New Home Construction (Budget Decisions 3rd Car garage vs SunRoom Bump
Ryan Vallow
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
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80 gallon tank-type vs tankless water heater in new home
Comments (119)Funny to be accused of evangelism by poster that incited an "Amen", a few posts up :) Always appreciate feedback and constantly working on preachiness of writing style. I think including links or reading opines without sourcing helps others decide on misleading comments. It looks like Stiebel updated their Accelera HPWH to include an electronic control screen since we bought one a couple years ago for parents house. After an updated check on reviews I still feel safer with Accelera but it's hard without knowing volume of units sold. Surely Rheem has sold more HPWH than Stiebel at this point, despite Accelera being around longer. Reliability is a compelling reason to go with Rheem Marathon an electric resistance tank. Best warranty and most well-reviewed water heater available. Tank size plays a role here too. Bigger tank means better hot water performance, with minor hit in efficiency. The bigger the tank, the better for grid storage and demand control. Demand control has been around a long time with the most basic strategy using a timer and time-of-use billing options through utility. Studies will continue forever on more advanced grid-smart water heating technology but at this point, it's a time-tested technique with this smart water heater article quoting up to one million in use already with potential savings for homeowners and grid. Another article from same site points to irony of battle between grid storage potential of simple electric resistance tanks and the efficiency of heat pump water heaters. In that first article the Hidden Battery link seemed misdirected but it was put out by the NRDC pointing to potential of electric tanks to reduce the need of new power plants and grid storage for renewables. Large, reliable electric resistance tanks are becoming more of an asset while gas is becoming more of a liability. I think most of this forum's posts could be described as meaningless or feel-good-only but definitely not water heating. It has large environmental and social consequences. It's one of the only home purchases capable of beating the stock market for returns on investment. I think the ROI currently lies with HPWH but the second best choice could easily be a good ole electric tank. If an electric utility offers good incentives, electric tanks like the Marathon, could beat tankless gas or HPWH in total lifetime costs including repairs and replacement. A home equipped with PV panels and Marathon tank could also be in the running as best long-term water heating investment....See MoreKitchen Layout Ideas for new house construction
Comments (61)I've been thinking about the first plan I posted, with the interior laundry and mudroom. I still like it. If you put the laundry/mudroom inside, you don't need anything in the garage but a couple of steps (between the garage bays, where the steps start on the original plan), so it shouldn't interfere with parking. Moving the door down, across from the MR door, would allow you to have a ROTS pantry beside the fridge, and you could also have shallow storage cabinets beside the entry door. They could be used for extra pantry storage, brooms and cleaning supplies, extra mudroom storage, candlesticks and linens for DR, etc. You wouldn't need to carry laundry through the kitchen, but the W/D are still close enough to monitor while you're cooking. Likewise, laundry isn't lugged back through the kitchen. I incorporated the front entry closet into this version, and it's all included in your 14.5 x 23' space. There's a stub wall beside the oven, so the profile view from the great room is uniform. If you feel that the oven would block light from the great room window, the sink window could be widened. Note: I used 6" for all interior walls because that's easier to draw on my grid; you'd actually have a little more space on either side of the wall. You'd also have more space for storage in the garage. I drew the garage entry traffic paths below--it's not exactly to scale, but close enough to give you the idea of how the interior laundry/MR impacts the plan: Original, for comparison: Of course, if you use a different plan, or have an architect design a custom home, this is moot. I just wanted you to consider all aspects of the interior laundry....See MoreHelp - Exterior House Design - New Construction!
Comments (24)I hope you dislike natural light because this house will have the darkest interior of any house I've ever seen. You will need lights on during the middle of the day. I'm sorry but you may like this plan but there really is very little that works. Your master bedroom, bathroom, master closet, laundry room and the kid's bedrooms will get the most light, while the "public" rooms you spend the most time in,, (Kitchen, dining, living room and yes even the golf room and office will get NO to very little natural light. Who did you work with to design this? Are you sure they're a licensed architect? I'm sorry but the plan you're basing it on wasn't much better. Had you walked in the actual house you wanted to base this off of? I ask because that house will be dark too without all the lights turned on....See MoreCorner lot subdivide - New custom home construction
Comments (69)@Loudermilk - I am amazed you knew the exact location. I erased the name of the streets so I can obtain objective feedback. Never in a million years I thought somebody would be talented enough to figure out the exact location with a small clip of the area, but I thought wrong. Anyhow, I admit that it's my fault when I said there is no sidewalk. That street with sidewalk is the St side with almost no car or foot traffic. Maybe you will spot 1 person walking on that side of the street all day. I considered the corner lot over the inner lot for my home because the topo allows for the same house to be built and be able to orient the house with backyard facing south and have to option to build the driveway enter from the street with almost no traffic. If I can shield the more busier Rd (no sidewalk on my side of the lot) with privacy trees maybe it's not so bad compared to building the same house in the inner lot with the front of the house face the Rd (still facing North so backyard is facing South) even with privacy trees....See MoreRyan Vallow
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