On 9/18/06, 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? Hi Adam, take your plans and lay out each room on the floor of your garage or another area, so you can physically get a feel for the room dimensions. You'll find that what may look big enough or have the right geometry on paper may not work well once the walls are up. I made some pretty drastic changes in our home right after we poured the footers for the foundation, and I'm very glad we did. If we would have laid things out beforehand and not assumed that some dimensions were good enough, it would have saved us some effort. 2) Assuming unlimited "dreaming" budget, what would you build into a > custom designed house? A big play room. For you! With lots of workbench space. 3) Any new or old homebuilding technology that I should really look into? Yes indeed. In the USA its really silly how homes are built and insulated, and the only reason why newer technologies haven't been adopted over stick framed houses due to lack of experience on the builders' part...anything they don't have expierience with they avoid. I built our home using SIPS panels. Structural Insulated Panels are made from 5-1/2" polystyrene foam block with 7/16" OSB bonded on both sides, in a sandwich. I absolutely, positively without hesitation recommend this route over any other construction. It will end up costing you less, are 3x stronger, don't have to insulate, and have an R value that is hard to beat for the money. Insulated concrete forms are only marginally better but cost much, much more. Its cost-effective to use sips panels for the walls, and use a traditional truss roof with blown in celluose insulation. My ceiling is R-60 and my walls are R-26. A good friend of mine has built a couple of homes using tradition stick framing, ICF's, and SIPS panels. On any houses he builds now he only uses SIPS panels for the external walls. He has said that it will never be any cheaper than it is right now to insulate your home and make it energy-efficient. My heating and cooling costs are pretty low for a 2700 sq. ft. house, last winter my most expensive gas bill was $120. 4) What would you do with 10 acres of land? Build a runway of course! I live on a residental airpark and am absolutely spoiled by it. 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... Keep it simple, it all adds up really fast cost-wise. But do go overboard with outlets and lighting. Four years ago I was buying rolls of 12-2 wire for $17, those same rolls today are over $70. I plumbed my house with Kitec piping, which is a plastic pex-type plumbing with an aluminum core so it holds its shape when you bend it. 2) Theater, rooftop gazebo or sod roof, passive solar heating, > cooling. Geothermal heating/cooling. Skylights, lots of natural > light. I have several large skylights, and wouldn't do that again. When it rains hard it gets noisy and I am fearful of hail storms. And they're not good for energy efficiency. Its hard to beat high-efficiency gas heating, and electric air conditioning. If you want a lot of natural light, then design the house so that your windows face east or west. Geothermal is a crapshoot due to the mechanicals, most folks who have these systems are lucky to get seven or so years out of them without an expensive repair (pump goes bad, loop springs a leak, etc.) Buy good quality windows, like Andersons. I have Pella windows and if I had to do it over I'd go with Anderson, as they are a bit easier to finish. We love our cathedral ceilings. 3) Insulated concrete forms, steel frame construction, pole > construction, log home... Yep, SIPS panels and there's no need to look at anything else IMO. 4) Orchards, gardens, animals, wood/metal shop, english gardens (hedge > maze!), small landing strip (land is around 1200' x 350'), wind & > solar electricity... Definitely a wood/metal shop! I have a friend who has a 1400' runway, and he gets in and out ok with his experimental airplane. Regards, Bob -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist