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Easy/ no brainer upgrade suggestions for New house build?

WTF?

WTF?

degenerate at large
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
185
Messages
251
Loc
Eastern, NC
In laws are under contract on a lot around the corner from us and shopping for a house plan &builder.

What are the suggestions for minimally costly upgrades you’d put in a house given the opportunity?

Off the top of my head;

*spray foam insulation at minimum in the attic if not exterior walls

*pex manifold with home runs for everything.(is Pex A vs crimp a must do?)
 
Not sure what (if any) frost line you have to dig below for foundation depth. Here, it is nearly 4 foot, so I always suggest going a bit deeper and getting a basement foundation out of it. Doubles the home's potential square footage cheaper than any other method.
 
More outlets.
Photocell GFI outlets in bathrooms.
Get the wife to pick the colour of light she actually likes and get all the fixtures (which are LED, obviously), in that colour. Except the garage, that gets cold white operating room light.
Overhead lights in every room.
Depending on how the address numbers are done, if they're on the house, a light above them.
Solid bathroom and bedroom doors.
Sound deadening between floors, and in bedroom walls. Especially common walls between bedrooms.
Green glue on drywall in basement and bedrooms.


Oh, you said minimally costly.

The light colour and photocell GFI statement stands.
 
Towel heaters in the master bath, most luxury Item I've ever used. Hot towel every day.
The more insulation and highest seer rated HVAC will pay for itself in 5-10 year from saved electricity cost.

Pick a lighting color first then compare wall colors.
 
Workbench height outlets in garage/basement/hobby room.
Drain in bathroom/kitchen/laundry room floors.
Access panels to anything I'm going to have to fuck with in the next 20 years.
Bookshelf with hidden lair behind it.
 
Clemson13 said:
Pretty sure I've been seeing numerous places having issues with spray foam causing framing to rot? No idea if it's a real concern. Haven't followed up on it since i'm not about to spray foam anything :homer:
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I just read an article where insurers are refusing to insure after people had attics spray formed, and banks won't renew mortgages.
 
Trick95 said:
Workbench height outlets in garage/basement/hobby room.
Drain in bathroom/kitchen/laundry room floors.
Access panels to anything I'm going to have to fuck with in the next 20 years.
Bookshelf with hidden lair behind it.
Click to expand...

That last one gets pricey, but a lot of fun to build. Do a false back wall in a walk in though, much easier.
 
Squamch said:
I just read an article where insurers are refusing to insure after people had attics spray formed, and banks won't renew mortgages.
Click to expand...
you definitely can't just retrofit a house if the HVAC isn't designed for it, but if you design around the sealed envelope there are no issues with foam.
 
bad zuki said:
Towel heaters in the master bath, most luxury Item I've ever used. Hot towel every day.
The more insulation and highest seer rated HVAC will pay for itself in 5-10 year from saved electricity cost.

Pick a lighting color first then compare wall colors.
Click to expand...
One of those 240V in-wall electric heaters positioned roughly where you'll be standing when you get out of the shower is nice too if you're the type to set the thermostat to 60 in the winter.
 
arse_sidewards said:
One of those 240V in-wall electric heaters positioned roughly where you'll be standing when you get out of the shower is nice too if you're the type to set the thremostat to 60 in the winter.
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Yeah, Electric heat isn't something I like. I'd recommend Infloor electric heat, but That costs a little bit more. I can spec a 3000 sqft house to cost $2m but nobody wants all those options. :flipoff2:

Slander said:
Copper pipe plumbing, this is my first house with pex and i have more leaks.
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This will depend on local Water type. The Hard water around us eats copper for breakfast. I'm working on replacing all the cooper in my house with pex.
 
Extra outlets including USB and networking, and 220 service on the exterior, 7/0 height solid core doors depending on the quantity, 3/0x8/0 hung in pair entry because fuck fighting furniture when moving and welded commercial steel frames at exteriors. Cased openings, no drywall returns on any walls. Build my own cabinets, even expensive cabinets are built like shit unless you want to pay out the ass for high end custom stuff. Full tile master bath with large tiles, no cabinets/closets, I want to be able to just hose the entire room down when cleaning like a locker room shower.

Solid core doors throughout is probably the biggest one of those. Average house doesn't have that many doors, it's not that much more money to have real doors vs hollow core particle board apartment bullshit. At least for swinging doors, wouldn't bother on bypass bifold, etc. Generally only talking ~$100 extra a door on the high end, even if you've got 20 doors you're only talking an extra $2000 at most. I'd also try to make as many openings 3/0 as possible, again just for the sake of making moving anything easier. No doors under 2/8.

Exterior door stuff are the only expensive upgrades on my lists and even then you're only talking 2-3 openings on most houses, it's not a lot of extra money in the grand scheme of building a house.

edit: Oh and when I do custom cabinets, I'd make those fuckers 6" taller than the standard 34" base height. Standard counter height fucking sucks if you're tall. At least anywhere I'd be doing any kind of prep, dishes, etc.
 
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bad zuki said:
Yeah, Electric heat isn't something I like. I'd recommend Infloor electric heat, but That costs a little bit more. I can spec a 3000 sqft house to cost $2m but nobody wants all those options. :flipoff2:


This will depend on local Water type. The Hard water around us eats copper for breakfast. I'm working on replacing all the cooper in my house with pex.
Click to expand...
Get a water softener because I'm dealing with pex failing due to shit hard water now.

Motorcharge good call on the solid core doors everywhere!
 
Slander said:
Get a water softener because I'm dealing with pex failing due to shit hard water now.
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I already have one. :laughing: My house has had 4 flooded basement. 1 with me owning it...

The laundry/utility room with floor drain is a great idea.
 
bad zuki said:
I already have one. :laughing: My house has had 4 flooded basement. 1 with me owning it...

The laundry/utility room with floor drain is a great idea.
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Lol your like the opposite of mine, I have multiple flooded basements and ceilings fucked up from leaking/failing pex:laughing:
 
built in med cabinets with power in the master bath. Best way ever to keep the woman's clutter off the counter. Her hair dryer curling iron, dildo charger what the fuck ever inside a cabinet she can open up and use, then leave her shit laying in there and close the fucking door.

On layout, we put our laundry right outside the master bath/closets, huge time saver.

If they have dogs, having a dogwash isn't much extra if you have the room for it. Elevated counter with a shower pan.

Stove top pot filler is nice.

More insulation than you think you need. It helps everything.

Sound deadening especially if multistory or around bedrooms.

More outlets than you think you will need.

Also think about your TV will be installed. I see a ton of people request outlets behind the TV for data and power. Then the electrician roughs in the boxes right where the wall mount bracket needs to be. I prefer the boxes to be on the high side of the bracket so the wires are easier to hang on the upper side of the bracket and not be seen.

Roofing is something that's worth spending money on the right materials also. If you like metal roofs, they last the best, if not the 40 year shingles will do better than builders grade. Most of the cost of a roof is labor. Make it last.
 
Make at least one bathroom have an adult size toilet, if you have an ensuite bathe prepair it for when you gat older with bracing in the wall for grab bars. In floor electric heat in the bathroom gets my vote also
 
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