Wish List - for a new home

[apostate]

Circulating hot water. My in-laws have it in their new house and it's awesome.

What is circulating hot water? Thanks!

It circulates the water in the "hot" pipes so it doesn't get cold, and you don't have to run the shower for 3 minutes before getting in.

[pcgizzmo]

One of the neatest things I've seen in a new home is a laundry room that is connected to the bedroom closest. So you walk through the bedroom closet into the laundry room.

I'd also wire the house everywhere I could for AV and Ethernet cables even though wireless is easy to setup wired connections are always more reliable and faster.

Nice outdoor patio w/fireplace and ceiling fan w/outdoor kitchen and TV. All close to the swimming pool. (If were talking about everything we really want )

[SewTexas]

now we've got people dreaming

[MotherBear]

Circulating hot water. My in-laws have it in their new house and it's awesome.

What is circulating hot water? Thanks!

It circulates the water in the "hot" pipes so it doesn't get cold, and you don't have to run the shower for 3 minutes before getting in.

Yep. Also nice for washing dishes, prepping baths (we have small kids), or even just washing hands in cold weather. I love hot water on demand! They set theirs up to be on at the times of day when they use it regularly, and if they want it at other times they can switch it on and within a few minutes they'll have instant hot water out of any tap.

[psijac]

Ridiculous amounts of electrical outlets in every room.

Electrical outlets and network ports in the attic, so that you can set up wireless access points in the ceiling - much better range.

Gigabit network ports in every room, that all terminate in a network closet where you can set up your cable/dsl modem, switch, etc.


Clearly you see where my interests are :)

I heard that enabling jumbo frames on your switches and routers will have a large net affect on your bandwidth. I am not sure CAT6 is worth it over CAT5e but if you are building from scratch its better to future proof your house while you have the chance

[pcgizzmo]

Ridiculous amounts of electrical outlets in every room.

Electrical outlets and network ports in the attic, so that you can set up wireless access points in the ceiling - much better range.

Gigabit network ports in every room, that all terminate in a network closet where you can set up your cable/dsl modem, switch, etc.


Clearly you see where my interests are :)

I heard that enabling jumbo frames on your switches and routers will have a large net affect on your bandwidth. I am not sure CAT6 is worth it over CAT5e but if you are building from scratch its better to future proof your house while you have the chance

Jumbo frames will work but you will need to purchase business routers Jumbo frames wont' work on the little home network switches.

[Grillmark55]

Outdoor kitchen
Hidden pantry for food storage (1 year or more of freeze dried food)
Water supply
Back-up diesel powered generator AND fuel tank (if there is a storm and houses are destroyed, the gas company will turn off ALL the gas in the neighborhood and a natural gas generator is useless).

[dawgfishboy]

Single story
3-car garage (two-wide with one stall two-deep) with high ceilings and drive-thru option to access backyard. It also allows a good breeze in the summer.
Utility sink in garage.
All plumbing in interior walls only.

[Piney]

Outside--
Multiple AC outlets on all the outside walls, especially around the patio.
Hose bibs on at least each corner for ease of water hose use. One for car washing in the driveway.
AC outlet and/or appropriate wiring for cameras at front door, driveway and other places around the eves.

[brentski]

Gas cooking with extra gas outlets in the hall closet, master bath and spaced throughout the house. If you live in a rural area that loses power, you loose heat - pipes freeze. When we plumbed a house for gas would make it ready to add a gas space heater in areas that would allow use of vent free gas products that are safe. Urinal in master bath. Back up propane generator with auto starting system - propane never ruins like diesel or gasoline will and cannot be cut off by local utilites. Texas law now allows you to set a propane tank and the city/county cannot supercede state law to keep it out if you want to go that far. If you have trees around the house, attic fan for spring and fall living to enjoy the days moderate temperature. Gas cook-top and gas water heater, tank-less are nice but if you loose power and have the electronic version - no hot water unless the generator is running. The system that moves the hot water around the house is nice but will use allot of energy with the pump running and the water heater will pull energy keeping the water hot all the time. Outdoor kitchen with prep area's are always nice on the East side of the house. Safe room that double as gun vault, hidden room. Radiant Barrier with good attic ventilation is very important. Window alarm sensors, mount one so when the window is closed, alarm is set - move one up 6-8" so when you want to sleep with the windows open you can still set the alarm but keep out undesired window openers. Prep for flat screen TV's in every room with cable/power connections up high. Master wiring center in central location with phone/cable/Internet wires to every room. Be sure to run Cat 6 from the Wiring center to the outside so you do not have to have DSL filters in every room. Depending upon the size of the house you can prep for a wireless hub in a centralized area in the ceiling.

[DocV]

Structured plumbing using a manifold with cutoff valves for each individual water line. We gradually replaced all of the carpet in our home, with the exception of two guest bedrooms, with hardwood or tile. We put vinyl wood-textured tile in my reloading room this past week. That seems a great choice for flooring as it looks nice and can be wet mopped.

Hardy plank for roof facia and any exterior walls that would otherwise be wood. Paint the nails to match the Hardy plank rather than painting the plank. That will save you from ever having to paint the exterior of your house again.

My insurance company offers a discount for concrete tile roofs. I would build a house out of aircrete rather than a stick build. No termite problems, low maintenance and strong.

[Topbuilder]

1) We live in the country so when its dark, its dark. We ran "step lights" at various places through the house all tied together so at night we can walk anywhere without turning on lights.
2) run conduit from the attic to all tv/phone locations. You can add/update in the future very easy.
3) Under counter lights in the kitchen/study. Most of the time that is all we use.
4) If your plan has a large attic, plan to plywood it while you are framing. Run all 2x12 under the deck even if the span does not call for it. That way it is all one level, the trades will not violate the area that is decked and you have a clear walkway to storage/mechanicals.

[ryouiki]

While there are plenty of things that I could think up for a "dream home", most are impractical... I suspect I would be happier with a smaller place without all the whiz-bang, so long as it is well thought out. That said having been in various homes over the years in a very different climates/circumstances, I would probably focus on a number of things:

- Superior insulation/wrap/radiant barriers/window tinting. The upfront costs will pay for themselves.
- If you are heavy on electronics or multiple floors have multiple panels, and make sure your wiring overkill (you can never have too much)
- Whole house surge protection.
- As many have said, excessive outlets (back when I did this type of work, it was standard one every 3-6 feet).
- All rooms wired with Cat5e/6, and coax at a minimum, to a single drop (preferably to multiple panels)

I'm also not horribly impressed by general security in houses nowadays:

- Pre-wire for security system, and at least power run to all entrances should ever want surveillance cameras.
- Sufficiently reinforced frames for entrances, along with solid doors.
- Higher grade locks (Medeco/Kabba Ilco, etc.)
- Sufficient exterior power/receptacles for outside lighting, particularly for darker areas (even if you don't plan to use them).
- If you have lots of excess $$$, locking shutters, or even better automatic shutters (for both security and weather).

Then there are the main annoyances:

- Hot water... so many solutions here, best depends on size/situation, make sure design takes this into account.
- Heated floor cables for bathrooms (I haven't' seen this in the US, but these are awesome)
- Thicker/insulated interior walls so you don't hear what everyone else is doing.

And if your into home theater, baffled walls and extra thick insulation... plus pre-wiring for a projector and 5.1 sound (7.1 is the room is very large).

[rotor]

Network wiring as noted is a must. But, be prepared for the future by having conduit to everywhere so that as new technology evolves you can run cable, fiber, or whatever to every place in the house. It is cheap to run the conduit now ( perhaps just pvc pipe) and very expensive to run it later. Especially important if you have a multiple story home. And try now to contract with a home automation expert that can wire your alarm, hvac system lighting, everything so you can control it all from the internet. Can save you a ton of utility expense later on.