Details when building a house

[momof1princess]

make sure you have electrical outlets outside, at least on the front porch-they've been a GODSEND to us! if i could do it over again, i would install a dishwasher in the kitchen (i didn't want to give up the cabinet space) and one of those sinks in the laundry room for rinsing stained clothes.
also, make sure your interior doorways are at least 36 inches wide, to accomodate a wheelchair, in case one becomes necessary someday.
i wanted a victorian house with a 2nd floor, but i knew in my heart it was a bad idea, because, even at age 38, i already have bad knees-i was right, i would NEVER be able to climb stairs over and over each day.

 

[kangareaux]

I would like one of those pot filler things, but I think we're going to do a cooktop in the island. So that can't happen, can it?


Thanks!

Yep...you sure can! This one is pricey, but just to give you an idea of what's out there.

http://www.designerplumbing.com/store/ROHL1096.html

 

[golfgal]

Everyone has mentioned electrical outlets, so here are two non-traditional places that we put them:

Under the bathroom sinks so that you can leave hair appliances plugged in while they are stored away.

In the kitchen pantry - I use it to plug in my Roomba and also for a small microwave that the kids can use (mine is over the stove).

This sounds like a potential fire hazard to me. I LOVE the idea of having an outlet inside some kitchen cabinets for cell phones, etc. though. Some friends of ours drilled a hole through one of their cabinets to thread their cell phone charger cord through so they can have their cell in the cabinet charging.

 

[MrsPete]

I would most defiantly plumb the basement for a bathroom AND a wet bar. The problem is where to put them.

Hmmm . . . the cheapest thing would be to bring the lines straight down from the kitchen and/or master bath. For me, that would put the future plumbing lines in the corners, and that does make sense.

As for the attic, size doesn't matter as much as having it well organized. Here are the shelves we built in the basement. They are deep enough for the large Rubbermaid totes.

Plan the shelves to fit Rubbermaid totes. Excellent.

One feature we tried to work into our house but couldn't was (for lack of a better description) a mini-shower in the mudroom.

That sounds like a great idea, but I don't know whether I'd want to plan it in the mudroom OR the garage. Must think about that.

I would def have the plumbing go to the basement, if not for just laundry you can have a sink down there for utility type stuff. I am a big fan of having sinks everywhere. Is that weird? lol.

I don't know if it's weird or not, but I agree. I'm planning a "real sink" in the kitchen PLUS a small prep sink in the island. My mom has one, and I love it. It's always free, even when the real sink is full of dishes.

You know, every year its, where are we gonna put the christmas tree

A "planned spot" for the Christmas tree is high on my list!

I would choose my windows very carefully. Get the kind that tilt in EASILY for cleaning. I got the kind that tilt in, but they're a bear to do. My dad's are a cinch.

I would like easier-to-clean windows!

We have a few deep, long drawers, I would love more. ALL of our lower cabinets have slide out shelves !

I had slide-out cabinets in mind, but I forgot to write it down. A dishwasher note (I cut that part of your quote): We just replaced our dishwasher with a "tallboy dishwasher". I love it because it holds my tall glasses and larger dishes . . . but it does farther to the ground. Being very short, I'm already down there, but it's just something to note for those of you who like raised things.

In the kitchen pantry - I use it to plug in my Roomba and also for a small microwave that the kids can use (mine is over the stove).

Yeah, I'd thought about outlets in the pantry. I also want planned space in there to store my LARGE cooking pots -- like my canner, turkey roaster, and crock pots -- and I want space for DH's home-brewed beer containers. The pantry's going to be very well thought out.

Now I do LOVE the 1.5 story because I have kids and they are upstairs.

Family with mobility issues is something to think about, but most of our family is right here near us. I think I like the 1.5 story concept for retirement because everything we need on a daily basis -- just me and DH -- will be on the first floor. When the kids come with their families, they'll have the upstairs. If they need to move in with us at any point (either because of finances or our health), it'd provide a little separation. However, we chose a plan that could be "built out" if necessary. That is, if someday we decided that we needed a second bedroom on the first floor, we'd be able to add it on without tearing up the whole house.

Yep...you sure can! This one is pricey, but just to give you an idea of what's out there.

http://www.designerplumbing.com/store/ROHL1096.html

Wow. Pricey doesn't begin to describe a $1000+ water spigot. I think I'll have to do without that!

 

[clh2]

I know someone that has an electrical outlet in the cabinet by the desk in their kitchen so they can keep all the phone chargers out of sight.

My DH and I have talked about a next house...don't know if it will happen...but on our wish list - this would also be considering if one of us was in a wheelchair.

All doorways to be 36".

Solid supports in the walls of the bathrooms on the first floor - so that when we would need to install "bars" that it would be easy to do without wrecking the walls.

A shower that has the ability to "roll-in" a wheelchair.

One sink in the master would have to be sort of stand-alone, so that it would be a cheap "retrofit" to redo a cabinet with a lower sink that could accomodate a wheelchaair.

And - in the garage - have the door to the house strategically located so that a ramp could be installed at a future time.

At the retirement home my grandparents lived, the outlets where higher than in a regular house, so they didn't have to bend down to get things plugged in and out.

From what I understand, in the planning stages of a house, it is very inexpensive to do some of these things. Conversely, it is very expensive to change some things later.

 

[Kath2003]

Under the bathroom sinks so that you can leave hair appliances plugged in while they are stored away.

Wow. UK bathrooms don't even have power outlets in the bathroom, let alone ones which allow you to leave electrical appliances plugged in. A room full of water + electricity sounds like an accident waiting to happen...

In my house, I like that I can turn the washing machine, oven etc. off at the mains because the switches are at counter top height. We don't leave a single electrical appliance besides the fridge running when we are not using it.

I always found it odd that lots of US homes don't have a central light in each room. If you don't, I'd fit one. I hate going into a room and having to switch on a dozen lamps to light the place. One switch, one ceiling lamp, job done.

I would have some kind of sheltered place outside that I could leave laundry to dry even when it's raining. It's getting a bit tiring taking the washing in and out all day at the moment because of the rain showers.

Our smoke detectors are mains-fitted with back-up batteries. I like that. If one is triggered, the other automatically starts too.

Fuse box somewhere you can easily get to if you fuse the lights

 

[golfgal]

Wow. UK bathrooms don't even have power outlets in the bathroom, let alone ones which allow you to leave electrical appliances plugged in. A room full of water + electricity sounds like an accident waiting to happen...

In my house, I like that I can turn the washing machine, oven etc. off at the mains because the switches are at counter top height. We don't leave a single electrical appliance besides the fridge running when we are not using it.

I always found it odd that lots of US homes don't have a central light in each room. If you don't, I'd fit one. I hate going into a room and having to switch on a dozen lamps to light the place. One switch, one ceiling lamp, job done.

I would have some kind of sheltered place outside that I could leave laundry to dry even when it's raining. It's getting a bit tiring taking the washing in and out all day at the moment because of the rain showers.

Our smoke detectors are mains-fitted with back-up batteries. I like that. If one is triggered, the other automatically starts too.

Fuse box somewhere you can easily get to if you fuse the lights

In our state if you don't have an overhead light you MUST have an outlet controlled by a switch as you enter the room so you just hook up a lamp to that outlet. We have overhead lights in all of our rooms and outlets controlled by switches.

Also, we have electric clothes dryers so no worries about hanging clothes out on a line in the rain.

The smoke detector set up you have is code in our state so most homes that are newer than say 20 years or so have this.

 

[Pamlur]

We just moved into our "dream house" last year. I forgot a lot of things, but one thing I was OC on was "dropping" the concrete slab floor to allow for hard wood flooring in the rooms we used it in. That way, the wood and tile are at the same level, and there aren't any 'toe snubbers' to trip over. I guess it raised our budget, because the same builder built a house for our daughter and her family, and the slab wasn't dropped for their house.

We both insisted on having space in the laundry rooms for hanging clothes to dry; some things just don't need to be dried in the dryer (like khaki pants for growing teenaged boys).

I have a pot filler, but don't use it as much as my husband thought I would; he thought he'd use it constantly, but doesn't.

My island ended up being a LOT smaller than I wanted it to be, because we widened a hallway behind the kitchen. I complain about it constantly, but I make it work. We did away with fireplaces completely (so did our daughter). We never used the one we had, it was drafty, and we needed the wall space.

 

[savannahcat]

This sounds like a potential fire hazard to me. I LOVE the idea of having an outlet inside some kitchen cabinets for cell phones, etc. though. Some friends of ours drilled a hole through one of their cabinets to thread their cell phone charger cord through so they can have their cell in the cabinet charging.

Lots of people leave their toasters/coffee pots/blenders/etc. plugged in on their kitchen countertops next to the sink. I leave my hairdryer plugged in UNDER my sink. There is nothing else under there with it. I don't see the difference.

 

[barkley]

i had 2 strokes at a young age which still effect me, so when dh and i bought our current home i looked at it with an eye to having some 'conveniences' built in or able to be built in that would be helpful if i became further disabled.

some of these include-

pull out shelves on all lower cabinets

wider than normal hallways and bedrooms that have a good turning radius from the hallways

flooring that does'nt have big 'breaks' between different types (if you are mobile but impaired it can be difficult or a trip hazzard to do the transition from one type of flooring to another)

our circut box is in the garage (vs outside), if we had built the house ourselves it would have been put inside the master closet

an electrical outlet inside the wider than normal master bath medicine cabinet (we can put smaller items that need to be charged inside the cabinet vs. on the counter)

capability to do intercom system between rooms

overhead lights in all rooms and hallways-and in the larger rooms (kitchen, greatroom, living room, and all hallways light switches at both ends

interior lightswitch that controls outlet on front porch (great for holiday lights)

capability to put washer/dryer on risers

wider than normal door on master shower-big enough someone could assist another in getting in/getting out-there's also a bench chair built in

my pantry is'nt walk in but it's a very large closet that's close enough to my kitchen counter i can easily put in/take out items without having to carry them far. i have the shelves so they don't go to the top (danger of my reaching and items toppling) or all the way to the floor (too hard to bend over-i use that space to hold items i can put in bags i can pull out-like one large bag holds extra tote/supermarket bags, another holds all the individualy packaged snackie type items which i take out of the boxes when i buy-i can slightly bend over and slide the bags out to get what i need).

wider than normal laundry room-i put shelves in it that i store linens and towels-easier to put them away there vs. transporting them to a place to fold and then to a storage area. laundry room also has a small closet in it-we keep 2 hampers in it so dirty clothes are close to the machines. we also store all interior household items here-lite bulbs, special cleaning supplies not nesc. kept under kitchen sink... laundry room has a large utility type sink and a cabinet-under the cabinet i store detergents and other laundry needs. sink is ideal if soiled items need to be soaked. capability to put washer/dryer on risers

if you are into the large windows that look like they have individual panes get the kind where the things that make up the lines are inbetween the 2 panes of glass-easier to clean

have house prewired for the possibility of a generator (if you live in an area prone to power outages)


since we store our linens and such in the laundry room we use the very deep and large linen closet in our hallways near the kitchen as our 'appliance closet'. all the canning stuff and other large appliance are in there. as for the regular appliance i don't use on a daily basis (toaster, can opener...) one of my corner kitchen cabinets has a 2 tier revolve in it-i put these in here and i can easily grab them (keeps my counters clutter free). i use the drawer (standard sized) below my regular spice rack filled with my extra spices-there are inexpensive plastic inserts that can be used).


one thing the builder of our home did that has worked out phenominaly well is to put in a very unnoticable cabinet door at the bottom end of the cabinet that buts up against our sink (unless a person is in our great room and realy glances down behind the bar stools they would never notice it). it provides access to the pipes and the electrical outlet the dishwasher plugs into without having to empty out the entire under the sink area. it also has ample space that i can keep cleaning supplies, and extras like papertowels right where i need them without cluttering up my under the sink area.

 

[golfgal]

Lots of people leave their toasters/coffee pots/blenders/etc. plugged in on their kitchen countertops next to the sink. I leave my hairdryer plugged in UNDER my sink. There is nothing else under there with it. I don't see the difference.

I was thinking more along the lines of hair straighteners and curling irons that have switches that are easily bumped and turned on without knowing.

 

[donaldduck352]

This is my dream website.You can choose from so many style houses.I spend hours here just playing.Check it out:


http://www.dreamhomesource.com/

 

[BelleWDW]

We're planning to build a house in a few years. We intend this to be our retirement house, so we're building with an eye towards the possibility of walkers or wheelchairs. ?

All doors should be wide enough. Sadly two doors in my elderly relative's home-who is in a wheelchair are too narrow to acess.


Do the master shower as a roll in-no edges. Our retired friend did this with the house he built. The slab slopes down to a drain-so someone in a wheelchair can just roll in.

 

[RunningGirl]

One other thing - especially in your circumstances. Separate heating/cooling and thermostats for the upstairs/downstairs.

 

[pezheadmeg]

I have a close friend who's parents bought a house they could retire into. The previous owners had built it with the same intentions. She and I both joke that we want some of the ammenities.

The Windows with built in blinds. Not only are they double insulated, nothing can get caught up and tangled in the cords. The master bathroom has a roll in shower. The laundry room is on the main floor, not in the finished basement. And most importantly, all the doorways are 40 inches. More than enough room to get a walker or wheelchair through. And it's hardwood throughout the house with no floor sills or door jambs.

 

[TheZue]

I was going to suggest the spice racks under the counters too...I loved mine at my old house and miss them.

At our new house I love that we have doors that can close off the kitchen and family room from the rest of the house.

If you are putting ceiling fans in, make sure you get the double switch where one controls the fan & the other controls the lights.

If you have a hutch for your china a plug is nice, many have lights in them

A seperate door going into the garage from the outside is nice too.

 

[Marymom]

In my old house, my kitchen had a roll out tall cabinet under my island that fitted your tall kitchen trash can. Loved it! I also like the little cabinet right below your kitchen sink that pops out to holds your sponges and scrapers.

Mary

 

[yoopermom]

I am loving this thread! I hope you post plans, since I would love to see how it turns out!

Oh, and no one said central vac system yet, right?

Terri

 

[SpecialK]

Leave an open space, could be closets now, that could be converted to an elevator should the need arise.

Straight stairway into the basement - makes it easier to mover furniture etc. in and out

Dedicated, large mudroom - not one that shares the laundry.

I use my under-cabinet light all the time.

 

[golfgal]

I have a close friend who's parents bought a house they could retire into. The previous owners had built it with the same intentions. She and I both joke that we want some of the ammenities.

The Windows with built in blinds. Not only are they double insulated, nothing can get caught up and tangled in the cords. The master bathroom has a roll in shower. The laundry room is on the main floor, not in the finished basement. And most importantly, all the doorways are 40 inches. More than enough room to get a walker or wheelchair through. And it's hardwood throughout the house with no floor sills or door jambs.

The built in blinds are nice in theory but if one breaks you have to take apart the entire window.

All doors should be wide enough. Sadly two doors in my elderly relative's home-who is in a wheelchair are too narrow to acess.


Do the master shower as a roll in-no edges. Our retired friend did this with the house he built. The slab slopes down to a drain-so someone in a wheelchair can just roll in.

But, if you did this strategically, like say to the laundry room, you would never have to do laundry