First, I assume home construction in MI would be similar to my 
experience here in Toronto...

Two things ... insulate *every* wall in the house, inside as well as 
outside walls... insulation makes great sound-proofing (but makes it 
challenging to put cable-runs through existing walls.... ;(  )
I second the central-vac, but I add that the central-vac must be 
exhaused through an outside wall.... I hate cleaning my car on Saturday 
morning, then vacuuming the floor on Sunday, only to discover that all 
the dust from the carpets is now deposited in a fine layer on my car.... 
(because the central-vac is installed in the garage....). Vacuum filters 
are not perfect!

As for the "dreaming", I'd put in a model airplane runway... that would 
be cool.... but I guess, with 1200'x350', the runway orientation would 
force the house to be in the landing/takeoff path. Your neighbours may 
be a tad upset too..... so, I revise my "dreaming" option to be "Buy the 
neighbouring properties too!".

I guess a third thing just occurred to me.... Use the fancy new 
"Engineered Lumber" 2x12's for the floor joists (they are basically 
wooden I-Beams - 2x2 at top and bottom with fiber-board to make the I 
part), and center on 12" not 16". This will provide a much stronger 
floor, and there will be much less floor squeaking. I hate the various 
squeaks in my flooring. You will also be able to install that grand 
piano later on in the living-room instead of the basement.

Additionally, pre-plan the central-air with the installer so that you do 
not get lots of "Under-the-joist" duct-work in the basement. I spent a 
month of weekends with my brother re-routing the duct-work so that he 
could put a higher ceiling in the basement. With a little bit of thought 
it is very possible to get large areas of the basement to have nothing 
below the bottom of the main floor joists. You will thank yourself if yo 
have "clean" ceilings when you get to finnish the basement. Obviously, 
there will need to be exceptions, but keep those in the "utility" areas. 
This applies for the gas and plumbing as well! The electrical code will 
automatically ensure that the power cables will be routed through joists 
where required instead of under them (assuming US codes similar to 
Canadian).

Rolf


M. Adam Davis wrote:
> So I'm moving to a bit of dirt about 15 miles south of ann arbor and
> building a home.  I've long been interested in home automation and
> other such projects, and it'll obviously be wired for 1000baseT,
> phone, cable, etc with space for future wire runs.  It'll also be
> suitable for wireless use, but frankly I hate moving DVDs across slow
> wireless connections.
>
> So I have a few questions to brainstorm about:
>
> 1) What would you change about your house if you could?  Or more
> specifically, what would you change that is easier to do at the start
> than it is to retrofit later?
>
> 2) Assuming unlimited "dreaming" budget, what would you build into a
> custom designed house?
>
> 3) Any new or old homebuilding technology that I should really look into?
>
> 4) What would you do with 10 acres of land?
>
> So for my first thoughts:
>
> 1) I like home automation.  Would be cool to be able to control
> electrical items using more than just a switch on the wall.  Would be
> nice to have whole house sound, security...
>
> 2) Theater, rooftop gazebo or sod roof, passive solar heating,
> cooling.  Geothermal heating/cooling.  Skylights, lots of natural
> light.
>
> 3) Insulated concrete forms, steel frame construction, pole
> construction, log home...
>
> 4) Orchards, gardens, animals, wood/metal shop, english gardens (hedge
> maze!), small landing strip (land is around 1200' x 350'), wind &
> solar electricity...
>
> Of course, I won't be able to implement much dreamy stuff(time and
> money), but the more stuff I think about before designing/building it,
> the better off I'll be in the long run.
>
> This is brainstorming!  No negative stuff!  I really do want to hear
> your wacky unobtanium ideas.
>
> Thanks!
>
> -Adam
>   

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