make sure the washer in the upstairs laundry is sitting in a pan with drain,

that was not in the code when we build, and a $1 valve broke,,
flooded half my downstairs

Nice lot.

I lived a few years in Westminster - with a view of the Mount as well.

You will enjoy it there. (although Lancaster in nice as well)

Okay some more answers...

Security, yes we will need to think about that. It is a very small and safe town and not a location you'd expect thieves. But that doesn't mean anything. I'm thinking we will go wireless on that. But it's something to think about now.

Laundry, on a tub. Yes good point. I hadn't thought of it as I've never had upstairs laundry. I will get a tub to put it on once I know the size of the laundry.

The address on the pics: Not the actual house number on that pic since Google doesn't know a house is being put there yet. But you guys are welcome to come over. I ordered this bad boy to start doing some big BBQs this summer...


Lone Star Grillz




Lastly: Graniteguy: Thanks! It is really nice. I loved Lancaster but I was just in an apartment. I'm with my girlfriend in Leominster for a few months while our house is built.

Take lots and lots of pictures of each wall, interior and exterior, as the trades are installing things that will eventually be behind drywall. When I was a carpenter we did this and gave the new owner basically an owners manual of their home with ex ray views into the walls to know where everything was. As fixtures are being installed, try to keep as much of the paperwork as you can for warranty and part number information.

If you are considering a pool in the future- run an electric line and a water line now.
Propane for hot water, generator, surface range and Clothes Dryer.
Moving right along and weather is cooperating.
Look at solar incentives-state and federal incentives are pretty good.

You're having a house built in three months in the Winter? That's amazing...most of our houses (which are bigger) take anywhere from 9-12 months...

If I can make one suggestion I understand that the MBDRM will be above the garage. This usually creates cold floors and the best way to fix that would be to spray foam on the underside of the subfloor instead of installing batt insulation there.

Either way good luck! It looks like you'll have a great view.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
...

Security, yes we will need to think about that. It is a very small and safe town and not a location you'd expect thieves. But that doesn't mean anything. I'm thinking we will go wireless on that. But it's something to think about now.

If you can, set up the alarm system to all the windows and doors with hard-wires. Even if you do not install the system itself, I'd hard-wire everything.

I'd suggest the following for the window sensors (or something similar). Click here

I'd put them on the top and bottom sashes. They make similar switches for doors. I like these better since they are hidden.

I think this is would be very low cost for you to have done, but I'm not sure.

I would hard wire CAT 5 or 6 cable to all the rooms. Wireless has problems, inc:
Easy to tap into, EMF concerns, and usually slower and spotty compared to wired. You may think it is safe, however I worked in mechanical/electrical work for 30 years and now work in health care. I guarantee you it is not safe. A few years down the road people will wake up to the health hazards. Cigarettes were considered safe in 1940, but now?

You can buy software where someone can sit in a car outside your house, and if you have Comcast they can listen to your phone conversations. Even if you are hard wired, if one person comes in with a laptop that has wireless, this software will allow a user to listen in.

when you get closer to cabinets and have any questions don't hesitate to contact me 33 years owning my own cabinet shop, would be happy to help out.

Extra electric outlets where you think you might need them. Especially in the garage. Oversize the garage if at all possible as well. We did ours 3' extra in both directions.
Also put a piece of PVC under the drive and capped it off so that I could easily run electrical if needed without having to damage the drive (concrete). Of course my idiot contractor managed to put one end of that under the sidewalk. Couldn't understand why I had an issue with that.
Learn to love the term "that'll cost ya extra".

It's great seeing the progress photos.

Thanks for all the advise guys. I do want to say that this is going to be done in March and all the upgrades have been ordered. We are at the top of the budget now and won't be adding anything more. We may be able to make small changes as it goes.

I will have some added electric in the garage (good idea, thanks).

Here's some more updates...

The foundation has been poured and the ground filled for the floor to be put in. The floor will likely be poured tomorrow just before they start framing.

Front of the house, you can see the propane line. It is very small for the amount of propane I think we need. I guess propane doesn't need as much as NG as far as supply line size? We will have water heater, propane range, propane heat and propane to the deck for the grill.





Propane tank (to be buried)



Main living area



Septic tank is in.



Garage



Back of the house, you can see the 3 footings for the deck (12 X16 deck)



Back of the house Kitchen




Kitchen layout. The left of the island will have an overhang also that isn't in the picture (we corrected that with the builder today). That side that is open will be to the eat in area and the living room in front of the house.



Cabinets will be white, but island cabinets will be Espresso.

Beautiful view, nice progress and it looks like a great job on the foundation- the last place you want to skimp. Thank you for sharing this with us!

Looks like it's going to be a great home! Congrats!

Consider running hot and cold water spigots into the garage if you can. Makes for convenient car washing and other chores, etc.

that is really nice looking stone for the kitchen

If you are hanging TV's on walls, think about where you need power. I suspect builders are still accustomed to putting outlets at the bottom of walls, rather than mid wall behind where the TV will go.

I ran conduit from a TV wall into an adjacent closet, where all of my AV equipment is housed.

Nice. There's something to be said about building your own house and having everything exactly the way you like it. It looks like it's going to be an awesome house. 3 months seems very optimistic on the build time though.

XLT: I can’t see the drawings very good on my phone. But the 69 inch wall has the oven microwave combo not the fridge. The slider to the deck will be next to it so it can’t be bigger. Fridge is on opposite long wall. Cabinets are ordered so nothing I can change about the corners. I’m assuming they put what worked with the kitchen layout. There are a ton of cabinets so I’m not concerned about space.

The house will be done in March. I’m not worried about that. The builder is top notch. I’m 1 week we got footings, foundation, septic, propane. Framing starts today.

quote:

Originally posted by steve495:

If you can, set up the alarm system to all the windows and doors with hard-wires. Even if you do not install the system itself, I'd hard-wire everything.

This is great advice. It is so simple to run the wires while the other wiring is installed. The only sensors we ever have trouble with are the wireless ones. Things will be great for the first three or four years, then, as the batteries begin to go, your alarm will go off in the middle of the night. Use commercial door contacts for your overhead garage doors. Think about where you might want to put security cameras in the future, and rough in power and Cat 7 wire to those locations. People will tell you do not need a wired network. Wire it in anyway, and choose the fastest wire you can afford. Do that, and you will be future-proofed for 10+ years.

Some images from the past 2 days of framing...

2 days ago..
Front of house




Back of house



Back of house inside basement




Today, not as close. Girlfriend did a drive by (she has had 2 nails the tires from parking on the lot so we will park on the street from now on.