Our house is in the planning phases. I have my idea/inspiration binder and wish list, and have just started to interview architects. Are you building smaller to compensate? Yes, 2500 sq ft (max), which is small in my area for a nicer home. It is for me, DH and 3 active boys. Current house is a 3100 sq ft walk out ranch, but I'd say 90% of our time is spent on the main level which is maybe 1750 sq ft. So one could argue that we're not building smaller. This will be all on one level except for an "away" or reading loft above the main living area. Are you building with high-efficiency materials (ICFs? SIPs? Other super-insulation techniques)? Yes, depending on what can be delivered on our budget. Looking for the most bang for the buck. ICF or SIPs, geothermal heat/cool, passive solar features, concrete floors, highly insulated windows are all on our wish list. Also the ability to add features later like a wind turbine are important if they eventually would have a reasonable ROI. Want to reuse/repurpose and minimize construction waste whenever possible. Are you building closer to jobs than you otherwise might have, to reduce commuting distances? We are moving to 5 acres just outside of town. It reduces my husband's commute by 5 mins and adds 6 mins to mine. It would be a wash except it adds about 5 minutes to the time it takes to get to the grocery store and to any other in-town errands. I know one family living on five acres conspicuously contributing to suburban sprawl is not green. But there were houses already built (long ago) on either side of our parcel, and the land was not being farmed or anything before we bought it. It's been sitting there waiting for someone to build on it for years (previous owners held onto it but never built) -- so if we don't someone else will. How's that for rationalization! If you are doing any of the things I mentioned, or more / other (and please elaborate!), are you aware of so-called "Peak Oil"? Or are you doing it simply as a good investment (spend money now in the build, to reduce recurring costs)? Never heard of peak oil. We are doing this because it's the right thing to do, and certainly energy costs are not going down. Basically I don't feel a need to heat and cool space that is rarely used. We live a very informal life.

Man, you've got a whole SLEW of things you need to take into consideration. First, you've picked a good tile. You definitely want a porcelain, so it'll stand up to the elements. However, you don't want to use the Ditra-Set to install the Ditra, unless you also get Hydroment's Flexalastic latex additive. Mix the Ditra-Set with straight additive, and no water for setting the Ditra, and then mix the Ditra-Set with water when you go to set the tile. One thing you need to be very sure of, and that is that the subfloor pitches sufficiently AWAY from the house. The pitch spec is the same as for shower floors-- 1/4" per running foot from the house to the edge of the deck. If you're going to have short walls going around the deck, you want to lap Kerdi-Band up the walls, and behind the finish as a kind of flashing to keep water from settling into the walls where it can freeze overnight during warm days and cold nights of spring. Also, if you have walls up around the porch, you want to have scuppers every so often where any water can drain off, instead of sitting on the tile and refreezing. Even with the Ditra, if water gets under the tile and freezes, it'll pop tiles. As for grout, Spectralock. That'll also help with keeping water out from under the tile, as well as standing up to the elements much better than a standard grout.

Great post! We are in a similar situation. We have a two year old and four year old and plan to have one more child. We plan for this to be our house until our kids head off to college so we had many of the same concerns in planning. After initially planning all the bedrooms upstairs, we changed to a story and a half plan. We have the master downstairs, with one other bedroom (future nursery). We have two bedrooms upstairs for our boys with a bathroom and enclosed loft (this forum scared me too much about an open loft area!). The upstairs loft will function as a play/homework space for the boys in the future. If we wanted to have all three kids upstairs, we could close it off to make it a third bedroom if we wanted. Our plan is open concept with a playroom off of our great room, which will also function as a den/guest room as the kids get older. It has sliding barn doors that can keep it open to the great room or it can also be closed off (to hide all those toys!). We included a large mudroom off the garage with five lockers/cubbies. We also have a drop zone/desk between that area and the kitchen for keeping school papers, mail, etc. organized. We've opted for hardwood throughout the great room/kitchen/dining. Our builder is doing some distressing to it with the staining process so hopefully any additional wear and tear by our boys and golden retriever will only add to the look.

"If the range needs to be pulled out, it can be lifted up over the edge of the tile easily enough." Depending om the weight of the range and the thickness of the tile install you may not be ale to tilt the range far enough back to get the front feet onto the raised portion of the floor. If you do not want to spend money tiling under the range (or DW) at least put in some plywood to bring the area level with the height of the finished tile. I had a client last month that had a viking rage trapped so badly it was a nightmare. The backer board and large tile made over a one inch stack. Tilting was not possible at all. The range was tight against the wall and the tile and backer tight against the front feet. It took the better part of four hours to raise the range straight up to free it by raising it from underneath using wedges. A vertical lift would not fit (used for moving office desks) and the bottom of the range is not strong enough to lift against. We had to drive wedges under each foot, then add blocking under the front to back foot structure, then wedge up the blocking to free the wedges under the feet, ten do it over again a couple times to get the needed height. I have sen everything from tearing out tile to replacing granite counters to free trapped appliances. I usually can get a DW out by sawing away the DW structure on each side to lower the height.If you cut away the front and it can then drop, you can pull it part way out making getting to the rear structure holding it up a little easier. The DW is tan scrap, ad after adding plywood a new DW can be slid in. The DWs for handicapped height counters are shorter and often will fit (otherwise the floor has to come out). Measure first to determine how much work will be required.