ditto the infloor heating in the garage, and the piped compressor lines too. also I always covet the small private deck off the master bedroom. place to chill with the wife and not have to trip over kids toys, the one that I envision is under the overhang on the top floor, maybe that's a worn out '70's design, or maybe you have to live in the boonies to have the privacy feeling vs. the "on-stage" feeeling. I live in the boonies and I want that deck.
Home design ideas
- Thread starter Azrocks
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I have been building the ultimate shop/house now for a while. So far I have one lift installed, and the pipes for the compressed air. I just need to finish building the floor lights.
I wouldn't build a new home without designing Passive solar into it. It won't cost you a whole lot more, but it will cut your heatiing and cooling costs dramatically. I would also look into the geothermal stuff as well. I'll build a slightly smaller home if I don't have to keep paying out the nose to run it every month. My 3600sqft home ran me $350+ several months just for gas. An a side note, I attended the Utah Top 100 companes banquit a few months ago. Questar Gas has the highest % growth in profits out of any company in Utah. I'm not sure I remember anyone clapping when the guy got up to accept the award. Back on the home design issue- I like my garage seperate from the house for noise and safety issues. I've seen too many garage fires take out the house.
Tennis ball cannon. Everyone needs a tennis ball cannon. Uninterruptible power source in case of a blackout. Gin, vermouth, little olives, toothpicks, ice, some martini glasses and a tumbler on a little glass table by the tennis court and you're all set. 
All this about central vac... you guys ever vacuum? Man are they a pain in the arse. Great in theory, lousy in practice (IMHO).
Sink in the laundry room, sink in the shop, bathroom beside the shop, laundry on bedroom floor, bathroom by main entrance, and as I'm partial to 50's style construction... rough 2X10 joists and trusses, 12 inch centres.
Sink in the laundry room, sink in the shop, bathroom beside the shop, laundry on bedroom floor, bathroom by main entrance, and as I'm partial to 50's style construction... rough 2X10 joists and trusses, 12 inch centres.
if you can't put the washer/dryer upstairs, then a laudry chute and a dumb waiter to let you haul the laundry upstairs much easier -- if you have a multiple level house.
the best appliances you can afford.
solar roof tiles -- as many as you can fit on there.
pre-wire for speakers and more outlets than you think you'll need -- this includes phone, cable, cat5, etc.
if you live in a hurricane area, build it out of something solid and have roll up/down steel shutters for all the windows...WTF is up with people buying plywood all the time?
6 car garage -- 3 car wide x 2 deep.
the best appliances you can afford.
solar roof tiles -- as many as you can fit on there.
pre-wire for speakers and more outlets than you think you'll need -- this includes phone, cable, cat5, etc.
if you live in a hurricane area, build it out of something solid and have roll up/down steel shutters for all the windows...WTF is up with people buying plywood all the time?
6 car garage -- 3 car wide x 2 deep.
Somethoughts:
If you have a septic system get a gray water circuit for some of the excess water using appliances (I think that is what they call them).
Lots and lots of crown molding. Hard wood floors. Granite counters.
We have a three car garage with one ~30' deep stall and the other two stalls are about 25' deep because of a heated/cooled work room. The previouse owner had a 21' foot bass boat in the long stall with the motor tilted up and you could still walk all the way around it with door closed (including the tongue of the trailer).
We also have tall ceilings (12' downstairs), but I wish we had oversized (height wise) doors. I like tall doors.
Big (wide and tall) windows.
Mud rooms are a must. Sinks in the mud room and garage are a must also.
Washer and dryer on every floor and even a cheap set in the garage for rags and work clothes.
Lots and lots of built in shelving.
Ceiling fans in every room.
Multiple heating and air units (one for each floor) and multiple water heaters.
Pressure treated wood used anywhere moisture contact is possible, I can't tell you how many floors in bathrooms with tile I have seen rot because contractors did not use treated lumber.
If you have a septic system get a gray water circuit for some of the excess water using appliances (I think that is what they call them).
Lots and lots of crown molding. Hard wood floors. Granite counters.
We have a three car garage with one ~30' deep stall and the other two stalls are about 25' deep because of a heated/cooled work room. The previouse owner had a 21' foot bass boat in the long stall with the motor tilted up and you could still walk all the way around it with door closed (including the tongue of the trailer).
We also have tall ceilings (12' downstairs), but I wish we had oversized (height wise) doors. I like tall doors.
Big (wide and tall) windows.
Mud rooms are a must. Sinks in the mud room and garage are a must also.
Washer and dryer on every floor and even a cheap set in the garage for rags and work clothes.
Lots and lots of built in shelving.
Ceiling fans in every room.
Multiple heating and air units (one for each floor) and multiple water heaters.
Pressure treated wood used anywhere moisture contact is possible, I can't tell you how many floors in bathrooms with tile I have seen rot because contractors did not use treated lumber.
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My thoughts:
Having owned our present house for over 20 years, I sometimes dream about starting over from scratch and building a new house. Some of the things I've thought about that would make a house more liveable and less maintenance intensive:
Build everything possible out of materials that are durable, low maintenance, and age and weather well. Ideally, masonry exterior walls, metal or concrete tile roof. Same Idea indoors. Buy the best appliances and fixtures you can afford. Anodized metal or vinyl clad windows. Zero-scape (or however you spell it) landscaping, metal instead of wood fencing, etc.
Build your house from the get-go to be energy efficient. If I were building a wood frame house I'd consider building the exterior walls out of 2 x 6 lumber and putting lots of insulation in them. Expensive? Yes, but so is heating and cooling. The idea of passive solar heating mentioned above is a great one. You can do a lot with properly designed overhangs that shade the windows on the southern facade in summer and let in sunlight in the winter.
Storage, storage, and more storage. The one thing our house doesn't have that I wish it had is a basement. Instead all our junk that we're not really using right now but we don't want to throw away. ends up in the garage. I can't even get my cruiser in there to work on it. Grr!. Somebody mentioned building a really big master bedroom. We have one, and it just ends up as storage space. I'd love to have less floor space and more storage. It's a great exercise to do an analyses of your plans before you build anything. Just take a copy of the floor plan and color code what is "served" space and what is service space. You should have a healthy amount of service space in order to keep your dwelling from being cluttered. Large kitchen pantry, adequate coat closets and bedroom closets, built in shelves and cabinets are something to think about carefully. I'd design the garage if possible with 2-3 feet of storage along the side walls, and more on the back wall.
Having owned our present house for over 20 years, I sometimes dream about starting over from scratch and building a new house. Some of the things I've thought about that would make a house more liveable and less maintenance intensive:
Build everything possible out of materials that are durable, low maintenance, and age and weather well. Ideally, masonry exterior walls, metal or concrete tile roof. Same Idea indoors. Buy the best appliances and fixtures you can afford. Anodized metal or vinyl clad windows. Zero-scape (or however you spell it) landscaping, metal instead of wood fencing, etc.
Build your house from the get-go to be energy efficient. If I were building a wood frame house I'd consider building the exterior walls out of 2 x 6 lumber and putting lots of insulation in them. Expensive? Yes, but so is heating and cooling. The idea of passive solar heating mentioned above is a great one. You can do a lot with properly designed overhangs that shade the windows on the southern facade in summer and let in sunlight in the winter.
Storage, storage, and more storage. The one thing our house doesn't have that I wish it had is a basement. Instead all our junk that we're not really using right now but we don't want to throw away. ends up in the garage. I can't even get my cruiser in there to work on it. Grr!. Somebody mentioned building a really big master bedroom. We have one, and it just ends up as storage space. I'd love to have less floor space and more storage. It's a great exercise to do an analyses of your plans before you build anything. Just take a copy of the floor plan and color code what is "served" space and what is service space. You should have a healthy amount of service space in order to keep your dwelling from being cluttered. Large kitchen pantry, adequate coat closets and bedroom closets, built in shelves and cabinets are something to think about carefully. I'd design the garage if possible with 2-3 feet of storage along the side walls, and more on the back wall.
Oh ya...
Drain by the water heater, low e^2 in the windows, screws in the floor boards.
Drain by the water heater, low e^2 in the windows, screws in the floor boards.
crholliday
Frisbeetarianist
Jman said:
Stayed with some friends in Germany in December. All the bathrooms had urinals. I felt compelled to announce each time I went to make number 1.
It was not the highlight of the trip but it was in the top 5.
C.
- distributed audio inside and out, with wall mounted controls in all rooms for all zones
-hard wood floors
-granite counters
-cat5, coaxial in all rooms
- large mudroom
-seperate home theater room
-large outdoor hot tub
-lots of decks
-either a 3 season room, or a screened in porch
-bar
-large fireplace
-tin roof (house is in vt)
-radiant heat
-custom tiled showers with framless glass doors
-two person jacuzzi tub in master bathroom
-steam shower in master bathroom
-sauna
-work out room with treadmill, eliptical, dumbells to 100 lbs, a pull down stack, squat rack, adjustable bench
well thats what i can think of for now.
-hard wood floors
-granite counters
-cat5, coaxial in all rooms
- large mudroom
-seperate home theater room
-large outdoor hot tub
-lots of decks
-either a 3 season room, or a screened in porch
-bar
-large fireplace
-tin roof (house is in vt)
-radiant heat
-custom tiled showers with framless glass doors
-two person jacuzzi tub in master bathroom
-steam shower in master bathroom
-sauna
-work out room with treadmill, eliptical, dumbells to 100 lbs, a pull down stack, squat rack, adjustable bench
well thats what i can think of for now.
400 amp electric service. Drain, hot water and cold water hook ups in garage(for washing car indoors) . Floodlights at all corners of house and the switch next to bed in MBR. Pet doors through walls not doors. Hot water hookup outside where you wash your car. Window wells for basement windows, this allows full size windows.