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.
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.
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