All Forum Posts by: Eric Teran

@Nas Zidane The closets in all the bedrooms are 2'-0" deep which is a standard size. The hallway is only 3'-0" which is a little narrow and you definitely should not go less than that. You can take a few inches out of the living room and give it to the hallway. I personally prefer more space in the living room. 

@Nas Zidane I thought you said the ceiling was higher in one of the posts. I must have misunderstood. Definitely do not do a vaulted ceiling. It will cost a lot. Let us know what your contractor thinks. Good Luck. 

@Nas Zidane I believe the layout I provided will cost you less. You can show your Contractor both layouts and they will have a better idea. You definitely want the high ceiling space to be with the open kitchen/dining/living room. It will make it feel even bigger. Maybe even put a skylight for more light to get in. What works with these open floor plans is getting as much natural light into the space. When you provide more windows it visually makes the interior space feel bigger because your depth perception goes to the outside. For example, put a big window where I put the kitchen and dining room to the outside. Maybe make it a big sliding door. When someone opens the front door their sightlines will be drawn by the high ceiling and towards the natural light. They will see this big window or sliding door and look to the outside and the room will feel even bigger. If you put a nice tree or little patio with chairs then the extension from the interior spaces goes to the exterior landscape area. 

I definitely think you should do something on the exterior with the front door. I have no idea what it looks like but adding a porch would be nice. 

I flipped the bathroom and laundry/water heater so that if a guest uses the bathroom they don't have to pass any bedrooms and if one of the kids uses the bathroom they don't have to go into the public area. Additionally, you can't see inside the bathroom from the front door. 

I hope that helps. 

@Nas Zidane a few more notes. I think it would be great to have an entry closet but you do not have that much space. If you stack the washer/dryer you could use the other half for jackets and shoes and so on. You could also add a piece of furniture to the left when you enter that serves as a bench with shoe storage below and have some hooks above that are for coats. You need to think of what will add more value to the house and what may be a deal-breaker. Good Luck.

I decided to spend an hour or two on your plan and came up with a new more cost-effective version. I know you want to make it amazing to make as much money as possible while spending as little as you can. As you will see I think you basically just have to flip the existing bathroom by the kitchen to the other side of the living room and add the master bathroom. Thew new laundry room is in the corridor and if you stack them you can put the water heater in there as well. Another option is to do a tankless water heater for you to save space. You can even put those in the attic (if you have one). Each bedroom has at least 10' of closet space (brown rectangles in the space) and the smallest bedroom in the middle is 11'-0" x 10'-0".  With this layout, you keep the public and private spaces separate. It is never fun to cross a living room to go take a shower. 

The dining room is a little bit narrow but there is enough space for a house this size. Right now I have a 30" island with an area for bar stools so that can be shortened as well. Depending on your windows you will get a lot of natural light into this open space floor plan. Since it is open it will feel a lot bigger as well. Good luck!

@Mindy Jensen definitely follow @Brian Dance advice. Everyone is talking about the beams but what about the posts? In your sketch only one post is above a footing. The other three are just hanging in between joists. How are those going to be attached? The loads from the beam will travel to the post to the joists to the footings. That is why structural engineers start at the top of a structure when doing their designs. They have to know all the loads to design the foundation correctly. I would make sure the base of the posts are attached correctly.

@Chris Arce if you do move forward just be sure to document everything. Take lots of photos. Especially if anything is done within the walls. Before you install insulation take photos. After you install insulation take photos. Once you install the drywall take photos. If you do a shower pan take photos of the water when the plug is in so that it shows the waterproofing is done correctly and water doesn't leak and then tile. Basically, anything that will be hidden take a lot of photos. Don't be afraid to take too many photos. Finishes are not that big of a deal because they can see them and don't really care about that. It is more about what is hidden in the walls. Also, take photos of all the existing conditions. 

Does the County have an email address? If they do send a few emails and if you have no response at least you have something showing that you tried to contact them. Another option may be to contact a third party inspector and ask them to document everything. 

@Dona Cardenas one more thing. If only the island is sloping then it may just be some new supports are required for the island and the floor is fine. So, if the floor is fine then most likely you only need to do something to the island. If the floor slopes then look into doing what I told you in the previous post.

Good luck.

@Dona Cardenas you want to pay the engineer.

The shims will only fix the island to be level but not the floor. Eventually the island will slope again. It sounds like the weight of the island is adding load to the joists in the floor causing the slope. You will most likely have to sister in some new joists to beef them up. That means inserting another joist of similar size and attaching it to the existing joist with glue and nails. Before they are attached the Contractor will jack up the floor so that it is level and then sister the joist. Once everything is attached they will remove the jacks. This is the only way to properly level a floor due to age or weight issues. The engineer will be able to tell you exactly what you need to do in the report or details.

@Chris Arce keep calling. I was on hold today for over an hour with the county. Keep trying. Are you going to do all the work yourself or do you have a Contractor? If you have a contractor they may know what you can get away with for a same day permit.