New House Tips please

chim · Oct 26, 2003

We did many of the things that were mentioned here. For curtain blocking at windows we used horizontal 12" rips of plywood to at least 16" beyond the sides of the openings. On the 3-wide door (one hinged with one on each side) the blocking goes out two stud spaces for drapes.

2" PVC to the attic got used before we nicked the first wall.

Halls and stairs are 4' wide Makes life easier.

We boxed out a space in the wall of the second floor hall so the wall-mopunted phone would be back past flush with the wall.

Used attic trusses and a real stair to the attic over the main house. That gives us a 12' X 30' floor for accumulating things we shoud trash.

One thing we didn't do was use a manifold system for plumbing. That's something we'll do if we build again. It would allow me, for example, to turn off the cold side of the faucet on my sink in the master bedroom without losing water antywhere else. Everything is home-run to the bank of valves in the basement..........................chim

cbh · Oct 26, 2003

Just a thought, but if you will be in your home a long time, perhaps a lifetime, then a single floor design is probably easier on the body. Just think of how many times you'll be climbing those stairs!

heehaw · Oct 26, 2003

i thought anderson windows had a life time warranty??
heehaw

Junkman · Oct 26, 2003

So did I until I ran into the problem and they said ..... read the warranty.... It is a limited warranty on all of their products. 20 years on glass and 10 years on the rest of the window. I think that the reason that I have had so much trouble getting replacements is that ALL of the Andersen tri pane windows have a much higher failure rate that any of their other products. I was told, that there was a class action suit in one of the state, I think Wisconsin, and that they settled it by making the glass a lifetime replacement item for the tri pane windows. I have never been able to get any information on this other than the reported rumor. If anyone here knows of this settlement, or any other, please let me know. Thanks Junkman /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

AndyM · Oct 26, 2003

I second that! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Take lots of pictures!

We bought our digital camera right when we started building our house. Take pictures of EVERYTHING!!!

We probably have about 2000 pictures of our "adventure", taken at every angle of every step along the way.

You never know when something will come back to haunt you later or if you will have to sue the builder for something later on. When you see something wrong and the builder tells you they will fix it, don't take their word for it, take pictures, as you might need them for proof later on.

The first first thing our builder did was put in a driveway to get to the house. They ripped out my brand new culvert along the ditch at the road and put their own in...

...The next nine months continued on about the same way.

Also, aquire more patience than you have now. It gets really frustrating when the builder tells you the breakdown of everything they're going to do on the house that week, and then you don't see anyone for 2 weeks!

Now that it's all over, we generally have a nice house. There's some things that didn't turn out as nice as promised or expected, but it's done and I'm never building a house or moving again. The next move I make will be to the cemetery!

Rule number two-- get EVERYTHING in writing. The builder we picked used a 22 page contract, spelling everything out specifically. They still didn't follow things in it and had to go back and chage things after I pointed them out to them (see culvert story above). We looked at one builder that had their contract on the front and back of ONE piece of paper-- we kept moving to the next builder. After all, it is the single largest amount of money you're ever going to pay for something during your lifetime. Get all the details spelled out specifically...

Oh yeah, one more thing! When the CFO says she wants a 2 story house because it "looks" nicer, overrule her, because it get real old climbing those stairs every day! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

_RaT_ · Oct 26, 2003

Your comment bout the 2 story and the part about getting old real fast is the way I feel. There are many other problems associated with two stories as well. Some 2 stories look better, most tend to take on a look of a tract house for me anymore as that is all the tract houses are. I would like to really keep ours at one level and have 9 to 10 foot ceilings. Here in California it makes all the sense in the world to go with large overhangs. When I was back in Maine building a home for a family memeber, we had very little. For sun and weather protection, it's a great way to go. As TresCrows mentioned, some of the new flooring ideas are great. Stained concrete and real stone or tile over woods and laminates. Not that woods or laminate are bad, but the maintainance is so little on the very durable concrete, stone and tile. Some things are very geographic specific. Here in Northern California, it makes a lot of sense to use evaporative cooling to do the bulk of the summer cooling. A fraction of the price and there are some sophisticated systems today. There are evaporative pads that are 12" thick. In humid climates, they are not going to work. An idea I liked was a home that had a semi commercial stove with a faucet designed to fill big pots right at the stove. It was well setup. I will be looking into going with PEX for all the hot and cold water plumbing.

Inspector507 · Oct 26, 2003

We didn't build this house, but bought it with the long term in mind. One floor plan and a room that could be used for a first floor laundry later on. That way when we get to old or feeble /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif, we'll just more or less shut off the basement. May have to go down to service the softner and iron filter, but thats what sons will be for /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Jerry

Pigeon · Oct 26, 2003

( I will be looking into going with PEX for all the hot and cold water plumbing. )

I think the PEX piping is well worth investigating. It has been in use in my area (NE Oklahoma) for approx 10 years. I am a plumbing contractor, and have not seen any problems associated with it. I personally took a wait-and-see approach to it, partly because of the problems (NIGHTMARES) associated w/ polybutelene piping. I,ve been using Pex for about 2 years and am sold on it for residential applications.

I reccomend if building on concrete slab to install PVC conduit underslab to pull PEX through. If you were to ever have a leak, you would be able to repair it much easier.

BrettW · Oct 26, 2003

What is PEX piping, never heard of it. thanks, brett w

CTyler · Oct 26, 2003

( Have you decided what your internet access is going to be? )

Hi, I think we are going with Huntel's DSL service and see how that works out. I'm current ly in NW Omaha aprox 132 & Fort and using Cox . The new house on P33 just a 1 1/2 outside of Blair. Its' actually Washington County however its' within Blair City jurisdiction.