The plan below is the latest floor plan with a few added comments
Details/features unshown on drawing
Garage attic space should be accessible for storage, and access to attic
above house should be through garage attic. The current access to the
house attic (trapdoor near bathroom) will be used by a suntube.
We spoke to Harold (Flood), who said sun tubes were a good idea. There
are several good brands, including the following: Solar Tube
($350 for 4'x10") made by Brighter Concepts, Inc.; 1706 E Capitol Drive;
Shorewood 53211 (Phone 414-332-9050). Harold says the pipe should be
kept straight, and no longer than 4', but may tilt from vertical. Harold
also recommended a "cadillac" skylight which should never give problems,
made by Velux.
A window now exists in the west-facing wall of the garage. Rather than
merely close this off, it would be functionally better (if cheap) to
make this an access to storage suspended from garage roof, as shown
in the figure below. [13 Aug 98: Chris Dietzen thinks this can't be
done, that it is too expensive and/or violates code.
The Millers on Knickerbocker Street, who have re-done several roofs, said
that multi- colored shingles can still be obtained through Johns Manville
& Menards.
Doors between new sunroom (as Susan wants it called) and garage should
be 3' wide to accommodate large objects and a wheel chair? A ramp might be
built nearby eventually?
Carport foundation should allow eventual adding of brick half-wall.
[13 Aug 98: Chris Dietzen says such a small amount of brickwork would
be overly costly: I might to try to do the work myself later?]
The yard house should be moved/rebuilt to the north edge of the rear yard,
since our north neighbor has built a yard house near our lot line at
that point. To avoid zoning problem, this move might be done AFTER the
house addition is done, and does not need a permit.
A strong strip of wood should be a facing for eaves, into which hooks
could be screwed to hang sun-sheilds, etc. [13 Aug 98: hanging a
"bird feeder" seems a bad idea; the local squirrel was
too much of a pest, eating into the house!]
Back bedroom should be extra-well insulated to minimize heat costs?
Some lighting for new back room might be indirect, behind a strip of
wood on the high south wall [suggested by Dan Schmudlach]
New back room is truncated at the south west corner, to preserve a
view of the back yard. Corner supports for the roof at this point should
match black supports elsewhere, and avoid interfering with sliding door.
Susan would like to keep an option to have a door from the rear
room to the north side yard. The room frame could be built to
accommodate a door added at a later date, but the opening closed up for
the moment to appear as an unbroken wall?
The north 3/4 of the rear room should be carpeted with thick underpad,
or with provision for thick roll-away padding,
since Diana will use it for Gymnastics. A board should be attached at
about chest height to east wall of new room, to which a gymnastics
BAR might be secured. We expect to re-carpet the dining-living area
eventually. It is possible that ceramic tile may be best for heavily
trafficed areas between the 3 new doors of the sunroom?
Chris Dietzen suggests pouring concrete in carport 1-2" higher to
make ramp slope less.
The railing on stairs leading to the basement should be removeable to
accommodate moving large objects up and down. In this spirit, the chair
lift should be attached to the outer north side of the stairway. An
electric outlet must be provided near the middle of the stairway to
power the chair lift.
Trees should be preserved whenever possible, but those along the north
lot line may lose their lower branches. Trees to be cut include cedars
on the site of the addition, perhaps a spruce at the northwest corner
of the addition (for access), and the honey locust in back yard
(which is to be replaced with a now-small burr oak). A large existing
ash should have an east limb cut off.
The floor-to-ceiling window facing the rear (west) in the new back
room should be similar to the triple-awning window currently in the
front of the house. If possible, a fourth un-openable window can be
placed above this in the 10.5' wall??
Some access to the space above the basement stairs should be retained.
Some way should be found to allow Susan to touch walls in ways that won't
get them dirty, as in the current rooms. Perhaps removeable wooden
grab bars or plates, which can be washed, revarnished, and replaced.
