Building a forever home. Do's and don'ts

[riversidejeep]

I was a residential building contractor for 30 years and Just before I retired the wife and I decided to build a new home and downsize. I asked the wife to write down everything she would like in a new house and I did the same. Our old house was 2500 sqft and after I drew up the new place on the C.A.D. it was 4000 sqft !, then its time to chip away on things you can live with out.

 

[cnelk]

No way would I want to have a big house to maintain and take care of when I get older.

Good chance that someone will be doing it by themselves

 

[Blackstorm]

As a fellow CNY dweller, my big thing that works for me is a cistern if you're on a well. We didn't build the house but it's a raised ranch with wide doorways which are great. Garage/ basement bathroom is also very nice. I am adding an attached garage now (replacing current one) and another pole barn for the summer equipment. Insulation in our neck of the woods can't be overstated enough, I would max out on this. I also would do a paved driveway, moving snow on gravel sucks.

 

[Colterw]

Tough on backs and knees and if you drop anything it’s as good as broken. I’ll never have stained concrete in my home

That's my thoughts on tile as well. It's cold on the feet, unless you want to pay for heated floors- I don't. The grout stains and required extra cleaning. The tile in our kitchen will SHATTER anything that's dropped on it. Hardwood and laminate might break a dropped dish but it won't turn it to shrapnel like tile does.

I just tore the tile out of my bathroom in favor of quality waterproof laminate.

 

[RS3579]

There are a lot of great ideas already said. Have at least a 1” spare conduit from your electric panel to the attic and one to the basement to a suspended or unfinished ceiling. It’s easier to add extra circuits after the build is completed.

 

[Fisherhahn]

Lots of good stuff. One I’ll add for “later in life” being able to consolidate your living to single a single floor. Lucked out when we bought our modest ranch. When stairs get to be too much, washer and dryer can be put in the extra bedroom that shares a wall with the bathroom. I can easily tie into the water and drains. My mother in law is struggling with this now and we don’t have many options in her house.

 

[ODB]

Best thing I have seen is my friend in IN. has a urial in the bathroom. His wife loves it, keeps floor cleaner. Don't know if it was mentioned, but mud room.

I was gonna say mud room as well. A nice mud room with plenty of hanging room, a deep sink, bench seat with storage underneath, cabinets etc is a thing of utilitarian beauty.

 

[Glory]

Forever home? Build something that you can sell quickly should the need arise. Or if you pass, your wife or kids can sell quickly. Don't overly customize it to the point other people won't want it.

 

[Pony Soldier]

The single thing I have enjoyed the last few years is a heated mud room where I can shed my winter clothes and dry them. A great deal like an airlock to the house. It saves me a great deal of warfare on drying coveralls that are scattered around the house. Mine is 6 x 8 and I would suggest a 10 x 12. It also needs a built in bench big enough for two for putting on and taking off boots.

If you get drifting snow you need to orient the house to minimize the drifting piles near the door and have a place to put it that will allow mechanical removal.

If it gets cold, I would design water columns in the house and basement / crawl space to minimize the chance of freezing and as others have said - no water in exterior walls.

Since heating and lighting is not a guarantee you need to plan for multiple options. Gas or propane with a generator backup should be considered. A wood stove could be an option depending on availability and availability of stockpile storage.

 

[flyinsquirel]

Since we’re talking forever home, what are some ideas to limit maintenance needs or disaster proof? Any good tricks to avoid/limit water damage when a fitting leaks or a pipe breaks? Siding that won’t require constant painting?

 

[mckbcat2000]

Wife and I had a home built in 2010. Before the basement was poured I told my wife we need to shop for a gun safe and have it lowered into the basement before the floor joists come. She replied with "Ask the builder to make us a 10x10 room on that one corner and put a fire door on it". Called my builder and told him to give me the cost on the room with a 6 inch concrete cap....$2500 for that deal. When we finished our basement I had the guys finish the inside of it as well. Money very well spent.

 

[mckbcat2000]

I think in our next house I'd like to have the washer/drier in the master closet. Have the master closet big. Soon as the laundry is done it's folded, put away in the closet, and any dirty laundry is out of sight of any guests.

 

[Legend]

Having built my own custom I would do a couple different things.

Use insulation on the outside of your framing. The preinsulated zip panels are awesome.

Run a manifold plumbing system with seperate hot and cold lines to each fixture.

Radiant floor is awesome. If you go there run pipes in your driveway.

Walkin concrete gun safe off the garage.

 

[cornfedkiller]

Something to add to the floor drains in your garage suggestion.. put separate drains under the center of each vehicle. We lived in a house that had 1 drain in the center of the 2-car garage, and it was always wet in the winter when walking between the vehicles. Our new garage has a floor drain under each vehicle and its dry all the way around both, which is much nicer.

 

[CHWine]

We moved into our forever house that we had built when I turned 50. 13 years later we sold it. It was 2400 ft on 172 acres in NorCal with 2 miles of private road behind locked gate. We made few mistakes as my builder.....who became a friend was a very experienced and thrifty guy.
My main advice is build your house in a place/location you can afford to retire at. Our yard and outside area became more than my wife......9 years older than me.....and I could take care of. When we realized that after working our $8k property taxes per year as well as other high cost CA issues was going to be unsustainable long term.
We were also having friends getting their homeowners insurance cancelled because of fire concerns and it was a matter of time before it was going to happen to us. Luckily the guy who bought it was able to secure financing and fire insurance.
We were able to parlay that sale into our escape route to Show Low AZ and live in a new downsized 1500 ft place with a manageable yard, and a decent amount of cushion.
Mistakes we made:
Didn't wire for backup or portable generator.
Hot water in garage.
Didn't wire for outside cameras.
Didn't expect neighbors to convert their property to pot growing operation.

 

[BuckRut]

Put outlets everywhere. Inside and out. Put them in the soffits, hallways, etc. Also make sure and leave some utility pathways from one floor to the other. There will always be things that come up that you would want to add or change and it sucks if you can run a wire or something of the sort from the basement to the attic.

 

[TX_Diver]

I've lived in a lot of houses as I move for work.

I have never wished for a smaller kitchen or less counter space!!

There are lots of things I don't like about my current house, but there are a few things about it that are great and will be incorporated into my future home one day.

The one I'm in now has a sink and a trench drain in the garage which is great for winter as the snow melt off the cars runs into it.

This one also has a light switch that I can reach from the bed so I can turn off the lights after I'm actually in bed (would have been nice if they'd put an outlet closer to the bed though and not put the heater vents under the bed...)

The house I'm in now has extremely low levels of light though (2 can lights is all I get for the whole living room!). Probably an obvious one but make sure there's adequate lighting, it's hard to read a book in there sometimes and I still have decent eyes.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I live in a very rural environment with somewhat limited guarantees for basic needs. We designed our house with wood heat because at times we can go 48 hrs with no power. We have propane backup for the cookstove but that isn't a given either. We need a generator but that needs propane again with no assurances of supply.

We have a history of up -75 in temps so waterline plans had to be incorporated in the design to accomidate those conditions.

Wildfire can be a possibility so given the prevailing winds we have designed hay fields as buffers to limit ladder fuels as places to control fire. Steel roofs to limit fire potential from spot fires. Frost free yard hydrants strategically located to aid in fire control. And finally enough heavy equipment to plow a way out of heavy snows or create firelines to stop ground creep of flames from the summer fires.

We also focused on extra insulation invthe walls and roof to control the heating and cooling costs. Strategically located windows and sizes to give options for ventilation during the summer.

We have high ground water levels in the spring so we put sumps in the crawl space under the house to automatically keep the groundwater levels under control. Prior to building the surface was sloped to channel melting snow and rain away from buildings to prevent flooding. Avoid building near streams or even dry flood channels. Look at aerial photos prior to buying the land. I know of a house in a subdivision that floods every two to three years because of one of these channels. I live on the top of a ridge and still have to plan for these things.

 

[cbat]

Plywood under your drywall. That way you can hang mounts anywhere. We have a 30 kw gen set with its own 1000 gallon supply of propane with auto transfer switch. Gives you security in case we are gone for anytime and power goes out.

 

[Idaboy]

Mother in law quarters above garage. We have a 450 Sq foot space above garage with half bath and kitchenette...wish we would have installed a shower. We have a small home so it works great for visitors, kids friends etc. Works great for naps when working night shift too.