Candidate Floorplan

[Pat]

Hazmat, You hit the nail on the head with your observation. My response to more complexity than I can comfortably span with my mind was to break the problem down into chunks of functionality that I could grasp one at a time. Same way engineering in electronics, you don't design the whole enchilada all at once, you engineer the front end, the RF stages the IF stages, the detector, the audio ckts, and the power supply as separate blocks of functionality with well defined interfaces to connect them and when it connects together it is a radio reciever. I hope when the pieces are put together it is the house we want and not another instance of a race horse designed by a committee (AKA a camel).

Pat

[egon]

Pat:
The master bedroom with no windows just may be the proper way to go. Tornados do not announce themselves until arrival and when one is sleeping windows are not of much use. In fact the blinds are usually pulled and drapes drawn so there is no chance of seeing out anyway. It would also offer protection in case some overindulged local tries to reduce the wee morning hour pink elephant population.

As to the almost ground level porch floors do they really need railings or could the lansdscapping be designed to match up with them and be mower friendly or use shrubs instead.

As to standard house construction have you heard the folksong [can't remember the singer or name] by an older lady that mentions " they all live in little boxes '
Egon

[Pat]

Egon, Yup to most of everything you said. I do like my daylighting but by seperating out the WICs and the sitting room and of course the bathroom, the functions left for the bed room don't get much use out of windows, especially in these days of engineered IAQ instead of depending on infiltration or opening windows. Still, if it isn't too much of a contortion, I will have a couple small ones.

A few designs back I had a door out of the bed room onto the porch. It was a FEMA safe room door opening inward and a nearly all glass storm door opening outward mounted in the same hole. The normal condition would be with the storm door open and behind a curtain and the storm door would be both door and "window". Battened down for heavy seas (or seige) the storm door would be closed. This was obsoleted by the siting room with a storm door between it and the bed room.

Let me "fess up" a mite. I really don't know for sure yet how high the porch floors will be off the finished grade. I show railings for looks but haven't added the columns to the design, yet. It is entirely possible that if the floor height is well under a foot that there will be columns without railings, at least in front. Back, of course depends on having/not having basement as it changes the minimum floor above grade by 10 ft or so. One thing I will miss if I can't have a basement is the fireman's pole I would have as an alternative egress method from the back porch to the ground.

About tornado arrivals. Many folks stay up late watching TV to keep advised about tornado watches and warnings when weather takes a tornado spawning notion. That way they know when to run out through the wind, rain and hail to go to their underground shelter with 2 ft of water in the bottom.

Better, is the in-house safe room but you still need to know when to consider using it and or loose a lot of sleep monitoring the situation. One compromise is when conditions warant staying informed, instead, go bed down in the safe room and not worry about it. Of course many safe rooms are closets or whatever in new construction and not real comfortable for spending much time.

I prefer the safe-bed-room concept. I have talked to many folks, builders included and so far I am the only person I know of to do this. So, either I am doing something patently absurd, ill advised, unwaranted, or dumb- - - OR I just happened to do a good thing before it became popular. I think I am way out ahead of the fleet on this. Many in the fleet think I am just way off course.

With a small microwave and or Sterno to heat a can of soup or whatever and a TV/VCR (with 12 volt capability, like for RV's) and a couple 12VDC fluorescents (ala the RV) we are ready for extensive storm conlditions and power outages.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, I'm thinking of putting a small propane fired direct vent gas log in the master bed room for ambience as well as power outages. They are piezo-electric snap-spark ignition, and can be fitted with a thermostat. They have some really good looking ones that except for the crackling cellophane sound and lack of wood smoke smells and stains around the hearth, seem real. Probably installed with a corner mantle in the S-W corner of the bed room. If there was no storm tossed debis issue I'd use a double sided one and share it with the sitting room but the sight lines from the siting room window wall through the fireplace blanket the bed and negate the safe part of the safe room.

Pat

[DUMBDOG]

Have you checked your local building code, ours does not allow a room that will be occupied without a windor or a door, some sort of escape way, even with just a storm door between the master bedroom and the sitting room.

[Gatorboy]

If there is a closet in that room, then they will say it is a bedroom and needs an egress.

You can take out a closet, and call it a Study or something I suppose.

[Pat]

DD, I guess Im too dense right now but I don't understand what your perception is regarding my second egress route. I understand that occupied rooms, like bedrooms, require a second egress route. This need can be met by an opening window with an opening of sufficient size to equal or exceed the window egress size requirement or by having a door that leads to a means of exiting the building.

There is a 3-0 (36 inch wide) 6-8 (80 inch tall) door leading from the bedroom to the sitting room (an extension of the bedroom) and the sitting room has a pair of French doors leading to the outside.

Maybe this isn't clear in the floorplan I posted. My first couple attempts failed and I had to reduce the resolultion to meet the file size requirement for atachments. If I didn't make it clear in the narative, then I messed up twice (not that unusual).

I have since repositioned the door between the bed room and the sitting room and added a "two way" fireplace to the wall between the sitting room and the bedroom. It is a piezo electric "click" ignition safety pilot propane fired gas log that is viewable from both sides. It requires no outside electricity to operate its gas control or wall mounted thrermostat(s). It has an adjustable flame control and is variable from 21,000 to 30,000 Btu.

I will construct a set of hinged folding safety shutters that will be made of quite heavy gage steel and decorated with brass ornamentation. These will fold back to either side of the fireplace on the sitting room side of the wall when not deployed. When shut they would prevent debris from entering the bedroom from the sitting room via the see through fireplace. The shutters will prevent the fireplace from compromising the bedroom's safe room capability.

As we are prone to power outages during ice storms, I want a relliable backup heat system and this seemed like just the ticket for functionallity as well as decorative effect. I have always thought a fireplace in a bed room was nifty and this will let one serve multiple rooms and purposes. If 21,000 Btu distributed between the two rooms is too much heat, I can run the central air handler which will share the heat with the rest of the house so the fireplace's thermostat won't turn off our ambience.

I also had second lthoughts regarding the two doors leading to the one bathtoom and elliminated the door opening into the kitchen/dining space (just not the best arrangement, psychologically speaking). I will probably install a pair of batwing doors at the entrance of the util room to break the "view" to that potentially messy or unattractive area. My wife being a fan of western saloons, approves of that.

My understanding of venting the fireplace is that if I go up and out (conventional chimney) that the top of it has to be 2 ft taller than anything within 10 ft, as a minimum. As I will be using coaxial vent tubing there shouldn't be a "back draft" issue as both supply and exhaust will be subject to the same pressure or vacuum from eddies generated by various wind directions and speeds by the roof. Anyone have experience to the contrary?

Pat

[DUMBDOG]

It may be a misunderstanding on my part, but I was under the impression that anytime that you had an occupied room that you needed the egress to the outside, not to another room within the structure. Your codes may differ in this respect.

[Pat]

DD said, "It may be a misunderstanding on my part, but"

Or maybe not! I'll look into that. There are usually good reasons behind safety items in building codes. I don't want to "violate" one of the safety things without first having a good understanding of the code, what my transgression does, and what difference it makes to me. I don't mind bending a rule if I understand the reasoning behind it and am convinced that in "THIS" instance it is acceptable to me. Sure don't want to just ignore the rules.

Anyway, thanks for bringing it up. That is what I wanted. Better to consider all these things on paper before the structure goes up and then having someone say, "Oh, by the way, you have this gross code violation." A week or so back I had a FEMA approved storm door in an exterior wall of the master bed room and a nearly all glass storm door on the outside of it in the same frame. It would serve the function of a window and a door without sacrificing too much security. Sure would fill any egress requirement. If the "strict" interpretation is correct then I may have to reinstate that door.

By the way where in ND? I spent three frightening consecutive winters in Minot where it is so flat you can see yesterday leaving and tomorrow coming +/- the little wrinkle of the Souris River valley. Took a few courses at Minot State and adsorbed some local culture, ja, you betcha! Lars und Oly down to the sons of Norway hall. My day job was defender of the free world as a member of the, Peace is Our Profession, Strategic Air Command.

Thanks again for helping me.

Pat

[DUMBDOG]

About 100 miles south of where you were stationed. Bismarck.