My husband and I are building our first home and just got the plans finished. Some major critique of these plans would be appreciated! This is to be our retirement home, and we don't want a large home, nor do we want to spend more money than necessary. We like the large garage with direct access to the back yard, and love the open great room/kitchen under the vaulted ceiling. We're happy with all the bedroom and kitchen/dining/great room sizes. We love the front porch and the screened porch tucked into the house for privacy. However, we're concerned about a few things: (1)The stairs to the bonus room being in the laundry room seems odd; we wanted "out of sight" space for the bonus room ... but wanted to be able to shut a door to the stairs so that it was "closed off." Placing the stairs along the back of the garage somehow made the roof pitch on the rest of the house too high (?). (2)We're also concerned about the size/layout of the laundry room, and (3)The fact that we're pretty sure the interior of the house is going to be too dark; the front door will face South/slightly Southwest, but with the porches, and few windows ... maybe add skylights? The size of the lot limits the length of the house - it's the most it can be and still have a side-entry garage. (4)The porch outside the garage was added simply because of something to do with the way the roof needed to overhang right there...we are okay with it, but would rather spend the money elsewhere if it's possible. We just discovered this forum this morning, and were almost late to work reading and reading and reading ..... what an exciting find! Thank you in advance to any of you who can share some thoughts on this house plan!!!! Image link:

I would check with a building inspector to get a professional opinion. We lived for 10 years in a house that was built in 1930 that had asbestos insulation in the steam pipes all over the cellar. When we put it up for sale in 1986 we learned for the first time that this was an issue. We could not sell the house until we had it removed professionally, which cost us a lot of money and the air quality after the removal had to be checked. Fast forward to 1991: We bought a house built in 1985 that had vinyl flooring in the kitchen that we wanted to remove. We were told that it was right around 1985 that they outlawed asbestos in the vinyl flooring, so no one would remove it because they weren't sure if it had asbestos. We decided to leave it in place and put new vinyl over it. In the first case, the asbestos posed a hazard for indoor air quality, especially if it was disturbed. We never touched it. In the second case the asbestos is sequestered and poses no hazard unless it is disturbed, and there is no reason to do that. In your case, the asbestos is outdoors. That's a different situation. If you ever want to remove it, that would have to be done according to EPA strict rules to prevent the stuff from crumbling into dust particles and flying in the air. Based on what I have experienced, I would err on the side of caution and ask the seller to remove it professionally according to EPA rules, but then it will be up to you to install new siding. Alternatively, you could install new siding over the asbestos siding, if that can be done without causing the asbestos to crumble.

We signed all the papers today - paying 6% commission or 5% if he brings the buyer. We viewed the 4 bedroom house with a pool. It is vacant and needs alot of work. On its side, it has the 4th bedroom, but the house is in rough shape. Listing says freshly painted, but they had to mean the exterior because the inside walls are in horrible shape. Tile in kitchen old, dirty and shows age. The entire yard is taken by the pool - that's a subjective thing as a buyer either wants one or doesn't in this AZ market. It's on a corner lot on the main drag of the area. Ours is a quiet street. Huge EWWWEEEEEE factor - fridge included in kitchen was DISGUSTING! Mold and crap growing inside. Something small, but huge turnoff to me. Dh and I looked at a house when we were looking to buy two years ago. Nicely remodelled, but dead roaches everywhere. It was off our list. Closet doors off their rails, bathtub cracked and chipped, door frames, baseboards and trim terrible. Old 80's brown carpet in LR, bedrooms and masterbath. Original light fixtures. House was quite dirty and there were ants and other bugs inside. Our house is in considerably better shape. Not dated, clean, no bugs, doors, frames etc., in good condition compared to this house. With the other two and our home, ours is in the best shape and by far needs the least work. Pool house is listed at $249,900. I was worried about going higher, but our realtor said let's give it a shot and reassess in a couple weeks after we've had feedback. We're listing at $253,500. Price per square footage is smack dab in the middle with other homes in the area. Most recent comp from June sold for $240K, so that gives us wiggle room. He's coming on Thurs AM to take photos and will have an infotube on sign. Open house most likely next Saturday. Let the fun begin!

First off you put this in the fireplaces category(?) so not sure how many responses you’ll get. I would NOT plan a kitchen around a table. Do what you want and like, trust me tastes will change and you might want a different table down the road.