New House - Wish List

Someday

Hi Guys

My design guy has said to come back to me with a Wish list of what I want in the house. Just looking for people to come back with good ideas that they put in their own houses. So I have down so far and I am aware of the prices

Solar Panels
Wood Chip Burner
Sound Proof System between the Floors.
Two Story with Stone on three sides.
Two Bay windows at the front.
Under Floor Heating
Going to just Use Tiles or Wooden Floors (No Carpets)
Living area on the south and West side of the house.
Granite Sills and Heads
Walkin Wardrobe
En-suite in 2/3 Bedrooms

Any other ideas ?

Thanks

prospect

Go for a good size utility room, and have it designed that the controls for all the various systems in the house are in it, and are all easily accessible. (e.g. Fuse boards, septic tank pump controls, heating controls, data controls, etc.).

prospect

No worries, I am not finished.

Have the majority of your windows on the S & SW facing walls of the house, and the least on the opposite sides.

Do not underestimate the value of sockets. You need at the very least 3 double sockets behind your TV.
1. TV
2. VCR
3. DVD
4. Receiver (E.g. Sky or Chorus)
5. Lamp
Also, locate them in an easily accessible spot, so you can switch off the power fully at night, and save electricity.

Run an empty 4" pipe to every corner of your site with a fish wire in them. This will allow you run water & or electricity to nearly any part of your property easily.

Run a couple of empty pipes with fish wires under your driveway at a few logical intervals (if it is a big driveway). This reduces the necessity to dig up your driveway in the future.

Leave a large area available (possible in the utility room) to allow easy segregation of waste into recycling groups, e.g. plastics, paper, tetra pack, glass etc.

Make the master bedroom en-suite a decent size, it is the bathroom you use most often.

Install low voltage equipment in all possible areas.

Dont forget to allow for sensor floodlights in all required places on your fascia, these are very handy when you come home on dark winter nights. Also a good security measure.

A good size hotpress is useful. Rooms like this (and the utility) are often stuck in afterwards even thought they are regularly used and very important in the functionality of every household.

Larege shelved larders are better and more efficient in use of space than standard presses.


If I think of anything else I'll post it.

P

Someday

Thanks again

JohnDigital

Another one to add is a waste disposal in the kitchen sink. With pay by weight bin charges it saves a fortune!

[Que the eco warriors with the not 'environmentally friendly' comments......]

Kashkai

Get double the recommended amount of isulation in the roof spaces and in the walls. This will pay for itself fairly quickly in the amount of heat (and thereby fuel costs) saved. We have done this and our house stays warm for hours after the heat is turned off.

Naux

I posted a similar type of thread a while back and got some good suggestions. One item that was suggested at the time which I really kind of dismissed was a rainwater harvesting system. I live in a rural area and my water is provided by a local water scheme for a small annual fee. However I have since found out that this is about to change to a metering system and the projected cost of water for an average house in the near future is put at between €500-600 per annum and like everything else in Ireland rising:rolleyes: .

Now I am seiously going to look into rainwater harvesting:eek:

Also I like the idea of a laundry chute in my house and a central vacuum system.

Someday

Some Great Suggestions - I have completed this list - Anything else ??

4 Bedrooms
Attic that can be converted in the future
Solar Panels
Wood Chip Burner
Sound Proof System between the Floors.
Two Story with Stone on three sides.
Two Bay windows at the front.
Under Floor Heating
Going to just Use Tiles or Wooden Floors (No Carpets)
Living area on the south and West side of the house.
Granite Sills and Heads
Walkin Wardrobe
En-suite in 2/3 Bedrooms
Master bedroom en-suite a good size
Higher ceilings on ground floor
Huge utility room
Central Vacuum System
Wet Room
Pull-out Ironing Board
Self Cleaning Windows
Kitchen – Dropdown TV
Low Level Lighting on Stairs
At least three different Socket points in every room down stairs
6 Sockets behind TV in Sitting Room.
High Level TV& Socket points in all bedrooms
Electric Gate Access
Monitored House Alarm
Pressurised Hot Water System
Kitchen Island with Sink and built in Dishwasher
Network Cables – Cat6 Cables
Outside Sockets
Electric Deadbolts on Front Door
Motion/Heat Detectors for Lights (Not Bedrooms)
Mirror in shower that doesn't steam up
Ledge in shower for shower items
Wired for surround sound
Alarm keypads at front & back door & master bedroom
Driveway lights that go on/off automatically as you drive up the driveway
Zoned heating
Sensor floodlights in all required places on your fascia
Walkin Hot press
Waste disposal in the kitchen sink
Natural Slate Roof
PVC Windows with a Wood effect.
Pump used for Showers NOT Electric, (Power Showers)
Rainwater harvesting system

Naux

I personally think that you should only 3 bathrooms in total :1.have master ensuite 2.main bathroom upstairs 3. downstairs bathroom(should also act as an ensuite to downstairs guestrooom) Just my opinion though.

I have friends with 5 bathrooms in their houses and they are very sorry they went down that route. You have to clean them even if they are not in use and also if they are not in use they'll smell up the house because of gasses backing up from your sewerage system:eek: . So I've been told by friends

Someday

Thanks for the advice - 2 Ensuite and 2 other will be the Max

Someday

I don't want the pain Concrete Footpaths also, what has people used that looks well . Slabs ??

Mellor

Someday wrote:

Going to just Use Tiles or Wooden Floors (No Carpets)
What will you do at the stairs? Wooden stairs look well but can be noisey. But with wooden landing or wooden or tiles in hall stairs has little options.
A solution I think looks well when done right is some high quaility carpet in the centre of the stairs. Not full width, about 6"/150mm of space either side and secured at first and last risers. Provides sound damping, but also still shows off the beauty of the wooden stairs.

Pull-out Ironing Board
I think I suggested that to Naux in his thread. If you have ever seen one they are great, save space, time and all vistors notice how clever you were because they full out that drawer on their first visit looking for forks.

6 Sockets behind TV in Sitting Room.
Defo need 6 sockets, but if there is a chance that you might rearrange sitting room be careful. You dont wanbt to move the TV only to be left with 6 exposed sockets. We have 2 sockets behind TV and use an 4 socket adapter in one to get to 5. Handy to unplug 4 items in one go at night.

Kitchen Island with Sink and built in Dishwasher
Another nice sink feature is tri-flow tap. Hot, cold and filtered water.

PVC Windows with a Wood effect.
??? Why PVC windows??? I agree that wood effect is better than redular plain white. But if you are going to this expense for the rest of the house. Why not get nice wooden windows?

Just my 2c

ircoha

the HWC should have at least 2 heating coils to allow u to have say solar and a another heating system.

The rollsroyce on the rainwater harvesting is that you have dual plumbing so as u only have the potable water where u need it and the washing machines toilets etc are plumbed to the rainwater, with suitable plumbing to allow for switching to regular water supply if required.

see http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showt...p?t=2054978424 for my thoughts on heating controls.

When doing a new house or a refurb, i run the following to each room.

1 no 1.5sq for the lights
2 no 2.5sq for sockets.
2 no 1/2" qualplex for heating
1 no twin brown for room stat.
2 no Cat5
1 no TV coax
1 no suitable alarm cable

In addition I run a separate 5 amp lighting circuit which can incorporate a time clock for internal security lighting in the living /dining rooms

Do-more

A good solution for the stairs is a concrete one (either precast or poured in-situ) and then faced with timber, no creaks or squeaks.

Upstairs, try to seperate all bedrooms so that they don't have common walls, seperate them with bathrooms, stairwell, closets etc. really helps with noise insulation.

Don't just design for today, try to project forward how your family needs might change and build in as much flexibility as possible. e.g. we have a large playroom with a bedroom and en-suite overhead, by closing off the bedroom door from the landing and adding a new stairs from the playroom this can be quite easily converted into a self-contained granny flat, not required at present but in 10 years time you never know.

One small feature I regret not including at the time is having a number of sockets in the living room controlled by a switch at the door for table lamps, very handy last thing at night!

As for windows my personal preferance would be for engineered wood windows faced with aluminium on the outside. Good insulation values, the beauty of wood inside and low maintenance outside.

Wall hung toilets and wash basins, no pedestals, makes floor cleaning a doddle and no nasty dirt traps!

And another little thing... switches at every bedside for the room lights.

Builderwoman!

Wooden floors are fab. We have no carpet on stairs and all solid timber flooring upstairs and it is not noisy at all.

Over insulate.

Think about your kitchen layout in advance

Def do wood pellet and solar

No need for granite heads unless you are leaving them exposed. Def do window cills, we did and have an arch and granite steps and they look fab.

Downlighters...look great.

Walk in pantry press in utility. We have it and it's great. (Just section off and corner and put door on it and shelve it. Brilliant.)

Big walk in wardrobes. We have them in every room and they are great and you don't need to have your bedrooms as large as all you need is bed, chair, lockers and other pieces for decoration.

Def play room put it near your living room and kitchen...off them if you can

Double french doors off your dining area. Excellent.

Project forward for technology and change in living patterns as kids get older etc

Keep everything as low maintenance and green as is affordable

Don't put underfloor under timber floors it does not work properly. We have it in tiled areas only and works brill. Wall hang rads in rooms with timber floors

Make your hallway and stairs a feature...we did and everyone comments on it.

Allow for a large patio area near your dining area

Allow for travertine and natural stone and marble. Looks fab.

Put in solid timber doors. They make all the difference.

Have a plant room

Def tie in solar and wood pellet in your heating system and pressurize your system

Good luck!

byte

I didn't see it mentioned, but in your main TV room, allow for at least 4 TV cables where the main TV will be situated. This should allow for most eventualities.

With 4 cables, you'd have 1 for RF signals from an aerial or cable system, 2 for the possibility of Sky+ perhaps in the future, and 1 as a return path to distribution point or as a spare (it's surprisign the amount of new houses that haven't allowed for these eventualities, and then the people worry about where to hide the wires). Use CT100 cable (copper braiding and copper foil) throughout, as it's a higher standard cable than the basic RG6, and is indeed important for satellite signals.

Do-more

byte wrote:

I didn't see it mentioned, but in your main TV room, allow for at least 4 TV cables where the main TV will be situated. This should allow for most eventualities.

With 4 cables, you'd have 1 for RF signals from an aerial or cable system, 2 for the possibility of Sky+ perhaps in the future, and 1 as a return path to distribution point or as a spare (it's surprisign the amount of new houses that haven't allowed for these eventualities, and then the people worry about where to hide the wires). Use CT100 cable (copper braiding and copper foil) throughout, as it's a higher standard cable than the basic RG6, and is indeed important for satellite signals.

And a telephone socket next to where your Sky box will be! (Assuming )

Do-more

Naux wrote:

I personally think that you should only 3 bathrooms in total :1.have master ensuite 2.main bathroom upstairs 3. downstairs bathroom(should also act as an ensuite to downstairs guestrooom) Just my opinion though.

I have friends with 5 bathrooms in their houses and they are very sorry they went down that route. You have to clean them even if they are not in use and also if they are not in use they'll smell up the house because of gasses backing up from your sewerage system:eek: . So I've been told by friends

Depending on the age(s) of your family, assuming you have kids. You could plan it en-suites. Run in pipes, wastes etc. and blank them off. The rooms will serve well as storage for all the junk they accumulate when they are young and then can be fitted out as en-suites when they are teenagers (and old enough to clean them, themselves!)

Naux

Do-more wrote:

As for windows my personal preferance would be for engineered wood windows faced with aluminium on the outside. Good insulation values, the beauty of wood inside and low maintenance outside..

Sounds like the business Do-more...........any links to websites showing these. I will have a lot of glass in my house and its an area that I'm going to do major research on before I decide what I'll go with.

Do-more wrote:

Wall hung toilets and wash basins, no pedestals, makes floor cleaning a doddle and no nasty dirt traps!

Another great idea.:)

Someday

Some great ideas guys and i have a nice list to work off - Thanks again for your help.

sunnysoutheast

Another idea in ensuites is to have two light circuits - one switch turns on a single, coloured (blue) spotlight and the other all the lights. That way if you need to use it in the night you don't get blasted by all the lights and keep your night vision

Also I think another poster mentioned composite wood/aluminium windows - these are beautiful but budget +50 to 200% over PVC - it may be worth having smaller windows that look better.

Over-insulate, look at heat-recovery, attention to detail on cold bridging etc

When looking at wall-mount WCs, make sure you get the proper frames otherwise the "give" will crack grout etc.

Do-more

If you know any truck drivers going over and back to Germany, you can save yourself an utter fortune on wall hung sanitary ware. Over there they are the norm, so prices tend to be very competitive. Some of the big hardware stores are Bauhaus and OBI you can download their brochures online, but the best value is always on their "special offers" last time I saw one for a wallhung WC the bowl was €26! all in with mounting brackets, integrated cistern and lever I think it was about €75 in total. Last time I priced one here it was about €300! Quite a saving when you are buying 4 or 5!

Lots of other stuff is just as cheap, might even be worth your while hiring a van and going for the weekend. (especially if you get yourself some beer and wine aswell )

Sonnenblumen

Do-more wrote:

If you know any truck drivers going over and back to Germany, you can save yourself an utter fortune on wall hung sanitary ware. Over there they are the norm, so prices tend to be very competitive. Some of the big hardware stores are Bauhaus and OBI you can download their brochures online, but the best value is always on their "special offers" last time I saw one for a wallhung WC the bowl was €26! all in with mounting brackets, integrated cistern and lever I think it was about €75 in total. Last time I priced one here it was about €300! Quite a saving when you are buying 4 or 5!

Lots of other stuff is just as cheap, might even be worth your while hiring a van and going for the weekend. (especially if you get yourself some beer and wine aswell )

Very true. Here's a better example, if you're interested in fantastastic modular Wall Units made in great contemporary styles and finished in beautiful real woods like Beech, take a look at Hulsta (www.hulsta.de). Better still visit their factory showroom. You'll never go near another furniture shop again, certainly not here anyway.

Also Tip Top Designer Leather Sofa Suites with real good quality hides: Rolf Benz, cost a fortune here. I told people and they travelled (twice - first to choose and order) to Germany collected their furniture from a local stockist and saved over 50% and still had a few days in Germany. Mind you a top of the range Rolf Benz suite will cost same as a mid size car. But you get a lot more tahn the car.

Do-more

Will you have a home office? I was looking around for ages to try and find a reasonable price for fitted office units, to no avail.
The solution I came up with was to buy kitchen carcasses from B&Q with fronts for a door and one drawer. I then cut down the carcasses to the height of the door, this left the worktop height at about 700mm, just perfect for working on the computer! B&Q also have a cutting service for MDF board so if I ever get around to it, I will work out the dimensions I need for book shelves overhead and paint them up to suit. I used "Classic Ivory" doors and they look great (IMO) cost so far has been approx. €300, probably another €100 to add for the book shelves. A fraction of the cost of any other "fitted office" I could find.

Someday

"it may be worth having smaller windows that look better."

No chance mate, large windows to let as much light in as possible.

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions. Office/Study at the front of the house.

prospect

We have the Alu-Wood windows in our place. They are solid pine on the interior and grey aluminium on the outside. They look really good and are perfectly functional, i.e. they are double glazed, 3 point espag locking, two locking positions and internally glazed.

I got them through thte business, but a crowd in Ballymount, (A.P.A) supply them.

Do-more

Someday wrote:

No chance mate, large windows to let as much light in as possible.

and let out lots of heat.....:eek:

Jambo

or use high u value triple glazing to maximise solar heat gain rater than heat loss and bring down your heating costs !!

Mellor

Jambo wrote:

or use high u value triple glazing to maximise solar heat gain rater than heat loss and bring down your heating costs !!

Triple glazing doesn't maximise solar gain. ii fact it reduces it.
Triple glazing will have lower solar gain, but this is outweighed by lower u-values.

to the op:
big windows are good for light, small windows are good for saving heat. Try to optimise the two. Size your windows to the floor area of the rooms.

Someday

Low U Value on Windows - That will stop Heat Loss and Large to let Light in !

qazxsw

fit demisters behind bathroom / en suite mirrors (if fitting the mirrors into the tiling of course)

can be run off lighting circuit

masterK

A bit of a luxury, but I visited a house with spot lights throughout downstairs controlled by a mood lighting system. It was fitted by the owner of the house as he was building it so didn't cost him a whole lot, it looked pretty cool. He build a circle of spots over where his circular dining table was to go, a really nice effect.

Another nice thing I liked was that a corner of a kitchen is a glass finish with wooden frames incorporating the back door over two walls.

Finally if you are going for an extended flat roofed kitchen you could cut out a skylight type feature from the roof. It's basically cutting up into the roof and having 2 Velux windows surrounded by wood panelling, it really stood out and added almost no expense to the build.

Builderwoman!

Make sure your plumber puts your heated towel rails beside your showers....ours didn't and it's a bit of a bumber.

Tie your solar and wood pellet heating systems in together.

Plan your rooms and furniture layouts in advance if possible to ensure that you have lots of sockets in the right places

Put in lamp sockets

Do like masterK says have two velux in a single storey part of house. We did for dining area and it's great.

Someday

Hi Guys

No Single Story i am afraid - Will i not burn the hand off my self with Heated Towel Rails ??

Do-more

Someday wrote:

Will i not burn the hand off my self with Heated Towel Rails ??

It depends if they are chrome finish or not!

bauderline

A strong safe sunk into concrete in a discrete location is also a very useful item and easy done early on in the build....

baud.