Guest Andrea Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 We will be building a new house soon and I was wondering if any of you had any ideas or suggestions?? Like neat ideas that you have done in YOUR houses or things you learned that you wish you'd known beforehand, that type of thing. It's gonna be a 2-story brick home. Thanks!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperMn106 Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? My dad is a bricklayer and i helped him do our basement. The things that i have learned was it is never gonna go fast enough . It is sure a neat experiance when you get it done though and it is very pridefull knowing you did it. Good Luck and post some pics of the process. Hope everything goes well for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunterDWL Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? im just finishing my home its two story also with a full basment i wish i would have put a bedroom on the first floor you dont think of when you get older but my grilfriend wanted to put all the bed rooms on the second floor and im going to turn my basemnt into my trophy room but when you have to climb those steps you tend to think of those things also make a huge kitchen you can never have a to much room therei wish i would have went bigger there to but you know women we had to have two living rooms and a dinning room the inside of my house is done execpt counter tops were going with some kind of counter top that has real jem stones in it they are very pretty but the cost is un real(women) lol im also adding an office wich is wonderful im useing it to attach my garge to my house im also in the process of bulding a wrap around deck im goimg with trex in stead of decking boards i think there a lot better these are just some of the things i wish i would have changed but im still young ill probaly build another one of these days wont tell the woman about it till its done LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggs Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? deck the kitchen out to a "T". Kitchens add the most to a homes re-sale value...and our one of the first things that "wow" potential buyers. Even if you're not planning on selling it ever...kitchens that have neat features are very nice to enjoy, and get noticed by visitors. Granite countertops are great, an island with a range and exhaust hood is really cool, breakfast bars, stainless steel appliances...nice soffet work...are all some ideas to start...might not be the most inexpensive, but I'm sure if you get creative you can find some less costly ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Washi Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? Make it handicap accessible. It's nice for grandparents to be able to walk up a ramp instead of steps to get to the front door. Never know you or somebody in the family might need to use crutches or a wheelchair for a little while. It's nice to to have if you need it but doesn't hurt anything if you don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronS Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? There were a few things after completing my house and living in it a while that I wish I would have done differently. 1. Should have added a mud room between the garage and rest of house. 2. Should have relocated the stairs to the basement. 3. Should have made some things bigger. Overall I'm very happy with it and happy I built my own. I've been around construction my whole life and knew what to expect. My first wife hadn't and thought she would blow a gasket before it was done. Enjoy but be patient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirkV Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? I have just finished my 3rd and last one. I have sooooo many ideas it would make your head swim. If you want email me and I can send you many pictures and ideas. Here are a couple of pics of the kitchen area. [email protected] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunterDWL Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? love that island wish i would have put one of them also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Finn Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? Here's what I want when I retire into our last home: Have the Master bedroom and laundry room on the first floor. Make sure the living room, kitchen, master bedroom and master bathroom are big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntinsonovagun Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? My parents built 2 years ago, planning on doing it again....Oh joy.... I really like the look and feel of "can lights." Use those in your kitchen. Don't get too high of ceilings. Their living room ceiling is 16 feet, and I LOVE to look, but it's not really economical. I do like the 9 foot ceilings throughout the house, but again, 8 foot is probably more economical. If you are going to use any tile, make sure it's ceramic. No vinyl crap. I suggest contracting it out yourself and plan on saving half the cost a contractor would charge you. Ask around for good plumbers, masons, framers, etc. Make sure you get on the waiting list ASAP! Do cleanup yourself. Save some money. Probably some more, but that's all that come to mind right now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widowmaker Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? I just moved in back in july. I made my big garage door 18' wide and the standard is 16 and I made it a foot taller for the bigger vehicles( also did this on the third garage door...9' wide and taller). I put studs horizontally between each stud out in the garage at 5' and 7' high before they drywalled so that i had a good anchor for cabinets. Also put stud reinforcements up in the corners of the windows so that when you hang curtains there is wood to nail into. Put half bath sink and toilet in the utility room off of the hall that came in from the garage so that my boys and i don't have to go all the way through the house to go!! I nailed in outlet boxes and ran my satelite wire down through the wall before the drywallers came in so that I would not have holes through brand new carpet. Looks nice when all you have to do is plug into the wall.(I did this in all the rooms). I could go on and on!! Hopes this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? We are contracting out the foundation/plumbing and framing/roofing. But the rest we will do ourselves. You guys are giving me great advice, thanks!!! We ARE having the master bedroom and guest bedroom/office on the first floor. The boys' bedrooms and gameroom will be upstairs. The living room ceiling will extend all the way up to the 2nd floor ceiling with the gameroom balcony looking down in to the livingroom. ( Gotta have plenty of wall space for the deer mounts.) There will be NO carpet in this house. Only wood floors and tile. And there will be an island/breakfast bar in the kitchen. Ummmmm..........no garage on this house. There is a detached carport though. I'll look for a similar floor plan and see if I can post the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan_Til_I_Die Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? I really like the "on demand" type of water heaters instead of the old tank type. Make sure the kitchen sink and dishwasher are next to each other. Pay attention to the location of the refrigerator. Make sure you have room to fully open the door and still walk past. Use a darker color grout (if you can) on your tile. Much easier to keep it clean looking. Put your electrical outlets at least 16 inches above the floor. Put A LOT of outlets in the kitchen, family room and around the computer or entertainment areas. Run Cat 5e or Cat 6 wiring for your phones and put a jack in every room, including the bathrooms. It will only add about a hundred dollars to the final cost, but your entire house will then be wired for broadband. Don't daisy chain the wires, pull a separate run for each room from the central wiring closet. If you put in ceiling fans, put the fan motor and the light on separate switches and put a dimmer switch in for each. Trust me on this one, you'll love it! And finally, hallways are the biggest waste of space ever. Try to design them completely out or minimize them as best you can. Hope this helps. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? [ QUOTE ] But the rest we will do ourselves. [/ QUOTE ] LOL...good luck with that! If I ever build again...it will ALL be subbed out. Prepare to have arguments you never thought were possible! Couple of things that come to my mind... Our house is all hardwood floors (3/4" tongue and groove) and ceramic in the bathrooms and kithen. 1. Put 4X8 sheets of cement board over top of your subfloors where your going to have tile. Try to lay it so the seems don't go lenght wise with your floor joists...this will prevent your tile and joints from cracking if you take anything heavy acrossed the floors. My buddy didn't do this and rolled his gun safe acrossed his kithen floor...the floor cracked every 4 feet...all the way acrossed the kithen, mortar and tiles! 2. I wish I would have put a "doggy" tub in the basement to bath the dogs. Be sure to leave a drain in the basement floor to allow for the doggy shower if you have pets. 3. We put radiant infloor heat in. With no carpet, your floors will be cold. This is much more expensive than a forced air heater.....but I wouldn't change that for nothing. 4. We put over head lights in all the rooms, and since I love ceiling fans...we put a ceiling fan with 3 lights in every room. 1 in the kithen, 2 in the great room, 1 in each spare bedroom, master bed room and 1 in the basement/game room. I would highly recommend hiring someone to finish your hardwood floors....I tried sanding and polying myself...ended up hiring someone to resand and finish the great room floor. Not bad in smaller rooms...but a big room isn't easy. We were going to use rough cut to trim out the windows (log house) but figured that would be a pain in the butt to dust after time. Plan on things taking longer than you expect and costing more than you expect and be nice to the inspectors! Good luck and keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? Here it is: House plans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? Sent you an email KirkV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirkV Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? I replied to you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? keep it simple and one level, you dont want to be climbing stairs when you are old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilhunter1986 Posted March 16, 2006 Report Share Posted March 16, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? big and brown such as a log cabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? [ QUOTE ] keep it simple and one level, you dont want to be climbing stairs when you are old [/ QUOTE ] Unfortunately if we went with 1 level then we would have to shrink the square footage. Because we have a couple of old oaks that we do not want to cut down. And a 3000 square foot home would be too wide if it were one level. Besides, our bedroom is on the first floor anyway. When we get old and decrepid, we'll just stay downstairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntinsonovagun Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? Whatever you do, contract the drywall out!!! These guys are fast and it's not that expensive!!! Trust me...drywall is NOT fun to hang! I suggest putting carpet in the living room or something...sure is nice to lay on the floor occasionally to watch TV. One more thing....invest in an airless sprayer. $300 for the sprayer will save you an unbelievable amount of time and money. One of the best investments ever made... My parents painted the ceilings the same color as the walls (most of which are tope in color). Really looks nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? [ QUOTE ] Whatever you do, contract the drywall out!!! These guys are fast and it's not that expensive!!! Trust me...drywall is NOT fun to hang! I suggest putting carpet in the living room or something...sure is nice to lay on the floor occasionally to watch TV. One more thing....invest in an airless sprayer. $300 for the sprayer will save you an unbelievable amount of time and money. One of the best investments ever made... My parents painted the ceilings the same color as the walls (most of which are tope in color). Really looks nice. [/ QUOTE ] We have a friend that does that for a living. He will probably be the person that does it. But I don't want a lot of sheetrock. I would LOVE to have pine walls in the living room. Or juniper. We are going to put cypress in the game room. And something else I just thought of........I bet having the walls of the closets lined with cedar would smell GREAT. HSOG, do you have pics of your parents' home?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntinsonovagun Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? I'll try to get Dad to send me some, or I plan on running there this weekend (to pick up my new used HOYT Vtec!!!!!!). I'll try to get some pictures, just for you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VtBowhunter Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? Sub it ALL out.......your relationship with your hubby will be thankful later......and make sure you go over the plans a million times so you're sure you're getting exactly what you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbeck Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Re: Building a house.....any advice? Let me desing your Kitchen, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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