What does one do with a tower? New house build.
Jeff Smith
2 years ago
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Mark Bischak, Architect
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2 years agoRelated Discussions
Building new house - one brand for all appliances or not
Comments (7)I used to think that having the appliances match was important, but have come to believe otherwise. When I got my new appliances, one of them had to be returned and I did not want it replaced with the same model due to the issues it had. If I had gotten it as part of a "matching set," I'd be in trouble. Besides, all of your new, matching appliances are eventually going to need to be replaced, and you will likely do that one at a time, rather than all at once. So they aren't going to match then, anyway. All black, or all stainless, or all white ... yes. All similar handles ... sure, why not, if it's possible. But all "matching" and from the same manufacturer ... not important....See MoreBuilding a new home, what do you think of location?
Comments (30)The lot is too close to the busy intersection and main road. In addition to the privacy and noise issues already discussed, think of this: 1) Car exhaust/pollution. There is an intersection right there..and some cars will be waiting for the light. You will likely get more pollution due to this. Smelly and unhealthy. 2) 35 MPH speed limit. Just because this is the posted speed limit, it doesn't mean that all cars obey the speed limit. In times when it is not congested, I bet some cars go 45-50 MPH..and some even faster. 3) Burglars: I have seen some stats that says burglars often pick homes that are nearest the main road, because they can exit the subdivision quickly. Also they can monitor your work pattern easily. 4) Pets: If you get a dog or cat, if that pet gets loose, it likely will make it to that main road and get hit by a car. 5) Wrecks. You will hear some wrecks that occur at that intersection. These will occur. They don't sound pretty. At high speeds, the sound is horrible, especially at night and if there are any people screaming for help. I used to live on a main road and the wrecks were bad. 6) Sirens: Because the lot of off the main road, you will hear every cop car/fire engine/ambulance that is passing by with siren on. 7)Do you ever plan to open your windows? If so, you will hear traffic and might smell the exhaust. 8) Resale for the house, that close to the road, will be lower. Lots of buyers would not even look at the home because it is so close to the road. 9) Those few trees in the back hardly count as wooded. It is just a basic small lot (too close to the main road) with a few trees in the back....See MoreExcess humidity in one room of new build home
Comments (7)Echo the advice to get some instrumentation to look at humidity. 35% RH is scary low and cannot be necessary for wood floors unless something is wrong with the floors. Do you live in an arid area? If the room is truly excessively humid, you need to find out where the humidity is coming from. If the problem is localized to the floor vent and the windows, that is where the humid air is coming from if it is humid outdoors and on the other side of the floor vent. What is under the floor, a crawl space? Is it humid under there? You might need to seal around those items, but chances are that this room was done the same as the rest of the house. If air is leaking into that room specifically, the next question is why? It may have low pressure due to design of supplies and returns. Where are your returns? Are the supplies all open in that room? Is it less humid in that room if you leave the door to the hallway open?...See MoreDo we love our new build homes because we need to?
Comments (34)We "built" the house we live in now, tract home in new neighborhood, with some customization. House conversations with friends and neighbors always have regrets in there. Bump-outs, boneheaded designs we should have caught, upgrades that should have been made, upgrades that aren't worth it... the list goes on. Based on our experiences here, I already know there will be design / decor issues that will have D'oh! moments. It's impossible to think about EVERYthing. I think we've hit all the major points, and have enough flexibility to change in the future. Our lives changed quite a bit in the 6 years since building (the once large pantry is now crammed because I now do the majority of grocery shopping at Costco and that not change for at least 15 years for example). I can't see into the future, but we learned from this build, and kept the evolution of our family in mind with our design. 1) The architect/draftsman is only as good as the information provided. They don't know us, or live our lives, ( I wonder if there'd be a benefit to having separate design consultations with the clients, much like relationship counseling, to get a really clear picture, lol), which is why we rely on their education and expertise. 2) The reason copy editors exist: to catch the technical mistakes writers make, and can no longer "see" due to closeness to the project. Same reason med errors occur. I think when we originally like a design, then look at it, dream about it, obsess over it, we can't "see" the flaws or potential problems that others might. Hence all the floor plan critique posts here. I think too, that online and builder plans lull us into a false sense of security- "they design and build houses all the time, they're experts, hundreds of people have bought the design, what could go wrong?!" We found that customizing our builders plan threw them for a loop, and didn't realize it would do so, until after the house was built, and weird things weren't right; towel bar location, depth o linen closet, outlets, etc. 3) We are often playing on tilt. We're all living SOMEwhere, right now, and designing a new place to live, with many features that we love (or would love to have) or without the ones we loathe, those HTOD, that we obsess over in our current or past homes. Finally, the same way any artist of any medium does, we aren't always satisfied with the end result of a project. Sometimes you just have to be DONE, even if to your artists eye, you could have kept going. Having said all that, I know there's going to be some regrets, but hopefully -I believe- the joy will outweigh them!...See MoreJeff Smith
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