Changes While Framing New Build

last year

last modified: last year

We just started framing and the builder is suggesting that we make the following changes to our design. Looking to get thoughts on the ideas below. Feel free to share any comments!

- Remove or keep wall between living room and sunroom (see attached and note the vaulted ceiling in sunroom).

- Move fireplace to back wall instead of having two fireplaces.

- Move 16 foot sliding glass door from the back to the side of sunroom because we are moving our patio to the side of the house to maximize the city view out front.

BEFORE

AFTER

Featured Answer

3onthetree

last year

I am guessing that you only paid the architect for design drawings, and had your contractor convert to CAD and have their lumber supplier size all structural components. Usually what happens is you don't end up with how the house was envisioned originally.

Comparing your last thread's plans, you have opened it up some, and are trying to open up even more walls for an entirely open concept house. Sometimes, this goes against what the house was conceived as, and seems to be a different design language. There are also many design details which surface and don't look to have been worked out.

In a nutshell, I would not open up the Family/SunRm wall, as there would be a breakdown of the sense of spaces and competing scales between the two. They were conceived to each have their own personality - one mostly windows, open, bright, a 13' high ceiling with sloping sides. The other, more formal, closed in with walls (porch over large front windows), a flat ceiling, and open visually (somewhat) proportionately to the Kitchen and Dining.

Also, on the exterior elevations the fireplace being the transition between the 2nd floor and lower SunRm roof makes sense. And, there would be an "unease" in sitting in the SunRm, looking back into the Living Room, and seeing the vaulted ceiling change plane at the ceiling yet have no relationship to any walls below (it would be entirely open).

Your structural framing is very complicated and expensive already, and would be moreso with opening up the SunRm wall. Here is a presumed color-coded sketch to communicate some points:

- The YELLOW are the 2nd floor joist direction, which has to rotate to provide the cantilever 2nd floor. Opening up the wall then requires a huge beam in PURPLE, to support the floor joists and cantilever girder. Nearly 22' long, count on steel.

- Other items while I'm at it: The RED is the small wall you removed from the last thread. Eliminating that requires a BLUE beam 21' long bearing into a girder beam at the Foyer. Count on steel. The GREEN beam is a girder supporting the BLUE beam and all the 2nd floor on each side of it. Count on steel. Both those beams are specified to be flush within the floor plane, so they may be very heavy weight beams which raises costs and installation difficulty. And depending on ductwork and plumbing, may require soffits below them anyway negating going through the expense of flush beams. Also, I question adding decorative faux "wood beams" hung off the ceiling, which is meant for but will not represent an understandable structure, after going to so much trouble to open up walls and have a flat ceiling.

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Comments (13)

kandrewspa
last year
During framing is not the right time to be making changes like this. @3onthetree just gave you a great explanation as to why. You should be going to your architect with these questions, not to an online forum. I don't know why your builder all of a sudden thinks he's a designer.
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PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
last year
last modified: last year
Who designed the house and what do they say about the changes?
chispa
last year
My first thought was ... act in haste, repent at leisure.

Obviously you must have spent some time coming up with your floor plan, but now your builder wants to suddenly improvise on the layout? What was his reasoning for his proposed changes?
Ryan
Original Author
last year
last modified: last year
I appreciate the comments!

The main reason for this change is that our living room seems small. After looking into furniture, we measured things out we are concerned about having less than 13ft from the fireplace hearth to the back of the couch. The builder thinks that opening this up could solve that problem, let more light in, and give a better traffic flow to the new side patio area with a better flow for entertaining.

I have sent an email to the architect but we are interested in getting more comments. Thank you.
PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
last year
Make sure the designer of the house is aware of the proposed changes and has opportunity to evaluate any change. Get the proposed furniture layout from the designer that they based their design on.
3onthetree
last year
Well, the first few designs had the Family Room as the larger of the two. When someone converted to CAD, the SunRm magically grew larger and become the primary room by default. You can shift the entire fireplace block into the Sunroom (as it was originally shown) which would flip the room sizes to make the Family 15' deep and SunRm 13' deep. Presumably a masonry FP, the CAD drawn location of the FP will eat into the Master footprint upstairs as well, so shifting the FP fixes that too. Be aware of hearth dimensions.

Also, the Family Room has circulation space on the front window and back blank walls to get to the SunRm. Before, if you wanted you could navigate through Family Room furniture, because the SunRm was more of a "move from talking in the main Family Room to cocktailing in the accessory SunRm" space. Now that you have your main outdoor living patio off to the side of the house through the SunRm, those circulation spaces need to be dedicated moreso for that, which limits the footprint of your Family Room furniture. So, the unintended bonus of having that clear circulation space around the entire perimeter of the Family Room is ---> visually the furniture won't seem as tight.
chispa
last year
last modified: last year
You wasted all that space on an open foyer with no room for a console, art or bench. I guess you can place a round table in the middle and display flowers and some nick-knacks. It could have been a bit narrower giving more depth to the Family room.

Do you plan on having a TV in the Family room?

How did you plan on using the family room and sun room? Can you still use them in the same way if it now becomes one large room?
Seabornman
last year
You might as well be building a barndominium if you make those changes. That's what the living room/sun room will feel like.
just_janni
last year
That was the thing that stuck out to me - why is the sunroom larger than the family room?
msjoan
last year
You have quite a dilemma! I agree that removing the wall between the living room and the sunroom will create an enormous open space, but I also feel the existing family room, at slightly over 13 feet deep, is not spacious even though it's very long and open to the other rooms. Also, I rarely find a room that's partially vaulted is comfortable to be in. I might just extend the family room to @ 15 ft. deep and eliminate the sun room, if that's possible.
jkm6712
last year
I would stick with your original plan, as I like the sunroom as a quieter 'away' space. I suggest making the pantry sink large enough to soak big pots and pans, and add a second dishwasher in there too, particularly if you entertain. I have both in my pantry and get a lot of use out of them, especially since my kitchen dishwasher was a lemon and repairs took weeks!
Ryan
Original Author
last year
We decided to move the wall 1.5ft into the sunroom. The architect thought this was a good change. Thank you for the comments as they were helpful!

Changes While Framing New Build

3onthetree

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