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You're a riot. Still have your ax to grind, eh? I see 78702 every day, including along the Metrorail route. Let's just say that my view is a different from yours, obviously. IN MY PERSONAL OPINION, the modern boxy houses look funny amidst the housing stock that is there. But that's not the topic of this thread, now is it? He can build whatever he wants if that's what he fancies, and I didn't mean anything more than that.
PS - I'm not a "fuddy duddy" and my house is anything but conforming.
you made it a topic above, bless your heart.
And your view from the train notwithstanding, the reality of the '02 is it is VERY eclectic (the characteristic of a real, urban, vibrant neighborhood). There's room for lots of different styles. The advice that only a "traditional" home could fit in is beyond absurd.
The perspective of someone who lives in a suburb where every home was picked out of a design book and built within the same decade by a handful of production developers might think it's odd to have homes built in two different centuries look different - but that's the way the world works outside of suburbia.
In the '02 you have homes built out over over the course of over 100 years - the variety of homes built in 11 different decades helps to give it character, patina, eclecticism, interest. This mentality that every home has to look "in character" is soooooo very suburban - drives me nuts.
OP - You're building a home in the year 2014, not 1914. When I drive around central east Austin I see: a mixture of ornate victorian homes, craftsman and prairie homes, 50's atomic ranch homes, tiny bungalows, cool modern forms and lots else. That's what makes it such a cool place to be and one of the reasons home values there have been skyrocketing.
Don't feel beholden to having to build a victorian house in the 21st century - that notion is completely absurd.
...
When I drive around the '02 I get incredibly jazzed by the mixture of old and new in a living neighborhood filled with vibrancy and new blood.
Sounds like some kind of weird fetish. Maybe I'm boring and stoic, but I never get "incredibly jazzed" when driving through mismash of gentrification and price inflation. What's wrong with the "old blood"?. You got a problem with people in East Austin who've been there for decades?
Quote:
That is EXACTLY the kind of person who is buying into 78702 - not the fuddy-duddies selling tract homes or actually living in tract homes in the 'burbs where conformity is prized over self expression.
The house is cool, it's small, it's not out of character with a real living and evolving neighborhood and if it suits your taste and you do a good job - there is hardly anything well built you cannot sell in '02 right now and for the foreseeable future.
Why don't you buy a lot for $150K, and build that 1,000 sqft floorplan. Let us know how much you lose when you sell it, and what the comments were during all your open houses. I can tell you exactly what the comments would be, it's so predictable.
You're basically encouraging the OP to make a bad financial decision just because gentrifications gives you jazzy goosebumps and you think that respecting established aesthetics is fuddy duddy.
While you're over there, stop into what use to be Progress Coffee on E 5th but is now some swanky new "clean line" type place having it's "soft opening", where the employees wear all black. You can sip one of the expensive brews while gazing at the beautiful new apartments being built across the street, at which a 500 sqft 1 bedroom will rent for $1,200/mo. Lot's to get jazzed about there.
I'm not against progress and change, or modern architecture, but I do think people should make smart money decisions. The OP asked about that specific floorplan in East Austin and I stand by my response. It would be a stupid floorplan to build in East Austin unless you have money to burn. There are much better floorplans that could be selected.
A few additional comments from an architectural perspective.
Cost: The living space will be somewhat more expensive in $/SF because it is located over an open garage. The floor trusses will have to be deep enough to accommodate a good layer of insulation and a finished surface below it, but much of that is a trade off with the cost of building a slab on grade garage. You still have to build that for the garage but not for the living quarters. So if you compare the cost to build to a regular house you have something like this.
Cost to build house with slab on grade
- concrete foundation below house (still need it below level 1)
- walls and garage doors on two sides of garage
+ insulated floor trusses below house
+ load bearing structure/columns to support house above garage*
* A little more but not something unusual for a 2 story house.
Site: If your site is relatively flat then there is no need to build that sloping concrete retaining wall on two sides of the garage as shown on this plan website. Even if it is sloping you might be able to build a limestone rip-rap wall slopping away from the house but leaving a drainage gap around the foundation rather then building it right up to the garage walls.
Materials: there is not reason those walls shown as stone or masonry can't be built with less expensive durable siding such as Dryvit lap siding.
HVAC: This plan shows mechanical eqiupment space in the garage level but no apparent duct, exhaust or plumbing chase to the second floor & roof. Are HVAC ducts in the floor below level 2? That can be done but requires a deep floor truss for ducts. Most washer-drier kitchen plumbing in the kitchen requires plumbing vent stacks and drier exhaust pipes thru the roof. That wall behind the kitchen probably needs to be mostly a solid wall to accomdate all of that.
Energy requirements: This design probably has more glass then the City codes allow, that could be adjusted with more solid insulated walls especially any that receive direct East or West sun.
Solar Orientation: I'm not sure what side of your building site the street is on, hopefully South. So your driveway would be south of the House and most of the glass would be on that side, facing the street. You will want a deeper overhang on the South side to shade the glass in summer and allow some winter sun in when the sun is lower. You want to reduce your glass exposure as much as possible on the East and especially the West which gets intense hot afternoon sun. More solid walls on the East and West are desired, or shade trees, trellises or solar screens are essential where you do have glass exposure. I would leave some East clerestory window strips up near the roof to let daylight in while keeping the sun out.
Handicapped accessibility: I'm nor sure to what degree the CoA has adopted accessibility requirements for residential construction. I recall seeing a newspaper article indicating they were thinking of doing so for all or most homes, which is excessive in my opinion. This design is not accessible, and that goes beyond the difficulty of getting up the entrance stairs into the house. Clearly the entrance is not accessible. Even with a stair lift it would not be as there isn't enough room at the top and bottom to accommodate a wheel chair or meet the requirements at an exit door. Same is true of the bath and shower rooms, they lack the clearance at the doors and turning space inside.
Roof: Standing seam metal roofs are expensive for most residential builds, but they do last a long time. If initial cost is an issue, I'd increase the roof slope and install an asphalt shingle roof, which
Other modifications: The large square column to the right of the garage doors could be turned into a usable storage space or tool room with work bench. I hate wasted space. Some usable storage space could be created above the first floor stair entrance, by adding some floor there and access to it at the end of the kitchen counter. Or at least space for a full sized refrigerator. If it were me I would push the East wall shared by bedroom 2 and dining area out to take up that deck space and make most of it a solid insulated wall, less expensive then all that glass and more energy efficient.
Edit to add:
Demolition: You will be throwing away what ever value you have in the existing structure and infrastructure. Plus you will have to pay to cap those and then install new water, gas, sewer, electrical services as needed to the new house.
MacMansion ordinace: Depending on where you live in Austin you may be subject to this ordinace, which limits the total building volume of your site, depending on where it is located. It may preclude you building a tall 2 story structure too close to smaller residential structures in your neighborhood.
Sounds like some kind of weird fetish. Maybe I'm boring and stoic, but I never get "incredibly jazzed" when driving through mismash of gentrification and price inflation. What's wrong with the "old blood"?. You got a problem with people in East Austin who've been there for decades?
Why don't you buy a lot for $150K, and build that 1,000 sqft floorplan. Let us know how much you lose when you sell it, and what the comments were during all your open houses. I can tell you exactly what the comments would be, it's so predictable.
You're basically encouraging the OP to make a bad financial decision just because gentrifications gives you jazzy goosebumps and you think that respecting established aesthetics is fuddy duddy.
While you're over there, stop into what use to be Progress Coffee on E 5th but is now some swanky new "clean line" type place having it's "soft opening", where the employees wear all black. You can sip one of the expensive brews while gazing at the beautiful new apartments being built across the street, at which a 500 sqft 1 bedroom will rent for $1,200/mo. Lot's to get jazzed about there.
I'm not against progress and change, or modern architecture, but I do think people should make smart money decisions. The OP asked about that specific floorplan in East Austin and I stand by my response. It would be a stupid floorplan to build in East Austin unless you have money to burn. There are much better floorplans that could be selected.
Steve
1. You may not get incredibly jazzed by the tremendous revitalization, energy and vitality of that inner city neighborhood but those of us who would and do call East Austin our home do. You've had a long standing beef against people buying on the east side.
I bet there are some people who wished they had ignored this advice in 2008 when they could have purchased something there at a significant discount only to see 78702 positively flourish in the last 7 years.
2. I don't know if you've been keeping up with real estate on in central east austin - shacks go for 300K. A nice new modern house will have no will have no problem selling. There is nothing stupid about a modern house in central east Austin - in fact they're incredibly popular and on the rare occasion they actually hit MLS (most sell as pocket listings if they come up at all) they about a nano second before there are multiple offers on the table.
You recommended the OP check out Craftsman (expensive to build well) or Cape Cods (my goodness, talk about out of character). . .hmmm. . .I think perhaps you really just aren't familiar with the type of people who are buying homes in '02.
A few additional comments from an architectural perspective.
Cost: The living space will be somewhat more expensive in $/SF because it is located over an open garage. The floor trusses will have to be deep enough to accommodate a good layer of insulation and a finished surface below it, but much of that is a trade off with the cost of building a slab on grade garage. You still have to build that for the garage but not for the living quarters. So if you compare the cost to build to a regular house you have something like this.
Cost to build house with slab on grade
- concrete foundation below house (still need it below level 1)
- walls and garage doors on two sides of garage
+ insulated floor trusses below house
+ load bearing structure/columns to support house above garage*
* A little more but not something unusual for a 2 story house.
Site: If your site is relatively flat then there is no need to build that sloping concrete retaining wall on two sides of the garage as shown on this plan website. Even if it is sloping you might be able to build a limestone rip-rap wall slopping away from the house but leaving a drainage gap around the foundation rather then building it right up to the garage walls.
Materials: there is not reason those walls shown as stone or masonry can't be built with less expensive durable siding such as Dryvit lap siding.
HVAC: This plan shows mechanical eqiupment space in the garage level but no apparent duct, exhaust or plumbing chase to the second floor & roof. Are HVAC ducts in the floor below level 2? That can be done but requires a deep floor truss for ducts. Most washer-drier kitchen plumbing in the kitchen requires plumbing vent stacks and drier exhaust pipes thru the roof. That wall behind the kitchen probably needs to be mostly a solid wall to accomdate all of that.
Energy requirements: This design probably has more glass then the City codes allow, that could be adjusted with more solid insulated walls especially any that receive direct East or West sun.
Solar Orientation: I'm not sure what side of your building site the street is on, hopefully South. So your driveway would be south of the House and most of the glass would be on that side, facing the street. You will want a deeper overhang on the South side to shade the glass in summer and allow some winter sun in when the sun is lower. You want to reduce your glass exposure as much as possible on the East and especially the West which gets intense hot afternoon sun. More solid walls on the East and West are desired, or shade trees, trellises or solar screens are essential where you do have glass exposure. I would leave some East clerestory window strips up near the roof to let daylight in while keeping the sun out.
Handicapped accessibility: I'm nor sure to what degree the CoA has adopted accessibility requirements for residential construction. I recall seeing a newspaper article indicating they were thinking of doing so for all or most homes, which is excessive in my opinion. This design is not accessible, and that goes beyond the difficulty of getting up the entrance stairs into the house. Clearly the entrance is not accessible. Even with a stair lift it would not be as there isn't enough room at the top and bottom to accommodate a wheel chair or meet the requirements at an exit door. Same is true of the bath and shower rooms, they lack the clearance at the doors and turning space inside.
Roof: Standing seam metal roofs are expensive for most residential builds, but they do last a long time. If initial cost is an issue, I'd increase the roof slope and install an asphalt shingle roof, which
Other modifications: The large square column to the right of the garage doors could be turned into a usable storage space or tool room with work bench. I hate wasted space. Some usable storage space could be created above the first floor stair entrance, by adding some floor there and access to it at the end of the kitchen counter. Or at least space for a full sized refrigerator. If it were me I would push the East wall shared by bedroom 2 and dining area out to take up that deck space and make most of it a solid insulated wall, less expensive then all that glass and more energy efficient.
Edit to add:
Demolition: You will be throwing away what ever value you have in the existing structure and infrastructure. Plus you will have to pay to cap those and then install new water, gas, sewer, electrical services as needed to the new house.
MacMansion ordinace: Depending on where you live in Austin you may be subject to this ordinace, which limits the total building volume of your site, depending on where it is located. It may preclude you building a tall 2 story structure too close to smaller residential structures in your neighborhood.
Sounds like some kind of weird fetish. Maybe I'm boring and stoic, but I never get "incredibly jazzed" when driving through mismash of gentrification and price inflation. What's wrong with the "old blood"?. You got a problem with people in East Austin who've been there for decades?
Why don't you buy a lot for $150K, and build that 1,000 sqft floorplan. Let us know how much you lose when you sell it, and what the comments were during all your open houses. I can tell you exactly what the comments would be, it's so predictable.
You're basically encouraging the OP to make a bad financial decision just because gentrifications gives you jazzy goosebumps and you think that respecting established aesthetics is fuddy duddy.
While you're over there, stop into what use to be Progress Coffee on E 5th but is now some swanky new "clean line" type place having it's "soft opening", where the employees wear all black. You can sip one of the expensive brews while gazing at the beautiful new apartments being built across the street, at which a 500 sqft 1 bedroom will rent for $1,200/mo. Lot's to get jazzed about there.
I'm not against progress and change, or modern architecture, but I do think people should make smart money decisions. The OP asked about that specific floorplan in East Austin and I stand by my response. It would be a stupid floorplan to build in East Austin unless you have money to burn. There are much better floorplans that could be selected.
Steve
Or you could buy a $150k lot and build two homes (one alley facing) on it and then pick which one to live in an which one to rent. Or you could buy a smaller lot (3-4k square feet) for $100k and build a small house and still have some semblance of front and back yards.
And I don't think Progress is more expensive than Starbucks.
Anyway, I spoke to Chris Krager (KRDB) about a year ago when I was looking into his MA prefabs (and yeah, I'm not super crazy about them myself compared to his other work), he actually said it was cheaper to build stick than prefab, and he threw out 150 a sq. ft. as well, I can't really recall the conversation and why this is (prefab priced higher that is), but as we talked further and I found out he DOES sell his pre-existing plans (I recall something like 1500 bucks?) and can modify them at a per hour rate, etc. He has some great stuff out there and I'm sure his files are full of awesome plans, this could be an option (his work at SOL is great IMHO, and the footprints are generally small)?
I personally love the plan you selected, it's VERY Richard Neutra'esque.
Funny how subjective architecture is. My favorite architectural style is International School, there's an amazing example a few streets over, in Pemberton Heights, a Fehr & Granger I believe? Anyway, I would kill to own that house, okay, here's the point to the story, I drove a friend by to show her "one of my favorite houses," she looked at it, kinda made a face, a slight grimace really, then said "...it looks like a Mexican prison," haha! To each his own!
And my two cents in regard to the modern mixed with the old on the East Side, well, my only complaint is this: they're mainly, and I mean like 99%, what I can "McModern," a Home Depot/not-very-creative developer's version of "modern," no basis in real architecure, basically: "hey, these people like MODERN houses, so let's build these boxes and put windows in random places for no reason, I mean, that's what modern is, right? And let's build them really cheaply, use builder's grade materials..." SO really, most of these "modern" houses on the East Side aren't what I'd consider architecturally significant, they're like tract homes really, not like something you'd get from Burton Baldrige (who has an awesome all-glass house on Mohle that'd you'd probably dig), Michael Hsu, Alter Studio, KRDB, etc.
... And I don't think Progress is more expensive than Starbucks.
Progress Coffee is closed. Gone It's now called "Brew" and is some swanky place like what you'd find inside a Hilton Hotel or something. So, while Komet may call that "progress", Progress Coffee is gone.
So we are minus yet another authentic feeling local East Austin coffee joint, and plus another "anywhere USA" faux hip place with a "jazzy" feel, across the street from unaffordable new Class A apartment being built.
...
And my two cents in regard to the modern mixed with the old on the East Side, well, my only complaint is this: they're mainly, and I mean like 99%, what I can "McModern," a Home Depot/not-very-creative developer's version of "modern," no basis in real architecure, basically: "hey, these people like MODERN houses, so let's build these boxes and put windows in random places for no reason, I mean, that's what modern is, right? And let's build them really cheaply, use builder's grade materials..." SO really, most of these "modern" houses on the East Side aren't what I'd consider architecturally significant, they're like tract homes really, not like something you'd get from Burton Baldrige (who has an awesome all-glass house on Mohle that'd you'd probably dig), Michael Hsu, Alter Studio, KRDB, etc.
Thanks Steve! I really appreciate the fact that someone shares my irritation with the McModerns, haha! Man, those things are NOT going to age well.
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