What feature do you like about your house, garage, hangar, etc???

Big open spaces with few hallways/interior doors between spaces.

Doorway from the garage that opens into a room rather than into a hallway with an immediate 90* turn. Makes it much easier to carry stuff into the house.

Just inside the garage door should be the large pantry for groceries. Also, a coat closet. Just beyond that should be the kitchen.

The laundry room should be adjacent to the bedrooms so you don't have to carry the laundry up/down stairs or halfway across the house.

Install a tiny half bath just off of the public space for guest use.

Minimize or eliminate step-ups from outside into the house.

Make your driveway turnarounds and parking areas larger than the minimum call-out in the Graphic Standard (the go-by for architects).

Go ahead and wire so you can back-feed your panel from a backup generator.

Get a generator (even a portable) sufficient to run essentials like your heating system, the fridge, and a couple of LED lights.

Minimize your exterior lawn area and design it so it can be mowed efficiently, rather than in some circuitous path.
 
OkieFlyer said:
I don't know what your electrical code says or what is industry standard in your neck o' the woods, but I really hate when electrical contractors run a single feeder down the wall to an outlet or switch, then run horizontally to a series of outlets. This seems to be standard these days, and it saves a few bucks on wire, but you better hope you never need to fish new wire or try to customize later. I much prefer a central J-box for each circuit in the attic with feeders down the wall to each outlet/fixture/switch. Just a nitpicky thing I guess, but I try to think of the poor schmuck that has to do wiring in the future
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Eh? Why does how they run the wire today have to do fishing new wire? It's not like it's empty conduit you could use. I'm largely oblivious to any existing wiring when I'm fishing in new stuff. I do believe in having multiple subpanels which makes things a lot more convenient if you do want to change things and ends up being cheaper on larger houses in the long run.

Anyhow, the code doesn't give specify one or the other anyplace I've lived or worked.
 
Matthew said:
My neighbors have a central vac system. I always wondered if that's worth the effort or not.

I like our ventless gas fireplace, takes combustion air from the outside and has t-stat controlled blower fan. When the heat exchanger (firebox) gets hot enough, the squirrel cage blower starts up and pushes hot air around the firebox and out into the living room. Makes a great space heater.

Wish I had extra insulation, can't get enough of that.

And put low-e glass in your windows.

Everything is going wireless these days, but consider pre-wiring every room for whatever you can think of.
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I had a central vac in a townhouse. I wouldn't bother, it's not an improvement over a regular vacuum cleaner. It's kind of like an intercom, which we had in a house when I was growing up. It never got used.
 
Stewartb said:
You use 2x lumber furring, run utilities, insulate, and then cover with drywall. Unless you're in tornado alley, a hurricane zone, or there's a fire rating requirement it doesn't make economic sense.
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So you're adding concrete outer wall to a (non structural) stick-built interior? Sounds expensive.
 
scottfromboston said:
I've wondered about insulating internal walls to control sound
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I'm remodeling one bathroom now that will get sound insulation on the interior walls that have to be opened. In a year or so the other bed/bath will be totally redone and fully insulated for sound. So I'll let you all know how it goes in a couple years.
 
FormerHangie said:
I had a central vac in a townhouse. I wouldn't bother, it's not an improvement over a regular vacuum cleaner. It's kind of like an intercom, which we had in a house when I was growing up. It never got used.
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Dragging the cord around is a pain and most vacs don't have retracting cords anymore.
The exhaust end of the hand vac blows crap back into the room. Central vac outlets properly placed make it easy to do multiple rooms without moving the hose and they exhaust into non-living space.

Also, last house I built had split outlets where one half was on the room wall switch. Then you can have lamps anywhere in the room turned on/off from one switch .
 
paflyer said:
So you're adding concrete outer wall to a (non structural) stick-built interior? Sounds expensive.
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Expensive to build. Lower cost to maintain over time.

Choose your paisan.
 
kyleb said:
Minimize your exterior lawn area and design it so it can be mowed efficiently, rather than in some circuitous path.
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We now live in the city (3.5mi commute, I bicycle to work often), and I argued for grassless landscaping, but my wife wanted some grass. Even so, I can knock it out with an old style reel mower in about 10 minutes. I have a rechargable trimmer and blower, so I really love not having any gas powered equipment anymore. So easy.
 
The thing I like about my hangar is that it's 100 feet from my front door. Not so fond of the Black Widow spiders that live there, though.
 
One thing I didn't mention earlier - 100% get 240V in the garage. Cheap to do now, and it's almost guaranteed that there will be an electric car in there in the lifetime of the electrical system.
FormerHangie said:
I had a central vac in a townhouse. I wouldn't bother, it's not an improvement over a regular vacuum cleaner. It's kind of like an intercom, which we had in a house when I was growing up. It never got used.
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We have a central vac system - never bothered with it once we got a decent-quality canister vac (Shark). Now that we have one of the little Dyson li-ion compact units, I can't imagine pulling that stupid hose out of the closet.

That said, no pets and we do have a house cleaner, but she doesn't use the central vac either (even though she wouldn't have to empty it).
 
paflyer said:
Dragging the cord around is a pain and most vacs don't have retracting cords anymore.
The exhaust end of the hand vac blows crap back into the room. Central vac outlets properly placed make it easy to do multiple rooms without moving the hose and they exhaust into non-living space.

Also, last house I built had split outlets where one half was on the room wall switch. Then you can have lamps anywhere in the room turned on/off from one switch .
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Some friends of ours also installed a central vac. One of the clever things they added was a small toe operated door in the toe space below the cupboard under their kitchen sink. Grab a small broom, sweep all the crumbs on the kitchen floor to that spot, kick open the vac door, the central vac turns on automatically, and a little nudge or three gets all the crumbs sucked right up.

--

I'm going to stick with our Hoover and the small ShopVac (for broken glass).
 
flyingron said:
Eh? Why does how they run the wire today have to do fishing new wire? It's not like it's empty conduit you could use. I'm largely oblivious to any existing wiring when I'm fishing in new stuff. I do believe in having multiple subpanels which makes things a lot more convenient if you do want to change things and ends up being cheaper on larger houses in the long run.

Anyhow, the code doesn't give specify one or the other anyplace I've lived or worked.
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Like I said, it's a nitpicky thing. I just prefer each of my fixtures on a single run of wire and joined to the feeder a central j-box up above. Can lights are fine in series, but I don't like outlets in series. If you do horizontal runs and wire in series, the wiring scheme will be foreign to any and all who come in behind you. If you run a feeder to a central J-box or boxes over each room and do individual vertical runs, any idiot who comes along later can see where everything goes and how many fixtures are on each circuit. No big deal really. Just my preference. It's the old school way.
 
That presumes you have an accessible attic.
 
flyingron said:
That presumes you have an accessible attic.
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You are right about that, Ron. I also advocated for useful attic space with at least a portion of it decked. Since Winters is building us a new house, we can have it just like we want it.


BTW Winters, since we're designing your home for you, do we get free lodging when we're in your neighborhood. We'll all want to see how you implement our suggestions. Well, some of us will.
 
Free room and board at Winters' in exchange for free advice? Sounds about right. Shoot, he could host us all at the same time and we'd make a thing of it.
 
Someone here suggested Pex. I've got to ask those in the know...why? I'm an old-school copper person, although I've made repairs on Pex. Pex is cheaper and easier than copper, but so is PVC and I never liked PVC either, so it's hard to convince me that long-term, Pex will have fewer problems. If long-term, quality is the same, I'm fine with saving $. But saving $ is WAAAY behind reliability. Any thoughts from people who know?
 
Yup....Easier that way when those round dew hickey screw in fuses blow.
OkieFlyer said:
Like I said, it's a nitpicky thing. I just prefer each of my fixtures on a single run of wire and joined to the feeder a central j-box up above. Can lights are fine in series, but I don't like outlets in series. If you do horizontal runs and wire in series, the wiring scheme will be foreign to any and all who come in behind you. If you run a feeder to a central J-box or boxes over each room and do individual vertical runs, any idiot who comes along later can see where everything goes and how many fixtures are on each circuit. No big deal really. Just my preference. It's the old school way.
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Gerhardt said:
Someone here suggested Pex. I've got to ask those in the know...why? I'm an old-school copper person, although I've made repairs on Pex. Pex is cheaper and easier than copper, but so is PVC and I never liked PVC either, so it's hard to convince me that long-term, Pex will have fewer problems. If long-term, quality is the same, I'm fine with saving $. But saving $ is WAAAY behind reliability. Any thoughts from people who know?
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Copper is not without long term issues as well. I was having issues with corrosion pin holes in one of my previous houses about the time we moved out. Of coruse, the house was 30+ years old at the time. My PEX is still holding up well after ten years.

PVC's got a lot of track record. It's been sued on the DWV side in most places for 50+ years. I had CPVC water lines in my last house. Frankly, I've never seen plastic, be it PVC, CPVC, or PEX fail yet. I've seen lots of metal pipes, copper, galvanized, and cast iron fail over the years.
 
Gerhardt said:
Someone here suggested Pex. I've got to ask those in the know...why? I'm an old-school copper person, although I've made repairs on Pex. Pex is cheaper and easier than copper, but so is PVC and I never liked PVC either, so it's hard to convince me that long-term, Pex will have fewer problems. If long-term, quality is the same, I'm fine with saving $. But saving $ is WAAAY behind reliability. Any thoughts from people who know?
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As someone not in the know, I'm slowly replacing my galvanized with PEX, but that's because I'm doing it myself and it's way easier than accidentally burning down the house trying to sweat copper while working in the crawlspace. Obviously if someone else is doing the work then it's just money.
I've not heard good things about CPVC, and I can't run normal PVC in the house(but I really do like PVC personally).
 
*pool
*view

paflyer said:
I'd do radiant flooring throughout
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We stayed at a place in Montana that had that, it was first time experiencing it.. and frankly I wasn't happy with it. Maybe it wasn't a good setup, but it would take the room a remarkably long time to warm up and then forever to cool down. We'd get back in our room at 7, it was about 62 since it had one of those energy efficient motion things so heat would shut during the day, and the room would still only be around 68-70 by 10 or 11, at which point I'd shut it off for the night. Same in the morning, get up at 7 to a cold room.. might as well just leave it off since the temp rise was maybe 1-2* per hour... *IT WAS NICE in the bathroom though

paflyer said:
Separate thermostats in each room
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Definitely wish our house had that. Especially when using the AC. I hate having to cool down an entire home when overnight all I need is the bedroom to be cool
 
Tantalum said:
We stayed at a place in Montana that had that, it was first time experiencing it.. and frankly I wasn't happy with it. Maybe it wasn't a good setup, but it would take the room a remarkably long time to warm up and then forever to cool down. We'd get back in our room at 7, it was about 62 since it had one of those energy efficient motion things so heat would shut during the day, and the room would still only be around 68-70 by 10 or 11, at which point I'd shut it off for the night. Same in the morning, get up at 7 to a cold room.. might as well just leave it off since the temp rise was maybe 1-2* per hour... *IT WAS NICE in the bathroom though
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Yeah that makes no sense. Radiant floor heat works great to maintain a continuous temperature in a room, it doesn't work great to rapidly change temperatures. I had a house in North Dakota which had both radiant floor heat and forced hot air. The radiant just remained at pretty much the same temp, if you needed to warm up a floor you could do it with the FHA. I dont care for radiant as the sole source of heat, it makes the floors uncomfortably hot during cold weather. With the combination of floor and FHA, you never get those hot floors.
 
Go ahead and have these pull out drawers put into all your lower kitchen cabinets and workshop/hangar cabinets. They make that bottom back shelf space so much more accessible and useable. My husband put these in himself. You buy the brackets for like $30 if you have basic carpentry skills and tools build the shelves yourself. Or there are companies like Shelf Genie that'll custom make them for you.FileDownload.jpg
 
Failure modes. For the most part, pex won’t freeze solid nor will it burst when frozen. Copper has the issues listed above and is a pain to fix. Not saying anything is perfect but the simplicity (once I bought the correct tools) sold me on it. That said, my place is pushing 10 years old and I’ve not had one issue. We will see in 20 more years, but I’m sure I would have sweat at least a few fittings by then.

Gerhardt said:
Someone here suggested Pex. I've got to ask those in the know...why? I'm an old-school copper person, although I've made repairs on Pex. Pex is cheaper and easier than copper, but so is PVC and I never liked PVC either, so it's hard to convince me that long-term, Pex will have fewer problems. If long-term, quality is the same, I'm fine with saving $. But saving $ is WAAAY behind reliability. Any thoughts from people who know?
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Set up plumbing in walls that you can access from the other side without having to tear out tiles or cabinetry.
 
I have the tools to do copper, pex, and the various glue up plastic stuff (PVC, CPVC, ABS). I use the PVC now mostly for the irrigation system but it is the DMV of choice here. Everything else is PEX. The real ****er was that the yahoo who put my water treatment system went from PEX to BRASS to Copper to PVC back to PEX. It was a mess and our rather acid water (before the acid neutralizer) ate away one of the brass fittings. I arrived home to find the full output of the well flooding my crawl space. I ripped it all out and redid it with 100% PEX.

I also used CPVC to make up the piping for my wife's aquatic turtle tank/
 
We’ve been in 9 houses over the last 21 years. Built 2 from scratch, both semi-custom. Remodeled 1 as it was too good of a deal not to and sold the house for 45% more than we paid for it after living in it for 6 years.

Things we’ve learned:

*pre-plumb all utilities for future expansion.
*plan the space where the CATV/Internet main boxes/modems will live. Include space and electrical for expansion
*think about access to repair in-wall plumbing joints and valves
*electrical, Cable, Cat6 drops at 6’ high everywhere you think a TV will be; it lets you mount direct to wall; no TV? Hang a picture over it
*Bar. With dedicated beer fridge/kegerator, wine cooler, dishwasher and a ton of outlets and easy access to outdoor entertainment area. Best part of our house in CO.
 
Tantalum said:
We stayed at a place in Montana that had that, it was first time experiencing it.. and frankly I wasn't happy with it. Maybe it wasn't a good setup, but it would take the room a remarkably long time to warm up and then forever to cool down. We'd get back in our room at 7, it was about 62 since it had one of those energy efficient motion things so heat would shut during the day, and the room would still only be around 68-70 by 10 or 11, at which point I'd shut it off for the night. Same in the morning, get up at 7 to a cold room.. might as well just leave it off since the temp rise was maybe 1-2* per hour... *IT WAS NICE in the bathroom though
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I only know a few folks that have the floor heat. Everybody says the same thing: "Really nice in the bathrooms." That's about it.

Tantalum said:
Definitely wish our house had that. Especially when using the AC. I hate having to cool down an entire home when overnight all I need is the bedroom to be cool
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I'm guessing it doesn't get quite as hot where Winters lives, but probably close. In the summertime in my neck o' the woods, if you let the house heat up, you're screwed until the sun goes down again. In July and August, there are a lot of days that the AC is just a temperature maintainer at best. Got to stay on top of it. The rest of the year, that would be awesome.
 
Bill Jennings said:
We now live in the city (3.5mi commute, I bicycle to work often), and I argued for grassless landscaping, but my wife wanted some grass. Even so, I can knock it out with an old style reel mower in about 10 minutes. I have a rechargable trimmer and blower, so I really love not having any gas powered equipment anymore. So easy.
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Come live out in the high desert. You will win that argument... :lol:
 
Plumb for hot water circulating system.
 
I like the gas fireplace and we had heated towel holders in our bathroom in the past (maybe a German thing though). I would definitely go for the heating lamps in the bathroom and heat radiating floors, too.
 
Wow, lots of cool stuff here.

Run a gas line to the porch for future grill, fire pit, etc. (or just run a chase for a future line).

From my neighbor- Bathrooms- a drawer dedicated to a hair dryer that has the back end open to an outlet. That way the hairdryer and cord has a place to go and hide when not being used, but always stays plugged in.

Cousin is a custom homebuilder. I saw a house (big one) he designed that had washer and dryer in the master closet (huge). Clothes never have to leave the closet except on your back or in a suitcase.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
Cousin is a custom homebuilder. I saw a house (big one) he designed that had washer and dryer in the master closet (huge). Clothes never have to leave the closet except on your back or in a suitcase.
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That's almost what we have. Our master bedroom has to the left and right of the bed archways into the master bath and master closets (his and her). On my wife's side the archway also leads to the adjacent laundry room. On my side it leads to the stair tower/firepole to the home spa. Attached is the floor plan for the new construction on the main level
 

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Feature(s) I like about the house we built - in order:

- every room, including the bathrooms, has at least one window for natural light;
- no stairs, everything on one floor;
- 10 ft ceilings, feels spacious, allows overheight doors and transom windows for more light;
- spray foam insulation, R25 in the walls, R40 in the attic, it expands slightly, stiffens the framing and makes the house incredibly quiet inside, especially during wind storms with high gusts;
- a proper front entry hallway people can step inside and close the door, remove outer wear before entering the rest of the house - it has a gas fireplace for winter,and a brick floor that can be walked on with boots without concern of damaging it;
- radiant in-floor heating in the concrete floor slabs for my garage and my detached shop (we did not put it in the house);
- detached shop keeps the dust, chemicals, hazards, noise (when I am working early morning hours) away from the main residence (I built it first with a 550 sq ft loft apartment that we lived in while building the house);
- 2-piece bathroom and other plumbing in detached shop;
- utility/laundry room in the house has a direct outside ramp entrance, a rubber floor and a dog shower;
- towel warmers in the bathrooms;
- no decks, covered porch;
- extra wide hallways and doors - wheelchair friendly for aging relatives, and maybe one day needed for...
 
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+1 for towel warmers in the bathroom
 
A sealed crawl space about four feet tall. It acts as an insulator and you can add more wiring from below.
Skylights with insulated tubes through the attic
If you have the money or the time to recover the investment...geothermal heat pump
Good drainage and no gutters but be sure you have a peak on your entryway to shed water
Outdoor faucets with valves that close inside the heated volume so you don't have to worry about freezing
Gas or propane stove, water heater and fireplace (for when the power goes out)
Essential circuits on a separate breaker box that can be disconnected from the rest and powered by your generator (for when the power goes out)
 
cgrab said:
A sealed crawl space about four feet tall. It acts as an insulator and you can add more wiring from below.
Skylights with insulated tubes through the attic
If you have the money or the time to recover the investment...geothermal heat pump
Good drainage and no gutters but be sure you have a peak on your entryway to shed water
Outdoor faucets with valves that close inside the heated volume so you don't have to worry about freezing
Gas or propane stove, water heater and fireplace (for when the power goes out)
Essential circuits on a separate breaker box that can be disconnected from the rest and powered by your generator (for when the power goes out)
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Can you elaborate on why you'd rather have a crawl space, as opposed to just building a basement? Also, why no gutters (regional cold climates, excepted)?
 
Lowest maintenance siding and trim you can get. Brick doesn't need paint, Hardie Board and SmartSide seem to hold up well and maintain a good paint finish for a long time. Repainting or replacing window trim every couple of years is no fun - eventually the fir trim at my place will all end up replaced by SmartTrim a window or three a a time.
 
- if your geology is favorable: geothermal with deep wells and propane backup.

- electrical set up with a automatic transfer switch and a generator sized to keep the house heated

- standing seam steel roofing with sound insulation underneath

- ducting with pullstring into every room for cat6, fiber or whatever the technology 10 years from now is

- look at everything under the perspective 'what would it take to live here in a wheelchair?' It may just be temporary, but every threshold becomes a chore. Make your master shower accessible.
 
Basements are nice. Walkout basements are great! A walkout basement you can drive up to is wonderful for moving in, getting stuff in & out of the workshop, and for going down there when you don't feel up to the stairs. Don't put your workshop under the master bedroom . . .

At least one door into the house with minimal step up. Our garage is about 8" step height, my MIL needs help getting in, but nkt as much as the last hiuse wwith three full steps.

First floor master! And a split bedroom plan--put the others far from your own.

Put in two breaker boxes: one for 110, one for 220. Much easier to add more circuits, and much less likely to ever fill up.

Ten foot ceilings are wonderful! Do it in the basement, too--mine is 15 blocks high. Pour the basement walls instead of using cinder blocks.

Put fan blocks in every room, whether you put in ceiling fans right away or not. Running new power to one is a royal PITA.

Two heat pumps are better than one, so you only heat and cool the part you use the most. Even better if you can zone them.

Detached workshops are hard to heat and cool. If they have water (very convenient), they must be heated 24/7 in the winter. $$$ This is where basements shine, they never need cooling and rarely need heat in the workshop part.

My yankee house had a heat pump and a gas furnace (Trane), and an Auto setting that would run heat at night and AC during the day to keep whatever temp I selected. Nice! No switching it from Heat to Cool, although those were options, too. And use programmable, digital thermostats.
 
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