Specific concerns:

• Instead of the laundry room being 8' 8" wide, it could be 8' wide and the master gets an extra 8" (so the master would be 17' wide instead of 16' 4". This way the master bed could scoot down a little to be slightly more centered in front of the wall. What do you think of this? Would you prefer the wide laundry room or wider master bed?

Current laundry room layout:

Alternate Layout:

• Would it be strange to center the master bed on the wall across from it, and then move the windows on the side of the master bed so they aren't the same distance from the walls anymore? So either the master bed could be centered on the wall behind it, or centered in front of the wall across from it (the wall between the closet and the master bath). The latter is only possible if the master is widened.
• How should we layout the laundry room (sink and washer/dryer)? We weren't sure about having the built in linen closet face out. Maybe we should just have the closet opening to the inside? Or just have all cabinets?

Windows & Skylight Questions

• Do the window sizes and proportions (especially the grids) look good?
• Should we have a window in the garage or not? I'm not actually sure we will actually build the "work bench" the architect drew in the garage.
• Would you make the window in the guest closet taller?
• Should we have skylights in the bathrooms and laundry? They are currently drawn over the vanities but I'm not sure if they're all really necessary. I think the ones in the secondary bedrooms upstairs and laundry are probably more important because those rooms only have one small window. Or maybe solatubes make more sense?
• Would you add a window to the side of the family room?
• Would you add grids to the folding doors and sliding doors?
• What do you think of the skylight over the kitchen island? Is it a good position? Or should we not bother with it at all?

I'm not so good with these floorplan questions tbh but I did obsess myself over windows on my own build so I can add my opinion on those:

Do the window sizes and proportions (especially the grids) look good? Yes

Should we have a window in the garage or not? I'm not actually sure we will actually build the "work bench" the architect drew in the garage. Pro - more natural light in the garage. Balances the exterior. Con - garage windows can be a security risk. People can see inside if your car is there. Easy to break and enter, etc.

Would you make the window in the guest closet taller? No.

Should we have skylights in the bathrooms and laundry? They are currently drawn over the vanities but I'm not sure if they're all really necessary. I think the ones in the secondary bedrooms upstairs and laundry are probably more important because those rooms only have one small window. Or maybe solatubes make more sense? I like the idea of solatubes. Skylights are great, especially if they are the smart window operable kind. But if you are looking for natural light and your budget needs trimming, I would do the solatubes.

Would you add a window to the side of the family room? No. I think it would give you problems with furniture and tv placement.

Would you add grids to the folding doors and sliding doors? No.

What do you think of the skylight over the kitchen island? Is it a good position? Or should we not bother with it at all? I like it.

Nice plan overall. I don't usually like other peoples floorplans...

Good luck!

I'm curious about renting to tech interns. Do you know them well? Are they there for only a short time? Because while the guest room is fine for guests, interns might want a little more private access instead of walking right past you watching TV if they want a beer from the kitchen.

Hi ggp, you are really going to enjoy this house! I think it's terrific, my comments are largely personal preference --

Skylights. I am not a huge fan except in certain situations; they are extra holes in your building envelope and you have plenty of windows. The skylights in our prior house were nice in winter but in summer I wished I could "turn them off." And then there is cleaning, but you could get someone to do that. If you keep one over your kitchen island, think about size/placement and making sure it works with whatever lighting you have planned. If it were mine, I would delete all of the skylights except for over the stairwell.

Windows/doors. Your floor plans don't show the same windows as your elevation for the kids' bedrooms. I think you could do better on the look, esp the front and rear elevations. Can't put my finger on it -- maybe it is the discrepancy with the floor plans, maybe it is the 3/1 casements in that proportion on your house. Will think on it. I would put a window in the garage, presumably you will have a privacy fence like everyone else and if someone wants to check for your car they can peer into your garage doors anyway.

Are you just having a single gas storage water heater? If so, think about whether you want a demand recirculating pump to save water -- the baths are quite a ways from the WH.

Good luck, when do you start?

I'd swap the piano room with the office / hall coat storage so that you could call the piano room a dining room for resale later.

To do this move the door to the garage to the current pantry and make the pass through from the kitchen to the piano room a butler's pantry insteathis also solves the issue for your tenant for getting into the house to his/her room and moves the loud piano farther from the guest space.

If you are really going to rent the space, I'd put a stackable w/d in the closet of the guest space and throw in an exterior full light door instead of the sliding door.

Re skylights, you can also do solatubes! Loved my solatubes, even on gloomy days and early evening, the reflective tubing and diffusers allowed good lighting in, and less heat in on bright summer days.

@jn3344 Thanks for your comments! The current garage window is facing the backyard, so I think we're okay on privacy. I think I'm concerned that a window there might impede storage, but we're probably okay on storage...

@bpathome We would be renting out the guest suite to interns short-term (usually three months) - not people we know personally. If you look closely, the guest suite actually has a minikitchen area which will have a small sink, microwave, and a minifridge so they can use that for their own things. And tech interns in our area usually get free breakfast, lunch, and dinner at work so I anticipate them not doing real cooking at all. The perfect people to rent out to. :) Of course we might not do this at all, but it's nice as a possibility. The guest suite also has separate access via the sliding doors in the back - I imagine the interns parking their bike on their porch to get to their room (not using the front door or garage entrance), and rarely ever seeing them. We are easy biking distance from major tech companies like Google & LinkedIn.

I really need to read more about solatubes vs skylights! Do solatubes let in the same amount of light?

@Mama Rachel: We debated making the mudroom have direct access to the office which would make the office more like a dining room, but my husband doesn't want two entrances to the office. My mom is definitely worried about this, but oh well, we'll fake it if/when we sell. :) Others have suggested making the pantry the mudroom (with a nice window perhaps) before, but that directs traffic directly through the kitchen cooking zone.

There is already a washer/dryer in the guest bathroom. :) And like I said, tenants would enter the guest suite via the sliding doors in the back, so the idea is the sliding door stays closed when there's a tenant, and stays open most of the time when the guest is a family member.

@Oaktown: Thanks, I'm so glad you like the floor plan. Did you notice I took your suggestion from last time of creating the mudroom hallway for more circulation? :) Yes, the floor plans don't match the exterior yet but I told the architect to update them so I'll replace the floor plan in the OP once he does. Ack, you maybe don't like the 3/1 casements? I will wait in suspense for your further comments.

I think we're actually going to do two tankless water heaters on the first floor - one on the kitchen side, one on the guest suite side. And then separate tankless water heater(s) upstairs. I think the utility area will house the boiler for our radiant heat (perhaps overkill for the area, but it's soo nice!). We'll mostly use a whole house fan for cooling, but are considering adding forced air and air conditioning for the upstairs only (so that we don't need ducting on the first floor). With all that and 2x6 walls instead of 2x4, I'm hoping it'll be a very comfortable house to live in. Maybe we won't even need all the utility space the architect created. Moar pantry or garage storage??

Hopefully we will begin structural engineering next week. That will take 3-5 weeks, during which we'll create construction documents and detail the inside of the house and specs. We've done a lot of advance homework on this so I think this will go well. After structural engineering is done, we'll apply for permits and simultaneously start getting bids, or maybe doing a negotiated contract with a builder (we're interviewing GCs right now). That's a whole other topic that I might post here about. I keep hearing that the city of Mountain View is relatively easy with regards to permits, so hopefully we could break ground as early as August or September! I'm not sure if I'm evil hoping it won't rain during the early stages of my build, with the drought and all. xD In the worst case we could always start later - the current house on the lot is being rented out, we have no mortgage on the house we're living in now, and we're pretty young so there's no real rush.

Ggp -- check out the thread on Kitchens from ilikepie about island skylights (love how GW works).

Do you have an HVAC consultant? Are you planning to build a "tight" house where you might want an HRV? If part of the appeal of radiant for you is no ducts, then think about using mini splits to cool the upstairs. Folks around here are very clever about concealing cassettes or using in-ceiling models -- so you could tell your folks there wouldn't be something just sticking on the wall :-)

And don't scare off the rain, we really need it!!

In the Bay area I'd not do all tankless. I'd do a 75 gal or a pair of 50s. Remember, your water heater is a source of emergency water in case of natural disaster. 75-100 gals of potable water is the minimum you'd want to store for a potential earthquake scenario. If you don't do tank heaters you'll have to get water storage some other way, which is bulky. 2x 50 gals might be the best solution.

No, is not as energy efficient, but with the mild climate and interior location of tanks is not horrifically expensive either. Tankless can't keep up to fill a soaking tub effectively when outside temps are under 40. The peeve of mind especially once you have kids will be worth it.

I'd also recommend in your area to have a bath liner in a closet reasy to use. If there is a quake, pull water while you can and fill a bath liner for additional potable water.

Consider building in some shelving for emergency supplies as well, in the garage.

This may sound crazy but I've been in three 6.8+ quake scenarios and even with minimal damage we had water issues and stores were closed for the better part of a week. Don't go crazy prepper, but realize your geographical risks. I'd say the same about a cellar if you were in Tornado country.

I'm building in St Helen's backyard now, with a long overdue "big quake". We went with 75 gal only for quake water.

YMMV

On the WH, the new storage heaters are very efficient and I believe they are more cost-effective than the tankless.

Earthquake preparedness is very important. But I think there are better emergency water storage options than a water heater. You'd want to boil or treat the WH water anyway. I had not heard of a bath liner, will definitely look into that -- thanks Mama Rachel. (Wow, 3 big ones? Scary.)

We have tankless and it handles the soaking tub just fine (we have 2-3 kids in the tub at once to save water). I actually was worried about the unlimited hot water leading to waste but the family has adapted pretty quickly to my constant reminders to turn off the water.

We have a HUGE tub in FL (72" x 42") with tankless and we have no problems filling the tub with hot water, even when the temps get down into the low 50's upper 40's. (Yes it does sometimes get chilly there!)

You do not need to boil or treat the water heater water. It's what comes into your faucet , without further treatment. You can fill buckets via the valve at the bottom to drink and cook with. If it sat stagnant "maybe" but no, you don't.

Bulk water storage is very bulky (imagine that!). It's cheaper to have tanks because the tub-liners and other solutions are often disposable and cost as much as the energy differential for a tank solution.

Tub liner - (one time use, handy to keep on in a linen closet):
http://www.amazon.com/waterBOB-Emergency-Drinking-Storage-Gallons/dp/B001AXLUX2

Make sure your tub is framed to support the weight before filling to capacity.

Big water storage tank (these come in many sizes). The thing about these is you must cycle the water out or it stagnates, plus, they are expensive. You'd be better off having a tank-heater for backup.

http://www.amazon.com/260-Gallon-Water-Storage-Tank/dp/B0072L86HE/ref=sr_1_7?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1431626911&sr=1-7&keywords=water+storage

Mama Rachel, that's interesting. I went to a workshop a few years ago where they said if you take water from the WH you should boil it or treat it. But we don't drink warm water from the faucets, either -- maybe the information I have is out of date and doesn't really apply any more, or maybe it is a local thing?

SF drinking water recommendations

I do not like the hall between the garage and off the main entry. Why not make that a huge storage closet or shift the bathroom. There is no need to go from the garage to the entry as it is. The space could be a cool mudroom with access from the garage or the front door. But as is, it is just a dark area off the front entry and off the garage entry, and a waste of square footage. Though.......kids love being able to run circles in houses. So it will come in handy in that way. Otherwise there are many details I do like. The suite on the first floor could be made more private. As it is, a guest would have to walk through your main living areas to get to it.

lafdr