Jump to content
 

A Home for a Model Railway


Harlequin
 Share

Recommended Posts

I wouldn't go with the slopey walled upstairs that the roof shape creates. That kind of thing seriously compromises the useability of the upstairs rooms in my experience.

 

Not really sure about the general external appearance either, which I think is because of the same thing - the roof is out of proportion with the lower floors.

 

Knowing what kind of thing I like in a house, I'd probably prefer those ugly boxes that you rejected :)

  • Agree 1
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Zomboid said:

I wouldn't go with the slopey walled upstairs that the roof shape creates. That kind of thing seriously compromises the useability of the upstairs rooms in my experience.

 

+1. We bought a house that already had a loft conversion. The walls are vertical for about the first 4ft, sloped thereafter. It doesn’t help that it’s a hipped roof so it’s a bit like being inside a pyramid. It does seriously limit the amount of usable space, though I hasten to add that (in my case, at least) beggars can’t be choosers and I’m grateful for the space. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Very Lloyd Wright..

Underground is a no no for me unless I want to model submarines, the winter water table is just 3 foot below Ground level..

 

If I were to build a house, yes it would need a model railway room but it would also need an Art Room.. As it is I built a 63ft Shed by between 10ft and 16ft, 10ft of it is Dirty workshop one end.. while the other  which is semi circular is SWMBO's art room, with a level reserved for the track to run round to the other end.. Currently full of art stuff. SWMBO's stuf occupies most of the future under track area. So all the boards will have to be removeable back to my end, just inside the main shed at the dirty workshop end..

 SWMBO has moved in and the art end is all but complete.. I've built....one board 4ft by 2ft in white so far..

 

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
9 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

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)?

The garage would probably cost less although ground conditions will inevitably make a big difference and it also depends on the method of roof construction.  In the case of my garage the concrete strip foundations are about 3 feet below final ground level due to the change of levels in the site which meant a getting on for 3 feet high wall of foundation blocks before the first brick courses went in.  So that cost a lot more than simply digging a 1 metre deep foundation trench and possibly only a single course of foundation blocks.  It was still a lot cheaper than a cellar/basement would have been.

 

The left hand side as viewed is a separate area walled off from the side accessed by the main door - you may guess at its purpose ;) (although it currently contains lot of junk plus a portable layout plus a layout module plus some larger scale bits & pieces)

 

1819900323_2007142010070019copy.jpg.eff73965dc7dc624b86e0b0855f08e71.jpg

 

980184472_2007193110070230bcopy.jpg.5067d3543e3aaef4c0a534646cb5f311.jpg

 

153339008_2008031701080894bcopy.jpg.f2ea17f5f5664987d107b5986043d1c2.jpg

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
21 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

The garage would probably cost less although ground conditions will inevitably make a big difference and it also depends on the method of roof construction.  In the case of my garage the concrete strip foundations are about 3 feet below final ground level due to the change of levels in the site which meant a getting on for 3 feet high wall of foundation blocks before the first brick courses went in.  So that cost a lot more than simply digging a 1 metre deep foundation trench and possibly only a single course of foundation blocks.  It was still a lot cheaper than a cellar/basement would have been.

 

The left hand side as viewed is a separate area walled off from the side accessed by the main door - you may guess at its purpose ;) (although it currently contains lot of junk plus a portable layout plus a layout module plus some larger scale bits & pieces)

 

1819900323_2007142010070019copy.jpg.eff73965dc7dc624b86e0b0855f08e71.jpg

 

980184472_2007193110070230bcopy.jpg.5067d3543e3aaef4c0a534646cb5f311.jpg

 

153339008_2008031701080894bcopy.jpg.f2ea17f5f5664987d107b5986043d1c2.jpg

It looks good Mike. All you need now is the hipped style signal box roof ventilator, and you're in business!

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Which brings to mind a big “value management” exercise that one of my colleagues undertook.

 

He was having a garage built, very similar to SM’s, but with what amounted to patio doors, so that he could admire his prized cars from outside (I kid you not). This was costing him £30k.

 

Simultaneously, his team was procuring the build of lineside huts for new signalling equipment, which were again the same as SM’s garage, but with two personnel doors, no big doors, but a run of ventilation grilles below the waves on one side. Each was costing £300k (obviously, that excludes the signalling kit).

 

He set his team the objective of closing the gap, which resulted in the signalling huts coming-in below £100k.

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Just a thought from places I've lived in; instead of a 3 car garage, essentially turn it through 90 degrees to be a 2 car garage but with increased depth. At one point I moved from a place with a fairly standard (roughly) pre-fab 8ft x 16ft single garage, to a place with 8ft x 24ft single garage (a quick bit of size extrapolation, 2 of that footprint side by side could either be 3 car or 2 car depending which side you put the doors on). This would help balance out the number of bedrooms compared to garage entrances if nothing else. A deep garage that fits 2 cars plus plenty of space at the back for a 'normal' persons workshop/hobby area, tiny excuse for a trailer, additional freezer, etc might be a better design selling point to the domestic authorities even though the size is the same. 

 

Regarding 'railway room' size and it taking 150 years to build in; I've just built my railway shed/workshop at 12ft x 32ft (little bit wider and it could be a 3 car garage), but just because it's that size, doesn't mean it has to be full of scenic modelling. The layout in there is 'only' 24ft x 8ft, and only 1 side is scenic. This leaves plenty of space for workshop and work bench areas, wall space for storage shelves and displaying other models, plus if I want to work on other smaller layouts then there's still that option too... plus I pre-designed in flaps for garden railway use.

 

That's my 10 pence worth anyway. I've played around with house design before and it is a difficult thing to do, but I've always relegated the railway room to an out building as it does create a proper escape location from the rest of the family; would be far too easy for wife unit to make me do something less fun if all she has to do is stay in the warm and walk into the next room to complain at me ;)

  • Like 1
  • Funny 1
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

I've tweaked, shuffled, developed and performed some judicious expansion:

 

RailwayHome15plan.png.2b5ab23e69fc0251e1f58ddb514d2d0a.png

  • Expanded kitchen and diing area south a few hundred mils. I think these areas are big enough now. Fixtures, fittings and big cupboards shown.
  • Expanded living area by pushing a bay out. This might look like a simple bodge but it does great things: defines the living area more clearly and creates an interesting catslide roof externally. There are deliberately no windows so that the living area has a sheltered and protective feeling and to avoid reflections on the TV. (But this may need some further thought!)
  • Injected a staircase into the hall with storage under.

The bath and ensuite are still a bit cramped and awkward. I need to think about clever solutions before resorting to expanding the envelope further.

 

The stairs lead to:

RailwayHome15first.png.5426371faea0cea4ae11dfb8656b08ee.pngRailwayHome15section.png.315adf136e5a8091af77e2f19f34eb8d.png

  • A slightly playful first floor arrangement with a big master bedroom, a mezzanine, a void over part of the kitchen and dining areas and a hideaway space for relaxing with it's own fireplace.
  • You can see that the roof pitch allows plenty of space to stand comfortably (the hatched areas show headroom < 1700mm).
  • You can also see the roof line sliding down over the living room bay. The celing height is usable up to within 300-400mm from the wall - and that space could be used for shelving.
  • The ensuite and the snug both have dormers to make more usable space and expose windows. They make the external appearance of the house more interesting.
  • I imagine the upstairs rooms being open to the apex - vaulted with the structural timbers visible.

Obviously the first floor could be configured differently with more rooms packed in and even though the current design might still appear "unbalanced" I hope that buyers could see the potential to alter it to suit them.

 

I'm sticking with the T-shaped plan because I think that works best and makes a more pleasing building form. The occupants could still use the railway room in a variety of ways if they didn't want a big model railway (fools!). I'm assuming that the plot is reaonably level and spacious enough that we can have the luxury and convenience of the railway room being on the same level as the house.

 

Edited by Harlequin
  • Craftsmanship/clever 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Definately improved, at least from a resale perspective, I think.

 

I understand for the desire for no windows to interfere with TV, but my thought (again for resale reasons) would be to put a window in and simply use light blocking curtains.

 

Also would be tempted to use the entire upper level for 2 bedrooms, and now that the ground floor isn't constrained by being the only place for bedrooms convert the front of the house to a single master bedroom.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

That I think is a lot better.  Just two points one of which is practical and the other relates to resale.

 

The practical - I love the mezzanine idea but I do wonder about an open area above the kitchen?  we find that even with a cooker hood and extractor fan plus the back door being through teh adjacent utility some cooking smells tend to waft through the the house, or rather part of it.  With an opening above the kitchen will they be likely to rise and introduce the aroma of a nice curry or whatever to the snug? 

 

The resale opportunity - is there now a possibility of taking a floored area into the roof space above the garage.  I can see that it wouldn't immediately fit your present roof lines but is it worth considering should you make any further .

 

On another point, and this is a very personal one, and I am very strongly against the modern idea of interior soil and vent pipes.  They consume awkward to handle space in bath rooms etc for the sake of getting a 'cleaner' outdoor appearance of the building.  Hence I made sure that all our plumbing runs to outside waste pipes and the soil and vent pipe is also on the exterior face of the wall.  Any pipes likely to get blocked - particularly the outlet from the washing machine where fibres will build up - have external end fittings with a screw cap to allow rodding.

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

You touch on something that annoys the heck out of me: Inaccessible pipewor. Every modern house I've lived in has had atrocious access to pipework, and our current house it probably worst of the lot, with pipe-boxing in the bathrooms tiled-over, so that fixing tiny problems becomes a three-trade (carpenter, tiler, plumber, all actually me) nightmare.

 

If I were to design a house, indeed any building, it would have very easily accessible "service risers", probably indoors rather than out, but certainly arranged to permit access to all pipes and main cables and wires by way of simple cupboard-type doors, and spacious enough to avoid all the contortions and swearing that usually accompany any work on domestic water or sewerage systems.

 

Well-designed modern hotels, where there is money hanging on quick and easy fixes to plumbing or electrical problems, have them, so why not houses?

  • Agree 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

You touch on something that annoys the heck out of me: Inaccessible pipewor. Every modern house I've lived in has had atrocious access to pipework, and our current house it probably worst of the lot, with pipe-boxing in the bathrooms tiled-over, so that fixing tiny problems becomes a three-trade (carpenter, tiler, plumber, all actually me) nightmare.

 

If I were to design a house, indeed any building, it would have very easily accessible "service risers", probably indoors rather than out, but certainly arranged to permit access to all pipes and main cables and wires by way of simple cupboard-type doors, and spacious enough to avoid all the contortions and swearing that usually accompany any work on domestic water or sewerage systems.

 

Well-designed modern hotels, where there is money hanging on quick and easy fixes to plumbing or electrical problems, have them, so why not houses?

Our first house had a shared soil pipe with access underneath the fence - it was poorly designed and used to block so regular plunging sessions by yours truly until the builder accepted the obvious and put in a new junction below ground.

 

Latest house, we don't share the soil pipe but it is down the middle of the house boxed in behind plastered walls - lets hope the plumber who built this was better than the plumber who eventually fitted the top toilet that once every couple of years will see the toilet let go of it's pipe - so far in both cases it was clean water than leaked out.  Which reminds me, I must put in that bit of wood so that the pipe no longer feels the need to disengage.

  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Here's the final version for now. (Sorry, I can't let something go until I've got it to a point I'm happy with.)

 

I've dealt with the awkward ground floor bedrooms, applied a bit of practicality over design and added a few more nice details.

RailwayHome16plan.png.8f5a4733640d08462b657d1800b0b7de.png

 

  • The ground floor bedrooms are a better shape. (I pushed the north wall 300mm further out.)
  • The bathroom and ensuite both have external windows and the bathroom aligns with the ensuite one the first floor above.
  • The living room alcove now has high-level windows.
  • The fireplace has been adjusted to allow a flat screen TV to be mounted alongside without suffering from overheating.
  • There are supports up the centre of the living wing for longitudinal beam s which would then support the first floor joists.

RailwayHome16first.png.ce429cb9aeda02ef4ec0cb69fbe4c11f.png

  • The snug dormer has been expanded and aligned with the living room alcove below to make the structure simpler and allow for the windows below.
  • Built-in wardrobes adjust to give full height hanging space.
  • The space above the utility, WC and entrance hall is now accessible from the mezzanine and used to house the solar panel control equipments, thermal store, and any other equipment that would take valuable floor space downstairs.
  • There's plenty of room in that same space for storage, compensating for the lack of loft space elsewhere.
  • A platform above the railway room floor provide some more storage and an interesting viewing position for the layout. It is not too big so that the railway room is still basically open to the rafters and the skylights are not obscured.
  • The plant room could eventually connect through to the railway room space if that space was converted to have a fully livable first floor.

RailwayHome16section.png.8be122c371fdd8be5476f9087c3c1f4b.png

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

New elevations:

RailwayHome16north.png.38f03e73d37ec4937002a9fa75056d4b.png

 

RailwayHome16west.png.d9f0610df5f5e6d064e499f54f74af2a.png

 

You can see the snug dormer and the living room alcove are now sensibly unified.

The skirt roof over the living room alcove windows is there for good reasons but does it look a bit "twee"? I can't decide.

 

RailwayHome16south.png.cdf741705e25394a8073b3db83eddda8.png

 

RailwayHome16east.png.9dcc35a9f7d959167f9b59e2cc543cef.png

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

One question Phil - where's the airing cupboard?  And where does the tumble drier go?

 

Just for interest here are the originally submitted floor plans for our house.  regrettably the idiot 'architect' submitted them without my prior agreement so certain elements are incorrect compared with my subsequent amendments as follows -

His daft inclusion of a bedroom in the roof space was taken out so it was built as I wanted with 4 bedrooms, just adjust the bedroom numbers downwards by one.

The return staircase to the roof space (now an attic) was taken out to create a larger and lighter landing area and the daft cupboard under the upper flight also went converting it back to my original spec.

During construction I redesigned to slightly relocate the stud wall between bedrooms 1 & 4 (shown as 2 &5 on the plan) in order to enlarge the smaller bedroom and the door of bedroom 1 was angled to my revised drawing in order to create an alcove behind it in the bedroom (for bookshelves).

The conservatory was deleted mainly to avoid overheating in the living room (although we do have a large awning)  but it also reduced the budgetted cost - the area is patio instead.

The door to the ground floor under stairs cupboard was omitted and the entry is arched (my change).

The chimney stack plan area is larger by one course of bricks all round due to an error (by the 'architect') on the drawing - he didn't read the dimension on my sketch plan correctly but fortunately I  found out during construction when it was early enough to correct things.  there is a small clue in the fireplace to show things were changed but very few people notice it.

The kitchen is arranged differently internally from what is shown on the plan because the 'architect's' idea of adequate cupboard space differed vastly from Mrs Stationmaster's ideas.   (The kitchen fit was in any case a separate contract of course.  Cupboatds etc occupy the whole of the outside wall on the right plus most of the return towards the door from the hall with bookshelves at the door end for herself's collection of cookery books).

The small ground floor room shown as 'cloaks' is actually a WC

 

904990159_floorplans2.jpg.097332fb78e56ae6a4620a875cb14518.jpg.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

@Nearholmer

The style that has evolved with this design is kind of Voysey Arts and Crafts crossed with home counties country cottage.

 

I'm afraid that half-hipped roofs are one of my pet hates, being neither one thing nor the other! In my book there's only one legitimate reason for a half-hipped roof and that is if you had a thatched roof that just went up in flames...

 

@The Stationmaster

There isn't an airing cupboard in the design as it stands but I can see a good place to locate one. (I don't have an airing cupboard here and can't say I've ever felt the need for one.)

 

A tumble dryer could live in the Utility alongside, or on top of, the washing machine with a small amount of rejigging. If the Utility were 200mm wider the work surface could be L shaped and run along the south face under the window which would regain a lot of the surface and cupboard space lost to the dryer.

 

It's amazing how clueless some architects seem to be, given the lengthy and expensive training they have to go through... Looking at your plans and your description it all makes sense.

Good idea to get rid of the conservatory - the heat gain and heat loss in a fully glazed conservatory is basically uncontrollable and very expensive if you try to control it!

 

BTW: My place is entirely timber clad (with Larch from Stourhead) and because there's a good depth of insulation beneath the cladding I was able to tuck all my downpipes away in recesses behind the cladding for a neat and tidy look. When I have needed to get at the downpipes it has been pretty easy to slice the cladding open with a multi-tool plunge cutter and then screw the same cladding sections back on again afterwards. Internally I was forced to have a boxed-in air admitance valve rather than a traditional soil stack. I think that was for building regs but I can't remember for sure. I was assured it would never need to be accessed so it's tiled over behind the shower and will be a pig to get at if it ever goes wrong!

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

The boxed in Air Admittance Valve was in the Building Regs (and presumably still is?) plus of course mechanical ventilation if the wc is in an internal room with no windows.  That was all part of the reason for the way I sited the bathrooms in my building (The other reason was that outfall to the sewer from the previous building on the site was on that side and it would hopefully be simpler to tap into rather than digging a new one - that idea worked,)

 

A bungalow at the top of our road is roofed with larch shingles and they have lasted decades - an excellent material.  

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

The upstairs fire place in the latest version leaves odd angles, push it right into the corner, it would make better use of the room.. Square off the the living room downstairs  push that fire place into the corner as well, put the TV where the fire is..

Edited by TheQ
Link to post
Share on other sites

I grew-up in The Weald, where half-hips were pretty much standard practice in vernacular building, so I have a thing about them, they signify “home” to me.

 

Incidentally, although they began as a thatching thing, I’m fairly sure that they have been a part of southern English, and northern French rural design throughout the ‘tile age’, so that roofs that have never been thatched, always peg-tiled, have them, but I wouldn’t claim to be certain about that.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I know this is a bit of a cop-out answer, but in any property which had a sizeable yard I'd just build an element-proof shed. Perhaps a trailer on wheels, if we're going with the idea that it can't be a permanent fixture that cannot be repurposed.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...