If you plan to live in the house until old age, make the doors wide enough for a wheel chair on the chance you will need one.
Building New Home
- Thread starter LakeCyd
- Start date
Based on my disaster of a custom built home:
Anything like a porch with an overhang should face south, not west. Overhang should be such that it keep the high summer sun off you, but lets the lower winter sun shine in.
2 more garage stalls than what you have for cars. Maybe 3.
Stairs from garage to basement - poured concrete not wood.
Make the basement a walkout if at all possible.
If you get a soaking bathtub, get whilrpool action jets not just bubbles. And get it much larger than you think you need.
Plant trees to the west of the house for sun and wind protection.
Large mud room between garage and house, with washtub.
Closets by EVERY entry door.
9ft poured basement, so you can have 8ft ceilings down there.
Laundry facilities on whatever floor has the bedrooms.
If you have slope at all, tile your sump pump out to daylight but cover the end so no pests.
Anything like a porch with an overhang should face south, not west. Overhang should be such that it keep the high summer sun off you, but lets the lower winter sun shine in.
2 more garage stalls than what you have for cars. Maybe 3.
Stairs from garage to basement - poured concrete not wood.
Make the basement a walkout if at all possible.
If you get a soaking bathtub, get whilrpool action jets not just bubbles. And get it much larger than you think you need.
Plant trees to the west of the house for sun and wind protection.
Large mud room between garage and house, with washtub.
Closets by EVERY entry door.
9ft poured basement, so you can have 8ft ceilings down there.
Laundry facilities on whatever floor has the bedrooms.
If you have slope at all, tile your sump pump out to daylight but cover the end so no pests.
Absolutely do not skip doing a garage drain. We're regretting that one every winter. I agree with 9'+ ceilings in the basement. And go overboard with outlets and outside faucets. Make sure and put a gas line to the back of the house for a grill and/or fire pit.
we were supposed to have one and they forgot. Good thing is we have enough slope and it hasn't been an issue in the first five winters.
Oh, oh, this reminds me. Was in one house and tried to figure out what this PVC pipe was sticking out of the floor in beside the fridge. Got downstairs and saw and box with beer cans in it under the pipe. He made a beer can chute.
Also, I was at another and saw this tube sticking out of the garage, thought it was a strange hose and height for a sump pump hose. Got inside and the guy had made like his own urinal. Funnel sticking into the hose. Was kinda gross.
Those are things I would not put in my house.
When you are finishing your garage, I'd have them put in some decent flooring (something like diamond tread) before you get everything else in there. It makes the garage look so much better and it's way easier to clean. It's also much easier to install before you put in a bench, deep freeze, etc.
I'll also second the frosted windows on garage doors. The natural light is really nice.
I'll also second the frosted windows on garage doors. The natural light is really nice.
I have some friends (both engineers) who are custom building a house. They've found numerous things messed up on their visits. Incorrectly sized water lines was one of them, but the most egregious one was wrong size rebar with incorrect spacing. They had gotten a geotech report and an engineered foundation design. Response from the builder was, "We've built a lot of these houses with this kind of foundation, it'll be fine."
They're getting a new foundation, at the contractor's expense.
"We've built a lot of these houses with this (cheaper) kind of foundation, it'll be fine. (No we weren't planning on giving you any cost savings back as we were trying to sneak this one by you even though we priced the build per the drawings)."
Their response edited with their thoughts in parenthesis
An electric tankless water heater will require significant upgrade in the electrical panel. Usually, gas tankless are good. Electric..it wouldn't be my first choice. I would consider an electric hybrid.
have you seen the news? might pump the brakes for a bit? i mean its your life and money but holy hell
I put one in my house but I was able to use gas which is ideal as an electric can draw over 100 amps. Also, depends on how many stories/how big your house is. It takes a lot longer for hot water to get to the location depending on placement of the water heater. Once it gets there it is continuous, but unless you use something like a recirculation pump it could be very annoying.
Always live on the west. I live on the very west of the town I'm in, I'm sure they are all the same.
Yes I get what you are saying. Our situation is that we will be completely debt free a year from now with our house and car paid off. So we be able to use all equity from our current home towards the new build so our new mortgage total will be very low in the grand scheme of things.
I am just trying to see if there are additional things people have run into, expansion soil scares the crap out of me with costs that could occur, I know very little about septic systems and what to look out for there etc.
I like to have a drain in the garage. I like to wash my own cars. When we built our garage we made a small pit and ran PVC pipe to back of garage. The pipe is 10 inches up from bottom of pit. The dirt settles out in the pit and water runs goes out the pipe.
For those that have built, have you used your own realtor or gone directly through the builder/builders agent?
I assume it could save money not bringing one in. Seems like they really wouldn't do a whole lot.
I assume it could save money not bringing one in. Seems like they really wouldn't do a whole lot.
Last house I had, had a shower control on the outside of the house with hot and cold water as well as a 4'x4' concrete basin with drain for washing up pets or yourself before entering the house. Loved it. Of course I live in Oregon where it doesn't get nearly as cold as Iowa (born in NE, lived north of Grand Island about 80 miles so I understand Midwest cold a bit).
Also, had circulating hot water in the house so you never had to wait for hot water. It was there as soon as you open the valve. Very nice!!
Why would you go direct with the builder or the builders realtor? By doing that, you get one side of the story and it will always be how great they are and their homes are perfect.
Using your realtor gives you another set of eyes, and can provide you with information the builder/their realtor will never give you. When we were looking for a new home three years ago, our realtor flat out told us who what builders were good, and which ones cut corners and had houses that three years down the road had issues due to cutting corners. No builder or their realtor is going to tell you that information. If your realtor does not do a lot with new construction, find one that does. I was amazed at all the things our realtor brought up/caught that we would have never even considered.
Regarding water lines, avoid having the main feed to the house run under your driveway. When the soil settles you avoid/minimize cracking in your concrete pad/driveway.