Rob, some things to consider.
1. Since you are going to finish the 3rd floor later, get as much material up there now as you can afford. You don't have to install it now, just get it up there so you don't have to haul it through the house later on. My niece is finishing her 2nd floor now, and the workers are really making a mess hauling all the materials through her living room, and up the stairs.
2. Get the pipes that run from the a/c compressor to the condensor installed now. They will be almost impossible to install later on. Also, make sure you allow room for a seperate heating/cooling unit to sit in the new area (this is asuming you are not installing one large enough to condition that area now).
3. If the 3rd floor will eventually have a bathroom, or anything that uses water, get those pipes installed now. Installing them later on means tearing into the downstairs walls later, which just adds to the expense and mess. This is happening to my niece now. One wall that had to be torn into had wall paper on it, and the wallpaper is out of print, so the entire wall will have to be re-papered. Good thing only one wall had paper on it, otherwise the entire room would have to be re-papered.
4. Also, if there will be a bathroom on the 3rd floor, get the waste stack that runs through the bottom floors insulated to deaden the sound. Better builders will use cast iron running between the floors as it is not as noisy as plastic. The cast iron is usually converted to plastic somewhere in the crawl space or basement.
Also, make sure the vent for the waste is run so it will not be in the way of future rooms on the 3rd floor. In my niece's house, the original plumbers took the shortest route available which ended up being in the middle of one of the rooms on the 2nd floor. It is tough to re-route once the ceiling below is finished (and expensive).
5. If you can afford it, get the electrical boxes set, and wires run to them now. If you can't afford it, get large electrical conduit run to the electrical panel now. Again, trying to do this later on will mean more walls that have to be torn into on the lower floors. What a lot of people do is install a 2nd breaker box in the unfinished area, and run the wires from the main box to the unfinished box during construction, but not connected.
6. If you think you need 2 or 3 electrical conduits running from the 3rd floor to the basement, add a couple of extra. We never know what the future will bring, so having extra conduit already installed in the walls is good insurance.
7. Plan on a minimum of 10% overrun on costs. Most builders only allow a minimum allowance for plumbing and lighting fixtures, carpet, tile, etc. This is done to keep the price down. When it comes time for the wife to pick out toilets, tubs, carpet, tile, etc they usually will not be satisfied with the bargain basement stuff the builder has allowed for, and will want more expensive items installed. If your wife is like mine, once she is in the store and compares the 'builders standard' products to the other products, she will always exceed the budget.
8. Check your stairways to see if there is any way to take advantage of the unused space under them. Many stairs waste a lot of space, and it is very inexpensive to add a couple of cabinet doors to take advantage of this space for storage. It is much less expensive to frame for this now even if you cover it up with sheetrock, and come back later and add the doors.
9. Photograph each wall and ceiling in each room before the insulation goes up. This is very important for future reference. I took some scrap paper and labeled the measurements of each of the studs in large letters so the measurements would show up in the pictures. It is very important to know exactly where the extra conduit pipes are, as well as the plumbing pipes. If you have a digital camera you should be able to add text to the picture to show the measurements or dimesions.
10. Get extra blocking added over and beside the windows at the top for hanging window treatments. This will make it much easier in the future when the wife decides she wants something different that will require moving the current curtain/blind hangers.
11. Get extra blocking added to the studs in the rooms where you expect to hang pictures or mirrors. There is usually enough scrap lumber around so that this will not be very expensive, especially if you and the wife do it on the weekends. Tricky part is knowing how high to place them. I used some scrap pieces of 2x10 between the 2x4 studs on the interior walls. Also did this with scrap 2x8 where I thought we might want to install chair rail in the future.
12. If the budget allows, consider hiring a licensed home inspector or general contractor to inspect the work periodically. I'm a licensed general contractor and licensed home inspector in NC, and do a lot of this. One of my recent clients lived in NY and was having a house built in Apex, NC. I managed the construction for him, and each week sent him several emails with pictures of the progress being made, as well as gave him suggestions to consider.
13. In the family room or den, get extra electrical outlets added on the wall where the tv will be. I put extra outlets on this wall, as well as made them 4 outlets vs the standard 2. When you consider all the stuff we need to plug in for an entertainment center (tv, stereo, vcr, clock, cd player, etc) It is better to have extra and not need them than not have enough. Also, ensure these are on seperate circuits.
14. Which ever room you will be using for your PC, get extra electrical outlets installed there as well. By the time we plug in a PC, Printer, Monitor, Fax machine, scanner, etc it is very easy to use up all available outlets. Here again, make these dedicated circuits with double outlets vs dual outlets.
15. It is also a good idea to install extra outlets on the wall where the head of the bed will be. Here again, with electric blankets, telephones, lamps, clocks, etc it is very easy to use up all available outlets. Much cheaper to plan ahead than to come back later and try to do it.
16. If you ever plan to have a central vacuum system, install the piping during framing. The PVC for this is inexpensive and quite easy to do. Again, you and the wife could probably do this over a weekend at little to no expense. Don't forget to run wiring along with the pipes.
That's about it for now. If you have questions, feel free to contact me. Good luck on your house.
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Edited by rlk on 12/08/01 07:33 PM (server time).</FONT></P>
