House Design

[wct097]

I want to design my next house.... or at least put together some thoughts on how it will be designed. I figure it's worth a thread to coalesce my thoughts in. Maybe one day I'll actually draw some lines on paper. I have some ideas, but I'm ADHD and haven't completed a drawing or floor plan since I took drafting in High School.

I'm not sure on exactly what "style" the house will be as of this point, but I know several features that will help get us there.

Ideas:
* 1.5 story w/ partially finished walk-out basement
* Minimum 2500sq ft finished. 3400sq ft max.
* Must have large front porch ( )
* Deck or patio in the back of house
* Main level master bedroom
* 3 car attached garage
* Detached shop (2 bay, 2 vehicles deep, tall enough for lift)
* 3br 2.5ba (minimum) 4br 3.5ba (maximum)
* "Bonus" room over garage, but no bedrooms above the garage (I like the bonus room as an office)
* Buried LP tank
* Gas fired heat, water heaters (multiple tankless?), cook top, logs, standby generator, dryer, oven (maybe)
* Wood stoves in basement & detached shop
* Electric service designed around automatic failover for standby generator
* Electric service panels properly laid out and labeled (not like the mess at the compound)
* Electric sub-panels in garage and shop with space for additional circuits as needed
* No heat pumps.
* Heat & AC systems that are compatible with Nest thermostats and properly arranged to make it possible to condition the air in a portion of the house differently than the rest. (The Compound has the worst layout possible as I have to heat/cool 1500sq ft of unused space to condition the air for the few rooms we use)
* Equipment room / closet for home office computer stuff (small rack, etc)
* Cat 5 pulled to several locations in each room and terminated in equipment room / closet (including ceiling and exterior mounting points for Wifi equipment & security cameras)
* LED lighting everywhere possible. No florescent lighting.
* Hardwood & tile. No carpet, no vinyl flooring.
* Brick or stone exterior.
* Acreage appropriate for back yard shooting range
* Would like to explore the idea of a hardened vault / gun room in the basement. Cinder block filled with rebar and concrete (or poured with the foundation) with a stout door would be nice. Not talking about bank vault security, but something that would take your average thief a while to get through. Not willing to devote a ton of money towards this though as it's going to be very utilitarian. Work bench, tool box, shelves, and a gun safe or two inside. Extra credit if it's done in a way that I could conceal it after the fact by "finishing" the basement and hiding the door with a false wall.
* Geothermal heating/cooling augmentation (buried/coiled pipes of fluid to use ground temps to augment heating/cooling systems)
* Main floor laundry
* Audio wiring for home theater
* Residential fire sprinklers
* Integrated security system.... not a bolt on after-thought like ADT.


When we build, the Electrician is probably going to hate me. I'm going to be over the top OCD about how the circuits are laid out and wired. I cannot stand the fact that my (3) 200amp panels are filled with circuits that are all labeled "lights". I find it completely unacceptable that the GFI kitchen circuit also supplies outlets in the dining and living rooms. It also infuriates me that I have only one 15amp circuit supplying the garage.

 

[pirranah]

My friend is literally an OCD electrician. Takes meds and counts random shit and all!

 

[wct097]

My friend is literally an OCD electrician. Takes meds and counts random shit and all!

My FIL is an electrician as well. Commercial, not residential though. Will probably have him on hand to inspect the work for defects that I wouldn't otherwise notice.

 

[abqtj]

* Equipment room / closet for home office computer stuff (small rack, etc)
* Cat 5 pulled to several locations in each room and terminated in equipment room / closet (including ceiling and exterior mounting points for Wifi equipment & security cameras)

 

[wct097]

I will also require photo documentation of building mechanical work prior to floors or walls being sealed up. I want to know where everything is and what it is without having to do exploratory demolition.

When it comes down to it, nothing beats a hard wired gigabit Ethernet connection. Wifi sucks for anything other than tablets, phones, and laptops. Anything that's stationary needs to be wired, save I suppose for the thermostats.

 

[wct097]

edited first post to add:

* Would like to explore the idea of a hardened vault / gun room in the basement. Cinder block filled with rebar and concrete (or poured with the foundation) with a stout door would be nice. Not talking about bank vault security, but something that would take your average thief a while to get through. Not willing to devote a ton of money towards this though as it's going to be very utilitarian. Work bench, tool box, shelves, and a gun safe or two inside. Extra credit if it's done in a way that I could conceal it after the fact by "finishing" the basement and hiding the door with a false wall.

 

[DieselSJ]

150 yard underground tunnel for rifle practice.

You should look at the heat/cooling system that uses the buried piping for thermal transfer. They basically dig down to a point where the ground is 75-78 degrees year round and lay several hundred feet of coiled tubing. You use that for the majority of the heating/cooling.

 

[wct097]

150 yard underground tunnel for rifle practice.

Not really top on my list. I would consider a soundproofed basement 25 yard tunnel/shooting range & trap (2 lane) if I absolutely couldn't find the property I wanted to shoot on. I think for safety, it would need to be underground and not simply part of the basement under the structure. I also wonder about the legality/permits for doing such a thing. Probably would be somewhat cost effective to do when pouring the foundation.

You should look at the heat/cooling system that uses the buried piping for thermal transfer. They basically dig down to a point where the ground is 75-78 degrees year round and lay several hundred feet of coiled tubing. You use that for the majority of the heating/cooling.

That's one that I forgot. I think that's called geothermal heating/cooling. Usually done in addition to the normal heating and cooling and works to augment the normal systems. It's a great way, in my opinion, to make the system more efficient. Adding that to the first post.

 

[DieselSJ]

When we build, the Electrician is probably going to hate me. I'm going to be over the top OCD about how the circuits are laid out and wired. I cannot stand the fact that my (3) 200amp panels are filled with circuits that are all labeled "lights". I find it completely unacceptable that the GFI kitchen circuit also supplies outlets in the dining and living rooms. It also infuriates me that I have only one 15amp circuit supplying the garage.

Amen to that. Dealing with that on a few things at our place. I want to find the electrician and kick him in the nuts. Our house is split into 2 sections, with separate gas and plumbing into each. Instead of doing the same with electrical and using a sub panel on the far section, they ran a single 30 amp circuit and have everything tied into that.

 

[mcatdtJEEP]

Not being in a state that has basements .... what is the advantage of having a partially finished basement vs a completely finished....or an unfinished. I understand what the differences are , just curios as to why you said, in a list of you ideal house, why it would remain partially finished

 

[luv_jeeps]

Couple of things to add.....

Laundry on first floor.
Additional wiring/cable stuff for home theater system.

 

[wct097]

Not being in a state that has basements .... what is the advantage of having a partially finished basement vs a completely finished....or an unfinished. I understand what the differences are , just curios as to why you said, in a list of you ideal house, why it would remain partially finished

Two reasons. The first is cost. Unfinished space = bonus space for storage or hobby workshop type of stuff for less money. Second, for that same type of use, having unfinished space is better. If you decide to use it as a workout room, you don't want to be dropping weights on tile or hardwood. Likewise, doing stuff like working on guns or reloading ammo I think is better on unfinished floors.

Ultimately, I like storage space and don't want to spend the money paying to have it finished.

Couple of things to add.....

Laundry on first floor.
Additional wiring/cable stuff for home theater system.

Agree with the laundry, but that's more of an assumption. Worth adding to the list.

Not so sure about the home theater stuff. The Compound has speakers and stuff in the ceiling and wires hanging out of the walls. I don't like that. I'm more of a fan of just having the wires/cables for audio stuff there so I can use wall mounted speakers that are replaceable as they age. It's still not a huge priority for me these days. I like it in concept, but am perfectly happy watching my TV with it's built in speakers.

 

[abqtj]

Not really top on my list. I would consider a soundproofed basement 25 yard tunnel/shooting range & trap (2 lane) if I absolutely couldn't find the property I wanted to shoot on. I think for safety, it would need to be underground and not simply part of the basement under the structure. I also wonder about the legality/permits for doing such a thing. Probably would be somewhat cost effective to do when pouring the foundation.

.

I think insuring anything that you shoot indoors would be a nightmare, whether it's part of the main home or not.

 

[wct097]

I think insuring anything that you shoot indoors would be a nightmare, whether it's part of the main home or not.

I think the bigger concern would be lead contamination and future resale/liability. Not like I'm going to be shooting several pounds of lead a day, but still. At least outside you don't have to worry about buildup of lead dust and gunpowder residue. With an outside range with a small berm pushed up by a bulldozer, you can just occasionally "mine" for lead by turning up the top couple of inches of soil.

Doing it "right", inside, is not a cheap endeavour. I'm thinking $25k to set it up properly.

 

[mcatdtJEEP]

OK...makes sense . My future fil has a finished basement movie room but works in his garage. So just a tradeoff then. I get it.

He turned his into a 3 bed/two bat apartment with living space (that's his movie room)
#atlantadrmoney

 

[wct097]

The upside of unfinished space is that it's also easy to turn into "finished" space after the fact. Finishing a basement is a good way to increase the value of a home for resale.

 

[FinlayZJ]

Why the underground LP tank? If that's for heating, there are much better choices.

 

[Al Johnson]

Vote here for Craftsman style.

 

[wct097]

Why the underground LP tank? If that's for heating, there are much better choices.

I don't think they do NG tanks (at least around here) and getting NG piped to the house pretty much requires you to be in the City. I like the idea of gas for heating vs electricity and I want to have a standby generator as well. I figure gas for everything possible would be nice. The goal would be to have the capacity to operate off-grid for two weeks without resupply. I can't remember the last time we went without power for over two weeks..... I think maybe the mid-80's during a massive blizzard.

 

[FinlayZJ]

I don't think they do NG tanks (at least around here) and getting NG piped to the house pretty much requires you to be in the City. I like the idea of gas for heating vs electricity and I want to have a standby generator as well. I figure gas for everything possible would be nice. The goal would be to have the capacity to operate off-grid for two weeks without resupply. I can't remember the last time we went without power for over two weeks..... I think maybe the mid-80's during a massive blizzard.

If you can't get NG, then do Heat Pumps with low ambient heating option and then strip heat as auxiliary. Size the Generator to handle that heating load. A more expensive generator up front will be much cheaper than LP for years and years and years.