Exterior

Design Changes and Costs

Ed Designing a House January 6, 2017March 13, 2017budget, cost breakdown, Design details, electrical and network, Exterior, interior 0 Comment

As we’ve been planning the specific layout of the house, we’ve made some additions and changes, such as some exterior features, like a water trough, a wider sidewalk around the house (marciapiede), an interior stone wall, added electrical and network, a window in the stairway, and some wall niches (nicchie).

Here’s Kevin’s summary, with pictures of some examples of the additions.

design details for a house in Le Marche — Ground floor and exterior additions
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Design additions to a new farmhouse in Le Marche — First floor design additions
Click image to enlarge

Of course, there is some added cost for these items. Kevin presented the following list. We need to look and see what, if anything, we’d like to cut out.

TIPO \| ITEM	Costo \| Cost
	(Euro)
Long wall living room stone faced	€1,630
Add pigeon roosts external wall 4-6	160
Builder works for main entry door with arch Iron grill to choose, will be outside this budget	205
Construct wider sidewalks at back end of house, go from 80 to 140cm + 1/2 moon terrazzo at master Bedroom + wider sidewalk at wood store include works, materials, tile setting	3,745
Build 4 niches	300
Carpentry work niches	TBD
Sliding door et al for 1stfloor storage Carpenter	TBD
Build works for added window at stairs	100
Wall exits for A/C x 3 - Mobile units to recommend...outside this budget	150
Wood store in stone with coppi tiles	1250
Add 3 bathroom ventilation fans, SILENT models Units and Associated Works	600
Add 6 external water points + drains Note Faucet Styles etc. are to choose, costs Outside this budget	1200
Install Fountain outside, fountain cost Will be based on choice, outside this budget Cost of pump and electrical connections for fount.	235
Install country sink outside, sink cost Will be based on choice, outside this budget	50
Basic build works for recessed spots	220
Electrical and internet plan needs above STANDARD	1,690

	€11,535

	Plus carpentry works
	Plus IVA

Electrical cost breakout

One big cost addition is in the electrical plans and costs over the amount built into the preliminary budget. I asked Kevin to break out those costs so I can see if there is any potential for savings.

Additions	Euro
Hard Wired Fire Alarms - 7	490
Outlets Over Base – 9	90
Light Points Over Base – 8	135
Irrigation System Predisposed	105
Kitchen Ice Machine	55
Floor Mount Plugs - 3	120
Pump Fountain	145
Associated Labor (discounted from actual of 850)	550

Total Electrical Additions	1690€

Cost Update

I asked about reducing the biggest cost, the 3745€ for the marciapiedi. Most of the incremental cost is for the areas in back outside the French doors. It seems wrong to have a narrow sidewalk there, so we’ll need to just absorb this cost somewhere.

We eliminated 2 of the “water points” (faucets) to save 600€ and one smoke detector at 70€ and Kevin was able to get the cost of the wood store down from 1250€ to 850€, so our adjustments will “save” 1070€ from the list of additions.

In total, the additions will hit the budget in these areas:

Builder budget: 8890€
Materials (tiles): 1675€

So final additions total 10,465€. Plus those TBDs for the carpentry.

Getting Stoned

Ed Designing a House December 20, 2016March 13, 2017Design details, Exterior, interior 0 Comment

Houses in Le Marche are, as far as I know, either made of stone or concrete. (In new construction, there is the need to meet the earthquake requirements. Only older houses would have actual stone construction.)

Exterior Walls

The exterior of these concrete houses is finished one of two ways: with stone or with what is called “rendering”, which covers the exterior surface with a mixture of sand and cement. The rendering is often then painted a color, so you see a lot of red, yellow, and tan.

Rendering is the cheaper option. In fact, Kevin had proposed at one time that we might want to render the side of the house which will rarely be seen, the north side outside of the kitchen. (It’s not uncommon to see houses that are part stone, part rendered.)

We had no doubt that we wanted stone everywhere. It feels more traditional. So our exterior will be done in locally-quarried stone.

Interior Walls

In many restored houses which were originally all stone, they will use some of the stone that remains and use it on an interior wall. It’s a nice look, and one we’d like to have, too.

We plan to face the inside of the back wall of the main room with stone, ideally using some of the stone from the ruin.

Location of interior stone wall Click image to enlarge — Location of interior stone wall
Click image to enlarge

Sources: interior stone wall from http://youreprettybitch.tumblr.com/image/57592011958

Putting the Fun in Functional

Ed Designing a House December 18, 2016March 13, 2017Design details, Exterior 0 Comment

There are a few nice touches we’d like to add to the outside of the house, some functional, others just for fun.

Wood Storage

Since we’re going to have a fireplace in the main room, we need a place to store firewood. Since I know from experience that if the wood isn’t conveniently located, it doesn’t get used, I want to have a wood storage area next to the house.

The plan is to have a small wood store on the side of the house nearest the fireplace. You’ll be able to reach it easily via the marciapiede. It will look VERY ROUGHLY like the image here, but it will have stone sides and a tile roof.

Country Sink

Kevin proposed that we include a “country sink” on the side of the house nearest the kitchen. This will give us a place for Anne to have the “potting shed” she wants and for us to wash off things outside, like vegetables from the garden.

And since we are planning for a spigot on that side of the house, this is a more interesting way to include it, instead of just having a regular spigot.

Again, roughly, we’re looking for something that’s a cross between these two ideas. (The bottom one is from Kevin’s house.)

He says we can find something interesting at a salvage yard, so next spring we’ll go looking. I think it will be a fun project,

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Water Trough/Fountain

Another accent piece we’ll look for is a stone water trough or the like. Anne has always wanted some sort of “water feature.” Since I don’t think we’ll be building a stream — though we have the slope for it — we’re planning on including a water trough with spigot right next to the portico, where it can give us a nice, soothing sound.

Here’s a sample of what we have in mind. Kevin says we ought to be able to find a suitable trough, as well.

Dovecotes

Finally, for pure whimsy, we’d like to include some dovecotes. You see them on many older houses in the area, so we thought they’d be a nice touch.

Placement

Here’s a layout showing where all these elements will be placed.

Exterior features
Click image to enlarge

Wood storage image from http://www.birchtreecottage.co.uk/LOG-STORES-.html
Sink image from http://expatspatio.com/stone-outdoor-patio-sink-great-alternative-choice/beautiful-stone-outdoor-patio-sink-exterior-design/
Water trough image from http://www.guiadejardineria.com/como-maximizar-tu-pequeno-patio/