WEB Freebies
We've added three pictorial checklists: “Laundry Room Design,” “Kitchen Design,” and “Oops!” These lists are chock-full of insightful information to help design function into your new home. And you know what they say: “A picture is worth a thousand words!” For more information, Click for FREEBIES !
Problem Solving Interior Doors
If you have ever lived in a home where the doors were too narrow, swung the wrong way or came off the tracks, you can appreciate the importance of proper door selections. Choosing the right interior doors make daily living easier while at the same time solving several problems. Here are a few examples.
Cramped Space:  Consider the consequences of the direction of each door swing in your new home. Don’t assume the architect spent much time concentrating on this detail. The picture to the right, which was taken in a two- million-dollar home, is a perfect example. The door to this water closet just barely misses the commode. In order to enter the bathroom and close the door, the occupant must squeeze between the side of the commode and the wall. Hopefully this homeowner will be entertaining skinny guests only!
Noise Reduction and Fire Safety: In addition to specifying the design of your home’s interior doors, you’ll also be asked to choose between hollow-core and solid-core doors. Although a less-expensive hollow-core door will look the same as its solid-core counterpart, solid-core doors can reduce noise transmission by up to 50 percent, plus they offer greater resistance to the dents and dings of daily life. Many homeowners use both types of doors, selecting solid-core doors for bedrooms, bathrooms, and mechanical rooms, for example, and choosing hollow-core doors for closets.
Two additional features to consider for interior doors are fire rating and Green compliance. JELD-WEN® offers 1¾” interior doors with 20-minute, 45-minute, and 60-minute fire ratings. The solid-core MDF (medium-density fiberboard) doors from TruStile® are manufactured using 93 percent recycled material, thus meeting Green qualifications. Visit Jeld-Wen Windows & Doors and
TruStile web sites for more information.
 No Room for a Door:
When the door will be in the way no matter which way it swings, consider a pair of doors as shown in the photograph to the right (courtesy of TruStile® Doors). For example, opening two narrow doors instead of one wide door provided a functional and aesthetically pleasing solution in this bathroom. TruStile offers an impressive variety of doors and features, including a large glass selection, the ability to exchange door panels for glass, and a custom design option. Visit
TruStile
for more information.
No Space for a Full Length Mirror:  Have you been wondering how to incorporate a full-length mirror into your master bath?  This door just might solve your problem. A few door manufactures offer a standard interior door with a 6-panel profile on one side and an integrated mirror on the other. The door shown to the right, courtesy of JELD-WEN® Windows and Doors, can be a hinged or pocket door. Visit Jeld-Wen Windows & Doors web site for more information
Moving In and Universal Design:  There are two benefits to including wider door openings in the design of your home. First, the additional width makes it is easier to move furniture in and out of the room. Second, wider door openings provide the flexibility to accommodate a walker or wheelchair sometime down the road. This Universal Design feature will not only allow you to age gracefully within your home, but could also enable aging parents, siblings, or friends to visit with ease. The minimum width needed for wheelchair access is 32", but 36" is ideal.
All past issues of this ezine are in the Ezine Archives on our web site. Click here for Ezine Archives !
Copyright © 2007 Tracy DeCarlo - All Right Reserved
WANT A CHECK LIST OF HUNDREDS OF TIPS
AND IDEAS FOR DESIGNING A FUNCTIONAL HOME?
If you liked today’s tips you’ll love the book “Don’t Forget the Linen Closets!” It’s packed with over 240 ideas and reminders to help you incorporate function, organization, and efficiency into your home without breaking the bank.
|
To us, it [“Don’t Forget the Linen Closets”] is the most thorough guide to building a house, regardless of size, in the industry. Most importantly, it is geared toward the folks who will actually live in the house.
By following your guidelines, we are confident that we will have a far more functional home than if we had been on our own. Also, we know that we and the builder have saved thousands of dollars by avoiding rework and non-functional design flaws. In fact we have dubbed the book, “The Home Buyers’ Essential Handbook for Design and Construction in Less Than 50 Pages.”
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences in such a concise and useful way.
Bill and Yvonne Dunbar
Homeowners building a custom home
Orlando, FL – February 2006
|
If you’d like more personalized help, Tracy’s plan-review service will walk you through the process in detail. In either case, planning the details in the beginning can save thousands in the end! To see more testimonials and/or to place your order, visit Detailed Solutions WEB site now.
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR ON YOUR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include the following blurb in its entirety:
Tracy DeCarlo, author of “Don’t Forget the Linen Closets!” publishes the idea-packed, monthly e-zine “Tips for Designing a Functional Home.” If you’re ready to learn how to incorporate organization, function, and efficiency into your new home or remodeling project without breaking the bank, get your FR*EE tips now at www.BuildingTips.net.
|
