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- #51
We weighed both. But the poured concrete just makes more sense for us.
The Home Building Thread - Advice & Tips from THP members!
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- #52
It sure how much more the accordion style would add but I like the look. There will be a middle connected screen so the family room will seem massive when this is utilized
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Nice man!!!
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So I misspoke. The two car side of the garage is 22’wide x 26’ deep and the carriage portion is 15’wide by 26’ deep.
Networking is my area of expertise. It's part of what I did for a living, until I retired. So I'm going to share a bunch of thoughts with you.
Create a network closet somewhere. Run Cat 6 cable to every room in the house, except possibly the bathrooms. Make every run at least a dual run. Cable and connectors are far cheaper than labor. Large rooms should have network outlets on more than one wall. If you'll have an attached garage: Run it into there, too.
Consider running cable to a spot in the ceiling on each floor. If it's a big home (over a couple thousand sqft/floor), consider two, about 1/3 of the way from each end of corner. These will be for ceiling-mounted, PoE-powered WiFi Access Points. (More on that later.)
If you even think you're going to eventually want a surveillance system, run the cables now, while it's easy.
Obviously, for the cables that will be pre-run for future use, but un-terminated, make sure you know how to locate them later
About WiFi. WiFi is a wonderful thing, but perhaps one of the least understood bits of modern technology there is.
Here's an easy way to think about how WiFi works: Imagine a room full of people. Imagine only one person can talk at a time and, each time they do, whatever they say has to be acknowledged by whomever it is to whom they say it, and that exchange has to be completed before the next person can talk. Then consider the farther-away each person is from the other, the more slowly and clearly they must talk to be understood. Consider that the more people there are, the less time each will have to conduct their conversation. And there will be the inevitable conversational collisions, which means some parts of some conversations having to be repeated.
That's kinda sorta how WiFi works. (In technical terms it's CSMA/CA: Carrier-Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance.)
There's really nothing magical about WiFi. It's more-or-less the same thing that happens on wired networking (Ethernet), except half-duplex (only one end "talking" at a time) and shared media (radio waves).
Because it uses radio waves it has all the limitations of radio. Performance decreases with distance. Ferrous objects interfere with it. Noise sources degrade it. Elevation is advantageous. Bottom line: You can't just put a WiFi router in one corner of the house and expect solid coverage throughout the house. There are so-called "mesh" WiFi networking solutions, but they are not, IMO, optimal.
This is why I recommend preparing in advance for multiple WiFi Access Points and why you want them ceiling-mounted.
The reason I recommend all that wiring is that, for computers and streaming devices (smart TVs, streaming boxes), you want to avoid the use of WiFi if you can. 4K streaming devices, in particular, are very demanding of network bandwidth.
Re: Smart home stuff. I know a bit about this, too. Suggest looking into Lutron. Of the smart home stuff into which I've looked, theirs appear to be one of the better, more reliable solutions. They have three levels of solutions, depending upon the size of the home and number of devices. Casèta is commonly available at many retailers.
I know all the above is a lot to digest
. If you have questions I'm more than happy to answer them.
Networking is my area of expertise. It's part of what I did for a living, until I retired. So I'm going to share a bunch of thoughts with you.
Create a network closet somewhere. Run Cat 6 cable to every room in the house, except possibly the bathrooms. Make every run at least a dual run. Cable and connectors are far cheaper than labor. Large rooms should have network outlets on more than one wall. If you'll have an attached garage: Run it into there, too.
Consider running cable to a spot in the ceiling on each floor. If it's a big home (over a couple thousand sqft/floor), consider two, about 1/3 of the way from each end of corner. These will be for ceiling-mounted, PoE-powered WiFi Access Points. (More on that later.)
If you even think you're going to eventually want a surveillance system, run the cables now, while it's easy.
Obviously, for the cables that will be pre-run for future use, but un-terminated, make sure you know how to locate them later
About WiFi. WiFi is a wonderful thing, but perhaps one of the least understood bits of modern technology there is.
Here's an easy way to think about how WiFi works: Imagine a room full of people. Imagine only one person can talk at a time and, each time they do, whatever they say has to be acknowledged by whomever it is to whom they say it, and that exchange has to be completed before the next person can talk. Then consider the farther-away each person is from the other, the more slowly and clearly they must talk to be understood. Consider that the more people there are, the less time each will have to conduct their conversation. And there will be the inevitable conversational collisions, which means some parts of some conversations having to be repeated.
That's kinda sorta how WiFi works. (In technical terms it's CSMA/CA: Carrier-Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance.)
There's really nothing magical about WiFi. It's more-or-less the same thing that happens on wired networking (Ethernet), except half-duplex (only one end "talking" at a time) and shared media (radio waves).
Because it uses radio waves it has all the limitations of radio. Performance decreases with distance. Ferrous objects interfere with it. Noise sources degrade it. Elevation is advantageous. Bottom line: You can't just put a WiFi router in one corner of the house and expect solid coverage throughout the house. There are so-called "mesh" WiFi networking solutions, but they are not, IMO, optimal.
This is why I recommend preparing in advance for multiple WiFi Access Points and why you want them ceiling-mounted.
The reason I recommend all that wiring is that, for computers and streaming devices (smart TVs, streaming boxes), you want to avoid the use of WiFi if you can. 4K streaming devices, in particular, are very demanding of network bandwidth.
Re: Smart home stuff. I know a bit about this, too. Suggest looking into Lutron. Of the smart home stuff into which I've looked, theirs appear to be one of the better, more reliable solutions. They have three levels of solutions, depending upon the size of the home and number of devices. Casèta is commonly available at many retailers.
I know all the above is a lot to digest
Networking is my area of expertise. It's part of what I did for a living, until I retired. So I'm going to share a bunch of thoughts with you.
Create a network closet somewhere. Run Cat 6 cable to every room in the house, except possibly the bathrooms. Make every run at least a dual run. Cable and connectors are far cheaper than labor. Large rooms should have network outlets on more than one wall. If you'll have an attached garage: Run it into there, too.
Consider running cable to a spot in the ceiling on each floor. If it's a big home (over a couple thousand sqft/floor), consider two, about 1/3 of the way from each end of corner. These will be for ceiling-mounted, PoE-powered WiFi Access Points. (More on that later.)
If you even think you're going to eventually want a surveillance system, run the cables now, while it's easy.
Obviously, for the cables that will be pre-run for future use, but un-terminated, make sure you know how to locate them later
About WiFi. WiFi is a wonderful thing, but perhaps one of the least understood bits of modern technology there is.
Here's an easy way to think about how WiFi works: Imagine a room full of people. Imagine only one person can talk at a time and, each time they do, whatever they say has to be acknowledged by whomever it is to whom they say it, and that exchange has to be completed before the next person can talk. Then consider the farther-away each person is from the other, the more slowly and clearly they must talk to be understood. Consider that the more people there are, the less time each will have to conduct their conversation. And there will be the inevitable conversational collisions, which means some parts of some conversations having to be repeated.
That's kinda sorta how WiFi works. (In technical terms it's CSMA/CA: Carrier-Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance.)
There's really nothing magical about WiFi. It's more-or-less the same thing that happens on wired networking (Ethernet), except half-duplex (only one end "talking" at a time) and shared media (radio waves).
Because it uses radio waves it has all the limitations of radio. Performance decreases with distance. Ferrous objects interfere with it. Noise sources degrade it. Elevation is advantageous. Bottom line: You can't just put a WiFi router in one corner of the house and expect solid coverage throughout the house. There are so-called "mesh" WiFi networking solutions, but they are not, IMO, optimal.
This is why I recommend preparing in advance for multiple WiFi Access Points and why you want them ceiling-mounted.
The reason I recommend all that wiring is that, for computers and streaming devices (smart TVs, streaming boxes), you want to avoid the use of WiFi if you can. 4K streaming devices, in particular, are very demanding of network bandwidth.
Re: Smart home stuff. I know a bit about this, too. Suggest looking into Lutron. Of the smart home stuff into which I've looked, theirs appear to be one of the better, more reliable solutions. They have three levels of solutions, depending upon the size of the home and number of devices. Casèta is commonly available at many retailers.
I know all the above is a lot to digest
Agree with this, especially the Lurton lighting. We have 50 Caseta dimmers/switches and it was super easy to integrate into our alarm system that includes 4 cameras with room to expand and the whole system is super easy control from my phone. We wired for multiple WiFi access points but were able to get a Orbi mesh network that we already owned from our old house to work well by adding a fourth satellite outside on the deck.
- Thread starter
- #59
Networking is my area of expertise. It's part of what I did for a living, until I retired. So I'm going to share a bunch of thoughts with you.
Create a network closet somewhere. Run Cat 6 cable to every room in the house, except possibly the bathrooms. Make every run at least a dual run. Cable and connectors are far cheaper than labor. Large rooms should have network outlets on more than one wall. If you'll have an attached garage: Run it into there, too.
Consider running cable to a spot in the ceiling on each floor. If it's a big home (over a couple thousand sqft/floor), consider two, about 1/3 of the way from each end of corner. These will be for ceiling-mounted, PoE-powered WiFi Access Points. (More on that later.)
If you even think you're going to eventually want a surveillance system, run the cables now, while it's easy.
Obviously, for the cables that will be pre-run for future use, but un-terminated, make sure you know how to locate them later
About WiFi. WiFi is a wonderful thing, but perhaps one of the least understood bits of modern technology there is.
Here's an easy way to think about how WiFi works: Imagine a room full of people. Imagine only one person can talk at a time and, each time they do, whatever they say has to be acknowledged by whomever it is to whom they say it, and that exchange has to be completed before the next person can talk. Then consider the farther-away each person is from the other, the more slowly and clearly they must talk to be understood. Consider that the more people there are, the less time each will have to conduct their conversation. And there will be the inevitable conversational collisions, which means some parts of some conversations having to be repeated.
That's kinda sorta how WiFi works. (In technical terms it's CSMA/CA: Carrier-Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance.)
There's really nothing magical about WiFi. It's more-or-less the same thing that happens on wired networking (Ethernet), except half-duplex (only one end "talking" at a time) and shared media (radio waves).
Because it uses radio waves it has all the limitations of radio. Performance decreases with distance. Ferrous objects interfere with it. Noise sources degrade it. Elevation is advantageous. Bottom line: You can't just put a WiFi router in one corner of the house and expect solid coverage throughout the house. There are so-called "mesh" WiFi networking solutions, but they are not, IMO, optimal.
This is why I recommend preparing in advance for multiple WiFi Access Points and why you want them ceiling-mounted.
The reason I recommend all that wiring is that, for computers and streaming devices (smart TVs, streaming boxes), you want to avoid the use of WiFi if you can. 4K streaming devices, in particular, are very demanding of network bandwidth.
Re: Smart home stuff. I know a bit about this, too. Suggest looking into Lutron. Of the smart home stuff into which I've looked, theirs appear to be one of the better, more reliable solutions. They have three levels of solutions, depending upon the size of the home and number of devices. Casèta is commonly available at many retailers.
I know all the above is a lot to digest
Care to be a subcontractor? lol Id love to say i have any idea what youre talking about. Some of it makes sense but most of it my head fell off and rolled dow the hall lol. Im gonna need some serious help in this area for sure apparently.
I did all my own wiring, tv, cat 5, telephone, make sure you emphasis to whoever does yours to mark and label EVERY wire on both the box and terminal end. Mine I both tagged and marked with Sharpie on both ends at 6" and 2ft. When the electrician came to inspect it he asked me if I was a little OCD? 
Once-upon-a-time I'd have jumped at it, because I used to love doing systems and network designs and installs. (Though, at work, I had people to do the bulk of the grunt work--either in-house or contracted-out.) But I retired three years ago. Very happily, I might add
But, as I wrote: I'm more than happy to answer whatever questions you might have.
I knew it would probably be information overload, kind of like what I'm going through trying to grok the biomechanics of a good golf swing, right now
Like you're no doubt doing with the various other bits of new home construction, I think your best course of action is to find local contractors to do this for you. Vet them carefully! Not everybody who claims to know what they're about really knows what they're about. There are right ways and wrong ways to run network cabling and terminate it. Once the rock is up there will be no fixing of improperly-run/-installed network cable that doesn't involve things you really wouldn't want to think about. (This is why I said every wired network plate should have a minimum of two runs.)
The main point of what I wrote is to install now those things that have to go in before the rock and everything else goes up, when it's easy. Cable and connectors are relatively cheap compared to labor, and labor when you have open stud work is massively cheaper than once it's closed-up.
Once I get the Man Cave Project done the next thing on the list is to gut and completely remodel the family room. When that happens I'm going to wire that thing seven ways from Sunday
It'll have two Ethernet outlets on each of three of the four walls (the fourth has a wood-burning stove flanked by doorways on either side, so that one would make no sense to network), and I'll pre-install wiring for 7.1 surround.
My parents didn't build but purchased a new custom built home. Things that they like are a spot in the garage for a water softener (may not be an issue), system built into the walls for exterminators to hook into, and tall garage. They have a 2 car and a separate one car. They are both tall and my dad installed a ceiling mounted shelf about each garage door for storage. It also provides a lot of wall space to hang stuff or install more shelving.
If you are planning or even thinking about having an outdoor patio with Tv make the install the outlets for that so you don't have to do it later. They only have two water faucets on the outside and wish they had a 3rd. Same with Electrical outlets outside as they don't have many and have to run long extension cords when needed.
They also have a very high ceiling in the living room with a staircase going up to a media room upstairs. The design makes it bad if both tv's are on as the sounds of each tv compete with one another. I also feel like their living room causes a little echo and the sounds isn't as clear as smaller lower ceiling rooms.
One things I've always said is that I want a double door and wide hallways with no sharp turns and wider than normal room doors. I hate moving with a passion and don't want to have to struggle to get furniture in and out of rooms when you have to fit things through doorways and hall ways.
If you are planning or even thinking about having an outdoor patio with Tv make the install the outlets for that so you don't have to do it later. They only have two water faucets on the outside and wish they had a 3rd. Same with Electrical outlets outside as they don't have many and have to run long extension cords when needed.
They also have a very high ceiling in the living room with a staircase going up to a media room upstairs. The design makes it bad if both tv's are on as the sounds of each tv compete with one another. I also feel like their living room causes a little echo and the sounds isn't as clear as smaller lower ceiling rooms.
One things I've always said is that I want a double door and wide hallways with no sharp turns and wider than normal room doors. I hate moving with a passion and don't want to have to struggle to get furniture in and out of rooms when you have to fit things through doorways and hall ways.
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- #63
Interesting point here. Our builder is pretty OCD about certain things. any house he builds hat have areas of 10' ceilings, he refuses to install anything but an 8' door. He says, and i agree......theres too much floating space above the door frame and it just looks stupid. Also.....all solid hardwood doors throughout. Higher ceilings means thicker / wider trim throughout as well.
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And that makes no sense whatsoever.
Solid doors is a must. When my wife takes me through houses she is previewing that have been flipped, I can't tell you how many times I have said, "If they are asking 500k+ in this neighborhood surrounded by 200+ houses, they should have swapped out the cheap hollow core doors with solid doors."
My wife has been after me for years to replace our hollow-core doors with solid doors. I have to admit: They are a lot nicer.
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Having gone through the process of building a 100% custom home, add at least 50% to whatever you think it will cost. They are a different animal than track homes or even ”custom” homes that started from a plan.
Spend the money up front on a good architect and have them sealed by a structural engineer. It will save you major $$$ long term and give the builder no reason to underbid the work and leave you with a bunch of change orders.
This was the conceptual sketch put together in Oct 2017. We had permit sets complete by January 2018 and broke ground in April 2018.
Spend the money up front on a good architect and have them sealed by a structural engineer. It will save you major $$$ long term and give the builder no reason to underbid the work and leave you with a bunch of change orders.
This was the conceptual sketch put together in Oct 2017. We had permit sets complete by January 2018 and broke ground in April 2018.
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Yea, we were going to do a 12’ basement pour but then ran into an issue tying into the existing sewer. It got axed because we didn’t want a grinder pump for waste.
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The other thing is check on water retention plan requirements. There are a lot of new, strict requirements being put at a local level that addresses water runoff. We had to have a sealed plan done before permits were issued. It was something that no one mentioned because the rules changed from the time we started conceptual design, architectural review board stuff and then finally getting the building permit.
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it should be noted that this isnt a FULL CUSTOM design. Im not screwing around with messing up architectural designs and plans. We are starting with a plan hes used before that his / our architect can make full mods to and we have.
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In that case, just get everything in writing from the builder.
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very reputable family friend.....but yes it will be. Keep in mind that its still a complete custom build to our specs. Just not sitting down with an architect for him to pick our brains and then come up with somethin we may or may not like lol. Weve looked through 20-30 different floor plans and this one checks the box at every turn. So it will definitely be our plan in the end.
KingsKraken
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I know bidets are not the most popular thing in the US, but after using one, I could never go back to just wiping. When we built our house, I had outlets installed behind all of the toilets to support the use of high end, heated bidet seats which all require a nearby 110v plug.
KingsKraken
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I second this, and specifically cat 6 cabling which supports higher speeds. My builder installed cat 5 by default for ethernet, and I insisted on cat 6. The upgrade cost was very minimal.
I wish I would have thought to ask for double runs though. Would have given me more options on router placement.
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I ran 2 miles of cable in my house - all done by me. Each room has at least 1 dual Cat 6 drop and each place that may have a TV has 4. It’s been a great decision because I’m using it for things I would not have thought of at the time.I second this, and specifically cat 6 cabling which supports higher speeds. My builder installed cat 5 by default for ethernet, and I insisted on cat 6. The upgrade cost was very minimal.
I wish I would have thought to ask for double runs though. Would have given me more options on router placement.