14' is pretty standard for the longest glass sheet without getting into something ridiculous.

As for the bedroom, You're not going to want light above the bed, it's everywhere else you'll want it.

Alright first step, I am reading the brochure here http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/DBA/Docume...evelopment.pdf

I got my sketch up here. How do i print out in scale like requirement "Plans must be drawn to scale, preferably ¼”=1’
or 1:50 in metric (the accepted minimum scale is
3/16”=1’)"

Thanks

What did you use to do the sketch?? I don't know if you have enough info on there to get your permit either. I don't know how they are there. Here you would be light. But drawings is what I do for a living

I use google sketch up to draw it. I think i need a full Floor Plans that " to show the layouts, dimensions and
use of existing and proposed rooms and spaces;
details of structural changes, if proposed; the size of
windows and doors; and the number of additional
plumbing fixtures being installed"

Is there any better tool out there to do this?

Basements
 

Did my basement from start to finish, 1450 sq ft bungalow, for give or take 11,000 including a 500 gallon penninsula tank as one wall of the theatre. I did however have a full bath down there which helped tremendously with costs

It helps tonnes if you do a lot of the work yourself.
I did electrical (with the help of an electrician overviewing and giving instruction)
Framed
Insulated
Installed HRV on remote humidstat under supervision of an Hvac neighbor (also a great guy)
Installed Drywall
I painted
I did the finishing woodwork incl baseboards

I contracted out:
Carpet
Mud and tape as indicated
had help with electrical
had someone (spawn from canreef) skin my stand (great guy fantastic work)

All in all it was a 6 month project that burned me out pretty good. Had a baby due in 7.5 months from when we started and finished about 2 weeks before she was born (3 weeks early). Definitely worth it. I know I would not have been able to do it now if I were to even think about it.

Worked very well for us as with a bungalow we pretty much doubled our living space (more room for kids toys)

If I ever think of it, I'll post some pix

You should be able to print something to the right scale from there. I don't like it & find it hard to use. There are some other programs out there. Just don't know of free ones. If I was closer I would horse trade you for the drawings.

Nate I forgot carpet. Something else I always pay to have installed. My knees could never stand up to kicking in the stuff... nor do I have the experience to do it properly.

Tai I drew the plans for my last basement up on paper and just put all my measurements on it. Wasn't really too tough at all. Only issue the guy saw was the 32" door for furnace access as Sphelps pointed out.

Worst case just get some 1/4" graph paper and draw out your plans by hand, 8-/12 x 11 should fit 34ft x 44ft if that's not big enough you'll have to use 11x17.

Are you going to be doing the electrical, plumbing, and hvac work yourself?

If not, dont get the permits for the areas that you are not doing.
They have to be raised by the company that is hired to do the work.
Make sure that your contractor does indeed get permits or we may end up seeing your place on Holmes on homes.


The below is extracted from http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/DBA/Docume...evelopment.pdf

"Applications are accepted in person only. The
Development & Building Approvals customer service
counter is located on the third floor of the Calgary
Municipal Building, 800 Macleod Tr. SE.
What do I need to bring?
Your application must be accompanied by:
• Two sets of Building Plans.
• The names of any contractors who will be working
on your project. Note: Contractors are required to
hold a valid City of Calgary business licence. It is
recommended that you call 3-1-1 before you hire
to confirm the contractor’s licence status.
• Fees - Application fees vary. For more information
call 403-268-5311


If you have any questions call 311 and they can forward you onto the correct departments.

Is it a rule of thumb or some kind of feng shui thing? The window is very high above the ground around 6 feet or so

I know nothing about feng shui or any rules regarding placement of furniture. To me it's just about utilizing space and avoiding empty areas that can't be used for anything. The room itself is pretty big, big enough for a bed and some kind of desk or bedroom vanity, so you should try and incorporate both in your plans. The way you have it laid out now seems to result in a large open space in front of the closet which seems like it can't be used for anything without blocking the closet doors, maybe this isn't the case but it looks that way to me.

If the closet could be moved under the stairs (not sure if it can or not) then the bed could fit where the closet is. This leaves a great area for a desk or other bedroom furniture while keeping things a little more open.

In regard to window over the bed, just seems like a waste to me. Basement windows are ground level so people outside can view in quite easily and with the way the sun never seems to go away in the summer in this country you're going to have to block the window with blinds anyway. Just don't see any advantage for natural light over a bed. Would be better to have the window over the desk/vanity area where natural light is more useful and privacy is less of a concern.

Can't, not enough room there

Thanks for your input about saving space. So i came up with 3 layouts so canreefer can help me pick out what would be your favorite

Number 1
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=5239

Number 2
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=5238

Number 3
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=5237

Any other ideas are welcome. Hmm

and here is to my latest layout of the fish tank and fish room :-)

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=5242

That could be a fantastic view from the porcelain throne =)

lol, well there will be a screen door there but sure you can view from porcelain throne if no one around :-)

Here's my take on your bedroom given your options.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...ps/Bedroom.jpg

It's your option 1 but I moved the closet into the next room. That's your post in red. You loose a little space in the living room but I think it works better. The extra space in the wall could be used as a linen closet or some sort of built in cabinet or bookshelf.

Queen size bed with headboard and side table. Plus a dresses, L shaped desk and bookshelf seem to fit and work nicely. A wall light on a three way by the bed would be a nice addition as well.

Here is what I would do... http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...54243_0001.jpg

Leaves a decent closet size, room for a desk & dresser. Be a good kids room, I would use a double bed, even for a guest room.

Interesting idea, unfortunately, the other room is my home theatre which i want to have 14' from the screen to sofa. Also i may not have good location for a TV for this bedroom. What about option 2? what do you think?

Thanks, hmm two closet instead of one. Interesting idea as well

Option 2 is ok but it's a bit awkward to move around the bed to get to the closet. Maybe with a double bed it's OK as you'll have 24" but a queen would be too tight. That's also provided the measurements are right, if you have to add 4" of wall to either side it makes even tighter. It also just looks strange IMO, I don't think you should ever have to walk around furniture to get to key locations within a room.

Is there a reason you need 14' rather than say 12' for the projection? I'm putting in a 92" screen and I think I'll be sitting around 10' from it in my basement. In any case I'd still do option 1 but move the closet a little further from the window so it's not right up against it.

I am putting the 120" screen in and I read on internet that i need 14' away from 3D projector that i am going to buy. I have about 32 inch not including the dry wall yet from the wall to edge of window. Do you think i have enough room for standard closet? I read and they said the standard size is 27 inch, is this true?

Have you played around with other layouts for the rest of the basement? You probably got a large window directly behind your screen. It might be better positioned where your fish room is now.

here is my current layout. Initially i was going to put the projector where the fish tank is now but it does not give me good place to put the wet bar and fish tank without doing a major concrete cutting. Plus all bathroom stuff are already rough in so moving it to some where else would be costly.


http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=5246

Are those two extra sinks roughed in?

The one at the bar is not yet but it can hook to the one in the bath room, the one in the fish room i can run the drain above the floor because i am not going to finish it except for putting dry wall in

the fish can watch you and you them whileyour soaking in the tub lol

Your font choice is far too playful. The city will send you packing =)

Sinks have to vented in a certain way, I'm not a plumber but I'm pretty sure you can't just tie sinks in together especially since I believe the toilet and the shower are actually using the sink vent. Be sure to verify exactly how that all needs to be connected with a plumber before getting too far.

Personally I think I'd move the bathroom rough ins a little, reposition everything so the bathroom runs the other way and eats up some of that mechanical room space. Make the bar a u-shape and push that into the mechanical room as well, then put the tank in wall behind the bar so the fish room can go in the mechanical room. Fish rooms that eat up floor space will kill your resale.

I have to live with the 3D text that in google sketch, can't find 2D one

Thanks
Can't move any further because they design it so that the furnace is right behind the sink and toilet. Can't move any further back :-(. Maybe you don't mind draw me some pict of your idea. I can't figure it out sorry

Here is the furnace in place
Yeah and they will go blind after that :-D

i can't edit the post again so here is the pict

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=5272

Man I love how they build houses these days...

I have a bathroom with a shower and a double sink in the main part of my office that are all tied in together with just one main vent, no issues.

Double sinks share a pee trap, so it's no different than a single. In theory if sinks are close enough you could do the same but with sinks in different rooms I doubt it meets code. I'm pretty sure you can tie into the sink vent a certain way but I also think the size of the vent depends on the number of drains. Chances are the floor drain in the mech room is also sharing the bathroom vent and he's adding two more drains. So it's something to look into.

Well the house is 8 years old and maybe the previous owner did not bother where they put it :-(

I can weigh in on this one. As long as you use a sanitary-T then it meets code. I have this in my basement and it is one of the few things the plumbing inspector passed me on in the first attempt. This is a sink in a mini-kitchen area and a bathroom sink behind the wall and they share a rough-in.

My inspector didn't care so much about any of the water supply lines, only about how things drain and how they vent. So I'm reasonably confident in this assertion - however with the said, code can and does change from time to time.

If ever in doubt however, the best thing to do is ask the city inspection department. Call 311 and ask to speak to the permit inspectors, there will be a manager of the actual inspectors who come to you yours house on phone duty 8am to 4pm, you usually don't have to wait beyond a couple minutes on hold and then you can ask specifically about things that they can pass or not pass. Wish I had known this before my first inspection. I asked a licensed plumber about something and he told me it was code, only to find out it was not code after all and thus failed the inspection. You'd think the professionals would know but they don't always. Just go straight to the source. They'll tell you straight up what they are looking for.

Thanks Tony. So let me understand this. you need different drain for each sink?

It's sounds like you can tee them into one drain according to Tony but I was told you also need to run another vent from the new sink and tie that in a certain way as well. Was told if you just tee into the same drain pipe then draining one sink can end up siphoning the other sinks pee trap. Unless you can run a single pee trap but I was never given this option.

I know you cannot use a single P-trap, except for a kitchen double sink. If you have 2 bathroom sinks, they would each have thier own trap.

As for your vent, there is usually 1 or maybe 2 common vents in a house. All fixtures have to be vented properly. If you are adding something that is not close to the common vent get a licenced plumber to do it.

The AB code does require the permit for plumbing to be pulled by a licenced plumber. Electrcial you can pull & do yourself.

In Calgary you can get what's called a homeowner's electrical permit and a homeowner's plumbing permit. Ie., you can DIY if you want but they don't lay out the basics of code like they do for electrical. Ie., for electrical they give you a condensed version of the code which is sort of like an inspection cheat sheet (ie., like in school when the teacher say "this is what is going to be on the test.") They don't do this for plumbing, or at least they had nothing like that when I went through this last year. You're expected to know what you need to know, although with the inspections office accessible by 311 you can always phone and ask if you're not sure if something meets code or not.

The inspector never said anything to me about a separate vent from one of the sinks during my rough-in inspections, but then again I haven't had my final inspection yet either so who knows.

Oops, meant to post this link. Better late than never?
http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/DBA/Pages/...velopment.aspx