House is the
place where we spend most of our lifetime. A married person after securing a
job or settled in business thinks about having his own house. What aspects he
should consider to have his own house is discussed in this article.
The first
thing that comes to his mind is whether to have an independent house or a flat
in an apartment building. Advantages and disadvantages of an independent house
or a flat is to be considered by him and a decision taken.
If he
decides to have an independent house, several points are to be considered.
In the
earlier days and even now many people prefer to have independent house
according to their own requirements, and do not like to live along with others
in an apartment building. If we want a BDA site, it takes many years to get a
site. Also, the site allotted may be far away or in a place not liked by the
applicant. It may not be in the area where we are working or the school where
our children are studying. Some people may think that a BDA site is an asset
and will fetch good value later. Such people make application to BDA for a site
as an investment. The other source to have a site is to become a member of a
housing society which is developing or proposing to develop a layout in a
suitable location. Scandals in housing societies is common and the price of the
site, compared to BDA site, will be higher. Whether the site to be allotted is
an approved site, or site formed in a civic amenity site illegally, or in area
not approved by BDA, is to be carefully verified. If BDA site or housing
society site is not considered, a resale authorized site will have to be
purchased .for which market price is to be paid.
If an
hereditary house or portion of a house or site comes to their share, whether it
is suitable to their present status is to be seen. If not, he has to take
another site to build his own house. Some people get a residential site as
dowry from in-laws and if it is suitable for them they may decide to construct
the house in that site.
If it is
decided to take a flat in an apartment building, it is to be decided whether to
buy a flat in an apartment in a central area or a new apartment far away from
the central area. The apartment in the central area will be costlier, but will
be convenient for reaching the work place with good civic amenities.
One more
aspect to be considered is whether the plan for the apartment building is
sanctioned by the competent civic agency, whether it is built without
deviations from the sanctioned plan, and whether it is more or less according
to their requirements. The monthly maintenance charges to be paid, whether the
apartment is maintained well are the other aspects to be considered.
Location
Location of a site or flat is to be decided according
to the nearness of the work place, or if the children are studying in reputed
schools nearness to the school is an important consideration to be kept in
mind. The parents like that the school to be nearer to the house to leave the
children to school and bring them from school. If the children are sent in a
school bus, a lot of time is wasted for picking up or leaving the children
living in various places. Some people who attend recreation club regularly may
select the house nearer to their club.
Status of
the locality in which they require house and the area without criminals, are
the other points for deciding the location of house.
Size of the
House/Flat
The
requirements in an independent house or flat is to be decided before
investment. The number of bed rooms required, sizes of the rooms, children's
room, guest room, etc and whether they can afford to have bigger built up area,
etc are to be decided. If it is decided to get returns from an independent building
in addition to their living, whether it should have more than one dwelling unit
to let out to tenants, or whether to provide commercial space in the front
portion of ground floor or entire ground floor is to be decided. If more than
one residential unit is proposed access to the rear unit or to the upper floors
through a common / independent staircase, is to be decided while designing the building.
People, who
have only one house and more than one children, will have to think about the
sub-division of the room for the children. Whether the portions are to be front
and back, or floor wise, or width wise is to be decided. The building design
will be according to these requirements.
Architect /
Draughtsman
After
working out requirements, whether to engage an architect or a draughtsman to
prepare the house design is to be decided. Architect's design will be with good
elevation, better arrangements of rooms for good internal appearance, no
wastage of space, etc. Many people hesitate to pay professional charges to
architects. The draughtsman, who may be a retired draughtsman / lower level
engineer of PWD or architect's office prepares simple designs according to the
requirements of the property owner, and will revise the plans several times
till the client is satisfied. Revision of designs several times is not easy
when architects are entrusted. The architects feel that the clients are
ignorant of architectural principles and try to argue. The charges to be paid
to a draughtsman is very less compared to the architect's fees.
Some of the
architects do not agree to prepare working plans for deviations from the
sanctioned plans or give concurrence for making violations as they are bound by
professional ethics according to the bye-laws and regulations of the Council of
Architecture. There is the risk of cancellation of registration as an architect
and blacklisting by the City Corporation if a complaint is proved for
involvement of the architect in violations made not conforming to sanctioned
plans.
Ventilation
Provision
for natural ventilation is an important requirement in the design of buildings.
Of late this requirement is ignored and artificial ventilation is provided in
the form of air-conditioning or use of electrical lights during day time. When
there is shortage of electrical energy due to heavy demand compared to supply
from conventional sources, ignoring natural ventilation in building design is
bad. Architects may have to realize this aspect and provide for natural
ventilation in buildings.
Privacy
Privacy is
required in a house from road side and neighbouring buildings. Within the house
also privacy is required. In the common designs, entry to the bed rooms and
kitchen is provided from the living room. It is awkward for anyone to go to a
bed room when guests are present in the living room. Providing windows of bed
rooms towards living rooms is also not correct as they are forced to close the
window through out or cover with curtains. Above the eye level ventilators are
to be provided in bed rooms towards living rooms. Windows on the outer walls
should not be just opposite to the windows of the neighbouring buildings for
privacy.
Parking
A garage is
to be provided in the back or right side of the building according to Building
Bye-laws, or as a part of the building.
In a corner site, it is to be provided in the diagonally opposite side
of the road junction. The building promoters get different ideas in the
location of a garage. Some want it on the front side to convert it for
commercial use to earn rent. Others do not want to provide car parking within
the site to utilize maximum floor space, and they are prepared to park the
vehicle in front of their house on the roadside. It is common to see vehicles
parked on the road side. Required parking space in the ground floor on stilts
is the best way to provide car parking space safely and to provide for
additional parking space in the future, or for use of tenants.
Vaasthu
In the
earlier days, religious minded people used to follow vaasthu principles in the
design of houses. Nowadays, vaasthu principles are not relevant as BDA sites do
not conform to vaasthu principles like sites should face roads on east or
north. Since about two decades, vaasthu principles are being insisted on in the
design. Now, every astrologer feels he is a vaasthu expert and is advising his
client. This is providing the astrologers additional scope for practice. They
create an impression that the house dwellers will have peace of mind and will
lead a good life if vaasthu principles are followed. One may like to ask the
vaasthu experts whether all those whose houses are not according to vaasthu are
suffering, and whether all those who have followed vaasthu are happy. Are not
people living happily in developed countries and Islamic countries, where they
do not follow vaasthu. But, some people feel when they are in trouble, that for
not following vaasthu such a thing has happened.
One
Commissioner of Karnataka Housing Board, who is still in service, directed the
panel of architect firms to design KHB houses conforming to vaasthu principles.
He himself had no belief in vaasthu. But his problem was that many of the
buyers of KHB houses verify whether the houses are according to vaasthu. The
Commissioner felt that if vaasthu principles are followed KHB will be able to
sell more houses.
Gardening
Environment
conscious people feel to provide space for gardening in the house. Some of them
get good landscape done and enjoy sitting outside in the lawn. In these days of
global warming problem such houses with greenery will help in improving the
environment. Water available from rain water harvesting may be used to maintain
the garden.
Balcony
Open balconies were not considered for FAR
calculations according to earlier master plans. But according to Zoning
Regulations of Master Pan -2015 open balconies are also included in the FAR
calculations. FAR is calculated by multiplying plinth area and number of floors
including balcony and staircase which were excluded in all the earlier zoning
regulations. To compensate for deletion of balcony and staircase, additional
FAR of 0.25 is given in the Master Plan -2015. The intention for this revision
is to simplify FAR calculations, and to stop the violation of covering open
balconies and including them as part of adjoining rooms.
Security
Apartments
are safer compared to individual houses. Twenty four hours security is provided
in the apartments. Concentration of many people in the apartment will provide
support to a family in case emergency. The height of the apartment with open
space all round will avoid the entry of criminals. Independent houses are risky
nowadays as Bangalore has become a large city and housebreaking and thefts are
taking place every day according to news paper reports. It is also being
mentioned that Bangalore is becoming a crime capital. It is safer to provide
strong doors in the outer walls with more than one locking arrangement. Metal
grills to the windows and ventilators is a must.
Kitchen and
Bath Rooms
In most of
the apartments we see dark kitchens and bath rooms without proper natural
ventilation. Natural ventilation is required in kitchens to avoid suffocation
to house wives during cooking. Bath rooms require good ventilation for healthy
conditions. One wall at least of kitchen and bath rooms should be an outer wall
where ventilation could be provided.
Plumbing
Plumbing
system requires careful planning to avoid frequent repairs due to corrosion of
the G.I. pipes. If the pipes are embedded in the floor or walls with tiles, it
is costly to repair the floor and walls and replace the tiles and fittings. In
case of apartments this is more complicated in view of the procedure that the
lower flat owner has to get the repairs and replacements done in the upper flat
where the repairs are necessary. If this is not done, the roof and walls of the
lower flat will have dampness which is unhealthy. Many a time the upper floor
flat owner delays taking a decision to get the repairs done and will insist
that the work should be done as it was before. Misunderstanding between the
flat owners concerned is common. It is therefore desirable to use P.V.C. pipes
in the new buildings and avoid embedding of pipes.
Conclusion
People
should consider all the above facts before having an independent house or a flat with good appearance, comfortable, and safe.
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