Building a house. Plz help with selections.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

4 minutes ago, FizzleFish said:

Well, when I suggested the dog wash I was imagining almost a human shower with a basin and half walls in the corner of a utility with a wand. Not a sink. So we agree on general concept.  It was just something I looked into with this house but didn’t put a lot of thought into because our dogs are all on the older side of life and we aren’t getting any more. So I didn’t design any of that into this house. 
 

also, I’d look into the smaller washer/dryer stackable you could do in master if it worked for you. I didn’t look into it too much but thought it could be a good idea. 

Yep, I suggested a stack W/D to a contractor almost 20 years ago in a spec house he was building. He looked at me like I had 2 heads. He relented, and said people who came thru to look at the house mentioned that as one of their favorite details.

[FizzleFish 137]

1 minute ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Yep, I suggested a stack W/D to a contractor almost 20 years ago in a spec house he was building. He looked at me like I had 2 heads. He relented, and said people who came thru to look at the house mentioned that as one of their favorite details.

Yep. I mean our washer and dryer are always full of my wife’s clothes. This way I can just reach in, grab, and toss to her side of closet and load my shit up.

[BurntOrange&White 39272]

Keep up updated with pics of the work and such OP. I love looking at pics of home construction progress.

[phdhorn 6224]

1.  gas.  Get ceramic logs.  We did it this year and man that fireplace is hotter than anything wood could produce.  Plus you don't have to mess with cutting wood, storing it, having Black Widows nest in it outside, etc.  Best thing I ever did in home improvement.

2.  Solid wood cabinets.  They'll last and cheap stuff will wear out badly.  Pulls are completely aesthetic.

3.  Gas/think about convection burners as well.  Microwave in wall is good but could be problems re-mounting replacement if not exact dimensions.

4.  Not a big concern.. too much prewiring = "we shouldn't done that...." later on IMHO.

5.  Steel wears better than brass.  Other than that, completely aesthetic.

6.   We're tossing wood and vinyl and going for staining the concrete, and area rugs.  Wood eventually yellows and despite what their manufacturers claim, so does just about everything else resembling wood.  Concrete keeps house much cooler in summer, easy to warm w/rugs in winter.  Only caveat:  little kids under 2 might be a hazard if they fall.

7.  We just put in triple-paned EnergyOne Windows.  Not cheap ($14K) but they do an amazing, no amazing job of keeping house warm (winter) and cool (summer).  Our windows are lifetime warranty so I don't much care what the material is, but I think it's a composite vinyl. The glass is >>> important than the framing IMHO.  Pella/Andersen, etc. not much bang for the buck.

Addenda:
1. Low hearth in fireplace.  It makes the room look and feel bigger and I never liked those "sit on a ledge" type hearths. Ours is only 1 brick high but it's nice.
2. Moulding at least 2" on bottom, it looks nice.  Ceiling - meh, up to you, never thought it added much.
3. Propane - 1,000 gal tank?  Are you preparing for the next Ice Age?  How big is your house?  We have a 250 and only fill it about 2X per year.  I guess you could have that huge mother buried in the yard but man that's a lot for a house that's not a brothel.  I can't imagine a scenario, unless last Feb. 12th-19th runs all winter next year, that you're going to need a tank that big.  But if you want it and can afford it, no harm done.
4.  Double - no, triple - planned storage space.  I mean it.  Really.  It's far too little, trust me.
5.  Likewise, make garage bigger than you'd think.  I'd tack on 6' to all sides if you can spare the $.  It's very easy to underestimate the dimensions for this.

Edited June 17, 2021 by phdhorn

[Bevo 13468]

1 hour ago, phdhorn said:

I guess you could have that huge mother buried in the yard but man that's a lot for a house that's not a brothel. 

I think the house is in La Grange.

[milkman 428]

I just recently started a new build. Stopped by the house late this afternoon to check on progress. It's been a long last couple of weeks with all the rain. Hope to have it all dried in by this time next week.

[Tonesky 900]

Post Harvey build - we will be elevated 6 feet in a rapidly transforming neighborhood.  We put a shovel in the ground in late February and got dried in before the recent rains.  We begin insulation and cover next week.  With luck, we hand out Halloween candy.  Short of disaster, we are in before Thanksgiving.

[Updawg 2254]

How high did it flood?

Do all new houses need to be raised ?

Pretty crazy

[Godzillatron 292]

and depth.
I have a buddy who can't fit his customized half ton truck in the garage because it's too short. He had to hire someone to extend the garage at the expense of the mudroom. Standard is too small.
Also be aware of your water heater; had another buddy try to do this but couldn't extend because his water heater was there. Great example of where going tankless would have helped as well.

Previous owner built a steel workbench and shelves in my garage. If I want an F-150 i will have to rip them out to get in the bay. Add the length now.

[Assman 1830]

Both garages are 40'x24'. Setup will look something like this.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

[fattyflattie 4636]

That’s awesome. 

[Parliament 14086]

Looks kinda small.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

Needs more garage.

[Handcruser 2805]

I wouldn’t do anything less than 12 cars. 6 car garages are for the poors.

[deadshank 24648]

Where do you park the customized DC-3?

[Assman 1830]

1 hour ago, deadshank said:

Where do you park the customized DC-3?

I'll be lucky to afford a 152 after we build this thing

[Tonesky 900]

On 6/18/2021 at 3:17 PM, Tonesky said:

Post Harvey build - we will be elevated 6 feet in a rapidly transforming neighborhood.

On 6/18/2021 at 4:26 PM, Updawg said:

How high did it flood?

Do all new houses need to be raised ?

We had 2’ in Harvey.  City of Houston requires all new construction or improvements greater than 50% within the 500 year floodplain, be elevated 2’ above the 500 year floodplain.  

 

 

 

 

[Redneck Mutha 7888]

I missed it upthread, did you go with crocs or hippos for the moat? 

[FizzleFish 137]

Water spigots on all 4 corners. Won’t have to drag a hose around. 
 

And if your driveway is like in that pic do a sport court and go full court basketball. Probably tennis combo too. 

[Tonesky 900]

7 hours ago, FizzleFish said:

Water spigots on all 4 corners. Won’t have to drag a hose around.

And, I'd put one inside the garages too.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

25 minutes ago, Tonesky said:

And, I'd put one inside the garages too.

Hot, and cold inside the garage, along with a floor drain.

[deadshank 24648]

40 minutes ago, Tonesky said:

And, I'd put one inside the garages too.

 

13 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Hot, and cold inside the garage, along with a floor drain.

Just put everything in the garage. 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

9 minutes ago, deadshank said:

 

Just put everything in the garage. 

 That's why You need 12 bays

[Vito Andolini 9067]

I was going to offer some suggestions, and then I read the bit about the six car garage, and suspected I was out of my league. If you are getting a house from a custom builder similar to the one in the photo, I would assume you’re getting top of the line everything: granite, floors, crown molding, cabinetry, windows, window treatments, etc. And there shouldn’t be one inch of carpet in the whole damned place. 

We found a spec house in a rather new neighborhood on an amazing tree-filled half acre lot that had just been framed and bought it, allowing us to choose everything. It was a pain in the ass, and I suspect we were then on the hook for several things we wouldn’t have been, had we purchased after its completion. We had to pay extra for the bathroom granite, a second patio ceiling fan, and our realtor paid for some upstairs crown molding to make sure we accepted the deal. Even had to write in an allowance for blinds. We did our own cabinet pulls and handles. 

That was a little over five years ago, and the home has actually proven to be very well built. And like just about everything these days, it’s apparently appreciated quite a bit.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

4 hours ago, Vito Andolini said:

I was going to offer some suggestions, and then I read the bit about the six car garage, and suspected I was out of my league. If you are getting a house from a custom builder similar to the one in the photo, I would assume you’re getting top of the line everything: granite, floors, crown molding, cabinetry, windows, window treatments, etc. And there shouldn’t be one inch of carpet in the whole damned place. 

We found a spec house in a rather new neighborhood on an amazing tree-filled half acre lot that had just been framed and bought it, allowing us to choose everything. It was a pain in the ass, and I suspect we were then on the hook for several things we wouldn’t have been, had we purchased after its completion. We had to pay extra for the bathroom granite, a second patio ceiling fan, and our realtor paid for some upstairs crown molding to make sure we accepted the deal. Even had to write in an allowance for blinds. We did our own cabinet pulls and handles. 

That was a little over five years ago, and the home has actually proven to be very well built. And like just about everything these days, it’s apparently appreciated quite a bit.

If it was a spec house, anything you paid for above the asking price was going right in the contractors pocket as a bonus.  When they priced the house to be built it would have been as a turnkey cost estimate (unless you were upgrading from their original pricing model)  (except the window blinds, window treatments are not a contractor issue typically).

It's not a coincidence that the first 3 letters of the word contractor are CON.

[deadshank 24648]

24 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

It's not a coincidence that the first 3 letters of the word contractor are CON.

LOL.  

One may think it is a tough row to hoe with a contractor building a house.  The only way it gets worse is if an architect tries to build a house.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

13 minutes ago, deadshank said:

LOL.  

One may think it is a tough row to hoe with a contractor building a house.  The only way it gets worse is if an architect tries to build a house.

Hey dammit... I got my own framing hammer, tape measure thingy.............. and a tool belt !!!!

It should be a fun process when you're spending hundreds if not millions of dollars.

[deadshank 24648]

1 minute ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Hey dammit... I got my own framing hammer, tape measure thingy.............. and a tool belt !!!!

It should be a fun process when you're spending hundreds if not millions of dollars.

Do you know which end to hold hammer from?

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

2 minutes ago, deadshank said:

Do you know which end to hold hammer from?

Depends on what you're doing with the hammer....