Building a house: what are your must have or want to have items?

#76
#76
kiddiedoc said:
One last thing: dyed and polished concrete floors are awesome in the appropriate setting. We had the basement polished down to where some aggregate was visible, with diamond-pattern sawcuts and grout. Really nice.
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And not very expensive either 👍🏼
 
#77
#77
Carl Pickens said:
One thing that’s nice and cheap is a hot water spigot outside..... if you wash your car in cold weather it’s awesome. Another nicety is a shower head and a drain in your garage.... rinse yourself off after weed eating or whatever
These aren’t luxury items by any means, but they’re inexpensive additions and I’ve gotten a lot of use out of them.
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This is a very good suggestion, especially if you have dogs or others who roll around in the dirt. I had one at my last house and I used it a ton and I don't even have a dog. Mine was just a shower control mounted on the outside of the utility room bath with a concrete drain 4' x 4' basin. It was great!!!
 
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#78
#78
Carl Pickens said:
One thing that’s nice and cheap is a hot water spigot outside..... if you wash your car in cold weather it’s awesome. Another nicety is a shower head and a drain in your garage.... rinse yourself off after weed eating or whatever
These aren’t luxury items by any means, but they’re inexpensive additions and I’ve gotten a lot of use out of them.
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Good idea and I think we're going to put a shower out back next to the pool. I usually just fall in to rinse off if I'm that nasty.
 
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#79
#79
jps2194 said:
I'm currently in the process of building - waiting on inspection so we can drywall. I added a safe room in our house. It doesn't have a basement and there was a perfect space to put in the back of our master closet. It's 4x8 and we are putting in a vault door and will put this behind a swinging shoe shelf so nobody will know the safe is there. We'll keep our guns and valuables in it, but is also a place to go if there is a tornado. The walls are cinder block filled with concrete and the ceiling is concrete as well. It has a 6 hour fire rating - but the door is 90 minutes. The house could literally fall down and this room will still be standing.
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My dad has one similar in his house that his his gun safes. It's built into the foundation and would need a bomb to open. We are putting a hidden spot in our closet for my safe. Won't be reinforced but should be more difficult to find

volmanbill said:
Add a smart sprinkler controller to the list. My Rachio uses micro weather stations to predict rainfall and operate accordingly. My water bills have definitely been lower.

Smart Sprinkler Controllers & Natural Soil Treatments
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oh yeah that's in my smart home plan
 
#81
#81
utvolpj said:
Have the pot filler already on our plan but not the bidet. Interesting idea and may have to run that by the wife
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I'm sure you could use the bidet as a pot filler. Looks like the water is drinkable.

CameraZOOM-20120223130935690-787014.jpg
 
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#82
#82
utvolpj said:
Starting the process to build a new house again and want to see what others are as must haves or want to haves. We built about 5 yrs ago and that gave us a big list we've now mostly checked off.

What would you want in a new house?
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A roof
 
#85
#85
Orangeslice13 said:
How much is the price of lumber changing your build.

I’ve put mine on hold and I’m considering metal studs instead of wood.
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Signed contract so we haven't been hit with any changes. Wife is telling me plastic is supposedly hitting a shortage as well. Just want this done
 
#86
#86
utvolpj said:
Signed contract so we haven't been hit with any changes. Wife is telling me plastic is supposedly hitting a shortage as well. Just want this done
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I’m looking at this plan. The only wood in it is zip sheeting and a few posts. other than that everything is metal composite and stone. E5FAA950-319A-43E5-AC3D-9C63D5621710.jpeg
 
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#87
#87
Since you're in Florida, think about a generator transfer switch. My folks have had those installed on the past 2 houses they've purchased...post-hurricane (or post-general outage) it makes things a little easier.
 
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#89
#89
utvolpj said:
Signed contract so we haven't been hit with any changes. Wife is telling me plastic is supposedly hitting a shortage as well. Just want this done
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Good deal...glad y'all got locked in before the current volatility started. Definitely take a look at the contract - some I have seen have limits outside of which the contractor may have recourse to request a change order (we're talking a fairly high percentage increase threshold, though). At the office, we've been seeing that metal (lgmf to light fixtures etc) has been crazy on the commercial side these past couple of weeks as well.
 
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#91
#91
tbh said:
Good deal...glad y'all got locked in before the current volatility started. Definitely take a look at the contract - some I have seen have limits outside of which the contractor may have recourse to request a change order (we're talking a fairly high percentage increase threshold, though). At the office, we've been seeing that metal (lgmf to light fixtures etc) has been crazy on the commercial side these past couple of weeks as well.
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Will check it out. I don't remember taking about it

Another thing hitting us are lead times. Thankfully we're buying it all thru my wife's work which has better access than most. Still ordering it soon and making them just tag and hold for a few months
 
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#92
#92
utvolpj said:
Will check it out. I don't remember taking about it

Another thing hitting us are lead times. Thankfully we're buying it all thru my wife's work which has better access than most. Still ordering it soon and making them just tag and hold for a few months
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Lead time is another big consideration for sure. We're seeing subcontractors buy out all their materials to lock in pricing and/or beat lead times (and in some cases, the latter because more and more are doing the former). Y'all are doing it right, especially if you have a good, secure (free?) place to keep the stuff stored for the time being.
 
#94
#94
Tin Man said:
Concrete dome with full basement connected by tube to concrete dome detached garage. Half buried into a hill at higher than surrounding elevations. Geothermal climate plus strategically placed fans to aid circulation, ducting, and electric heat pump. Wood burning fireplace with built in forced air system integrate into ducting. Solar panel exterior with advanced power storage and two-way meter to grid. Fiber optic cabling. Underground potable water storage. Ballistic windows that can withstand impacts with objects propelled by hurricane force or tornadic winds. Indoor-outdoor integrated living area with dual kitchens. Master suit with huge tub for two. Gray water system for garden & landscaping. Guest rooms with shared bath, extra toilet (all with bidet capability). Outdoor shower. Great room living area. Wine and root cellars partitioned in basement. There’s more, but I gotta go to sleep.
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I like it
 
#95
#95
clarksvol00 said:
Depending on when you signed, your builder is probably taking a bath on the lumber package.
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We signed and paid our down payment in Dec. They have 4 going right now in the same neighborhood that signed about the same time
 
#96
#96
utvolpj said:
Starting the process to build a new house again and want to see what others are as must haves or want to haves. We built about 5 yrs ago and that gave us a big list we've now mostly checked off.

What would you want in a new house?
Click to expand...
Urinal....
 
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#98
#98
In Florida, do homesites get assessed for sinkhole potential? Is there special insurance for that sort of thing? Or is that very rare?
 
#99
#99
golfballs said:
In Florida, do homesites get assessed for sinkhole potential? Is there special insurance for that sort of thing? Or is that very rare?
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I haven't seen anything about it being an issue. This is an existing neighborhood so it's likely they would know already
 
#100
#100
Going to be doing the same thing in a couple of months in the mountains. My first and #1 priority... A bunker. With NBC filtering and protection. Water filtration and recycling. Fully sealed and underground.
 
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