I have 7 acres in North Carolina in the Piedmont region. I have: 10 foot ceiling in basement. Outside entrance ramp with French doors at the bottom. White vinyl tile on the floor. NO ceiling installed (leaves plumbing, electric and joists readily exposed). Inside stairway to basement is minimum code size. HVAC in basement. Laundry in kitchen. Continuous running ceiling fans in basement along with dehumidifier. Dehumidifier only runs when you are neither heating or cooling. My dream house was implemented by making modifications to a modular designed 1500 sq-ft ranch style house. I intend to grow old and die here. It is built to standard housing code. My modifications included an oversized shower along with a standard tub. The house was placed to take advantage of the winter time morning sun. Black roof shingles will not show stains and proper insulation will negate the heating effects of the sun. The advantages of an off-site built structure are several. Cost containment, predictable time table and less weather exposure during building are a few. The attached garage would have been better not attached. The difference in building cost is small. The insurance cost is great. Unattached garages are simply safer. I was unable to design in a direct entry from the house -garage. The garage is 28 feet wide and 32 feet deep with a double garage door on the end. I choose not to insulate it because I do not heat/cool it. There is a 20 foot square of concrete in front of the overhead door. The overhead door is equipped with an opener. It has been proven by experience that a maintenance agreement is worthwhile on the opener over the last 15 years. The garage has a 9 foot ceiling. I would have preferred 10 feet, but local zoning would have put the entire structure out of the residential code. Also the roof line would have been in conflict with the house. Bear in mind that conditions may change and you may need to sell this dream, don't get too weird! My "estate" is about 4 acres of woods & 3 acres of open field. I put the house in the middle of the field. Trees present a real threat from wind & storm damage. I have a Ford tractor with a six foot mowing deck. I recently needed to upgrade to a new one to get power steering due to an increasing shoulder problem. I choose to "maintain" my woods in a park-like fashion which adds to my needs for other equipment. My dogs & I walk several time each day in the woods. I keep a four foot graveled space all around the house. Easy maintenance (Round-Up). What ever you focus on you need to be concerned with maintenance. It is easy to get over run by chores that are pure drudgery. I did not plan for but need: Handicap ramp to house. Elevator to basement. John Ferrell W8CCW "My Competition is not my enemy" http://DixieNC.US ----- Original Message ----- From: "M. Adam Davis" To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 9:02 PM Subject: [OT] Building a house - help me brainstorm! > 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 > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist