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What suggestions can you offer for this, I would like to build a house that is lower than usual (I think) I would like it to be about one step off the ground. This is because I would like a year round sun room that can open to ground level. Also I would like a basement in this house with as much natural daylight as possible. A walk out basement is not possible. So how to get good light in a house with little room for basement windows. Thank you your you help.
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Light wells come to mind.
*Code typically dictates how much concrete needs to be between the finished grade soil and the first piece of wood (mudsill). It varies around here between 8-12 inches. Consider you have about 12 inches of wood thickness in a platform floor and that brings your finished floor 18" above the groud.One option would be to hang the floor joists off the mudsill, inside the perimeter of the foundation. While this would get you closer to the ground, it will reduce your basement headroom and result in a deeper excavation and higher foundation walls. The hanging joists will also push your basement window bucks or frames lower down the basement wall, requiring deeper window wells. Run that detail past your building official for approval.To bring in natural light to the basement, you either need a sloped lot (lots of light but there goes your walk out sunroom on the first floor), light wells (water traps, fall hazards, leaf/debris traps), or you could look into those "sun tubes" (no working knowledge).It'a a catch-22 of sorts: the deeper you bury the house, the closer you come to your "walk out", yet the more difficult you make it to bring light into your basement.Can you built "standard", then in the area of your walk out sunroom bring the grade up to the door?
*I assume that you want the sunroom on an on grade slab and want an even transition from the first floor of the house to the sunroom. I also assume that you are in an area with a fairly deep frost line, if not you may find that a full basement is not necessarily an economic option. You may want to reconsider both these ideas. One option is to raise both the house and the sunroom floors. There is no reason why you can't build a raised slab if thermal mass is desired. This would also save full excavation if frost depth is not a problem.In any case consider linking the sunroom and the basement. Make the light well for your basement part of the sunroom. Put the basement stairs in this space. Put lots of glass in the wall from the basement to the sunroom or leave this wall open. Light entering the sunroom will be reflected into the basement for solar gain. The stairs can be designed for mass. The sunroom can become an important design element rather than looking like an afterthought. If you are in a climate where cooling is not an issue, by all means consider a transparent roof for the sunroom. If cooling is an issue make the roof opaque and use lots of wall glazing. Vent the top and you will can take advantage of the chimney effect for cooling.
*What are light wells, are we talking about window wells? I would perfer the sun room on grade and I would also like an even transition between sun room and first floor. Where I live the frost line is deep about eight feet, I have thought about linking the sunroom and the basement, I like this idea, just can't seem to find a solution without to many trade-offs. I first thought I would build the sunroom on grade and have the first floor normal height, this would allow me to put windows in the sunroom which would allow the light to go directly into the basement, however I would loose the even transition, which is important to me because I would like the sunroom to open on to a patio in the summer that is also be on an even trasition.
*Light wells and window wells are essentially the same thing. With an 8' frost line, a basement is certainly practical. What I am suggesting is that the perimeter of the basement (i.e. the waterproof wall) be set out from the floor above. You can then cover this space with an extension of the sunroom that would be 2 stories high, the basement and the first story. You can use this space for the basement stairs. It will make your sunspace much larger and allow light into the basement.Retractable door bottoms allow even floor transitions without thresholds. The weatherstriping drops onto the floor when the door is closed and lifts when it is opened.
*When I said "light wells" I didn't mean "window wells". I was thinking more along the lines of a shaft that goes down through the upper floors, transmitting light to floors below - kind of like a big laundry shute, or elevator shaft. You might have, say, a 4'x4' skylight in the roof. The framed walls for the skylight well would go all the way through the first floor to the ceiling of the basement. You have probably seen these many times in commercial buildings, especially those built before electricity was considered cheap. I might have misread your original post, but I understood you to say you didn't want the height above grade you'd need for basement windows.
*I was watching a show the other day called houses with style on one of the many cable shows.Anyway one house was built on a hillside somewere on the west coast. The uphill side was a southern exposier and what the Architect did was bump out the foundation 2 feet for the length of the family room. The floor above remaind straight and what the bump out became was a sill for a short greenhose like row of windows. The glass came up the wall 2'. Around the window the owner had some short plants and a garden so people would see the glass and not trip, etc. Inside pictures showed a tremendous amount of light.
*That's a good idea. I can see several different designs for that bumped out area, depending on the style of the home. I like that.
*Hey CL,Additionally the home had a steel framed glass bidge from the second floor master bed to an office over the garage. The office had a separate open steel and glass bridge from the street level to the office. The second level also had a deck off of a playroom for the children that used a 3/4" Glass like I have never seen. On the show the owner hit the glass with a hammer near the edge and it didn't break. For a multilevel design of concrete and glass it was quit warm looking.
*I think you have to be carefull with glass and steel. Too much of that stuff and your house starts looking like a commercial building. I sure like lots of light though.
*Agreed from my perspective. Interesting to see other syles. My favorite is a classic victorian. I am also to a rustic post and beam as well.
*I grew up in New England so Colonial style and Puritan values run pretty deep in me. But I like most any style in the right place and done well. Like that airport in Denver, WOW! Or some of Geery's designs. Victorian homes usually seem overdone to me but I really like some of the small city business districts done at the end of the 19th century, and I think they call that Victorian too. I really like the farm houses, barns and outbuildings of the midwest. For a single style of home, I have to say I like Craftsman style the best. The Greene brothers left some unbelievable work. Hell, I just like buildings.
*My taste for victorian really came from 2 places.The old "Brownstones" here in Baltimore. As well as some of the old and small towns I have been in as I have travelled in the Western Ohio Valley areas. I have never truely been in a Craftsman Syle Home thoughI do like the styling I have seen in mags and on TV.I think my taste for post and beam comes from vacationing in cabins and such in Deep Creek Maryland. This is was a small vacation lake area in the mountains. Te cabins were mostly owned and rented by upper class from Baltimore and had a finnished, squared off look to tthe logs. The openness is also very appealing to me.