Part 1 – Biloski Residence, Upper Floor

Posted on: June 17th, 2009 | 33 Comments

Part 1 – Biloski Residence, Upper Floor (PDF)
Part 1 – Biloski Residence, Upper Floor (JPEG)
Part 1 – Biloski Residence, Upper Floor (Full Symbol Library)
Part 1 – Biloski Residence, Upper Floor (Demo Plan)

  • James Scott

    I went for a smaller renovation myself. I didn’t feel that the floor plan was all that bad, and I really feel the open staircase can be a bonus feature.

    I tweaked the walls in and around the south bedrooms to allow for greater storage for each space, particularly the smaller of the bedrooms. I also modified the second bath, but I’m thinking a shower instead of a tub could open it up a bit more.

    In the master bedroom I left the bath alone, but added a small window on the east side for morning light and ventilation and modified the terrace access.

    In the hall I added storage to the open study area. Since they are such a kitchen table kind of family I felt that space could be better utilized.

    A while back in one of the popular building magazines they showcased a home with a skylight over the stairwell that drove the light right down to the main floor. Rooms on the upper floor also used internal glazing to access the light as well. I’ll see if I can find an image.

    [img]1_shdp17-1.jpg[/img]

  • James Scott

    http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/how-to/articles/daylight-and-row-house-universal-design.aspx?nterms=65754,62280,61998&ac=ts&ra=fp

    This is the only image I could find. It has a link to the Fine Home Building site where you can see the image of the upper ceiling. It may not be so simple, but certainly light and open.

  • Brad W

    Moved master to the back of the house. Located new family bath and master closet in narrow space adjacent to the stairs. Two new bedrooms added at the front. The first bedroom has a square bump out added to create space for a chair and add light to this interior space. The second bedroom is created using space from the old front deck. I have shown angled walls to match the first storey walls but better might be to square this off. In either case the front facade of the house will change.

    The key to this design was is the thought that the space adjacent to the stairs is too narrow to accommodate a bedroom as shown in the existing plan.

    [img]shdp17-1.JPG[/img]

  • Brad W

    James – I really like the idea of the roof window over the stairs. In fact, I wanted to eliminate the floor of the study, create a bridge from the top of the stairs to the master bedroom and add a roof window to light the downstairs. At the end of the day that is perhaps a little over the top (pardon the pun).

    Another interesting idea is to add a third floor for a master bedroom and roof deck retreat. If it was my house and the local building codes permitted it that is what I would do.

  • James Scott

    The ideas and creativity that can be applied to these homes is amazing. Some may laugh but I’d kill to have one of those indoor slides to the main floor.

    Hey Brad, could you imagine a slide from the third floor, “Cheaper than than Canada’s Wonderland, and no line-ups!). Whooo, hooo!

  • Doug Roberts

    James — I really like the way you reconfigured the closets in the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms. Cutting down the size of the 2nd bedroom and giving a full-size closet to the 3rd bedroom should help the occupant of the 3rd bedroom feel less like a “second class citizen”. The skylight over the stairs is also a great idea, or a less costly alternative would be to install a Solatube. We installed a Solatube over the central staircase in our former house in Oakville and it was amazing how much natural light it brought into the upstairs foyer, main floor foyer and even into the basement.

    Brad — Your suggestion of adding a third floor for a master bedroom and roof deck is interesting. We live in an older neighbourhood which is in the process of turning over as the old bungalows on 50 foot lots are demolished and replaced with two detached or semidetached infills on 25 foot lots. Most of the infills are two storeys, but lately the trend has been to build them with a partial third storey and a roof deck. However, the builders don’t really seem to know what to do with the space on the third floor. A master bedroom and ensuite would seem to be a logical use, but the more common approach appears to be to put in a wet bar and describe the space as a family room, or as a great place for entertaining guests (ie. like a finished basement but with a nice view). This suggests to me that builders have found that for some reason prospective buyers are not overly interested in having the master bedroom on the third floor. Maybe we boomers are worried about not being able to make it up all those stairs to get to bed at night!

  • Terri

    Speaking as one of those boomers, yes, the knees aren’t so limber for stairs. I’m wondering if security issues are more common to city dwellers. Without an alarm system, perhaps they’d like to be able to hear what’s happening a little better?

    I’ll be getting to my plan a little later…

  • James Scott

    Hi Doug, we have a Solatube in the main bathroom and on a clear night you’d think it was daytime. Excellent investment.

    On the note of the third floor, my sister-in-law has a similar room which really comes in handy. A great den, and some great space for nieces and nephews or other nomadic family that stay a few days. My wife’s tante in Germany has one as well which was used as a bedroom for twins.

  • Brad W

    My initial plan required changing the front facade of the house which, on second thought, has alot of character. So here is a plan which adds a third floor. Minimal changes are done on the second floor – the bathrooms are unchanged – only some walls in the back bedroom are moved and the stair to the third floor uses the empty study space. Food for thought…

    [img]shdp17-2.jpg[/img]

  • James Scott

    Brad, what about reversing the direction of the stairs to the third floor, is that possible?

  • Brad W

    James – I looked at that and agree it is better. I was concerned the stairs would be interfere with the door to the front bedroom. I did not want to modify much of the second floor to retain enough budget for the third floor. I’ll post an update later.

    To Terri and Doug’s point about older boomers not being able to cope with all the stairs, how about we install a residential elevator. These are becoming more popular and are not as cost prohibitive as you might think. One problem is I believe stairs are still required…you know in case of power failure, fire, etc.

  • Brad W

    James – I moved the stairs to the other side (I don’t know why I did not do this to begin with…) and it works much better. I even incorporated your roof window over the stairs for dramatic effect. And I used the open study area for a two person computer desk. Thanks for the suggestion James…

    [img]shdp17-4.JPG[/img]

  • Terri

    I decided to put a laundry on the upper floor, because that’s what I’d like. It’s a stacking unit with a solartube for lighting during day.

    The master bathroom is above our renovated kitchen (last week’s final plan), with matching corner windows above the kitchen’s. This allowed the dressing room to have a window.

    Both kid’s bedrooms show large closets. Depending on whether or not they would prefer space for a desk, these could be smaller. Shelves would need to be incorporated into these closets in either case.

    [img]cintwnhs2.jpg[/img]

  • CL

    There seems to be lots of enthusiasm for solartubes. How difficult are they to install? How is it possible to get them down to basements? Also, are they a high risk for leaks like skylights? What about condensation in the winter? I have a walk in closet that is just a black hole… a solartube might be a good way to bring in natural light. The basement could also use additional natural light.

    James, Brad and Terri… I love watching the progression of your plans. Lots of creativity and great team work.

  • Doug Roberts

    CL — We had our Solatube installed by a professional installer referred to us by the dealer that we bought it from. I think the installer charged us around $200 and it did not take him very long. We never had any leak or condensation problems and the house was in Oakville, Ontario, so we had our share of winter weather. In our case the Solatube brought light all the way down to the basement because it was mounted in the upstairs (second floor) ceiling above a staircase that curved around an eye-shaped opening that ran from the basement to the second floor (if we needed to talk to someone who was on another floor and were too lazy to take the stairs we would call up or down and ask them to “come to the eye” so that we could talk to them). If you don’t have an open staircase, or some sort of chase or flue that could accommodate the tube, then I suspect that it would be very difficult to use a Solatube to get natural light to the basement.

    As long as your walk-in closet has nothing but attic above it, then a Solatube would be a great way to light it up during the day (or even on a moonlit night, as James pointed out above).

    PS: We went with a Solatube brand, which used a rigid tube constructed of aircraft aluminum. There were some cheaper brands that used flexible foil tubes (similar to a dryer vent), but our understanding was that they would not have been as effective at directing light down to the diffusing lens mounted in the ceiling.

  • John Brown

    CL,
    We use light tubes quite regularly in our remodelling projects. They are technically far superior than skylights which tend to leak and they can be readily retrofitted into existing situations. While it is possible to go down two stories, this can be difficult to achieve in an existing house because, as Doug mentioned, you need to have a vertical chase from the roof down.

  • John Brown

    Terri,
    I like your plan. The idea of straightening out the hallway circulation by switching the bathroom to the other side of the plan is quite nice and it leaves the open space around the stair. I am not sure about the second bathroom sink in the master. I think it is a bit too close to the toilet. I would suggest one sink and lots of counter space and cupboard storage.

  • John Brown

    James,
    Thank you for doing such a minimal first scheme. It is nice to see what is possible with only a little bit of work.

  • John Brown

    Brad,
    I really appreciate all of the different schemes you have developed for this project. It is important to explore all of the possibilities. It has also been very informative for everyone to watch your work evolve through the day’s discussion with James. It reinforces the idea that design can be a collaborative conversation.

  • Brad W

    Terri,

    Nice plan. The upstairs laundry and the master bath are quite nice.

    A couple of comments:

    Moving the toilet in the second bath may cause alot of grief structurally and, of course, added cost. Is there enough benefit to make this change?

    Also, I remain skepical about the size of the kids bedrooms. Given the location of the master at the front I am not sure anything else is possible. What do you think about the size of the bedrooms?

  • Terri

    Brad,
    Yes, the second and third bedrooms follow a definite “pecking order,” in that whoever gets the bigger second bedroom is obviously getting the better deal. I thought of dividing this room in half and incorporating bedroom 3 into the overall space (before division), but that bathroom was kind of in the way, and since I’d already moved the master bath, I kind of thought I shouldn’t touch the main bath. And you’re absolutely right, I’m guessing the change to that main bath would be a no-go, as the cost to change the sink and toilet around probably isn’t worth it.

    These discussions are much like client discussions in that we have to find ways to prioritize the changes and then go back to the drawing table (or computer).

    You’ve come up with some very bold changes, and the Biloski’s could possibly decide to stay more than the three years they currently envision if they could also envision such a grand design as yours being a reality.

    (BTW, how do you turn out your plans so quickly? Have you created some kind of macro? I’m impressed with your speed, while I’m still struggling with Paint–quite obvious from my plans!–but I’d like to be able to do more options, as you usually do.)

  • Terri

    John,

    I got a little chuckle from your point about the double sinks in the master bath, because I usually say negative things about such extra vessels (I believe it’s overkill, even though they add a symmetry to some rooms.) I guess I thought I should throw an extra one in there, but you’re right, it wouldn’t really work. I agree with your proposed amendment.

  • Brad W

    Terri,

    It takes me approx. 10-15 minutes to draw each plan using Paint. I don’t try for perfection – I just try to illustrate a concept or direction.

  • James Scott

    I am rally learning to appreciate the collaboration between all of us as we borrow from one person’s plan and suggest ideas for another. So much fun.

    As Doug had mentioned we used the Solatube brand before as well. I believe the company originated in Australia and then made inroads into North America maybe 17 or 18 years ago. We had ours installed by the Canadian reps about 16 years ago and have not had one issue. The bezel or shield or lens at the bottom is showing some signs of rust from the bathroom environment but that’s a quick fix I’m sure.

  • Jim Argeropoulos

    This is as far as I got on my design, but I thought I’d toss it up for comments anyway.

    [img]BiloskiTryOne.png[/img]

  • Jim Argeropoulos

    I don’t exactly care for the long hall to the second bedroom and the deck, but…

  • Terri

    Jim,
    The main drawback to your plan’s hall is the way it emerges where you need space for your bathroom. There is a jog happening to get to that hall, which uses even more space.
    Perhaps if you made the stairwell less open or maybe moved that bedroom doorway next to the well back so that the hallway wall doesn’t protrude into the space…

    Brad,
    A thought just occurred to me regarding your third floor addition. It seems that the flue goes through the main space of the master bedroom.

  • James Scott

    Terri, regarding the flue, in the design brief I thought I had read that the owners are upgrading the heating system. If so that stack may be redundant, that’s why it’s removed from my plan.

    Jim, I like the idea for spreading the light deeper into other areas such as the closet.

  • Grace

    loving the collaboration. someday i may try paintbrush again and move my revisions outside of my head!

  • Jim Argeropoulos

    James
    Actually, the idea was to use the closet to bounce the light from the skylight into the bedroom. I was trying to show that the closet wasn’t full height, but chopped off below the ceiling and angled down toward the bedroom.

  • Brad W

    Terri, most flues or heating ducts can be relocated. Many new HVAC systems direct vent. The only thing that is difficult to deal with is a masonry chimney. Heating for the third floor could be a totally different system like a split system heat pump and electric radiant floor heat in the bathroom. In a perfect world, I would install solar panels on the flat third floor roof and try to engineer the hot water and heating cost towards zero.

    And Terri, remember, I am not trying to get all the details right.

  • John Brown

    Jim,
    Thank you for posting the plan – even if it isn’t complete it conveys the idea you were working with. I think it is a good illustration of one of the biggest challenges of working with a narrow lot plan – getting the circulation to work. The 3′ wide hallway that doesn’t have much impact in a typical house becomes the “elephant in the room” of a house that is only 15′. Wheneever possible I try to reduce corridors to an absolute minimum.

  • Boy94

    Plants are established and mature in the module prior to placement on the roof. ,