Instead of plopping a preconceived floor plan on what sounds like a nice site, why don't you contact a local architect to help you design a home specifically the site to get the maximum benefit.

This plan is not good on a lot of levels.

Why the bedroom off the dining room?

Dining room is small.

Kitchen layout needs work.

Upstairs with those hallways is a maze and really bad.

I have to agree with Mark. Do you want something just so-so or do you want something that will really give you the views even from more angles, etc.

thank you all for the comments. We really haven't found
ANY low country house plans we like, i made a mistake by not doing a good J.O.B
at picking a plan for critique ;-) There will be no dining room, the kitchen and
master will be in back of house to take in the views while cooking/waking up
etc. We do have a close architect friend highly regarded in the field. Here's a
question which I haven't posed to him yet, Are there issues with him being in
one state and house being built in another , Beside licensing/certification
issues.... Would / Have you done this type of business before?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I will be rereading the How to design threads we have
on here, they are bookmarked.

I bought an inverted house as my first house purchase. Loved that house and wish we could have moved it to a better location. It had single dining/living, kitchen, and master on the top level and 3 bedrooms, garage, and laundry room on the lower level. It was built on a hillside with lots of trees surrounding it. It felt like being in a tree house and I liked the deck that ran along the whole house on the back. We'd sit out there and watch the birds and squirrels in the tree tops. It was covered too so nice when raining. Only thing I'd wished for was an uncovered area on the same level to bbq.

I once rented an inverted summer house. Was a great house for all the reasons you stated.

I would think for initial design there wouldn't be a problem using your friend and then giving it to a local draftsman/engineer to make sure it was to code in the jurisdiction. Of course, the experts here would know better.

I've been in a lot of coastal vacation rentals with inverted plans and have enjoyed many extended stays in the house my relatives built that has such an arrangement (Carolinas).

I think a local architect really should be able to provide you with guidance regarding your particular situation. The main drawback I see in some inverted plan houses, where the house is very exposed and there are lots of windows for the views, is that sometimes it can be quite tricky to control light and heat in the daytime. Keep in mind the orientation and tree situation on your property.

Have fun and good luck!

I love this idea. What is the cost comparison of an elevator vs stair lift?

For our land, i need to have heated first floor >13ft , the first floor is where guest bedrooms would be then up to the second floor where master, kitchen etc would be, Would be a drive under garage unheated just dehumidifed. SO you'd need two chair lifts, then you lose out on the convenience of putting grocerys etc in elevator, oh ya and the Keg !! Vise getting an electrical run elevator vise hyd type one. Hyd elevators i hear take more room for their STUFF, electric motors usually sit on top of the elevators.

This should be fun. A few things that leap to mind:

1. Protecting the elevator from high winds and water damage to the electrical systems, so you can get out of there if there's a flood and the house catches fire.

2. Shear panels at the corners, again to protect from high winds. You can put in appropriate hurricane clips as well. Check your code for requirements, but don't go "minimum code" on this, obviously.

3. A mooring attached directly to the piers, so you can get out in a rowboat or kayak.

4. Shutters that really work.

5. Some kind of reinforced safe room without windows, so you can get away from flying glass.

Don't let any of this deter you. I'm going to be building near the beach in Maine, and designing for 100 mph hurricanes. :)

it will be fun, still kicking it around, It might be that we just have a nice sitting room up top that will face out to marsh. We are in a hurricane area, but hasn't been one to hit this area in a long time, hurricane clips will be installed no matter what! ANOTHER issue is bringing up appliances, grand pianos and all that other big stuff that would normally go in the living area of a home ;-((

I'm building in SW FL. We haven't had a direct hit in over 100 years. I'm expecting we'll get a direct hit once my build is finished. LOL. Don' t forget impact resistant windows too.

Narrow plan for a half acre lot. What are the lot dimensions and setbacks?

Good Lord CP, i have been thinking the same thing, once i build we'll get smacked!! Yes Runner as i said, i didn't put much thought into this one. Don't have exact dem. but ~ 120' wide x 180ish. Yes i want a wider house and big beds, we like to play in the dirt and want to be able to mow lawn without killing myself when i'm old!

With a lot 120' wide there's ample space to orient all the house toward the views. Here's a 48' wide "inverted" house on pilings with water views where all 4 bedrooms and all the other spaces (living, dining and kitchen) are oriented to the water (Chesapeake Bay here). It even has a tower/cupola!!! Also, from "eyeballing" your plan, the elevator appears to be a little small. I normally budget a 5' square area.

Good luck with your project. Exciting times for sure!

Good Lord CP, i have been thinking the same thing, once i build we'll get smacked!!

Last night while it wasn't a hurricane we had very strong winds and an F2 tornado come off the Gulf and move inland quite a distance.

Hope all was fine Cp...

ARG, all homes on this island, the house frontage must be parallel
to street, not allowed to angle to gain views from all sides of house, I’m cool
with that, views for master and kitchen living will be from back of house. We
are on Chesapeake right now ;-) I do like the look of that house!!!!!!!

Don't know what you mean but there's no angling here. Square lot with a square house on it. All walls are parallel to property lines (and one property line is the street). We're on the Bay too. A little bit nippy today!

" to orient all the house toward the views" i read that and thought you were talking about rotating house for views, optimium sun for winter/summer etc... Yes i would be happy with the sides and back looking out to marsh !!! ;-))) Just got back from Fla and DW was loving the weather, swimming etc," i want to be warm all the time" she wsa talking to sister here and it snowed, i think i might be screwed out of my marsh view house, but i'm going to fight !!!!!!

Hope all was fine Cp...

Yes we were fine. However there were a few homes destroyed and two people were killed and several were injured. :(