quote:

Originally posted by vinnybass:
Plumbing manifold. Like this:

https://rethinkpex.viega1.us/?...ZEAAYASAAEgI0z_D_BwE
This thing has made every plumbing task in my house more manageable. Got a leak? Shut off only the source of the problem & fix it at your leisure without disrupting the water usage throughout the rest of the house.

Lots of benefits to that setup, but there is one major downside. If you have a large home (say 3k square feet), getting hot water to say the shower in the master bedroom on the other side of the house can take forever given every water source is plumbed in a "homerun" configuration. And in this configuration there is no option to run a re-circulation system as was mentioned earlier. With a regular old style "trunk and branch" setup, cracking a faucet in the master bathroom, or even an adjacent bathroom, will charge the entire run with hot water, so when you hop in the shower, hot water is already close.

In a <2k square foot house, there's likely to be little difference in the two setup styles in terms of getting hot water everywhere, so the manifold and homerun setup would win out. Just something else to consider.

I don't think anyone else has mentioned this but put in a fire sprinkler system. It only adds about 1-1.5% of the total cost of the house and can save you dearly in the long run.

geo thermal heating cooling,
my brother did it , it payed for itself in 7 years.

( for he and his wife)

American standard brand Vormax toilet
https://www.americanstandard-u...ongated-toilet-24372

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable, April 26, 2019 12:14 PM

Get a professional surfacing company to coat your garage floor before moving in, fresh clean concrete is the best platform, and having a pro do it will reduce the odds of any imperfections.

Someone else said put a drain in the garage floor, a good idea as well as a commercial/industrial sink (deep sink) so you can clean up in the garage and not track stuff into the house.

quote:

Originally posted by ryan81986:
I don't think anyone else has mentioned this but put in a fire sprinkler system. It only adds about 1-1.5% of the total cost of the house and can save you dearly in the long run.

This is a good idea. There have been four house fires in my neighborhood recently. The houses were total losses. A friend lost two of her young children along with her parents when their house was totally engulfed by fire while they were sleeping.

whole house hepa and u.v. light air filtration

Haven't seen this option yet...Adjacent to the bathroom by the family/great room, a small "water closet" with a urinal and small sink. The benefits during family/social get togethers may well be worth it. A pricey option but a friend added it when he had the option and hasn't regretted it.

Well, this thread is 8 months old, so this might be too late, but...

Give some thought as to where you'll be putting the standalone freezer, and make sure there is a standard outlet there for it, preferably on its own circuit.
The reason I say this is that we put ours in the attached garage next to the steps into the house proper.
Our garage is skimpy on outlets but there is one close by so no problem, right?
Wrong. That one happened to be the first on the circuit from the panel, and it was a GFCI outlet protecting the rest of them.
Well, that outlet went bad, nobody noticed, and I lost a freezer full of food.

How about an update from the OP, now that this thread is back on pg1?

quote:

Originally posted by motor59:
Well, this thread is 8 months old, so this might be too late, but...

I read the whole thread and never once looked at the dates on the posts.... Oh well...it's only time.

quote:

Originally posted by Beanhead:
I question the 2 single garage doors...I like having the larger opening. Now you have 2 openers and 2 doors, springs, etc to maintain.

But add a heater in the garage. Makes winter in the Midwest tolerable.

THIS, a single, double wide garage door is much better. Much easier to get larger cars in and out of...….less to maintain, etc.

Get extra insulation and great windows......

Is pre wire a generator transfer switch. Also, a concrete pad on the side of the house for a generator.

I’d add at least one 240v plug in the garage. Probably half the cars on the road will be electric in 20-25 years or so.

I’d run thicker gauge wire to certain outlets. My wife likes an electric space heater for the bathroom during the winter while she is taking her morning shower. It pulls a lot of watts and heats up the wires. Her hair dryer pulls a lot of energy. In the kitchen, the toaster oven pulls a ton of watts. Would be pretty simple to upgrade those circuits with wire one gauge thicker. If you think you want a hot tub on the back patio it would be a lot easier to wire up now.

I’d also wire all 4 corners to have motion lights.

Preinstalled WiFi extenders wired up and installed, for whole house WiFi.

WiFi and battery backup garage door opener. These are pretty cool. You can open up your garage door remotely via a smart phone ap to let the cleaning lady in or let yourself in the house if you forgot your keys. And it reminds you to close your door if you leave and forget to. Or they can be programmed to close automatically.

I’d drastically oversized the garage if possible. Deeper and wider so it’s easier to park the cars, get out of them without door dings, and for shelving storage racks on the sides.

Smooth plastic tubing running through the walls for future changes of internet and security.
Wireless is not the best and never will be.
Running power to the devices and direct wiring will always be the best option.

Wiring will need to be swapped out with changes in technology, i.e. going from Cat5 to Cat6 cable.

ICF construction= bullet resistance plus super insulating qualities. That plus solar panels and geothermal and you could stay warm all winter even if the electrical grid went out.

We added an in-house vacuum cleaner. It’s lots easier then any drag along.

In the upstairs master bathroom we added a stackable washer dryer. It fits behind the door. What we realized is most of the dirty clothes end upstairs by the bedrooms. Why carry loads down, then up? Now it’s dump the hamper, sort and wash. Easy.

Last we added a seat in the master shower. Ask your wife. The developer and realtor liked the idea so much it was built into a number of houses.

Insulate/sound proof all interior walls.

Eliminates the barn type feeling you get in some open floor plan houses and makes things nice and cozy. It’s also cheap.

Solid bedroom interior doors with deadbolts.

Security system video monitor in master BR.

Strategic location/field of fire for Ma-deuce...

I built a strong room onto my house for storage of valuable things and as a shelter in place room for natural disasters we are in hurricane alley). It gives me great peace of mind, if I were to build a new house it would be a must have right in the middle of the house

Urinals in the bathrooms, at least in the garage.

got an e-mail from o.p.
said

"House is great. Of course there are some things we should have done. As far as structural items... they were done. We have great neighbors which is a plus. So far we are very satisfied."

so we are done here

Blown in insulation is good for noise and energy bills.

Also we had our electrician add some outlets up in the porch ceiling for Xmas lights that was controlled by a switch inside by the door. It was awesome for decorations