A Home for a Model Railway

[Harlequin]

Like many of us I don’t really have enough space for the layouts that I dream about.

 

It's always diificult to extend an existing space or find room in the garden for a generous railway shed so I got to thinking about designing a whole house with a purpose built railway room. This is a bit "Meta" for the Layout and Track Design forum (and yet another fantasy design) but here goes anyway:

All the usual practical, aesthetic and health-giving aspects of good house design must apply to the house and there is an extra mundane requirement: The railway room must also have a clear alternative purpose for non-modellers so that the house has good resale value. In this design I chose to make the railway room serve as a triple garage and it could easily be adapted for other purposes. (This is an interesting reversal of the more usual job of adapting a garage into a railway room!)
 

 

• Railway room: 9150mm × 6000mm (30ft × 19ft 8in)
  • Windows above backscene height.
  • Doors in all corners, all opening outwards.
  • Separated from living areas by utility rooms for sound isolation.
  • Skylights in north side of roof give consistent light.
  • Visitors have direct access to railway from the front door with a loo nearby.
  • Solid concrete garage floor covered by insulated deck to raise floor level to same as house floor.
• Open plan flexible living space with secluded corner next to fire for TV, music and reading railway books.
• 50 degree roof pitch referring back to old railway buildings, ideal for solar panels and creates usable interior space, which can be:
  • Open to the rafters (with mezzanines if wanted)
  • Enclosed as loft storage space
  • Fully converted to add upstairs rooms in future
• Optimal use of materials: Single blockwork leaf for solidity and thermal mass wrapped in blanket of natural insulation. Lightweight external rain screen.
• Simple exterior shape for thermal efficiency.

 

This floor plan could be elevated in lots of different ways, contemporary and traditional, but I plumped for something “Vaguely Voysey” in style because I like big roofs and it should be inoffensive to neighbours and planners...
 

Here are two elevations just roughly blocked out without too much detail:

 

It's not perfect but I think it hangs together quite well.

 

Edited September 9, 2019 by Harlequin

[Nearholmer]

There's a house not far from where we live that is not radically different from that, there very clearly being one big room above three garages, and I've often wondered whether the owner has a decent-sized layout up there. Probably something like a music studio though.

 

 

[royaloak]

Why not put the model railway room in the roofspace of the garage and keep the garage for keeping cars in.

 

That is a huge area to fill with model railway, do you have 150 years to finish it?

[Harlequin]

7 hours ago, royaloak said:

Why not put the model railway room in the roofspace of the garage and keep the garage for keeping cars in.

I think you've missed the point!

You might use the roofspace in an existing building but if you are designing a railway room from scratch you can remove all the difficulties.

No need to climb a staircase, no need to lug materials and tools up and down, no need to have sloping backscenes and no need for restricted head height!

 

7 hours ago, royaloak said:

 

That is a huge area to fill with model railway, do you have 150 years to finish it?

Well, yes, it is big but you need that kind of space in 4mm scale to represent even a smallish through station and a bit of countryside running.

(For instance, see Upton Hanbury...)

 

[JohnR]

I like the idea, and in my imagination, have thought that it would be better to have a house built to my specification, if I was ever to win the lottery, rather than try to buy a suitable property. 

 

However, I dont think you have enough bedrooms. A property like this would surely have 4 bedrooms, and possibly a study. I'd work on the basis that there is an upper floor, at least on section with living accomodation. I'm not sure of the dimensions of the living room area, but it feels small to me. 

[The Stationmaster]

Very interesting - says someone who did plan his own house and has lived in it for the past 12 years.  We have a four bedroom house with separate dining and living rooms plus a study and a library (of sorts - basically a corridor with bookshelves).   So from the experience of getting a lot of it right and some of it not quite right plus living with my wife whose domestic views might well differ from those of others.  -

 

Kitchen too small with inadequate cupboard space

Wasted space in the utility due to its shape and door layout (have the back door opening outwards - it makes a lot of difference)

Bedrooms too few and too small

Overall lack of wall space in living areas/loss of room space to cupboards and bookshelves

Nowhere for the marital pair (assuming there is a marital pair) to 'retreat' to a bit of private/'own' space to - say watch different tv programmes or simply have a sleep or whatever without using either a bedroom or the 'garage' for that purpose.

Impact of the layout on future saleability.

 

But it has some very good points 

Huge (by most standards 'garage'/hobbies area)

Nice and compact to keep clean

 

I don't know the site but I do wonder about the north facing bit as the back of the house is likely to get very hot in summer (great if you like the heat of course) which means the kitchen and living area will also get hot.  Awnings would help and ours makes a tremendous difference in our west facing living room.   It would be interesting to know what the planners would make of your plan and I suspect there would be questions about a garage with a fireplace and chimney - that sort of thing raises suspicions and might get the Rating Officer asking questions as well.  The elevations have a nice 'feel' to them although of course roof and exterior finishing are also things which can wind up the planners and councillors.

 

But in the end it all comes down to what we like and what we want as individuals and you have the big plus of not having to go outside to get to the layout room.

[Nearholmer]

I’m not sure that, even as an 0 gauger, i’d Actually want a “three garage” layout and, as SM says, the living accommodation wouldn’t cut the mustard for a family home.

 

The best family home for a layout was one that some friends in Denmark had. Set into a slope, entered from the uphill side, it had a basement over the whole footprint, which was half below ground, but at garden level at the back. Next floor up was living space, then above that the bedrooms, which were big, with rather cosy sloping ceilings, the windows being typical north German /danish, a combination of small dormers and big gable windows.

 

The guy next door actually had a layout, a whopper Maerklin affair, he ha I g been collecting since 1946, when his father was posted to Germany to help reestablish commerce post-war. But, his house was one storey taller, so the layout was at the top, and his wife had filled the basement with her hand-made teddy-bear collection (Steiffs from 1900, that sort of thing), which she had also started in 1946!

 

 

Edited September 10, 2019 by Nearholmer

[Harlequin]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

Very interesting - says someone who did plan his own house and has lived in it for the past 12 years.  We have a four bedroom house with separate dining and living rooms plus a study and a library (of sorts - basically a corridor with bookshelves).   So from the experience of getting a lot of it right and some of it not quite right plus living with my wife whose domestic views might well differ from those of others.  -

 

Kitchen too small with inadequate cupboard space

Wasted space in the utility due to its shape and door layout (have the back door opening outwards - it makes a lot of difference)

Bedrooms too few and too small

Overall lack of wall space in living areas/loss of room space to cupboards and bookshelves

Nowhere for the marital pair (assuming there is a marital pair) to 'retreat' to a bit of private/'own' space to - say watch different tv programmes or simply have a sleep or whatever without using either a bedroom or the 'garage' for that purpose.

Impact of the layout on future saleability.

 

But it has some very good points 

Huge (by most standards 'garage'/hobbies area)

Nice and compact to keep clean

 

I don't know the site but I do wonder about the north facing bit as the back of the house is likely to get very hot in summer (great if you like the heat of course) which means the kitchen and living area will also get hot.  Awnings would help and ours makes a tremendous difference in our west facing living room.   It would be interesting to know what the planners would make of your plan and I suspect there would be questions about a garage with a fireplace and chimney - that sort of thing raises suspicions and might get the Rating Officer asking questions as well.  The elevations have a nice 'feel' to them although of course roof and exterior finishing are also things which can wind up the planners and councillors.

 

But in the end it all comes down to what we like and what we want as individuals and you have the big plus of not having to go outside to get to the layout room.

 

Everyone will have different requirements and expectactions and if I was designing for someone else I'd do things differently, of course.

 

This design would pretty much suit me, although I agree that the kitchen/dining/living area might be a bit too small. I'm always trying to keep things compact and have some spaces doing "double-duty" to keep costs under control.

 

I too designed and built (that is to say, had built for me) the house that I'm living in now. It was the classic "Grand Designs" rollercoaster experience and I'm still living with the consequences!

 

One of the things that does work very well in my current house is that it's open to the south and designed to benefit from passive solar gain. It uses careful sizing of the glazed area, fixed shading and planted shading to exclude summer sun but allow in winter sun and thermal mass moderates internal temperature changes.

 

P.S. I had architects draw up plans for my house which were accepted by the planners but turned out to be way over budget. Start again: Architects drew a big ugly box (looking back) which was again approved and this was even more over budget! Start again: Architects drew up plans for a smaller box, which was approved again but was so ugly I pulled the plug on it. Finally, I changed architect and did the design myself with his support and advice. This smaller, more sympathetic design was rejected by the planners! But thank goodness they changed their minds. That was just the start of the rollercoaster - there have been many further highpoints and disasters since then.

 

Edited September 10, 2019 by Harlequin

[mdvle]

13 hours ago, royaloak said:

Why not put the model railway room in the roofspace of the garage and keep the garage for keeping cars in.

 

That is a huge area to fill with model railway, do you have 150 years to finish it?

 

Only if you actually fill it up with track though.

 

Instead if you use the space to recreate "space", using long stretches of single or double track on a relatively narrow shelf (thus keeping scenery/etc. manageable) and allowing for large radius curves one could have a layout that could be done in a reasonable time frame.

 

The added bonus is with lots of extra space there is room for comfortable chairs and other options that can make spending time with the layout more enjoyable.

[mdvle]

14 hours ago, Harlequin said:

The railway room must also have a clear alternative purpose for non-modellers so that the house has good resale value. In this design I chose to make the railway room serve as a triple garage and it could easily be adapted for other purposes. (This is an interesting reversal of the more usual job of adapting a garage into a railway room!)

 

I like the idea/dream of a house set up around the idea of a layout space, but I don't know that you are really getting the resale value part of the equation.

 

Essentially, as mentioned by others, the house portion is far too small to justify a 3 car garage.  You really need to make a larger house, either staying on one floor or by going up.

 

Giving that land is often the bigger issue, if I was dreaming I would go up and down.  Up to create the additional bedrooms that a family would frequently want, and down for a layout room - but allow for external access to the basement either through sloping property or a ramp into the ground to a doorway.

 

This has the added benefit of requiring either less land, or if one still has room for the exiting design gives more outdoor space to enjoy in the nicer weather (or to grow food), which will also help the resale value.

[Nearholmer]

Another thing that seems difficult to get right in houses is the balance between bedroom space and living area space, especially if you economise on ground-plan.

 

Ours is a three-storey, which means generous bedroom sizes by modern standards, but quickly begins to feel too small on the ground floor when we have visitors, which is to say nearly every weekend for at least one of the days ...... OK in summer, because the garden is another room, but it drives me a bit crazy on winter sundays, when you can’t move for children, their pals, cousins, dogs, bicycles, and perambulators (OK, not really bicycles, they go in the shed).

[The Johnster]

(Cue violins) I am a poor pensioner living in a rented flat on a fixed income, so all this sort of stuff is lottery dreaming for me!  

 

In the US and Canada, it is not uncommon for detached properties, which are to be found even in poor areas over there, to have cellars that extend as a single space for the whole footprint of the property, approached easily by a flight of proper stairs.  These are aired by small opening windows and ventilators on the lower walls just above ground level, and are used as hobby rooms, tv rooms, dens, workrooms, utility rooms or storage.  My sister's place in Canada has one, and the tv and hifi live down there with a massive, tatty, but very comfortable old sofa which she doesn't mind the cat sitting on or you putting your feet on.

 

These cellars are dry and ventilated, and usually heated as part of the house's main system; the boiler lives down there and provides a good bit of warmth even if they're not.  They make ideal railway rooms, and being a bit empty space are very flexible; you can use the whole space, open plan it for multi purpose use, or make up rooms with wall dividers any size or shape you want.  They are the reason for the very big American model railroads which are often a simple single track continuous circuit of several scale miles, with multiple loops and scenes divided by floor to ceiling scenery, curves and loops at different levels being used to extend the run.  Shame we don't have this; our cellars, where they exist, are usually designed to be used as coal bunkers or storage and are small, damp, unventilated, low roofed holes.

 

My principle since the experience of having a layout in the loft when I was a teenager is that my minimum requirement for a layout space is that it is a part of the living area of the home, ventilated and heated by the home's system for that whatever it is.  It has mains electricity which is not an extension cable.  I will therefore not consider having a layout in an attic unless said attic has been fully and professionally converted into a living space (not like Father's cowboy work), or in a garage or shed.  The latter can be made very comfortable of course, but my enthusiasm is blunted by having to go out in the cold or rain, and I like the convenience of a layout in a living space.

 

Hence my layout is heavily compromised for space, being a BLT shoehorned around two walls of what I call the railway room; the squeeze insists it's a bedroom because there's a bed and some wardrobes in there, but we know better, don't we, gents?  I'd love a more scale approach, but am happy with what I've got.

 

My greatest pleasure from the layout is operating it, and I have yet to come to a stage where I am tired of operating it.  Operating is in 3 basic modes; timetable sequence, ad hoc, and 'potching'; doing a bit of modelling, running a train, bit more modelling, do some shunting while the glue or paint goes off.  Now that I have sufficient stock, most operating including potching runs to the timeable sequence and ad hoc is mostly for visitors or when the squeeze wants to drive.

 

But what if I won the lottery?  Well, I'm 67, probably 20 years tops before withdrawal from service, so dream layouts would have to be built fairly quickly, hence professionally, and I'd have to buy a house which already had a suitable room in the living area.  It'd have to be a pretty big house, and I've no time or inclination to go through the hassle of having one built.  The lottery layout would not be all that ambitious, probably a rebuild of Cwmdimbath with a much longer loop and including the Remploy sidings and the bank down to the colliery junction, and of course the colliery exchange sidings.  Ease of handling requires that I retain tension lock couplers, so the layout could use fairly sharp (2 foot) radius out of sight, but a decent run requires 3 sides of a room and a 180 degree curve, disguised by the scenery.  Scale curvature on the visible sections of course; the branch has a 40mph line speed.  And a much larger fiddle yard, as I want 30 wagon coal trains.

 

The fourth wall would be for the entrance and a workbench, with water supply and a sink.  It needs to be on the ground floor of the house, and have a hard floor surface; no carpet.  It needs heating and an extractor fan.   Assuming 5 foot curvature for most of the 180 degree bend, with a sharper hidden section half way round it, room needs to be around 12' wide, and probably 30 long, and as the door is in an end wall, the building must be longer than that in that direction.  A well built extension on an already big house or a converted stables/garage on an old one, with the wall knocked through to the main living space.  

 

And this is for a BLT that, with the colliery exchange, will be as much as a single person can realistically operate to a timetable.  I'm something of a lone wolf modeller, as was proved by my membership of a club some years ago, and don't like the concept of 'operating sessions' Tony Wright/Pete Waterman style, so don't need a layout with that element of complexity.

 

Nice to dream, innit?

[PaulCheffus]

15 hours ago, royaloak said:

Why not put the model railway room in the roofspace of the garage and keep the garage for keeping cars in.

 

That is a huge area to fill with model railway, do you have 150 years to finish it?

Hi

 

Why 150 years? 

 

This is much larger and seems to be progressing well.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[Harlequin]

44 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

(Cue violins) I am a poor pensioner living in a rented flat on a fixed income, so all this sort of stuff is lottery dreaming for me!  

 

In the US and Canada, it is not uncommon for detached properties, which are to be found even in poor areas over there, to have cellars that extend as a single space for the whole footprint of the property, approached easily by a flight of proper stairs.  These are aired by small opening windows and ventilators on the lower walls just above ground level, and are used as hobby rooms, tv rooms, dens, workrooms, utility rooms or storage.  My sister's place in Canada has one, and the tv and hifi live down there with a massive, tatty, but very comfortable old sofa which she doesn't mind the cat sitting on or you putting your feet on.

 

These cellars are dry and ventilated, and usually heated as part of the house's main system; the boiler lives down there and provides a good bit of warmth even if they're not.  They make ideal railway rooms, and being a bit empty space are very flexible; you can use the whole space, open plan it for multi purpose use, or make up rooms with wall dividers any size or shape you want.  They are the reason for the very big American model railroads which are often a simple single track continuous circuit of several scale miles, with multiple loops and scenes divided by floor to ceiling scenery, curves and loops at different levels being used to extend the run.  Shame we don't have this; our cellars, where they exist, are usually designed to be used as coal bunkers or storage and are small, damp, unventilated, low roofed holes.

 

My principle since the experience of having a layout in the loft when I was a teenager is that my minimum requirement for a layout space is that it is a part of the living area of the home, ventilated and heated by the home's system for that whatever it is.  It has mains electricity which is not an extension cable.  I will therefore not consider having a layout in an attic unless said attic has been fully and professionally converted into a living space (not like Father's cowboy work), or in a garage or shed.  The latter can be made very comfortable of course, but my enthusiasm is blunted by having to go out in the cold or rain, and I like the convenience of a layout in a living space.

 

Hence my layout is heavily compromised for space, being a BLT shoehorned around two walls of what I call the railway room; the squeeze insists it's a bedroom because there's a bed and some wardrobes in there, but we know better, don't we, gents?  I'd love a more scale approach, but am happy with what I've got.

 

My greatest pleasure from the layout is operating it, and I have yet to come to a stage where I am tired of operating it.  Operating is in 3 basic modes; timetable sequence, ad hoc, and 'potching'; doing a bit of modelling, running a train, bit more modelling, do some shunting while the glue or paint goes off.  Now that I have sufficient stock, most operating including potching runs to the timeable sequence and ad hoc is mostly for visitors or when the squeeze wants to drive.

 

But what if I won the lottery?  Well, I'm 67, probably 20 years tops before withdrawal from service, so dream layouts would have to be built fairly quickly, hence professionally, and I'd have to buy a house which already had a suitable room in the living area.  It'd have to be a pretty big house, and I've no time or inclination to go through the hassle of having one built.  The lottery layout would not be all that ambitious, probably a rebuild of Cwmdimbath with a much longer loop and including the Remploy sidings and the bank down to the colliery junction, and of course the colliery exchange sidings.  Ease of handling requires that I retain tension lock couplers, so the layout could use fairly sharp (2 foot) radius out of sight, but a decent run requires 3 sides of a room and a 180 degree curve, disguised by the scenery.  Scale curvature on the visible sections of course; the branch has a 40mph line speed.  And a much larger fiddle yard, as I want 30 wagon coal trains.

 

The fourth wall would be for the entrance and a workbench, with water supply and a sink.  It needs to be on the ground floor of the house, and have a hard floor surface; no carpet.  It needs heating and an extractor fan.   Assuming 5 foot curvature for most of the 180 degree bend, with a sharper hidden section half way round it, room needs to be around 12' wide, and probably 30 long, and as the door is in an end wall, the building must be longer than that in that direction.  A well built extension on an already big house or a converted stables/garage on an old one, with the wall knocked through to the main living space.  

 

And this is for a BLT that, with the colliery exchange, will be as much as a single person can realistically operate to a timetable.  I'm something of a lone wolf modeller, as was proved by my membership of a club some years ago, and don't like the concept of 'operating sessions' Tony Wright/Pete Waterman style, so don't need a layout with that element of complexity.

 

Nice to dream, innit?

 

I love it! It sounds like my "Home for a Model Railway" would suit you down to the ground (with a few tweaks)!

 

When you win the lottery go find a plot on a south-facing Welsh hillside somewhere and give me a call!

 

Edited September 10, 2019 by Harlequin

[tomparryharry]

For me, the 'railway room' is in progress. As it progresses, Mrs Smith is already earmarking the spare bedroom, etc for music, office, and any of the 1,001 things she wants. What I do know is that when the front door to the 'railway room' goes on, there will be a blessed good lock to keep others out, otherwise it'll get filled quicker than a crafty fox, who is a professor of cunning. I've waited far too long to get this project on the move, and so far, I'm enjoying the euphoria that the project brings. Any deviation will bring.....

 

"Tears before bedtime". 

 

I should really get some photos on.

 

happy modelling,

Ian.

[Nearholmer]

To build a big layout takes either a lot of time, or a lot of money with which to buy other people’s time. If you’ve got either, or better still both, it’s a realistic prospect, but if you haven’t a lot of joy can be had by ‘cutting to suit the cloth’ .

 

The layout I’m slowly creating now is the largest indoor one I’ve ever had, and the largest I will ever have (garage-sized), but I don’t think it’s actually any more joy-giving than the tiny ones I built years ago; it will last longer though, simply because I can’t finish it so quickly.

[chuffinghell]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

To build a big layout takes either a lot of time..........

 

.......It's taking me long enough to build a relatively small one 

Edited September 10, 2019 by chuffinghell
Spelling correction

[tomparryharry]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

To build a big layout takes either a lot of time, or a lot of money with which to buy other people’s time. If you’ve got either, or better still both, it’s a realistic prospect, but if you haven’t a lot of joy can be had by ‘cutting to suit the cloth’ .

 

The layout I’m slowly creating now is the largest indoor one I’ve ever had, and the largest I will ever have (garage-sized), but I don’t think it’s actually any more joy-giving than the tiny ones I built years ago; it will last longer though, simply because I can’t finish it so quickly.

I see what you mean, but illness has created a lot of time. In addition, I managed to stow away a lot of models to see me well into my dotage. It's all previously bought stuff, so the new additional purchases are down to a minimum. The incoming shed is all building stock that I've also stowed previously, so in fact, I'm creating space. What will probably happen is instead of buying a new Baccy 94xx, I will continue working up the old Limbach hybrids I have knocking about here. The unspent money will go towards something I'd really like to have. I don't know what 'that' will be, but I know that it'll be nice to buy it!

 

Cheers,

Ian.

[Harlequin]

14 minutes ago, tomparryharry said:

The unspent money will go towards something I'd really like to have. I don't know what 'that' will be, but I know that it'll be nice to buy it!

 

I predict a Dapol Mogul might be on the irresistible list...!

 

[tomparryharry]

29 minutes ago, Harlequin said:

I predict a Dapol Mogul might be on the irresistible list...!

 

 

Oh, that's naughty! Yes, I'll probably buy one. After all, I've advocated for the Dapol model for some time. The original direction of my post has always been that if you create a bit of detente with the producers you can have pretty much anything you want within reason.

 

I never, ever thought we'd have the Hornby version of the large prairie,  and here we are, with an imminent release. My wallet is true to my mouth, so yes, I'll be buying one. The same goes for a Dapol version, if & when it meets the light of day. 

 

The detente thing is by far & away the most important thing here. No producer will make a single model, for a singular client (IE, me). It still stands therefore that the detente thing is upheld, to the benefit of all of Great Western modellers. After all, I'd contend that the Western is the most well-known modelling genre, regardless of scale. 

 

Now, with my last paragraph, modellers up & down the country will be lining up to prove me wrong!

 

Now, a final dilemma. I've stuck rigidly to tank locomotives. No tender locomotives. I do own a Dean Goods, and a half-built 26xx Aberdare, but that's the lot. If the Dapol mogul arrives, and I'm true to my word, where will it go? That'll let in more 43's, Hall's Granges, 28's, Bulldogs & Dukedogs... How about  nice loco from the other side? Manitoba, Samson, Saskatchewan? No, I need to keep it real. Yeah, real....

 

Ian.

[tomparryharry]

As promised, here's a pretty poor photo taken this PM, with the work in progress. The retaining wall is now in, and the wonky stack of breeze blocks are there to allow me to get a level from the wall, to the proposed front wall. The next bit is to dig out some footings, shutter and build the wall, which will also serve to provide garden storage underneath. My threats to lock Mrs Smith underneath the newly-created dungeon should she invade my railway room are without foundation (pardon the pun).

 

I 'should' end up with a 20x12' shed, enough for me to potter about in. That said, there are a lot of inspirational layouts on RMWeb  to keep me going, but still a way to go....

Cheers,

Ian.

[The Stationmaster]

4 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

Only if you actually fill it up with track though.

 

Instead if you use the space to recreate "space", using long stretches of single or double track on a relatively narrow shelf (thus keeping scenery/etc. manageable) and allowing for large radius curves one could have a layout that could be done in a reasonable time frame.

 

The added bonus is with lots of extra space there is room for comfortable chairs and other options that can make spending time with the layout more enjoyable.

Going down to create a cellar/basement area is hellish expensive unless you are on the right hillside slope - and it still isn't cheap then.  And the costs will snowball if the ground conditions start to look anything like awkward once the full scale digging begins plus there is a cost associated with simply getting rid of what has been dug out.  I looked at the costs of a cellar/basement when we built our house and basically they would have humped around 10-15% minimum on the basic estimated cost of just under £200,000.  If we then take account of what had to be done in terms of unbudgetted additional work on the foundations (adding a lot of steel) the cost would probably have started to get nearer to 20% (as it happens the unbudgetted steel didn't inflate the groundwork costs because I had the builder estimate on a deeper foundation dig than it turned out was needed for much of the foundation so I saved on digging costs and concrete and the builder still got the groundwork in slightly below original estimate despite all the steel being added.

 

No railway room as I had to drop the roof ridge line to satisfy the planners (or rather various busybodies) so a double garage was added after the house was built once we knew we could afford it.

 

[Harlequin]

The south elevation might look like this:

 

The Brise soleil projects out enough to completely shade the kitchen and dining area glazing from high summer sun.

Solar panel installation to give 4-5kW of power.

 

The West elevation is a bit dull.

 

[mdvle]

6 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Going down to create a cellar/basement area is hellish expensive unless you are on the right hillside slope - and it still isn't cheap then.  And the costs will snowball if the ground conditions start to look anything like awkward once the full scale digging begins plus there is a cost associated with simply getting rid of what has been dug out.  I looked at the costs of a cellar/basement when we built our house and basically they would have humped around 10-15% minimum on the basic estimated cost of just under £200,000.  If we then take account of what had to be done in terms of unbudgetted additional work on the foundations (adding a lot of steel) the cost would probably have started to get nearer to 20% (as it happens the unbudgetted steel didn't inflate the groundwork costs because I had the builder estimate on a deeper foundation dig than it turned out was needed for much of the foundation so I saved on digging costs and concrete and the builder still got the groundwork in slightly below original estimate despite all the steel being added.

 

Not being familiar with building costs in the UK, in the case of this example how would the costs of a cellar/basement compare with building a 3 car garage (which is the case in this example)?

[tomparryharry]

The comparative costs of cellar versus garage are not a exercise I've undertaken. I've been a bit of an opportunist, whereby the earth bank situation presented the chance to create some space from what would have been 'dead ground'. 

 

Dave Bacon of this parish might have a better understanding of where the £££££'s go.

 

Cheers,

Ian.