What house feature is a must have if you were building today?

[Okotok]

Originally Posted by Xbolt7mm

I have the fireplace thing you mentioned, looks fantastic but dumbest thing ever, wife uses the fireplace when in the tub and you cant stand to be in the bedroom for the next 6 hours because its too hot

We have one of those fireplaces too. Used it once in 6 years.

[drhu22]

Self sustainability would be something I would be very interested in looking at. There are lots of options...

https://www.startpage.com/rvd/search...&language=auto

[Jamie]

Heated floors in the bathroom is a must have!!!

Up stairs laundry with insulated walls to keep the sound down

Drain in the garage

Trailer dump if out in the country

Rough in for hot tub wiring

Triple car or quad garage

Covered deck

No back walk out, make sure your kitchen can easily empty into the back yard. Side walk out covers the same thing

Drying room off the garage

Lots of walk in closets

Carpet in the basement (This is a MUST)

Finished onsite hardwood up stairs

Carpet in the Bedrooms

[overkill 19]

I’m not sure if all insurance companies are the same but I was going to put a wood stove in my house but magically my insurance goes up $400 a year for having one. So I never did it. Love to have one but not really worth it.
Mind you if I was on a farm or average where power loss is more common I might think of one but back up generator with auto switches are getting very reasonable. I’d probably wire in that if I was building!


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[Au revoir, Gopher]

A question for those of you who said stairs from garage to basement, why?

I'm struggling to come up with a scenario where I would use them...

ARG

[1cuz1]

Originally Posted by Au revoir, Gopher

A question for those of you who said stairs from garage to basement, why?

I'm struggling to come up with a scenario where I would use them...

ARG

truck in the garage, gun safe in the basement, wife in the upstairs........


My safe isn't used in order to appease the government its to save my marriage!

[jpohlic]

Multi zone furnace with a thermostat on each floor.

ICF basement, and if you can afford it use it for the main and upper walls also. We had a client with an ICF basement also rough in the pipes for in floor heating, but he found the basement so comfortable he never hooked it up. If you do a complete ICF house you probably won't need air conditioning, plus they are very quiet inside.

Do a blower door test after you insulate and install the vapour barrier. Fix any air leaks you find and you should be able to get below 1 air change per hour. You'll save on your heating bills for the life of the house.

Spray foam insulation if your budget allows. This also helps with air leakage.

Sound proofing

Sheltered barbecue area off the kitchen with a gas line.

Laundry room with direct access to the master walk in closet.

Big garage with storage space, taller and wider overhead doors

Covered entrances front and rear, decent size mudroom

[fishunter327]

Originally Posted by Au revoir, Gopher

A question for those of you who said stairs from garage to basement, why?

I'm struggling to come up with a scenario where I would use them...

ARG

All my camping gear/ fishing gear is stored in my basement , must take shoes off every trip to basement to retrieve anything.

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by jpohlic

Multi zone furnace with a thermostat on each floor.
.....
Spray foam insulation if your budget allows. This also helps with air leakage.

If a person want different temperatures in different areas, it’s more easily accomplished with a boiler system than hot air.

I agree with the spray foam, we did our house and drafts are non existent, the closest thing to a draft is feeling the ‘radiant’ (absorptive) cold from the windows, and those are high-end Pella’s.

[Immigrant]

Make sure that if you install a range hood exhaust fan, you can replace the air that you suck out. A “small” unit these days are around 450CFM. And you would want to heat that air you replace in the winter

[Red Bullets]

A neat feature to have...
A farmer friend has a small 1 ft. by 1 ft. door in his walk out basement foundation that he can open from the inside only. At 100 and 200 yards away he has built two dirt berms. He has a sound proof shooting room and an outdoor shooting lane to each berm. He can shoot all calibers anytime or weather without disturbing the neighbors. A town is not too far away so shooting large caliber guns and pistols close to town would attract attention too. He reloads lots and it saves him driving to the range.

[Xbolt7mm]

I have 5 bathroom fans and id be happy to just figure out how to stop them from flapping in the wind and banging all night

[Xbolt7mm]

Originally Posted by 1cuz1

truck in the garage, gun safe in the basement, wife in the upstairs........


My safe isn't used in order to appease the government its to save my marriage!

Lol so true

[Xbolt7mm]

Originally Posted by Okotok

We have one of those fireplaces too. Used it once in 6 years.

Lol they do look good though

[Ken07AOVette]

Natural gas run for stove, bbq, aux heat in basement, automatic nat gas generator

[Au revoir, Gopher]

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

Natural gas run for stove, bbq, aux heat in basement, automatic nat gas generator

You forgot the dryer... A pet peeve of mine. It costs so little to run the gas lines at construction time and can be a real PITA to do after the fact.

ARG

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by Au revoir, Gopher

You forgot the dryer... A pet peeve of mine. It costs so little to run the gas lines at construction time and can be a real PITA to do after the fact.

ARG

I've always had a gas-fired dryer since I was a kid (Dad's a gasfitter too). They're cheaper to run and you don't get static electricity as there's always some moisture present from combustion, they're better for 'bachelor ironing' your crinkly clothes too.

[sgill808]

Originally Posted by fishunter327

All my camping gear/ fishing gear is stored in my basement , must take shoes off every trip to basement to retrieve anything.

You could get all the stuff and put it by the front door and then move it from there to the truck.

[Digger1]

One of the features I really enjoy in our house, is the strategic placement of the bathroom window. I took the screen out and actually shoot magpies out of the poplar tree with the old 1187 whilst seated in comfort on the toilet. It’s better than reading hunting magazines by a long shot.

[Ken07AOVette]

Originally Posted by Digger1

One of the features I really enjoy in our house, is the strategic placement of the bathroom window. I took the screen out and actually shoot magpies out of the poplar tree with the old 1187 whilst seated in comfort on the toilet. It’s better than reading hunting magazines by a long shot.

You got a full LOL out of me for that one! lol well done

[Digger1]

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

You got a full LOL out of me for that one! lol well done

Whew. I just had to check to make sure I said “long shot”.

[FishHunterPro]

Lots of great stuff said and if it haven’t already been said lots of parking.

[Red Bullets]

Depending where your house is located. If there is a fire hazard from trees around the house(forest fires) or the neighboring houses are really close, it would be good to put a small diameter waterline to the top of the house so as to have a mist or trickle system of water piping running along the apex of the roof. If a fire is imperative the water trickles or mists to keep the roof and house wet. A generator or solar energy & batteries could power a pump in case there is no electricity.

This kind of wetting system could have maybe saved a few homes in our recent fires.

[KegRiver]

Originally Posted by amosfella

I'd want a fireproof room off of the house but still connected to the house that I could set up a couple of smokers in so I could smoke stuff in there year round.

Set it up with closable vents that I could flood the room with CO2 if a fire got out of hand.

You may be drying it too much. It should just smoulder, not catch on fire.

Also, it is legal to smoke it outside now.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Digger1

One of the features I really enjoy in our house, is the strategic placement of the bathroom window. I took the screen out and actually shoot magpies out of the poplar tree with the old 1187 whilst seated in comfort on the toilet. It’s better than reading hunting magazines by a long shot.

I put a kitchen window in for a buddy. Had to be compatible with shooting coyotes through it.

Grizz

[Trochu]

Originally Posted by sgill808

You could get all the stuff and put it by the front door and then move it from there to the truck.

You just blew someone's mind.

[BGS906]

Attached garage complete with 2 separate doors or 3 , hot and cold water plumbed in and most important the FLOOR DRAIN !!

[CaberTosser]

I've put hot and cold exterior hose bibs in at my first house and my
present home. My first place had an outdoor hot tub when I bought it and it was
convenient for cleaning and refilling it. I don't have a hot tub at my present home (yet) but it's been convenient for things like filling an inflatable child's pool in the yard.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

I've put hot and cold exterior hose bibs in at my first house and my
present home. My first place had an outdoor hot tub when I bought it and it was
convenient for cleaning and refilling it. I don't have a hot tub at my present home (yet) but it's been convenient for things like filling an inflatable child's pool in the yard.

Great for washing horses as well.

[Anomaly85]

Originally Posted by Jayhad

Multiple CAT 6 in to every room all terminated to the main panel.

Definitely! Came here to post this... Offers great flexibility and a spool of CAT6 isn't that much. Can even run HDMI over it if need be.