Oakville custom home architecture

[SunriseChampion]

I claim no expertise here, as I'm not in the trades, but does the stone in the upper left section look like its water saturated near the roof line?

It does. I hadn't even noticed that. Fail on my part, then again, the photo is blurry so fail on @Memph 's part

If so.........what's the likely cause, a failure in the flashing?

No, a failure in design. That flashing isn't designed to keep water off the wall. That's a part of what's wrong with these flat roof designs. That wall will soak up water forever because it's fully exposed and likely has water running down from the parapet.

Sometimes, these parapets aren't even sloped inwards.

Even then, that stone would soak up water because of its exposure.

*****

I've seen overhangs suggested as a water penetration problem before.

Why is that?

Because water runs down the wall and then runs back in at the bottom. If it's an exposed steel angle at the bottom then it just rusts. This stone will also soak water.
The water won't get in the house but will likely damage the stucco...or stain it at least, depending on the material used....which we can't tell from the photo.

Is there a mitigation strategy if that's the design choice?

A proper waterproofed backing on the substrate and a drip edge at the bottom of the wall that's properly tied in with the substrate waterproofing. This will wick water down and out instead of it collecting at the bottom and running inwards.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I'll let the guys in the trades give real answers, but I've always felt that design elements like drip edging, slope, etc. are more or at least just as important to mitigate water damage.

In a climate with snow and rapid freeze/thaw cycles anything other than a sloped roof of suitable material is a farce.

But yeah, depending on the detail, you always want water mitigation in the design. At window sills, for example, you want an outward slope, not a level sill. Etc

Anything that relies solely on seals or caulking will fail in time.

"Caulking is never the answer"

Perhaps these designs, cladding etc. work better in different climates.

That's precisely it!!!!

Architects read magazines and attend conferences where they see designs in all sorts of places that aren't here. They then import these ideas back and the results are usually a big fail.
But at least the artist's ego was sufficiently stroked.

Flat-roof houses just leaves me cold. Brain Baeumler seems to be a big fan. I'm not convinced they work well in our climate (then again, it is Oakville).

They don't.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Does that grey rectangular box shaped thing to the left of the garage that splits up the house top to bottom have some kind of functional purpose? Or is that an aesthtic choice?
That's kind of depressing to look out the second floor windows and see that blocking a large swath of view.

That's almost certainly an aesthetic design element. Some architects like to just design busy looking things with multiple materials. No idea why. It's like they're trying out different techniques.

It could be a "chimney" (gas exhaust for a gas fireplace) but it doesn't appear to be so in this case as it doesn't line up well with the interior on the left and ain't but no one got a fireplace in their garage.....and actually, from this angle, we'd be able to see the exhaust at the top.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I'm guessing the houses that have slope sections of their roofs leading down to the walls but still have a flat top would still potentially have issues? Most of the "neotraditional" custom homes in Oakville are like this (although you don't really realize unless you look at aerials).

These types of flat roofs are fine for our climate because they are fully open so no ice/water/slush/dead coons collects up there and there's no built structure to push up against, like a parapet.

They can still fail at the transition if not done properly, but that's amateur hour and not usual....well, not usual if you pay enough ensuring proper work.

Is this driven by height limits?

Entirely, from what I know......kinda.

I mean, certain aesthetic design elements come into play, but the reason it all has to be chopped off like that is indeed because of the heights.

Though, as Memph said, it's entirely possible that someone somewhere liked the steep roof and large floor plate but didn't want to see "too much" roof.

There's not functional purpose for it in any case.

 

[SunriseChampion]

This is my industry. AMA

 

[junctionist]

I started a thread about Unique Houses in Toronto about 10 years ago. At the time, rectilinear houses in the contemporary minimalist style were relatively rare and seldom seen outside of the city limits. They tended to be unique and interesting as they showed up in the city's lush older neighbourhoods among Edwardian and early 20th-century houses. Now, seemingly everyone is doing the style, and people are calling these houses derivative.

I still enjoy seeing good examples with elegant proportions and fenestration, tasteful colour combinations, and interesting materials. But at this point, I'd be just as curious to see some good examples of historicism in the neighbourhood.

 

[SunriseChampion]

They tended to be unique and interesting as they showed up in the city's lush older neighbourhoods among Edwardian and early 20th-century houses. Now, seemingly everyone is doing the style, and people are calling these houses derivative.

You know, I'm going to agree here. When I first worked on some such as these, I found it an interesting change of pace but it's become a farce.

I still enjoy seeing good examples with elegant proportions and fenestration, tasteful colour combinations, and interesting materials.

The problem is that this design template is absolutely wrong for our climate and came here via some magazine.

But at this point, I'd be just as curious to see some good examples of historicism in the neighbourhood.

Yeah, I much prefer working on older homes.

 

[Memph]

These types of flat roofs are fine for our climate because they are fully open so no ice/water/slush/dead coons collects up there and there's no built structure to push up against, like a parapet.

They can still fail at the transition if not done properly, but that's amateur hour and not usual....well, not usual if you pay enough ensuring proper work.






Entirely, from what I know......kinda.

I mean, certain aesthetic design elements come into play, but the reason it all has to be chopped off like that is indeed because of the heights.

Though, as Memph said, it's entirely possible that someone somewhere liked the steep roof and large floor plate but didn't want to see "too much" roof.

There's not functional purpose for it in any case.

Well, the height limit is 9m, which feels like it should be enough for the whole roof to be sloped on a 2 storey house? Especially since the roof on most of these houses starts below the 2nd floor ceiling. A house like this for example, I feel could have finished the roof with a sloped top if the sloped roof continued for another 1m in height roughly?

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I'd estimate 9m is roughly the height of the chimney on that house (just eyeballing though)?

@afransen
Basically, the way I see it, a steep roof makes for a more striking appearance, but if the whole roof was sloped at such a steep angle, you'd have a 1 storey of wall and 2 storey of roof (with the 2nd floor of the roof contained within that roof using dormers and gables). If 2/3 of the house's height was the roof, I feel like that could look weird and out of balance. But the builders of this house went for it anyways

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or

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You could have a moderate angled roof starting at the top of the 1st floor, with the 2nd floor existing within the roof structure, but if the angle is relatively shallow, that means the square footage of the 2nd floor would be significantly smaller which developers/home buyers might not want. Still, there are some examples:

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Or you can start the roof somewhere in the middle of the 2nd storey, like with this house (the roof of which also has a much shallower slope at the back than at the front).

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You can have a shallow angle roof beginning at the top of the 2nd floor, which is how much of the original 60s-70s two storey homes were designed, but I think shallow roofs are considered to have a less striking appearance, plus those older two storey homes have smaller floorplates so the roof doesn't have to be as big.

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Also I know a lot of people hate complex rooflines, but I think they can come in handy when trying to work out a solution to this kind of problem.

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[Memph]

I started a thread about Unique Houses in Toronto about 10 years ago. At the time, rectilinear houses in the contemporary minimalist style were relatively rare and seldom seen outside of the city limits. They tended to be unique and interesting as they showed up in the city's lush older neighbourhoods among Edwardian and early 20th-century houses. Now, seemingly everyone is doing the style, and people are calling these houses derivative.

I still enjoy seeing good examples with elegant proportions and fenestration, tasteful colour combinations, and interesting materials. But at this point, I'd be just as curious to see some good examples of historicism in the neighbourhood.

I do think Oakville has some pretty nice examples of neo-traditional custom homes though. I'll try to keep those in mind in my future walks in the area.

 

[Memph]

This is my industry. AMA

Do you know how older buildings in other Great Lakes/Northeast cities with flat roofs are working out? Like Montreal's "plexes" that cover most of the inner city almost all have flat roofs. A lot of New England "Triple Deckers" have flat roofs. Chicago's "2-flats" and "3-flats" have flat roofs, usually with parapets. Or even New York, their weather is more significantly milder than ours, but I think still not mild enough.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Do you know how older buildings in other Great Lakes/Northeast cities with flat roofs are working out? Like Montreal's "plexes" that cover most of the inner city almost all have flat roofs. A lot of New England "Triple Deckers" have flat roofs. Chicago's "2-flats" and "3-flats" have flat roofs, usually with parapets. Or even New York, their weather is more significantly milder than ours, but I think still not mild enough.

No idea what the situation anywhere else is. I've only ever worked in Southern Ontario and Central Europe.

I only know what 20 years has shown me and that is that these designs are not good for our climate.
Don't get me wrong, they don't necessarily fail. It depends on sometimes very specific design details as well as materials used, but as a general rule, in areas with snow and a pretty serious freeze/thaw cycle you don't want anywhere for snow/ice/water to collect.

I would think this would be intuitive. Too bad the "creative" class are spending too much time being creative and not enough time being practical.

There's a balance to be found between form and function and many people seem to be allergice to it.

 

[saynotofaux]

This house is disgusting - my parents live close to it and I gag every time I drive by it. Southeast Oakville is all grotesque McMansions, there's no doubt about it, but this is by far the worst I've ever seen.

 

[lenaitch]

This house is disgusting - my parents live close to it and I gag every time I drive by it. Southeast Oakville is all grotesque McMansions, there's no doubt about it, but this is by far the worst I've ever seen.

You think the 'cube' design is bad in that setting, picture it lakeside. There are a few glass-and-steel cubes in cottage country that look, in my opinion, horrible and out of place.

 

[SunriseChampion]

This house is disgusting - my parents live close to it and I gag every time I drive by it. Southeast Oakville is all grotesque McMansions, there's no doubt about it, but this is by far the worst I've ever seen.

Yeah, it really is visually offensive and egregiously in poor taste.

Fun fact: I've worked on such monstrosities and absolutely hate doing so. I never refer other clients to them and try and forget they exist. Nor do I put my name on them.

 

[Memph]

@SunriseChampion here's some non-flat roofed ones for you (at least in terms of the main roof, some still have flat portions over the garage for example).