Designing your own home

My father built the house i grew up in and i've always said i wanted to design my own home for the future. One day when the time is right i could possibly build out the home i took my time to design and do how it how i want. I've recently just started to put some real thought into it and have decided to begin on what i would like in my designs.

I've started for now with:
Ranch style home, including basement, 2 car garage, walk in closets, walk in pantry with the kitchen bar looking over the living room area.

Any fellow TW members build/put in design on your home? What luxurys did you find benefitial to your needs and what some stuff you dislike?

 

@OZ-T

This guy will have some good input.

There's another thread, similar, I put on here a few years ago asking basically the same.

ON EDIT: Added link.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ideas-for-new-contruction.306475/

 

Top of my list is low maintenance. Which means materials like stucco and stone.

 

I bought some software from these guys:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/

I mess around with it a bit.

Better yet, a real architect bought an acreage south of our land last year, and asked permission to access our trails. I intend to cultivate that relationship.


I'm curious about insulated concrete forms, too.

http://www.armca.ca/about-homes-built-with-icf-walls

 

I did this 3 years ago. After deciding we were not going to find plans we liked we drew up our own. Tape on the driveway to help figure out room sizes and such. After we got it close called on an architect to make it work. That is the important part as there has to be room for all the systems. One of the questions is how long you plan to stay in this house. Ours we plan to retire in. This drove alot of the design choices from door size to room/door layout. I even acted as the general contractor with help from the architect. Then I got to clean up every day and write the checks. PM me if you want any more input.

 

My wife and I designed and built our home. I was 28 (1996) when we started building, it took 2 plus years. Idk what type of septic service or water supply you will have but we have no public septic or water, that being said if you have your own septic system oversisize it. If you have a well make sure the power cord to the pump is sleeved in PVC.
Foundation: foundation walls should be minimum 9'-6" clearance from concrete to bottom of 1st floor joist
Electrical: have more than the amount 'minimum code requires' of receptacles.
Each room should have a home run to the breaker panel
Install exterior receptacle on every side of house
Plumbing: On Demand water heater
Use P-traps with clean outs
Install all vents through the rear roof (non visible side of roof from road)
High quality exhaust fans in every bathroom ( most important item in your house!)
Install drain lines in basement floor before pouring concrete (future basement finish)
Install exterior hose bib on every side of house at minimum 2' above finish grade
Framing: 2 x 6 exterior walls
All doors (exception of closets) should be 3'-0" minimum and 4.5" minimum from corner including closets.
Stairway 3'-6"w minimum
Install plywood in attic prior to rafters
Garage doors 9'w x 8'h (the only item on this list I did not do and regret it!)
Keyed dead bolt both sides on every exterior door (most likely against code but I installed regardless)

Well OP, that's about all I have for you. I'm sure you'll get many more tips on here, from reading most of the garage and workshop threads there are quite a few quality craftmen on this site.
Good luck with your home.

 

When I get in a position to build I will design my own floorpans combining multiple houses that I like.
My parents are currently trying to design their own place, but only because they are limited (Until they decide they want a house separate of their shop) to a 39'x40' footprint.

The only advice I can give is get a good computer software that lets you see the plan in plan view and 3D view.

 

Jesus, strap in... It's gonna be a HUGE learning experience. In a good way

 

www.homestyler.com is a good site for designing a home

 

I'm an Electrican and have wired a few customs homes. There's lots of decisions that go into building your own custom home. Most of these can seem overwhelming at times. If you have a wife, let her make most of the decisions otherwise you'll be hearing about it for the rest of your time spent living in the house together.

One of the biggest decisions to make regarding electrical is the lighting. There's many options including pot light, track lights, pendants, wall sconces, etc. If you are going with pot lights I'd recommended going with LED. It will save you money in the long run in your power bill and also not having to change bulbs. Make sure the LED's are dimmable if you want to be able to dim them.
Ideally, it would be best to pick out all of your lights before you start building.

One thing that is widely popular these days is kitchen counter and cabinet lightning. Most are ran off low voltage and LED's are a great choice. The low voltage wiring for this should be installed before the drywall goes on with considerations made for where you want to install the transformer and switching. Your cabinets will have to be picked out and layed out prior to drywall so you that your Electrican knows where to install the wiring.

A lot of people like to install flatscreen TV's above their fireplaces. If you plan on doing this then get your electrician to install a recessed TV box in the wall with a conduit ran in the wall to where you would like a shelf/cabinet to hold your cable and game consoles. This will keep the install clean with no wires showing and no devices clogging up your fireplace mantel.

Some other considerations:

Exterior Christmas light outlets on their own circuit installed in the soffit with a switch in a closet. You can install a programmable timer and set it to turn off and on during the holidays. Another popular thing is installing pot lights in your soffit.

You mentioned a basement. Any plans for a basement suite? If so do you want a dual service with a separate meter for your tenants?

Your garage, will you be using this for a shop? Consideration should be made for receptacles for running any power tools as well as any specially plugs for larger equipment (wood working, welding, etc)
You may also want to consider installing an electric heater in your garage if you plan on spending time working in it during the winter.

Some other questions you should ask yourself (or the wife for that matter) are...

Do you want a centralized vacuum system?

Alarm system? Cameras?

Hot tub, jacuzzi, steam shower?

Air conditioning?

What kind of heating? Central furnace? Electric?

 

Sub'd. In same boat. I have the land and am figuring out what i want. most likely will go with http://www.heritagehomesofne.com/

 

A lot of great info here. I'm currently using that homestyler website listed above. A great tool for free to give yourself a free look into what you are trying to build.

As far as heating, ac, framing, plumbing, etc. I haven't made it that far as of yet. I'm still trying to figure out where, how big, how many rooms i'm going to end up with.

 

Couple of things to think about... We had these done on our house and haven't looked back.

-Geothermal heating/cooling
-Climate-controlled crawlspace without exterior vents as well as 6' clearance - access only through garage
-Spray foam insulation throughout entire house, crawlspace, and attic/rafters. More expensive than fiberglass patches but well worth it for energy savings.
-2x6 studs throughout entire house
-Sliding door "bulkheads" for each wing of the house, helps reduce heating/cooling costs
-LNG stove/fireplace/etc. so they can be used in the event of power outages
-Walk in closet (gun room) with steel-lined walls/ceiling/floor as well as vault-mechanism door
-Fire suppression system for said gun room
-If you're planning on a basement, make it larger than you originally intend and make sure you go overboard on it's drainage system. On our previous house, we put 5' of layered gravel/pebbles underneath the foundation/around all sides as well as a french drain system. Exterior cellar doors are a must IMO.
-Basement LNG/LP fireplace

Some of this might be seen as overkill but you will have a "fortress" that will be able to withstand the test of time.