Timber frame owner builder in NJ

[emanaresi]

I have closely been following jk96's build thread as we have been planning and working towards building our own timber frame home in NJ. The drawings are currently being reviewed by the engineers to get the magic PE stamp on them. Hopefully in the next few months we will be able to finally break ground and have something real to show. For now, attached are some of our drawings. Feel free to give me some feedback on the drawings. I do have to admit we are pretty committed to the current layout.

 

[emanaresi]

Here's some elevations:

 

[dave1949]

Nice house, hope you get "stamped" and underway soon.

The stairs in the garage could be combined into one set with a landing for the hallway entry. They could be turned 180* to face the overhead door, go up three steps to a landing, then continue up with a right turn in the corner of the garage. It would require moving the rear doorway, but you could put an under-stair closet next to the door.

Do you have enough head room upstairs above the garage if the steps don't more or less follow the gable line?

 

[emanaresi]

The steps definitely have to follow the roof line. But there may be some wiggle room. I kind like the steps going into the house the way they are because you won't have to walk between a car and the steps to get to the stairs. Thanks for the input. I'll look at it and see if it makes sense with headroom and everything.

 

[dave1949]

Stairs are usually not easy to design and can be real space eaters.

You will have to walk between a car and the stairs if you are carrying groceries in, for example, since you would start at the rear of the car (trunk) typically. It might help if you draw the outline of a car to scale as it would be parked in the garage and note where the doors fall in relation to the stairs.

For compact and subcompact autos a 9' wide door is fine, but a bit tight for a larger SUV or pickup.

The stairs to the basement being off the living area are handy if the basement is used a lot as extended living space. The drawback is if your mechanical systems are in the basement and someone comes to work on something, they have to take everything into/past your entry and living space to get there.

It's always going to be a give and take trade-off, so I am not saying it's bad, just offering things to consider.

 

[jk96]

A couple of dormers on the front may add some more usable bedroom space and help break up the roofline.

 

[emanaresi]

yeah, I've gone back and forth wwith dormers. It adds a lot of complexity to the timber frame. We have about 4 1/2' at the knee wall upstairs and it is a 12:12 roof, so there is pretty good room in those bedrooms. And most furniture will fit all of the way out at the knee wall. So it should work fine.

 

[jk96]

Have you quoted adding them in. Now that we have some walls up on the second floor I can't imaging not having the dormers for our bedrooms. They do add extra room but more importantly they add a lot character to the rooms. If doing them in timber is prohibitive you could always stick frame them.

 

[emanaresi]

Thanks jk. I've gone too far down the road to start redesigning roof structure. Hopefully I'm only about a week from having an engineers stamp. Dormers would dramatically change the roof structure. And the rooms are plenty big and will have plenty of character with all the timber and tounge and groove in the roof.

 

[MossRoad]

Pretty nice. :thumbsup:

I'd swap the kitchen and dining room locations. You have to walk through the corner of the kitchen to get from the living areas to the eating area. If you swap them, it flows better. Also, you can't see who's coming to the front door from the kitchen as it is now. And if you ever get the chance to host a large family gathering, you can extend the dining room table into the living area so everyone can eat at one long table. You're boxed in and will have to seat other in a 2nd room as it currently stands.

But still, its nicer than my house. :laughing: