, was moved from the south wall to the north, leaving a rat's nest of splices behind a louvered door. All the wiring in the house goes to the old location, then it all runs over the breezeway ceiling to the new panel for power. Moving any of those three--service, panel, old splices--is tantamount to rewiring the entire house. The meter isn't a big deal because it's a "smart" meter now, so the meter reader doesn't need to see it from the street.
Two 8' overhead doors is better than one 16' door. I would probably park on the east side and use the west as a workshop.
I imagine the breezeway as just that--a light, airy space with French doors to a deck. A quiet place to sit in a white wicker chair and flip through a magazine. Oh, all right, I admit it--I have no idea. The circulation in the main house sucks. I could see them bulldoze my deck, but I don't want to have to argue with Seattle to get a permit to build closer to Carkeek if I can avoid it.
What would I change? I'm wasting 25 SF on a vestibule that could be better thought out. For one thing, the grade is about 3' down on that side, so I need stairs and a landing, or something like that. Casey's bed has no night stand, so maybe have the door to the side yard lead you straight up the stairs or, you turn right and enter Casey's room--that is, give Casey's room part of the vestibule.
I have no clue about the windows in the kitchen. I could bump out for a refrigerator niche, but I haven't thought it through. Also, I thought a coat closet just outside the garage might be nice, but it should probably be the triangular closet and let Casey have more space under the stairs.
Lastly, I'm thinking plumbing for a laundry in the back of the garage, to be shared by two tenants. The problem is, it wouldn't work with the main sewer line. It would have to piggyback on the existing sewage pump that Casey's bathroom is on. I've seen washers drain--I don't think it could keep up.
Second Floor Plan
If you thought the first floor was quick and dirty, get ready.
One goal of messing with the garage roof is to resolve the ridiculous triangle pieces where the garage fascia tucks under the house fascia and the breezeway hits the garage hip roof awkwardly. The way I would like to do it is to build a 3' cripple wall up around Casey's bedroom and bath, then build a new hip roof 3' higher than before. The fascia and gutters then run around the house and Casey's room at the same height. We can fix up the breezeway roof, but we want to leave it where it is, because all the electrical runs through it.
What's going on in the apartment? Well, a full bath for one thing. I'm thinking dormers in front, so that we don't have a two-story blank wall facing the street. That is, I'd like it to look more like the Chief rendering above, which I did before I thought of a two-story garage.
So the roof is kind of a salt box, with an 8:12 in front at the dormers and maybe a 4:12 on the back, over the stairs. I'm thinking the closet would be better between the living room and bedroom, moving the door closer to the kitchen. Bed on the west wall, couch on the east wall, facing the TV on the demising wall.
Can you tell I haven't done a section to prove that any of this roof fantasy actually works? I'm thinking we could get some high south light on the stairs and borrow it in the kitchen/dining side, but it depends on the section.
Oh, and a place for a stacked washer/dryer would be lovely. It's okay on the second floor, because we can drop the sewer down to the breezeway. Under the breezeway floor, I think there's room to slope to the main house sewer in the basement. If not, we can catch the sewer closer to the street. The garage level doesn't have these options. Just looking at it, maybe it goes on the south side of the stairs at the top landing, and the door to the attic storage moves down a little.
Lastly, the odd looking hip roof is because we have appendages on the side, but we added the 3' cripple wall for other reasons, so we have lots of room to morph the hip into a shed. Thinking about it, though, there's no reason for a 5' overhang--we could just put the shed over the appendage. God knows what the gutter does--actually, I guess it's just treated like a short gable so it doesn't have a gutter.
Construction Phases
I'm thinking that we could build this as Phase 1--bulldoze the workshop, the driveway, the front yard and build this two-story thing. Casey moves into the guest bedroom, most likely.
Phase 2 is the kitchen remodel and dressing up the dining room and living room--moldings, paint.
Phase 3 is bathroom and hall remodel, refinish the floors, paint the original house.
So that was my Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment