Yes, and what are your floors?

Thanks mtpo My floors were my biggest mistake. . Sherryl I would NOT get my floors in a kitchen or bathroom. They are Palladio engineered. They are beautiful, I love the way they look however water has stained in a few spots and cleaning is specific to dry mop and spray cleaner. I have to clean up any spots of water that may drip or I could get black marks.
My husband wants to add a rug runner between our island and perimeter cabinets. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a beautiful floor.
I wanted LVP and husband wanted real wood. I should have fought harder for LVP. It is so much easier to take care of.

My KD quit his job mid build and another came on from the same business but she did not pick up on the mistake of measuring in my laundry room. We have a short wall of cabinets and in one spot, in the corner, we had an open space under the counter to place a hamper.
Unfortunately the side of the dryer is about 4 inches from the opening plus it sticks out past the opening so it is wasted space.

I would have placed my fireplace mantel lower although it worked out ok . The TV height doesn't bother our necks one bit luckily.

I love my perimeter countertop but water shows dark spots if not cleaned up right away. It doesnt absorb it all which is odd, just leaves darker mark. It does eventually go away, it isn't permanent. So not sure I would have chosen it again..but I love the way it looks.

I would have tried to add a linen closet for my guest bathroom and lastly I would not have insisted on the marble floor for my guest bath. Yes I love it and find it easy to take care of but it wasn't worth the price. As I've said before, things I thought mattered do not.
I think we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get everything perfect.
I do love my home and am very happy. None of the things mentioned above are enough to upset me or make me lose sleep. It is next door to our former home, and we had saved this lot for our single level, growing old house.

@NewEnglandgal, I think we have decided to go with LVP in our house. I love the look of wood but besides being a lot more expensive, I've never had great luck with durability with kids in the mix. We live on a cattle farm so I need something easy to keep clean. We are looking at CoreTec Calypso Oak. It's probably not a mainstream option to put LVP in a brand new house, but I'm at the point in life where cleanability is huge deciding factor on house decisions :)

shead I agree and for the same reasons wanted LVP. I wanted as little maintenance as possible.
My husband wanted wood in case we ever decide to sell. I dont agree and Im the one cleaning it!
You are very wise!

@NewEnglandgal What is your perimeter countertop? It sounds like it just needs another seal on it, if it is a natural stone. Thankfully, an easy fix! Your home looks beautiful.

https://www.houzz.com/user/shead

We used LVP, in the mudroom, laundry room, loft office and the bedrooms, love the ease of cleaning it.

Main area, open concept, used tile in kitchen, foyer & Eng. wood in the dinning room & great room. Tile in the bathrooms. You can go to my page, under idea books, look for new build Gabe to see some photos.

@Cheryl Hannebauer I was just stalking your New Build folder - your stools - do you like them? Where did you get them? I've been looking at that style

N Kay

The bar stools came from SCAN DESIGN, as we are in Canada, quite comfy .. and I looked for along time, almost settled on another type & found these, as we were driving by & I said to hubby, lets stop in as this is the only store we have not been in. Purchased 4 stools & 2 chairs, and have been thinking on buying more of the chairs to switch out with the currant DR chairs.

Silver grey granite. It is honed

@NewEnglandgal thanks for the honesty. I know I will have many things I would change...some structural [ugh]. oh well...

I wonder if the issue with your engineered wood is the matte finish? I'm nervous abut that as we currently have old engineered throughout our main level [including kitchen and powder] and it's been so easy to maintain...but it's glossier.

@K H I'm so sorry for y'alls loss. Pets are so precious. My heart goes out to y'all.

@Trish Walter O.M.G. What in the world?! I hope it all works out for the better and there's no crazy legal fiasco.

Our flooring is wood-look tile. That's what's in my earlier posted pics. I needed something kids and large dogs couldn't destroy. I would've loved to put in engineer or hard wood but couldn't stomach the scratches and dents I KNOW my family and pets would give it.

We currently have a lower cost wood-look tile in our spec home that is awesome. It's just a flat, picture tile with no texture and takes a beating. The new build flooring is a higher grade with textured grain. I love how it looks!

Update for us:

We paid for our appraisal today and they're grouting the bathroom tiles!

For those of you using LVP (and I’m still SO conflicted about it but leaning that direction), what did you do to manage the transition with tile? Our builder is working on the contract now, and I have said if we go with LVP, they need to somehow manage the flooring where it all meets without the lips, so all the same level. We are nearing retirement and don’t need the tripping hazard or the aesthetic issue with that.

@Sherryl I plan on engineered and tile [should be similar to LVP] and want to turn a piece for transition....

Here's a picture.

Trish, LVP is 1/5” thick; engineered is 1/2”, and tile is 3/8”, which with the adhesive underneath makes it match up with the engineered. There’s just apparently no good way to make the LVP match up with tile without doing transition pieces with a bump up, unfortunately.

drat.

@Sherryl our tile is Mannington Adura in our Mudroom and bath. We have 3/4" hardwood in the main room. We had to put a plywood underlayment down and then they put down the thinner underlayment under the tile to raise it up. I'll go find my bill..... We did not use a transition piece(just turned our hardwood like in Trish's photo) and all of our floor is the same level. Material cost was a bit higher but the level floor was worth it to me!

NewEnglandgal, Your floors look so beautiful. Even knowing what a problem the wood floors will be, I am going full steam ahead to make the same “mistake” you made. Our kitchen, dining area and family room are one big rectangle. I know it makes sense to put something more durable in the kitchen, but I think the wood throughout the entire area and foyer will look better. I’m hoping that if our builder puts enough coats of Bona High Traffic on it, the kitchen floor will survive.

Trish, We need easy transitions for DH’s wheelchair. no sills. Although it won’t be elegant, we may use a Schluter strip if need be where tile meets wood.

@mtpo Have you considered using tile throughout instead? Maybe wood looking tile if you are wanting a wood look in some areas, & then another tile in other areas? That way, there would not be the t-molds at the doorways or transitions. Just a thought!

Nice builds! I finished a little before the time NEG was finishing,so it's cool to see the finished product. Hope your shoulder heals well NEG. I just have patio installation and the rest of the landscaping for the summer. Kind of anxious to do that, especially since we cancelled summer travel so the back yard is the new vacation destination.

Hi @kriii! We are looking forward to having our lawn reseeded and putting in some shrubs and flowers. What are you planning for your patio?

@mtpo We used a Schluter strip between master bed and bath when we renovated a couple of years ago. It's perfectly seamless.

Jkent, thanks for the photo. That looks nice and neat. 😁

@K H I'm so sorry for your loss.

@NewEnglandgal re brick-look backsplash - thank you! I'm waiting for my counters, which is unfortunately holding other trades up, like plumbing. Most recent date we've been given for install is May 14th. Not sure what the cause of the delay is - very frustrating! We choose silestone quartz.

@mtpo we did schluter transitions everywhere because I love how minimal they are!

Has anyone used Schluter for the tile floor heating system or the underlayment to make tile more resistant to cracking?

Has anyone used the upgraded grout mix that does not require sealing, is anti-mold and supposedly easier to clean? I understand it is costly, but if it really works as advertised, I love the idea of low maintenance. On the other hand, don’t want to waste money.

Starting to get a little angry. I want to order my backsplash tile and bullnose but can't get pics of it from the company with the different colors of grout! The 2x8 tile is a matte shimmer but it is not pure white(like a pearl) so I'm not sure what color of grout to go with! Found these on my own. I think the top one is a light gray grout and the bottom is a bone grout?

@K H those two pics are very different styles. What are your counters? I would do the first for a modern more minimal kitchen. The 2nd is really pretty, so soft and feminine

I think gray would be easier to keep clean too ? Pretty

@K H I'd go with the grout that matches the tile, the lighter one, I'm not a fan of having the grout stand out but I know I may be in the minority. That tile is gorgeous, what are all the grout options?

Grout options are white, bone or light gray. I'm going with a traditional 1/2 stagger(not sure if that's what it is called we call it the robot!) We have the traditional cherry wood with Cambria Berwyn quartz.

I agree that I'd use a grout that matches the tile. It appears that in both pics, the tile has slightly irregular borders and using a gray grout may drive you nuts since it will draw attention to the fact that the grout lines aren't straight.

The tile is irregular. Here is another photo I found.

not sure the grout color on this photo.

Here it is in a bathroom. I just love the texture of the tile. But I can not identify grout color at all. To me it all looks the same on the computer lol!

Here is the Berwyn. This is my friend's counter so the lighting/iphone snap isn't the best but it has a lot of whites, creams, grays and a bit of sparkle. So it is a more busy pattern which is why I wanted a simpler subway. Better picture of Berwyn

And all trim and wall color in here is white dove so it is a grayer white. I'm hearing more votes for a light color so that would be a white or bone. Would white make the tile look dirty since it is more of an oyster/pearlescent color?

KH, Are you working with anyone at the tile supplier that could send you a few tiles and the grout samples? if the store has a good designer, maybe s/he (they) can make a helpful recommendation. Your kitchen looks terrific already.

wow, I'm terrible at picking out colors and noticing undertones, so I have no input. But wanted to say that your kitchen is looking gorgeous and I absolutely love the texture of that backsplash you chose.

I was trying to work with them. I called them and asked about samples of grout and even pictures. They said they would send them but they haven’. I don’t understand why people don’t follow thru. They must be getting lots of business so my small order of 50 sq ft isn’t worth the effort!

Do you know what grout company they use? I ordered grout sample sticks to choose my colors long distance. Also, check reviews with pictures and the questions others ask; sometimes they mention their grout choice!

Looking at your counter bone or white for sure - that 2nd pic of the original series that you thought might be bone would be what I’d be using for inspiration.

We spent some quality time with our project manager today and tomorrow we do a lightning walk through with our builder, PM and electrician. This seem to be moving billy everything is still so far off. Sigh.....

Wow autocorrect won the battle in my last post 🤷‍♀️

Do your builder do walkthroughs with you? Mine seems to be leaving everything up to PM. PM is good but his design sense is a bit off. If he reinterprets the plan, we get into trouble. A little hard to communicate that we are better off to stick to the plan literally.

The walk through with the electrician was tough. I was not prepared. I didn't know what to expect.

We were good for most of our build, as it was our 2nd time building & hubby is a PEng & worked along side of our crew everyday. Because we built on an island off of another island, there were a few challenges, with waiting on a few of the sub trades, the drywall took a just over a month, cuz they used our job as a fill in & came on the weekends,did the boarding & tapering & came back to fill & sand on Saturdays & then the electricians for the final finishing took a little longer than we planned.

for the electricians, we did our walk through & it was good, but when it came time for the installation, a couple of items almost got missed, ie a outlet in the front foyer- lucky they were on the island & had to come to our place to pick up a tool that had been left here, and when I told the owner/ electrician, Warren stayed and put in an outlet right away, exterior light at the back door was almost missed as there is going to be attached carport there, they didn't think we would need one, but since we haven't done the carport yet, I asked for it to wired, the one thing I do regret is that we didn't put exterior LEDs in one area long side of the mudroom/ back entry, as we will be changing the walkway path to the front entrance, we may have to put them along the north side of the carport once it's done. The one thing that was missed was hardwired for the answering machine to go in the kitchen , as now I have to go up to the loft/ office to see if there are any messages on machine.

@Cheryl Hannebauer Thanks for sharing - I appreciate any and all experience since this is our first build and I just don't know what I don't know.

We had a PM change when the outbreak happened (totally understandable), the new PM has lots of trade experience and has been much more on-site. Our builder is definitely the design mind behind everything. Our builder was here for an initial walk through with HVAC and Plumbing and now another with Electrician. The PM also seems to be deferring anything design based to our Builder. We shall see .......

Any other things I should pay attention to for the electrical walk through?

I started a May 2020 thread here:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5907777/may-2020-building-a-home

N Kay-

if your going to use a roombra, Think about where your/it is going to park >>right now ours is in the dinning room, but had I thought about it, I would have put a outlet in the pantry, even though it a small pantry. We didn't have one before, but because of the open concept we purchased one for this house as an after thought. Last house had a built in& after much discussion, decided not to do that here, so have a roombra & Meile canister vaccum.

@Cheryl Hannebauer Good one!!!

NKay I am hoping I’ll get to work at home more in the future and understand that Ethernet is more secure and possibly faster than WIFi. I put Ethernet hook ups in a lot of different rooms so I won’t have long wires laying around as trip hazards. Even though we’ll have a study, I know I’ll want to sit with my computer at the kitchen island so we had wire run there that will come up through a hollow island leg. Make sure Ethernet wiring does not run parellel to electrical wiring (it causes interference).

we hard-wired for picture lights where we plan to build bookcases, but since then I found out it wasn’t really necessary to hardwire as so many of the nice fixtures are battery operated now.

My builder suggested 2 exhaust fans in several of our bathrooms ... I had him order the new NuTones with the antibacterial UV light/regular light and fan to go near each toilet and a regular exhaust fan/light outside of the shower to prevent humidity build up/mold. Decided to use part of my entry guest coat closet for my main cable box/router. The builder also put some hook ups in around the house to amplify the WiFi throughout the house.

Also hooked up special exterior security lights that we can turn on/off from 1st floor and the 2d floor MBR.

Hook up for under counter fridge (in case we later want one) in 2d floor laundry room. Hope some of these ideas are useful to you.

Know we probably forgot stuff. I forgot wall plug for Dustbuster in the pantry. No matter how much we plan, it’s never enough.

Do you join the thread for the month you signed purchase agreement (under contract) or when the builder actually starts working(like pulling permits)? If the latter then will hop onto the June 2020 thread. :)

It’s a rolling thread. We start a new one at the beginning of each month and the old ones go silent. There’s a September thread going now which is where you can start posting :)

Ahhh, thank you shead! ;) Will do!