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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Layout for a Day Care
Parafly 12:35 PM 08-30-2010
Hey everyone,

My wife signed up here a while ago. She is a school teacher and we plan on having kids in the next year or so, and unfortunately there is no way my salary will support both of us plus kids so we have been discussing for a few months now starting up an in-home daycare to supplement our income when we have our children.

Well, me being the guy, I've got the manly task of finishing out our basement to turn it into DayCare Central, lol. I was looking for some tips, advice, and had a few questions on it as well.

First off: we have walkout basement. I started planning using Google Sketchup, and this is basically what it looks like down there today:



Center stairwell. i still have to add in the mechanical equipment to the drawing but 90% of it is along the left wall that will probably remain a utility and storage area.

I did a real quick draft of kind of what I'm thinking about:



What I'm wondering is; we have some exercise equipment thtat we actually do use regularly. (2 treadmills / weight bench. I'm thining about putting those in a corner behind a half-height wall. I could put up some of that indoor fencing people use to keep it "off limits" during the day. This would make the day care space about 28' by 14' (400 sq feet). I'd also add a half bath in that little room in the stairway nook to keep it all "downstairs", basically.

We only hope to start with a few kids (like 2 - 4 max) .. that would be enough to keep us afloat and afford everything - but who knows I might want to add more kids later. Is this enough area? What does your space look like?

I've got > 1 year to do this work, just trying to get my planning in order. Thanks all!

Nick
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Michael 12:40 PM 08-30-2010
Welcome Nick. Great job!
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marniewon 12:54 PM 08-30-2010
I would check your state's regulations to see how much space you need at a minimum. In MI, we need 35sq ft per child (which on paper sounds good, but in reality, that's not a lot of room!! LOL). I'd also see about incorporating an "entry" area where coats, boots/shoes, backpacks, etc can stay. Also, my regs say you have to have a changing area near a source of water to wash hands, so you might want to think about that when creating your half bath. Another tip (trying to think of what I would want if I could create my own dc space!) is to create a kitchen area (even if it's just a hot plate and microwave and sink). As long as you are creating this, it would be helpful to have separate sleeping rooms. I don't mean each child has their own, just something separate from play areas (for the younger ones who take morning naps, so they can sleep while olders are playing). That's all I can think of for now. Good luck on your adventure!
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Parafly 01:00 PM 08-30-2010
Thanks for the tips Marnie. I'm trying as much as possible to contain the entire thing in the basement of our house. It's actually pretty decent because we have a walkout; so we get a lot of light down there (especially in the afternoon when the sun is on that side of the house).

Im' thinking long term too - eventually when our kids get old enough and go back to school, my wife will probably go back to teaching too (although who knows, she might love daycare so much and continue doing that) so of course I want to have the place built out so that it an eventually become a bar area or something. I would love to do a full blow wet bar / "day care food prep and cold bottle storage area" (hehe) but not sure where to put it. I might be able to bump the wall on the left back more but my well pressure tank is over there so I can probably only gain a few feet more.

Closet space is probably going to be under the staircase, but I might try to add in some more somewhere else along a wall.

Fun fun fun!
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Parafly 01:06 PM 08-30-2010
Looks like MA has a similar 35 sq ft rule:

http://www.machildcare.com/lfdc.html

So my 400 square feet should technically cut it.i'm gonna keep playing with my layouts and see what I can come up with that is conducive.
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Michael 01:09 PM 08-30-2010
Here is a pdf file that gives some great ideas and guidelines from the U.S. General Services Administration entitled "Child Care Center Design Guide".

http://www.gsa.gov/graphics/pbs/designguidesmall.pdf
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Parafly 01:12 PM 08-30-2010
Originally Posted by Michael:
Here is a pdf file that gives some great ideas and guidelines from the U.S. General Services Administration entitled "Child Care Center Design Guide".

http://www.gsa.gov/graphics/pbs/designguidesmall.pdf
Wow, that is a heck of a document! I'll spin through it later - thanks!
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DCMomOf3 01:01 PM 08-30-2010
Do you need that whole space to the left for utilities? I'd work a bathroom in there that's accessable to the daycare space if you can, and if you are doing walls, I'd make a room for cribs if she is going to do infants. Also think about eating. Are you ok with the daycare eating in your dining room during the day?

My ideal space would have a bathroom, kitchenette, crib room, and playroom/eating area. i would go with hard floors with some rugs, not carpet.
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Parafly 01:09 PM 08-30-2010
Originally Posted by Quincy:
Do you need that whole space to the left for utilities? I'd work a bathroom in there that's accessable to the daycare space if you can, and if you are doing walls, I'd make a room for cribs if she is going to do infants. Also think about eating. Are you ok with the daycare eating in your dining room during the day?

My ideal space would have a bathroom, kitchenette, crib room, and playroom/eating area. i would go with hard floors with some rugs, not carpet.
Thanks - I was planning on doing laminate flooring with throw rugs.

I need some storage space too for boxes and stuff.... not sure what I can work in on the left. I have to add in my utilities. There is an oil tank basically in that corner and the water heater, plus the manifold for all the house's piping.
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Tags:basement, decor, floorplan, remodel
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