Designing your own house is always full of amazing experiences when you try to convert your imaginations and fantasy of your dream house into peace of reality. I also have amazing experiences when I first design my house using free available tools in internet. I will take you to my journey of experience here .
Choosing Plot Size and Surrounding
Plot is the peace of land where some one decide to built home. The shape of plot and surrounding is very important to overall appearance of house. most preferable shape of plot is rectangular with various ratios as applicable to the plot size . Normally width / length ratio ranging from 0.5 to 0.7 best for house construction.
Corner plot facing road or park is always preferred for better view and ventilations, However any plot with sufficient size can be designed to have proper ventilations , natural light and beautiful appearance through proper set of rules of House design. Here I will discuss some of those important set of rules of house design which any designer’s should keep in mind while doing any house design project.
Setback
Setback can be explained as the minimum open space required around any building or structure. Municipal regulations provide that a specific distance should be maintained between a building and the boundary of the plot on which the building is being constructed. This distance is necessary to ensure so that the structure stays away from roads, water bodies or other buildings. Setbacks are required at the front, rear and sides of buildings and the specifications vary from one area to another.
What is the importance of a setback?
- To ensure all buildings receive adequate natural light to ensure sufficient ventilation.
- To protect entities such as water bodies located close to a building from being adversely affected by the construction and human inhabitation.
- To protect one building from the shadow of another, which would otherwise obstruct adequate provision of ventilations and sunlight.
- To protect buildings from noise-causing elements, such as nearby industries, airports or highways.
- To ensure easy access to the buildings for emergency services such as fire engine during mishap.
- To ensure one building does not infringe on another building’s right to sunlight, ventilation, greenery and vehicular access.
The Municipality or regularized Authority provide set of rules for setbacks based on various plot size and location of residential society.
Example U.P. Housing and Development Board Regulations for Building byelaws latest Amendment 2016 Provide following rules for setback for residential buildings.
Setback Limits for Residential House:
| Plot area | Front setback | Rear setback | Side-1 setback | Side-2 setback | Type of housing | ||
| Up to 50 sq.m. | 1.0 | Nil | Nil | Nil | Row | For Public Housing Project only | |
| 50-100 sq.m. | 1.5 | 1.5 | Nil | Nil | Row | ||
| 100-150 sq.m. | 2.0 | 2.0 | Nil | Nil | Row | ||
| 150-300 sq.m. | 3.0 | 3.0 | Nil | Nil | Row | ||
| 300-500 sq.m. | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.0 | Nil | Semi detached | ||
| 500 -1000 sq.m | 6.0 | 6.0 | 3.0 | 1.5 | detached | ||
| 1000 -1500 sq.m | 9.0 | 6.0 | 4.5 | 3.0 | detached | ||
| 1500 -2000 sq.m | 9.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | detached |
Maximum Permissible Height and nos of floors
Maximum height of House are also regulated by regulated Authority for Housing and planning . As per latest amendment (year 2016) of Building Byelaws of UP housing development board ,Maximum height of house with stilt floor is 15 m. The Plot area up to 300 sq. meter , maximum permissible floors are stilt floor + 3 storey and beyond the area of 300 sq. meter plot , maximum permissible floors are stilt floor+ 4 storey. Maximum height of stilt floor is 2.1m from ground to beam soffit .
Height of Compound Wall
Maximum Height of Compound wall is 2.4 m including 0.9m steel grill at top
Maximum Covered Area
The maximum covered built-up area in residential plot is also restricted by regulating Authority based on type of residential society ( Developed or Semi developed or new ) . As per UP housing and development board , following limits are to be followed . Covered Area does not include area of boundary wall , Verandah, open Stairs, Pergola upto permitted area ,open garden, Fountain, open swimming pool, area for Porch and Arcade with no construction at top of it.
| Plot area | Covered Area % | F.A.R | Type of housing | ||
| upto 100 m | 75 | 2.0 | Developed Zone | ||
| 101-300 m | 65 | 1.75 | Developed Zone | ||
| 301-500 m | 55 | 1.50 | Developed Zone | ||
| 501-2000 m | 45 | 1.25 | Developed Zone | ||
| upto 100 m | 65 | 2.0 | Undeveloped Zone | ||
| 101-300 m | 60 | 1.75 | Undeveloped Zone | ||
| 301-500 m | 55 | 1.50 | Undeveloped Zone | ||
| 501-2000 m | 45 | 1.25 | Undeveloped Zone |
F.A.R is the Floor Area Ratio which is the ratio of total covered floor area of house ( including all level of storey excluding the area of Balcony of maximum width of 1.5m) to the total plot area.
Rules for Basement
Following rules are provided by UP Housing Development board regarding Basement
- The construction of basement should be done after insuring structural safety of adjacent building by keeping margin of 2m from all side of boundary line of plot.
- The minimum height of basement from floor to beam should be 2.1 m and the maximum height of basement can be 4.5m .If there is mechanized parking proposed then height can be increase from 4.5m and to be based on actual design.
- Permitted area for basement construction has to be followed based on following table.
| Serial no | Plot area | Plot use for | Permitted Basement area |
| 1 | 100 sqm | Residential/ Commercial | Not Permitted |
| 2 | 101-500 sqm | Residential/ Commercial | Equivalent to permitted covered area |
| 2 | 500-1000 sqm | Residential | one basement inside building envelop |
| 2 | 500-1000 sqm | Commercial | Two basement inside building envelop |
| 2 | >1000 sqm | Residential/ Group Housing/Commercial/community/Multistorey | (a) Two basement inside building envelop for 1000-2000 sq m plot. (b) for 2000-10000 sqm plot, 4 nos basement within building envelop. C) for more than 10000 sqm plot , no restriction of nos of basement. |
Miscellaneous Rules
following set of rules for miscellaneous items of residential houses are to be followed as per latest guidelines of UP housing Board development.
- Access Ramp for House entry should not be more than 0.3m high from the mid point of the road level.
- The length of ramp used for vehicle entry to house should not be more than 1m from boundary of plot.
- If any room of residential house is ventilated through internal opening then minimum area of internal opening should be equivalent to (h/5)^2 sq m area where h is the the maximum height of wall of the house but should not be below the size of opening as mentioned below. For house of height up to 12.5 m, minimum size of opening should be 7.5m (length) x2.5m (width). For height more than 12.5m , the minimum width of opening should be 3m and minimum area is (h/5)^2.
- If the ventilation of Toilet or Bathroom does not come from front, back or side or internal open space or Verandah of minimum width of 3m, then ventilation to be provided through shaft with minimum size as follows.
| House Height (m) | Ventilated Shaft Area (m2) | Shaft minimum width (m) |
| 7.0 | 1.0 | 0.9 |
| 12.5 | 2.0 | 1.2 |
| 18.0 | 4.0 | 1.5 |
| 24.0 | 5.4 | 1.8 |
| 30.0 | 8.0 | 2.4 |
| >30.0 | 9.0 | 3.0 |