Building a new house - what's a couple of your "must haves"?

[boovan]

For the sake of everyone, WE WANT PICS, when said house is done. So, that we can all see what our ideas looked like, all in one place

[teul2]

Lots of great suggestions.
Heated floors in the bathroom are the best thing we did in our remodel. Fairly cheap with the do it your self kits at lowes too. Rain shower and a bench is the way to go also.

Home wish list,
hidden, secure, under ground room (like the container idea) for storage (guns safes etc) with a vault door (the prepper in me coming out I guess)
Big mud room
Huge deck with outdoor kitchen that shares a wall with the kitchen
backup generator
Attic fan
outdoor game cleaning area with hot and cold water in my big commercial stainless sink.

All this sitting on a few hundred acres.

[TODO]

Sounds like you have everything nailed down . . . If i built and could afford it i really like the screened in porch with kitchen and fireplace, the big shower, and the cypress ceilings. My father in law just built one with vaulted cypress ceilings and it looks awesome. He also put them in the garage and that looks sharp too. I would put in a circle drive if you have room. I see folks building nice houses around here with hardly any room to park. Doesnt make sense to me.

Also, i know a couple of folks with indoor grilling rooms. You take a room, put a big vent a hood in it, and you can grill indoors all you want.

[crow]

Man, Seymore, what are the odds that one of them will have PMS at any given time?!

[WeBeJeepin]

Automatic sprinkler system to water the Money Tree

[Denduke]

+1 On concrete walk in vault, secureable, vented, yet incorporated into de house inconspicuously

[4dawgma]

I like those toilet seats and drawers you can't slam. And if it hadn't been mentioned, outside plugs for electric and 2 or 3 plugs in the shop for 220.

[the tree]

floored attic with enough headroom for standing and accessible by stairs.

[Smoke68]

As stated previously, gutters. And tie them into a french drain system in the usable parts of the lawn. Nothing worse than soggy backyards. I should know.

[Johnboy114]

lots of good ideas...I just got done (year ago in week) with mine which was a total renovation/addition to older home...few things I either love or wish I had done
1. Access doors to all plumbing whenever possible (I.e. showers and tubs)
2. go with the closed cell foam insulation. Not only is it incredible on your energy bill, but when done correctly it will add 300% racking strength to your house as you are essentially gluing it together. (insurance companies in Alabama and Florida are realizing this and are starting to give insurance breaks when this is done in a home). If you build with a 2x6 wall as I would strongly suggest, only put an inch of the SFI in the walls, and then just put regular batt insulation over this. You achieve the Rvalue at a fraction of the cost and reap the benefits of the SFI. Put 3” to the bottom of the roof deck. Check around and get a few prices. New thing for the SFI is to add an insecticide to the mixture to deter termites. This is not just a fad, this is proven building science, and it is better.
3. Go with an AC guy that will calculate the tonnage you need, based on the construction methods (type of insulation, window sizes etc) biggest is not best.
4. deck your attic before you run electrical or plumbing.
5. install 4’ florescent lights in the attic as well
6. Drawers instead of cabinet doors in the kitchen. This is huge. You end up with usable space instead of an area you just shove things in to. Also, we love our appliance cabinets – keeps the countertops open.
7. Make the laundry room as large as you can, install cabinets with countertops and a sink in there.
8. Mudroom with benches and hooks above.
9. a good pocket door saves a lot of space.
10. Florescent lighting in closets
11. If you have natural gas available, use it. Or atleast have it roughed in so you have an option in the future to switch to it.
12. outdoor kitchen, if you can afford to do it, atleast rough it in so you can one day. Rough in the sanitary sewer, and water. Get the electrical you would need to the eave of the house so you just grab it when you decide to do it.
13. put sound insulation in all of your interior walls.
14. make your eaves at least 18”.
15. dimmer switches are a good thing.
16. order your nice light fixtures from online sources…can save a lot of money . A lot.
17. flood lights at all the corners –
18. door in your bedroom that goes to the exterior –
19. if you have an alarm system, put a keypad in your bedroom.
20. go with a quiet dishwasher and disposal.
21. French door refrigerators with freeze on the bottom are the real deal.
22. if you have a deep freeze put it on the circuit that the lights in that room are on…you will know right away if the breaker has been tripped…
23. if you cant afford the generator, go ahead and rough in for it, minimal cost there…
I am sure I have other ones but that’s whats on the top of my mind… if you have any questions shoot me a PM…good luck. Also, don’t spend to much money.

[BAY KINGFISHER]

Like natural gas for cooking, inline gas water heater (Renaii...sp), shower /toilet in mud room, also, if yall cook a lot, like I do, get yourself a pot filler.

[eSJay]

not sure if it's been mentioned or that i've seen it in person, but in my mind, access to a toilet from outside would be outstanding!

[rjohnson]

Second whoever said build the garage 4' wider and deeper than you think you will need but I would say go 10' bigger all around so if you ever add in base cabinets (-2' right there) you still have plenty of room. Especially useful if the women folk have parking issues you should always still have room. For the boater in me I would love to have a pull through garage on my next house so I don't have to back a boat in the garage. Could tie it into a circular drive assuming you have the room for it. Also second pulling Cat6 wires to every room. I would put at least two data jacks in each room, two behind each tv, one behind frigde (sooner than later they will need one just watch), a couple under each set of cabinets for appliances in the future and computers now, a couple in your screened in porch area, etc. Basically just put the suckers everywhere. Hell of a lot easier plugging a device in as opposed to configuring wireless and hoping you have enough signal for it work correctly.

[Roach]

Add nice faux brick skirts after tires are removed.
Old Camaro or Ford P/U with hood removed in the edge of the woods.
different colored 55 gal drums for garbage cans

[the tree]

With regards to Roach's comment, toss some old tires on roof and plant cactus beds outside all windows.