Ideas for new contruction

That's it, what things would you guys put in a new build house?

Pre-wire for sorround sound & security system? Lighting and electrical outlets in the crawl & attic? Interior switched exterior outlets? 2x6 exterior walls? Geothermal heat & cooling?

What are some things/extras that you guys might build into a new place?

 

Some of my personal preferences (some learned from my last house purchase): 20 amp circuits (wired with 12 ga wire) for all outlets. No lights on outlet circuits. At least 4 outlet circuits at kitchen counters. Three or 4 way switches (as required) at all entrances of rooms for overhead lights. Surge (lightning) protection in the main breaker box. Copper plumbing, medium or heavy grade. Geothermal heating/cooling and 2x6 walls make good sense. Extra storage room. Steel roofing. Low maintenance siding. Good quality double pane windows. Good quality storm doors (solid wood interior, not particle board). More storage room than you might think you need. Quality flooring (not carpet--that is hard on allergies). Good quality cabinets (not particle board). Provisions for a back-up electrical generator. Did I mention plenty of storage room?

 

Thermally break the 2x6 exterior walls by using 1" exterior styrofoam sheeting over the plywood. , hyrdonically heated concrete over framing , no potlights in the insulated ceilings

 

Air to water heat pump for the hydronic heating system which provides domestic hot water preheat

Woodstove with interior masonary chimney

 

Biggest thing personally I would do would be having the ENTIRE house prewired on all walls for power, TV, and internet. Put a big router in the main breaker room that can have each internet leg controlled individually. (So they can be on timer or blocked) and also have the living room set up so that you can get surround sound from any wall. You can do this automatically on some systems which can individually change which speaker is which internally.

Also I like the idea of 2X6 exterior wall studs, a 3 car garage, and state-of-the-art kitchen.

 

Wheres the new house going?

Consideration of climate should drive ideas.

 

Thanks guys, please keep the thoughts coming.

It'll be built near Oxford, Mississippi.

I have the ground and I'm making progress on getting it paid off (which I want before I start on the new house). So, I'm in the early planning stage.

I'm kinda thinking a single level (for when I get old or if my parents end up staying with me), 3 bed, 3.5 bath (full bath in each bedroom), 2.5 to 3 car attached & finished garage with between 2,000 & 2,400 square feet of living space (excluding porches & garage). Walk in closets in each bedroom. Hardwood floors except wet areas where I would put in ceramic. Plenty of porch area both screened & not.

I'd like to compile a "wish list" and then wittle it down based on my need/want/budget considerations. I don't wanna have a "damn why didn't I think of that sooner" moment. That's why I'm fishing for ideas now.

Again thanks for throwing some thoughts my way.

 

sex dungeon

 

No copper pipes! I grew up on house with those and we ended up switching over to all PVC because of oxidation issues with the copper... Same thing that happens to a pennies if left to get wet, and if you wanna know what that water tastes like go suck on a pennie (but clean it first..lol)

 

2x6 exterior walls would be awesome and would allow you to stuff plenty of insulation in there.

If you like to grill and run a gas grill - I had my contractor run a gas line to my back patio and bought a natural gas grill. Always hooked up and don't have to worry about refilling an LP tank. It's nothing major but is one of my favorite aspects of my house.

Another small thing I like is I have extended height bathroom sinks. I'm 6'2 and it makes it nice having a little more height at the sink.

 

I'm in the process of a build now, and theres a lot of great ideas here in this thread already. My house is 1650 sq ft on main floor with a full basement which will have the laundry room, extra bathroom, utility room, storage room, extra bedroom and a tv room. I have a attached garage thats 24x22, and another 26x18 in the back yard. I am no putting in any land line phone, internet cabling, or cable for tv's. Seems like a waste of time now, with everything going wireless. My gf and I both just use iphones, and use wireless internet and smart tv's. Everything we watch on tv is in the itunes store or netflix. My exterior walls are 2x6. For heat I am using a 3.5 ton air to air heat pump with 15kW aux heating source, and will also have a 50,000 btu propane fireplace in the living room. Make sure you have lots of outlets in the walls, and go with LED lighting. Theres so many ways to customize everything now too, basically if you can think it, it can be done.

 

all depends on your water

 

Seriously gents , 1" styrofoam over the exterior walls will be your greatest improvement as far as insulation goes , even changing from 2x4 to 2x6 construction won't gain you as much although I would do 2x6 and the exterior styro here as 2x6 walls meet our R20 exterior insulation code

 

GAS grill? Those words are dangerous in the south. lmao.

 

Nice big screened in patio.

 

I've designed a lot of customs over the years and have seen a lot of them with revisions during construction and then the later retro fits.

Prewire the SHIT out of the house. As much wireless crap that is on the market you can't go wrong for hard wiring everything. I'm talking cat5 in every room and yes the bathroom along with coax. pre wire alarms. 220 for a welder in the garage. 220 in the rear of the house for hot tub. gas line to the rear of the house. out door bbq/kitchen with electrical, cat5 and coax.

love wet bars in homes and of course the movie theater.

storage, linen and coat closets, can never have enough

 

Agree on the prewire , we run 2 Cat5E and 2 Coax to each " media " recepticle in the houses I build

 

Exterior hot water faucet at driveway for washing cars.

 

also sink in the garage

 

another thing if you have the option... placement of house in relation to the sun, nothing worse than sun bearing down on you in the summer as you are grilling out or having a get together.