PabloSerna said:

---

Code & Development Hurdles:

1. As a result of the recent Hurricane, Houston has adopted new development standards to mitigate flooding.
2. Here is a link to download the City of Houston "prerequisites" for residential permit application. Nothing out of the ordinary, however, they are serious about flooding. You will need to research where your property is located in the flood zones. Also, if you are in the 100 yr or 500 yr zone - you will need a Certificate of Elevation signed by a Licensed Surveyor.

---

not in any of the special flood zones or flood planes also since that url is a download link unique to your computer it didn't work, here is the direct link for anyone following along:
https://www.houstonpermittingcenter.org/media/1786/download

Quote:

---

3. Site Calculations will be required. That means you will need that survey and whoever stamps your plans will have to identify.

---

running through the checklist, no grading permit should be required, and for impervious cover, even being generous with the garage expansion i'm at 53.4% impervious cover so should be good there.

Quote:

---

4. Didn't see any tree ordinances yet. Just that all trees are to be called out on the site plan.

---

i haven't seen any in reading for our area, but you'll see the two front trees in the pictures below. and ordinance or no, i'd rather do nothing to the home than harm the trees.

Quote:

---

5. Didn't see any "vertical zoning" regulations yet.

---

i haven't found the aerial setbacks yet that i remember reading but below i've posted some excerpts from our deed restrictions.

Quote:

---

6. If you are in a historic district, Certificate of Appropriateness will be required.

---

not in a historic district

Quote:

---

7. There are Energy Code requirements.

---

do these refer to building standards specifically? because our home is pretty efficient due to nearly constant shade. Middle of July/august with day time A/C at 78 and nighttime at 68 we rarely break $200 in electric bills.

Quote:

---

8. All structural drawings will have to be signed/stamped by an Engineer.

In short, you are looking some $$ to spend on professionals to prepare your drawings to apply for the permit. You won't even make it out of the gate without satisfying each of those check boxes.

I don't stamp other people's designs, even if they throw a bunch of money at me (this has actually happened!) because of the liability I carry. So, while we can explore some "schematic" ideas, you will eventually have to find either an architect or engineer that is familiar with residential permitting to get you that permit. Its a lot work, but not impossible. What you are doing now can help by you and your wife understanding that this is not a Chip and Joanna kind of thing. By the way, they are my favorite show on HGTV!! Even they have a network of professionals.

---

Was already prepared to spend some money on professionals for this type of stuff prior to engaging a builder even if it wasn't required by the city. Being a PE myself I fully understand the value of it. I've also seen enough contractor "rule of thumb" design in my life so far that I don't trust it an ounce for a project this scale. I also got my feet wet enough in my first bathroom remodel I linked too earlier in this thread to where i have no illusions about this being a "chip and joanna" kind of thing.

I also fully appreciate that you wouldn't stamp other peoples designs, and I imagine architects have similar rules as engineers prohibiting you from doing so. But "schematic ideas" from an architect will include an eye for structural soundness as well.

Quote:

---

That is the downside - lots of planning. The upside is that you will get a very custom home and depending on where you live, can really increase the value of your investment. If you do have a real estate connection, the question to ask them is simply, "What is an appropriate total investment for this area?" You want to make sure where you are now and where you will be after construction is not more than that - from what I have heard.

---

For the investment/market side i'm not too worried. We have been exploring the market pretty extensively with and without our realtor friend and to give some context, if we spend $250k on this remodel, that combined with what we bought the house for would be right at or just a hair over what we could sell the home for today, in current condition. We will hit my wife and my financial comfort level far before we ever out build our market.

now here are the deed restriction excerpts showing not much being required by our civic association:

The energy code will mean that new HVAC, windows, and insultation will have to meet or exceed the code referenced. Also, a calculation (RESCheck) will need to run on the house showing compliance. Pretty straight forward. R-Values of all walls and U-Values of all windows, SF, and orientation. The program will kick back a "pass" or "fail". Someone like myself stamps and signs. It basically amounts to an allowed percentage of glazing on south facing walls that result in higher heat loads. Most houses pass with the current energy efficient windows and HVAC.

Some more info and pictures for this evening:

• Gas line is 1" coming into the house. I'll show its route on finals but basically it enters at the back wall of the master as 1" and travels through the attic to just above bedroom 4 as 1" where it ties into the gas furnace. There it tees off a 3/4" line that runs to the laundry room and is currently just suppling the gas water heater.
• Water line is 3/4" coming into the house. You will see it going into the east side wall of bedroom 3 in the 5th picture below. I don't know all the line sizes off hand but can say it runs straight up into the attic and into a whole home water filter. There it splits and one line branches off to serve all the cold supplies and the other runs down to the laundry room to the water heater before branching back for all the hot supplies.
• In one pic you will notice i have 2 water meters. I recall earlier you said something about sprinklers. We do already have a system that has its own dedicated city meter.
• For electric i've alread shown where the service drop is on the back of the garage, but for info, it's 100 amp service into a 100 amp panel that is 100% full currently. I expect this project to require massive electric upgrades.
• For HVAC, the equipment i have is as follows: Lennox 5 ton 2 stage 16 seer condensing unit (XC16060), Lennox 5 ton evap coil/air handler, and lennox 5 ton 90k btu variable speed gas furnace. all installed new in 2017. The ductwork was also done new at the time but due to the way the installed did the flex duct runs, for any addition in the attic i would plan on replacing all of the duct work because it is a spaghetti mess.

Now for the pictures. Below I started looking at the SW corner from the driveway and worked my way across to the East side





Also here are some pictures of the inside of the garage to give you a feel for that situation
from the walkway door:

from the driveway panning left to right



(in case you wonder, the cutout in the second picture on the back wall is because my truck was 2.5" too long bumper to bumper to park in the garage and close it, so framed out a "double door" and left the siding so my rear bumper hangs into the wall cavity when im parked)

and finaly some current roof info:

PabloSerna said:

---

The energy code will mean that new HVAC, windows, and insultation will have to meet or exceed the code referenced. Also, a calculation (RESCheck) will need to run on the house showing compliance. Pretty straight forward. R-Values of all walls and U-Values of all windows, SF, and orientation. The program will kick back a "pass" or "fail". Someone like myself stamps and signs. It basically amounts to an allowed percentage of glazing on south facing walls that result in higher heat loads. Most houses pass with the current energy efficient windows and HVAC.

---

gotcha, well for what its worth i have the new hvac equipment i already referenced, plus all windows are new as of 2016 and all places with exterior siding have new insulation batts as of 2019. Had them reinsulate when they replaced the siding with hardie

Here is a concept sketch for the 2nd Floor:

Overlay showing Ground Floor:

No Overlay:


Its not exactly to scale at this point, I will tighten that up as I go along. However, it gives you an idea of a possible solution to adding that second floor and does a few more things:
1. Sits over the existing bathroom and hall areas. Plenty of walls to support a new floor.
2. Takes advantage of the roof layout. The new rooms will align right over the rooms below and we can work the existing roof in to make this addition look more consistent with the original design.
3. Vaulted the ceiling in the Living Room. If anything, this will radically change the feel of home. When you open up the Kitchen, that whole space will feel different. I added some clerestory windows above the roof line. I will need to verify window sizes against a Building Section, however, the idea was to bring more natural light from above. All this at the same time I needed the height for the stairs. Kind of a win-win.
4. Located the new Bath over and near the existing Bathroom areas. Should make it easier to plumb-in (cost effective).

Probably one of the down sides is you are giving up that back corner of your rear porch. May be a small price to pay. I looked at the scenario you started with and I can see where something like that could work, but this concept will simultaneously affect the Living Room and Kitchen.

This would be a very invasive remodel - Probably would have to move out for awhile.

Let me know what you think. If we want to go down this path, we can start to look at elevations and the impact on the Ground Floor. I have a pretty good idea where to go from here, however, I wanted to see what you are thinking before getting too far.

1/2. so looking at those bedrooms and windows on the front, fair to say something like this is what the new front elevation would look like?

3. while i love the idea of a vaulted living room ceiling (or more precisely my wife does) I think this upstairs space is going to need a game/play room of some sort because in the vision for the downstairs, the current playroom reverts to a formal dining room and so we will need to re-build that space somewhere. in my head the most logical place for this was above the existing main living room. as for more natural light, when opening up the kitchen/living area, my wife wants to make the wall circled in red a large cased opening which should allow more light from the front of the house. not as much light as the clerestory windows, but would help

4. perfect, my thoughts too

giving up the back corner of the porch is not ideal, but if it saves losing a bedroom downstairs i think it may be something we could live with/compromise on.

for invasiveness, we have planned in our head to move out for a year for this project if we go through with it.

Here's another concept with the Living Room vaulted, meaning it can have a cathedral ceiling or just be a flat ceiling, but I need height for the stairs. This version places the Game Room at the top of the stairs and the bedrooms and bathroom around it.

A couple of thoughts:
1. I think this side of the house makes the most sense to add the second floor.
2. We don't want loud spaces over the Master Suite, so I am holding off going too far into that space with the second floor. One other option could be to move the rooms all the way towards the street?
3. The wall between the Game Room and Living Room below can be solid (for a Media Wall) our a partial height wall with book cases? This would extend the openness of the ceiling from the Living Room to the Game Room, just a thought.
4. Bedrooms upstairs can be smaller, since they will most likely be for children. So we could tighten things up and make the Game Room or 2nd Floor Bathroom larger?
5. I sketched the roof plan for reference. The clerestory windows are along the chimney wall.

I like this idea more than the first. And I'll be honest, by sticking to the vaulted living room my wife is quite pleased. I do have a couple of clarifying questions though. On this sketch, the backyard facing windows is just the existing 3 lower level windows? Also it looks like the rear roof line gets changed here to make enough headroom for those stairs. What kind of roof line change were you envisioning for that? Because if it's substantial enough I'd rather push those stairs further into the porch area to clear them out of the living room a bit more so they take up less living space if possible.

On a bigger picture note we are wrestling with the compromise of whether to go the vaulted ceiling route and improve the feel of the great room or to try to more fully finish out the upstairs and push closer to 3500-4K sf when all is said and done. I realize the cost of the two are not equivalent but structurally they are mutually exclusive it seems.

Those are some nice, detailed plans. Is construction really that cheap where you are? I'm in Charleston and pulling this off for $250K all included would be more than a little ambitions.

The Fife said:

---

Those are some nice, detailed plans. Is construction really that cheap where you are? I'm in Charleston and pulling this off for $250K all included would be more than a little ambitions.

---

Thanks, i'm enjoying drawing them up. Although my wife has described them as my "current obsession".

I honestly don't know about the cost. I had a GC out summer of 2019 to do a reroof and replace all my rotted siding and I talked through some ideas with him and asked for a very rough ballpark and he said in the range of $150-$175/sf. Now that was nearly 2 years ago and there was no design to look at so i have no idea how accurate he was. Which is why i'm doing this exercise. I have made a short list a couple of remodel builders that i've seen do good work, and so i would like to have some more detailed drawings (just short of official plans) to hand them to work up an estimate off of. It may turn out i'm off by several multiples.

BlackGoldAg2011,

I can sketch a little more accurately with a scaled background: Can you post the .skp file? I have SketcUp and can export to my sketch app. I am using Morpholio on my iPad 9.7 to trace over your images. I can also import CAD backgrounds and set a scale. This will be helpful to get a sense of the total SF.

I kept the stairs within the patio footprint, because I believe it is part of the same concrete pour as the house. You can expand the Living Room into that back porch, but you would lose any covered Patio. It would clear up the stairs though. I have an idea about the Ground Floor to deal with the stairs eating up part of that media wall. However, that is the main issue how this new arrangement will impact the Living Room and consequently the Kitchen.

Regarding the roof plan, yes - this option breaks up the existing roof at the covered Patio to allow the Stairs to become a sidewall. That should be a pretty clean connection.

Regarding the rear yard windows, I am adding clerestory windows above the existing 3 windows along that wall. I would probably replace those windows (relocate?) and install a 3 door patio slider. This will all bring more natural light into the space.

+++

The next step is to continue sketching and working out some of the programming issues. The goal is to get to a final concept plan, that have enough information to give to a Builder and start to generate a Cost Estimate. At the end of this stage, you want to have a doable plan and an idea of costs.

Here is a link to the uploaded .skp file as it currently stands. I'm going to have it fully finished hopefully by tomorrow night some time and I can re upload it at that point. For framing details though, right now all that is missing is I need to add the window in the laundry room and the garage roof framing. this finished one will have most of the major water/gas/electric/ and mechanical features as well. this one does have the attic hvac equipment drawn in. Most of the layers i was actively using i tried to start with a number 0 thru 3 to group them by type/location.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wh5W-qHOFhxKlFZ8rzo_8Ye5ilZ8cvFg/view?usp=sharing

I think I remember $200/sq ft when I was looking into something similar a while ago. There were going to be a lot of challenges because the house is pier and beam instead of being on a slab, but studs and headers on the area that would have gotten a second floor would've had to have been addressed regardless of foundation type.

Project has been scaled back a lot since then (no 2nd floor) and I'm hoping to move forward on it later this year.

The best way to get an estimate for your project is to involve a Builder upfront during the Design Development phase. This is just after the Schematic Design phase (what we are attempting to do now). At that point you should have a rough drawing of the planned improvements to include some overall SF takeoffs and general level of finishes. Now, you can talk intelligently with a Builder and they can guide you on the probable construction costs.

At the DD phase, it is still not a fully baked set of drawings and you can still make adjustments to get the project into budget. The goal is to come out of the Design Development phase with a set scope of work and a cost estimate with a 10-15% contingency. The phase after that, Construction Documents phase, is where the engineer is engaged to finalize the foundation and framing plans. You don't want to pay them twice (to redesign back into budget).

ok here is what im calling my "final" as built file. it has most everything in it that should be super relevant. and some screen caps of the file below
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-2zgs2VHkF6yoCX3ZjdJ3xIs8L0tY2I2/view?usp=sharing

Excellent model!

I have been sketching up a 1st Floor Plan idea to go with the 2nd Floor idea and will post for discussion a little later. Usually I sketch my ideas out using an iPad application Morpholio Trace to run through a bunch of scenarios. Once I settle on a scheme, I would then use my CAD-BIM application to model up something schematically to present to the client.

BlackGoldAg2011, do you want to model up an option to present to your family? I don't have as much time, however, I can give you plan and elevation sketches based on your .SKP file to you could probably figure out. Let me know. I think for some folks, seeing in 3D is much better than 2D.

Yea, once we've settle on or are close to the 2d plan/elevation, I'll do the 3D models off your sketches. I know that will make my wife and I looking at it easier to discuss and visualize. Hopefully with this mode as my starting point it won't take me too long to build out what you sketch. This project has vastly improved my proficiency in sketch up.

Here is an Option #1 for the Ground Floor:

(With Existing Showing as an Overlay)


(No Overlay)


LEGEND:
(1) Entry: Wanted to center the Coat Closet and eliminate the two passages to the Living Room. I'm showing built-in shelving on both sides of the new wall. Closet in Bedroom gets smaller, but I think the Entry gets some symmetry.

(2) Living Room/Dining Access: The idea was to open up this point. Without radically changing the adjacent walls, I thought about angling the wall at the Dining Room. If the Living Room is vaulted, this could be a dramatic point, going from a smaller space to a larger room.

(3) Kitchen: Opened up the Kitchen to the Living Room. Large peninsula island with Range or Cooktop. Moved Refrigerator to access isle between Breakfast and the end of the cabinets. I swapped out a new window at the former Patio door in the Breakfast area.

(4) Pantry/Closet: Moved Pantry to this area and added a Closet to the Home Office. Only downside is that you have to walk through the Dining Room to get to the Home Office. Home Office loses about 24 SF.

(5) Stairs: If the existing plate height is 8 foot, this could be around 16-17 risers. I went with 7.75"R and 11"Treds. This is the one area that I would model a little more. I am showing a couple of winders and two more risers along the horizontal. Stairs have to end at the edge if possible. This would mean a clean framing condition for the second floor joist to sit on the existing top plate at the Hall Bath. I also swapped out the existing window in the Living Room to a 3 panel patio slider or 3 french doors.

(6) Master Suite Nook: I like to create a transition between the Hall and the Master Suite. Instead of just walking in to the room, you would enter a small nook. Add some lighting and change the paint color to create some interest. I have even put a niche on the strike side wall for art or a small sculpture.

(7) Master Bath: Needed a long wall for the Vanity and Linen. Swapped out the Closets for a Toilet Room and created a large 2 person shower along the exterior wall (new window?). This is a very spacious room and flows better in this format.

(8) Master Closet: This was the tricky space, but I had seen a similar design problem before. The existing Master Bedroom was rectangular. I prefer a square. By placing the Master Closet behind the bed wall, I could make the square and furr-out the corners to frame the bedroom wall (I will post a picture of this type of design later). The Closet is long, accessed from the Bath, however, it would not make sense to put the vanity or other type of space behind. I did think about putting a pocket door at the very top so that you could essentially walk around the closet and back into the Master Bedroom.

(9) Master Bedroom: More room between a California King and the media wall. The circulation is cleaned up and moved to being against the wall. I would pop up the ceiling at least 1 foot (would have to cut the bottom chords) - would be worth it.

(10) French Door: Always good to have access to the outside from the Master Suite if possible. This could be fenced off to create a small reflection garden or just go straight to the Patio.

+++

Add some comments. Unless there is something totally wrong, I would start to model this up in 3D. It will make more sense once you model it. HTH

+pablo

EDIT to add... I just realized you don't need the Breakfast area. With the kitchen island you can put more kitchen cabinets in that space and move the Pantry into that area also. That will give SF back to the Home Office. I will sketch up and post later on.

(idea for back of Master Bedroom)

One more option showing the Pantry where the Breakfast Area was previously and adding a Pocket Door to the Master Closet for a full walk-around.

Looks great.

A few suggestions in the master and bath. Use pocket doors for access to the master bath and closet. And shift the entrance to the master bath further down towards the window And closet away from the toilet door so your don't lay in bed watching the toilet closet door opening and closing or hear the sounds from it - more pricey. As for the showers, make sure to put in permanent benches and handheld shower heads.

Good luck!

I know nothing about home remodeling but find this thread fascinating. Thanks to BlackGoldAg and Pablo for sharing.

We have pocket doors from our master to our bath (and from the bath to the closet, but the only time it ever gets closed is when my kids are hiding) and we hate it. Mainly because you can't quietly close it in the dark.

When we remodel we'll absolutely taken them out.

How the heck will you arrange your living room furniture?

You are so much better at Sketchup than I am it's embarrassing! Did you have to draw in all the lumber yourself or is it something you can drag and drop now? I last really used it a few years ago.

Also the wall paneling stuff is pretty durable. I ordered some samples of it a few years ago and there's also a bunch of the same kind of stuff installed at work. Theirs might be plastic (not sure if paintable?) but what I ordered is sort of a fiberboard. Still got them if a side view or anything might help. I ended up going with a high quality grasscloth behind the bed instead.

Here are a few of my notes on the sketches. I had these almost entirely written up yesterday and it got deleted.

PabloSerna said:

---

Here is an Option #1 for the Ground Floor
(1) Entry: Wanted to center the Coat Closet and eliminate the two passages to the Living Room. I'm showing built-in shelving on both sides of the new wall. Closet in Bedroom gets smaller, but I think the Entry gets some symmetry.

---

I like the built ins here, but would probably leave the bedroom closet alone and just lost the coat closet. Being Houston, and entry coat closet rarely gets used for its designed purpose so I would maybe just do some wrap around built ins on that wall to keep some storage that is visually nice, and leave the bedroom closet the size it is. I really like that all the bedrooms in the house have good size closets and would hate to start losing that.

Quote:

---

(2) Living Room/Dining Access: The idea was to open up this point. Without radically changing the adjacent walls, I thought about angling the wall at the Dining Room. If the Living Room is vaulted, this could be a dramatic point, going from a smaller space to a larger room.

(3) Kitchen: Opened up the Kitchen to the Living Room. Large peninsula island with Range or Cooktop. Moved Refrigerator to access isle between Breakfast and the end of the cabinets. I swapped out a new window at the former Patio door in the Breakfast area.

---

-My first comment for these two go together. One of the things my wife really wants is for that front counter to be an island to allow 2 paths in and out of the kitchen. We also talked about opening up the wall that the currently drawn peninsula terminates at into a cased opening into the dining room. Done wide enough this would open up similar sight lines from the kitchen to the front entry. My question here is with how it lines up do you think it would be weird having the dining room with such a clear view into the kitchen or nice to have the bar seating lined up with the dining table and able to be somewhat of an extension of that seating when there are large groups over?
-Second, and this is a minor detail, but my wife would like the cooktop to be on the exterior wall so she can have a nice range hood and have nothing coming down from the ceiling obstructing sightlines from kitchen to living.
-Third, with this layout, I don't see a place for our existing double ovens. I know I didn't specify this up front but that is something that we use all the time and would like to keep. For reference it is 53" H x 30" W.

Quote:

---

(4) Pantry/Closet: Moved Pantry to this area and added a Closet to the Home Office. Only downside is that you have to walk through the Dining Room to get to the Home Office. Home Office loses about 24 SF.

---

-this ties in a little with the comments about the ovens. I like both layout options but am maybe leaning towards preferring the first. With small kids my wife is uncertain about the idea of giving up a breakfast table with real chairs. As I've though about it more I am ok losing the dedicated office space if I need to. What about something like this where the kitchen gets extended towards the front to give space for the ovens out of sight, a large walk in pantry gets made, and then the extra space can be some built in desk/cabinets for an "office" area that would also serve as a school/homework area as the kids get older?

I would also close the current opening to the dining down to a single doorway size and put a sliding door there.

Quote:

---

(5) Stairs: If the existing plate height is 8 foot, this could be around 16-17 risers. I went with 7.75"R and 11"Treds. This is the one area that I would model a little more. I am showing a couple of winders and two more risers along the horizontal. Stairs have to end at the edge if possible. This would mean a clean framing condition for the second floor joist to sit on the existing top plate at the Hall Bath. I also swapped out the existing window in the Living Room to a 3 panel patio slider or 3 french doors.

---

-For the stairs, I'm showing if we did 2x8 floor joists and 1-1/8" subfloor upstairs, we would have 105.5" from subfloor to subfloor, which would be fifteen 7-1/32" risers if I'm not mistaken. I drew the stairs as 40" wide and each of the winders as 3 step winders (which gives 11-9/16" tread depths along the center line of each step) and here is what I got. This pulls those bottom few steps out of the living room a bit more. (the weird lines that look like a skinny hand rail shows 80" head clearance along the center of the stairs.)


- For the windows, I realize they would need to change, but my concern here also got expressed by oldag00. I am trying to figure out how furniture would lay out in the living room. This is our primary congregating spot and pre-pandemic, we would routinely have 6-10 adults in our living room for extended periods. The existing couch is already a bit too cozy to accommodate that. Even with those windows not being doors, the room feels a bit squeezed in. I assumed TV would go on that wall and have a large u-shaped couch something like this

-the other though tossing around in my head here is with all the framing changes already happening to that rear living room wall, would it make sense to just go ahead and move the whole wall to the slab edge and eat the existing patio?

Quote:

---

(6) Master Suite Nook: I like to create a transition between the Hall and the Master Suite. Instead of just walking in to the room, you would enter a small nook. Add some lighting and change the paint color to create some interest. I have even put a niche on the strike side wall for art or a small sculpture.

(7) Master Bath: Needed a long wall for the Vanity and Linen. Swapped out the Closets for a Toilet Room and created a large 2 person shower along the exterior wall (new window?). This is a very spacious room and flows better in this format.

(8) Master Closet: This was the tricky space, but I had seen a similar design problem before. The existing Master Bedroom was rectangular. I prefer a square. By placing the Master Closet behind the bed wall, I could make the square and furr-out the corners to frame the bedroom wall (I will post a picture of this type of design later). The Closet is long, accessed from the Bath, however, it would not make sense to put the vanity or other type of space behind. I did think about putting a pocket door at the very top so that you could essentially walk around the closet and back into the Master Bedroom.

---

- we both love this. This is exactly the type of thing we would love our master suite to be. Unfortunately if we do end up proceeding with this remodel, I have the sneaking suspicion the budget wont be large enough to include this. But if it does this looks fantastic. Laos, those square fur out corners could potentially be built in shelving on the reverse side of that wall.
- I would leave the closet without the second door into the master. Will give a bit more storage at that end and also, I feel like the bedroom may start to feel cluttered with too many doors.

Quote:

---

(9) Master Bedroom: More room between a California King and the media wall. The circulation is cleaned up and moved to being against the wall. I would pop up the ceiling at least 1 foot (would have to cut the bottom chords) - would be worth it.

---

-minor detail but I'd keep a standard king. I'd rather have the extra 4 inches in width. Plus we already have a rather expensive king mattress.
-my wife would love to raise every ceiling in the house so this will be an easy sell.

Quote:

---

(10) French Door: Always good to have access to the outside from the Master Suite if possible. This could be fenced off to create a small reflection garden or just go straight to the Patio.

---

- I don't love the idea of adding doors from the master to the back yard. My wife absolutely loves it. I can say with confidence I will lose this disagreement. So moving forward with the assumption that the doors stay, my two thoughts are 1) I would keep it on the smaller side so too much wall space isn't taken up where a dresser and TV can't be comfortably centered at the foot of the bed and 2) if we don't go up on the garage, that is the west facing wall and I would be concerned about the direct afternoon sun through that windowed door making that room too hot in the summer so I would want to be cognizant of that in the final design.

Quote:

---

+++

Add some comments. Unless there is something totally wrong, I would start to model this up in 3D. It will make more sense once you model it. HTH
+pablo

---

My only other generic comment is im struggling to visualize what the elevations look like for things like the roof over the stairs, exactly where the clerestory windows would be, and the vision for the front facing dormer. If you have anything rough or example pictures for that it would help me start doing the 3D

Quote:

---

EDIT to add... I just realized you don't need the Breakfast area. With the kitchen island you can put more kitchen cabinets in that space and move the Pantry into that area also. That will give SF back to the Home Office. I will sketch up and post later on.

---

I think I covered this above. But for reference, here is the kitchen/living/dining/pantry remodel that is inspiring my wife's vision for our kitchen area. We would likely do a different level of finishes, but this general structure, flow, and feel is what she is targeting.
https://www.har.com/homedetail/10123-briar-rose-dr-houston-tx-77042/8640835

im not sure i'm following how you suggest moving the doors, but as for pocket doors, i put them in for my last mast bath remodel, and while i love the function i likely wouldn't sure them again for 2 reasons
1) it really limits what you can hang on the wall because the wall that has the pocket is much less sturdy.
2) i've learned that a pocket door in a room with wild fluctuations in humidity is great setup for doors that warp and wont slide properly. if i did it again i would at very least use a solid door or some sort of composite material less prone to warping. easier would be hinged doors

The Fife said:

---

You are so much better at Sketchup than I am it's embarrassing! Did you have to draw in all the lumber yourself or is it something you can drag and drop now? I last really used it a few years ago.

Also the wall paneling stuff is pretty durable. I ordered some samples of it a few years ago and there's also a bunch of the same kind of stuff installed at work. Theirs might be plastic (not sure if paintable?) but what I ordered is sort of a fiberboard. Still got them if a side view or anything might help. I ended up going with a high quality grasscloth behind the bed instead.

---

so i can only speak to my version of sketchup. I'm still using 2017 so i've got the full desktop app for free. Don't know if the new online only verisons have the same capability or not. That said, the walls are all dynamic components. you can drop it in, tell it the measurements and it auto generates.

It's a bit finicky because for the actual size components it draws, it only draws in full inch increments, but it saved a ton of time. Then i went in and drew the door openings and things myself. You can edit the component once it's drawn and each piece of lumber is its own sub-component to make that part easier. This endeavor with sketchup i focused a lot on making compenents for things i would use over and over again so that saved a ton of time. i also worked really hard to keeps my layers organized. both of these things turned out to be invaluable.

i also made much more judicious use of the 3d warehouse this time around (have to make a Trimble account but its free). some things aren't perfect, but they were close enough and were already made so that saved a bunch of work too.

Looking at Pablo's master bedroom, bath and closet, I am completely sold on his concept and design. The flow and privacy and spacing issues are hitting all checkmarks for me, plus with the bed on the other wall, one can enjoy the better view and access to the back yard.

Make sure to sound proof the wall between headboard and water closet.

I invested in solid sliding doors and quiet rollers so pocket doors have worked well for me - which is all I have on the interior of the house - which opens the feeling with less clutter from regular doors taking up wall space.

the wall behind the headboard is between the bed and the normal closet. water closet is sitting on the other side of the vanity

Yes, see that now.

Interesting, that's something that 2013 desktop definitely didn't have. Or if it did have it I never knew where. Regardless it kind of sucks that 2x4s are done as actual 2x4s.

The Fife said:

---

Interesting, that's something that 2013 desktop definitely didn't have. Or if it did have it I never knew where. Regardless it kind of sucks that 2x4s are done as actual 2x4s.

---

sorry i wasn't clear, the individual 2x4 lumber is the correct dimensions, but the total wall size rounds (down for length and up for height). For instance in that dialog box if I tell it my wall is 120.5" long and 97.125" tall, the wall it draws will display as 120" long and 98" tall. It is at least 3.5" wide though, so that is nice at least.

Blackgold- I will layout some furniture for the Living Room, but I was thinking you could face the fireplace now that one of the side entries is filled in with a bookcase.

I like the ideas for the Kitchen! I will see what fits and try to incorporate some of that project's intent. One of the steps I skipped over was the Kitchen and Bath Survey form I use. I will post and see how far you guys get on it. For now we have some general direction with this layout and that is the idea. We will continue to refine until we get to a more complete set of drawings.

As for those stairs:
1. We can raise the header over the steps to open up the stairs and stair window to the Living Room. Probably would want to look at an interior elevation to get right, but I think we could go up to 15 ft ? Top plate being 17 ft or so.
2. I need to look at those winders. Code says we have to hold back 6 inches from the corner, but it might be something to work out.
3. I'm not a big fan of using 2x8s for floor joist no matter how close you space them. It pretty much makes almost every wall on the ground floor a bearing wall. Let's use the full 7.75 inches code gives us for the stairs and put at least a 2x12 for the floor joist. I would look at TJI 12s. A technical note at this stage, but something to watch. Makes plumbing a bit easier too.

I will re-sketch that 2nd floor and throw in a Roof plan layout. If you can - post images of all four exterior elevations of the existing house. These would be orthogonal and not perspective. Thx!