Ideas for Your Next New Home Build

Here is a list of some really great features and amenities you could consider for your next new home build, or even your existing home.

Electrical

1. Pre-wired for a natural gas generator, roof solar panels and/or a car charger.

2. Separate electrical circuits for a seldom used refrigerator or deep freezer or any other critical device. This will help prevent unnoticed loss of power.

3. Motion activated light fixtures in active rooms such as laundry rooms, closets, and pantries.

4. Pre-installed surveillance camera wiring to all house exterior corners.

5. Pre-installed ceiling speaker and ethernet wiring.

6. Pre-wired low voltage power to each window so that motorized shades can be installed.

7. Pre-installed Conduit from mechanical room into attic. This allows future wires to be easily run through the house.

Plumbing

1. Placing shower valves away from the shower head so you don’t get wet when turning on the shower water.

2. Placing all of your hot water fixtures on a recirculating water pipe loop. This provides for near instant hot water at any fixture.

3. Installing two dishwashers. One on each side of your kitchen sink.

4. Installing radiant heating piping loops in your floors.

5. Installing a floor trench drain in your garage that the adjacent garage floors slope to. This allows cars to be washed inside the garage, or other projects requiring a hose to be completed year round.

6. A laundry room jetted sink. A jetted sink allows pre-washing of stains on laundry.

Energy Efficiency

1. Setting a house blower door test minimum standard for your construction.

2. An exterior “blanket” insulation layer. This is a layer of insulating foam or similar placed over your exterior wall sheathing.

3. Humidity controlled bathroom fans.

4. Bathroom exhaust fans tied to an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) to capture energy from the discharged air stream.

Kitchen

1. Pizza Oven

2. Electrical outlets underneath your upper wall cabinets. Keep the backsplash free from a field of outlets.

3. Cabinet interior accessories. A lot of time gets spent selecting the door faces and colors, but there are so many great accessories that can be fitted inside of these cabinets. Things like utensil organizers, trash can storage drawers, pan organizer slide out drawers, spice racks, slide out wire baskets for sink supplies, etc.

4. Sound system built into the walls and ceilings.

House Quality

1. Consider upgrading to higher quality doors and windows. Not only will they function easier, but they will provide higher levels of energy efficiency.

2. Powered and screened skylights. These are remote operated glass panels that lift vertically and provide a screen between the glass panel and the window frame. They can even remain open when it is raining.

3. Install wood blocking within the wall stud framing at key locations where you may be mounting stairwell handrails, tv mounts, towel racks, heavy cabinets, and bathroom grab bars and towel racks. This wood blocking provides a solid place for the mounting screws to adhere to.

4. A wide front door. A wider door provides for a more grand entrance, but also makes moving large items into and out of the house easier.

5. A garage depth of at least 24 feet and garage overhead doors that are at least 9 feet wide. This is the reasonable minimum required to fit almost any vehicle.

Luxury Features

1. A dedicated shoe drawer cabinet in your mudroom. A place to nicely store (hide) several dozen shoes.

2. Tall ceilings. Minimum 9 foot ceilings in all rooms of your house will make the space feel more grand.

3. A heated driveway and sidewalks. Never shovel snow again!

4. Coffered ceilings. These can be hand built with trim and moldings, or be purchased as pre-fabricated panels.

5. A basement room set up for future conversion to a wine cellar.

6. Sound transmission details. Stop the transmission of sound between rooms with better air sealing and heavier wall material details.

Maintenance Reminder - Sewer Line Inspection

When is the last time you’ve had your main sewer line camera inspected?

If you live in an older home (built before 1980 or so), this maintenance item is especially critical. The equipment to properly camera inspect sewer lines is quite expensive so it makes sense to hire someone to complete this maintenance item.

Having a backed up sewer line is the last thing most homeowners want to deal with. Just imagine not being able to use the fixtures in your home for an extended period of time.

Some of the common sewer line pipe issues include:

1. Collapsed pipe

2. Shifted pipe connections

3. Build-up of debris due to rough pipe surface

4. Tree root intrusion

5. Dip in the pipe causing standing water

Many drain and plumbing companies offer a service to camera inspect your sewer line. This work takes about 2 hours, and should cost between $150 to $350 depending on how hard you search and where you live in the country.

Luxury Home Feature - Urinal In Home Bath

While certainly a bit over the top, having a urinal in your home bathroom makes for a nice home feature.

The cost to install is relatively insignificant to your typical master bathroom build.

The content of this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Always perform your own due diligence before making any financial decisions. There are no sponsors of this newsletter.