We're currently house hunting and while not our dream home, a potentially reasonable compromise and money earning opportunity has come up.
To make a long story short, it's a fairly similar style of house as we had previously, so pretty much all the design choices will be more or less cut and paste from the last place we fixed up. Where it gets tricky is that it's currently 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom. We can still make money on it as a 4-1 but we could more or less double the potential earning off it if we can make it a 4-2. So that's where you guys come in, take a look at the floorplan and give me your ideas as to how you'd amend it to create a master suite.
The house has a trussed roof, meaning most interior walls are able to be moved/removed fairly easily. As it stands, I'd be looking to open up the kitchen some. I'd also be looking to remove the wall that currently separates the lounge from the garage and make that part of a larger open plan lounge/dining/family type space.
The house is stick frame, brick veneer on a concrete slab. Sewage plumbing runs down the left side of the house, and potentially/probably across the back of the house as far as the kitchen. This doesn't completely limit where I put an ensuite, but it's certainly something to consider when it comes to ease and expense of doing sewer hook-ups.
How would you feel about making it a 3 bed, 2 bath?
This might be possible by sacrificing one bedroom in order to make a slightly larger bedroom and a bath
Mndsm
MegaDork
6/25/19 8:56 p.m.
Assuming you're going to use BR1 as the master, you could drop a master suite right in where the "family room" is, shift the kitchen a little south (based on plan orientation), and go from there. You still have a good sized living room, a breakfast area, and a formal dining room.
I'm definitely open to the idea, I'm trying to feel out how much that would effect the potential return. I feel like a 3-2 should do better than a 4-1, but wether it would net enough of a return to justify the work is something that's going to need further investigation
Check your local code about converting garage into living space. A place I used to live required one garage bay minimum, and I saw someone have to de-convert and pay a heft fine
In reply to Mndsm :
That's kind of how Im leaning currently. Bring it out to the South side of the current rear sliding door and replace the slider with some french doors or a big picture window. Possibly locate the ensuite next to the laundry on north wall and trench through the slab to hook into the sewer point in the laundry.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
Looks all good in that regard, there's definitely precedent, but will definitely be 100% confirming. I know minimum I have to frame out and line the garage as single layer brick isn't acceptable for dwellings.
Would moving the closet in BR1 to the family room wall side give you a big enough space when combined with the utility area? Move utility to back garage wall?
In reply to Steve_Jones :
It's worth considering. It will require a bit of brick work to close off the external door and raise up the window. But it is the unseen side of the house, so the brick repairs wouldn't be immediately obvious.i would prefer to try and keep the utility/laundry room up that end of the house if possible though, because having to go to the far end of the house through the living areas will be seen as inconvenient to plenty of people.
In reply to daeman :
It seems like there is a lot of wasted space in the existing bath (but my scale might be off). Can a stackable set go there? I’m not sure you’d want to gut/redo the existing, but if so it looks like moving that closet gives you a large space to cut up between BR1 and BR2 if starting from scratch. Take the existing wall to BR 2 to make the hallway straight, put a door in the middle of that hallway (where it says sub?) with a stackable straight ahead and bath on left and right.
I hope that makes sense, I can visualize it, can’t explain it.
In reply to Steve_Jones :
The existing bathroom is kind of small. The dimensions are around the perimeter of the plan, they're all in mm, but it measures about 6ft x 8ft. Not having a separate laundry would definitely be seen as a negative in this market, buyers would be put off by a washing machine in their bathroom and stacker units are pretty uncommon over here.
I think I'm following what you mean regarding the current bathroom layout, as it stands the toilet is separate to the bathroom, hence the step back. I've thought about combining the toilet into the bathroom which would make the room about 8x9ft. Sub is actually swr or shower, because of the existing plumbing and sewer connection I'd prefer not to move it if I can avoid it.
What about just adding another toilet? Does a 4/1.5 give you enough return to justify?
And maybe add an outdoor shower?
Just because a house has trusses doesn’t mean you can go removing things without doing the load calculations. I was in a house where the home inspector told the people they had trusses so they could remove the wall between the kitchen and living room, but when i did the math the drywall hanging off the trusses would exceed the bottom chord dead load by 75% not counting any compound, texture, insulation, light fixtures.
In reply to Robbie :
An extra toilet never goes astray, and if I can't get a full ensuite to work, then a toilet and basin would be the next best option. Bonus to that would be I could use a P trap type toilet and take both the toilet outlet and basin drain through the wall as opposed to through the floor. An outside shower wouldn't be something that'd be particularly appealing to buyers here.
In reply to Patrick :
Totally agree that trusses don't guarantee a wall removing free for all, but they definitely make it easier than a traditional cut roof. I'll be sure to double check things though.
Am I seeing things correctly? After you poo, you have to exit through a door, then enter through another, to wash your hands?
In reply to JamesMcD :
Yeah, really weird graphics. I have the same question!
In reply to JamesMcD :
Yeah, the toilet is separate to the bathroom, it's fairly common over here. Most people seem to leave their bathroom door open when not in use, so you're really only touching the inside handle on the toilet door.... No different than a cubicle/stall really.
In reply to Shadeux :
Weird as in how things are layed out or weird as in how it's drawn? It's not the best drawn floorplan I've ever seen, but unfortunately it's all I can get for the time being.
Would the plumbing be impossible to move the washer dryer into the garage? Getting the noise of them as far from my sleeping area is appealing to me. Then move the BR 1 closet over to the family room wall (again, noise mitigation) and convert the laundry room into a master bath.
In reply to daeman :
Just a different style than I'm used to! It's fine.
In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) :
I wouldn't say it's impossible, but it's the furthest point from the any of the current plumbing, sonit would be the most expensive and involved option. Also, the current plan is to remove the stud wall that separates the garage and lounge to make a much larger lounge/living area
Putting the wardrobe on the family room side of br1 and converting the laundry to an ensuite was my initial thought, but I'm struggling to figure out a good solution to where I'd be able to position the laundry.
In reply to Shadeux :
Ok no worries mate, definitely not a formal set of plans is it 
KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:
Would the plumbing be impossible to move the washer dryer into the garage? Getting the noise of them as far from my sleeping area is appealing to me. Then move the BR 1 closet over to the family room wall (again, noise mitigation) and convert the laundry room into a master bath.
That is a great idea, almost like post 8 :)
