House Plans for a Natural Living!

It's a year 2007, and you're planning to build a new house for you, and your family.

Let's assume, that the question of where, has already been answered. Yes, the location is where your design ideas should originate from.

Providing you've done your research correctly, the only place you'd come up with would be somewhere in the middle of the rural America. Kansas? Wyoming? Both are good places to move your family to, and put your house plans to reality.

Designing your home will entail two distinctive parts: architectural and that encompassing construction and materials. Both are equally important. Your enjoyment of living in a nice looking house is hard to overestimate. Also, your standard of living will depend on how functional the house is. However, the quality of construction materials and the process itself, will determine the comfort level, and how healthy your dwelling is. Each of those critical parts will be examined below.

Architectural aspects of creating house plans.

Choose design concept that all people who will live there, do like. Compromise may be hard to achieve, but it's worth the effort. After all, you don't want anybody who would say: "I hate this place."

Knowing how difficult it is to combine beauty with functionality, tell your architect the main elements that your new house should incorporate: useable area, how many levels, number of rooms and their purpose, position of entry doors, etc. Any special requirements imposed by the fact that a handicapped, or senior persons will be living there, should be stated at the outset as well.

It's recommended, that you show your building block to the architect, so that he can better blend the design to the surroundings. This will benefit your future gardening and landscaping works, as well as the Nature left virtually intact.

Final word of advice: try to avoid "ground breaking" designs. You wouldn't want to be the guinea pig, testing it for others.

After the draughtsman put your architect's vision on paper, time to contact the builder who will carry on the construction phase.

Before even your first load of building materials arrives at the home site, make sure that your builder clearly understands your preferences. Yes, I'm talking about using, wherever possible, ecologically friendly materials. All timber should be free of preservatives - choose cypress with its natural insect repelling properties. Instead of chemicals-oozing carpets, choose slate or pine floors. Don't use Besser blocks; mud bricks or stone blocks are much healthier. Try to reduce use of cement as much as possible, due to its high energy use during the manufacturing process, and residual harmful substances. Instead of rendering, leave walls to show the natural beauty of stone, clay, or timber. Try to limit use of paints, as much as possible. If necessary, use odorless and chemicals-free kinds. There are many harmless pigments available, that when combined with water and lime will deliver stunning color finishes, free of harmful solvents. In place of glues, use mechanical methods during the construction process.

House plan, no matter how detailed, in the reality is never possible to adhere to a 100%. Be prepared to make "on the run" changes, still keeping the initial vision of your ideal home intact.