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Originally Posted by 4Hockey4
Building is awesome, have done on acres in country, at beach and once at a lake area. First time we learned a lot, but could spec a house out in about 2 hours now lol. Lil items folks dont think about and not much $$. Althugh right now is steep, as labor is tight everywhere, and lumber prices have doubled in 1 year)
1) 120 V in garage and out back. (upgrades lights in garage.)
2) Outdoor sensor lights with extra connect for camera etc.
3) Have one heater vent put to garage, not much money, close when not needed...love it during winter.
4) Try not to build on a trend (today its shiplap everywhere) If you will be there forever, fine otherwise you are dating.
5) If you can swing extra $30-$40K, do hardiplank over siding. its actually more efficient and LEED certified.
6) Upgraded trim, not on ceiling, or chairrail stuff, but around doors and floor molding, also upgrade doors.
7) if not much upgrade SEER for AC units if not much $, cheap 14 SEER units get 10 years anymore, even Carrier...ok they are a bit better. (you don't need for a 3rd floor bonus room, but for main floor we went 17.) Depends on $$, save some in power, bit more comfort, usually longer lasting.
8) Focus on where you want dimmers, we put everywhere, cost nothing to add during build.
9) Pocket doors - long lost item which really can be savers put in right spots.
10) At least 2 outdoor spouts, some standard are 1.
11) Attic fan if they don't have one.
12) Add windows- many times you can add a window for $300-$500, small cost for extra light and look.
anyways have 100's as I ran a construction company and have build 3 times. Most of those above are cheap when building but can make some nice custom touches.
Also when building in country make sure electric is to property or can be..yep state laws are wonky on this, it is in VA rural zoning.
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Great tips. We have pocket doors in our current house and love them. As you said, great space savers. We also have a whole house fan in the attic that I'm a big "fan" of
and will definitely be adding to the spec. for the new place.
My only disagreement with your list is the 120 VAC in the garage. Yes, of coure, we will have lost of 120 outlets but also lots of 220VAC. Air compressor, table saw, TIG, MIG, and my wife's Nissan Leaf all are hungry for 220. You can never have too much lighting or outlets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vreihen16
I just had all of the remaining copper in our house swapped out with PEX last month here, and it most certainly meets code. Insisted on a plastic central manifold with individual shutoff valves, so that we can shut off individual fixtures for repairs in the future. Hopefully, this will be the end of our 3 AM wake-up basement flood alarms due to copper pipes rupturing from corrosion.....
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Good call on that manifold with shutoffs. That's going on the list for sure. We have all copper and every time I need to do any sort of plumbing I have to shut the whole house down. I always take the opportunity to sweat in a shutoff in that line I'm working on "for next time" and have maybe 1/2 the house done. A central manifold that's fed from the main coming right off the street would be killer.
