Building new, ideas and advice from you all

9 years ago

We're in the process of building a house on about 9 acres wooded lot. We are looking for advice from you all about ideas and designs that you consider must-haves if you were to build again. We are located in Connecticut if it makes a difference.

A few items that we are already decided on:

- We've entered into a contract with a local modular company that has a great deal of flexibility and customization.

- Colonial with center U shaped stairs. The front half of the house from the left: mudroom, stairs, office/study/playroom. Back half of the house from the left: kitchen, dining room, living room. Stairs facing the back of the house entering into the dining room.

- Bathroom and closet for cleaning supplies in the mudroom.

- 3 car attached garage with direct entry from the mudroom.

- Front porch

- Finished stairs going into the attic.

- 4 bedrooms with master bathroom and master closet.

- 4' hallways upstairs

- 3 total full bathrooms. 1 in mudroom and 2 upstairs.

Anything else that you consider must-haves or are good ideas that we can add?

One of the main things that we want to make sure is to make the basement waterproof. We currently have a very damp basement and garage and don't want to deal with these issues in the future. Besides properly grading and applying dry-lock type products on the interior, is there anything else we can do? French drains? I would rather have layers of protection and go overboard than just do the minimum.

The rep from the modular company recommends Superior Walls for the foundation. Any thoughts on it?

Thanks for any advice you all can provide!

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Comments (8)

Bungalow14
9 years ago
If the modular options and your budget allow it, shoot for high ceilings. We just built with 10 ft ceilings on 1st floor and 9 ft on second (with vaulted master bedroom & master bathroom), and it really gives a sense of openness and volume and air.
Mind you, I'm tall, so "normal" ceilings have never felt good to me, but still, the higher the better if you can swing it.
Annie Deighnaugh
9 years ago
You didn't mention anything about siting the house...making use of southern exposure to minimize heat gain and maximize light. Also, we (in CT too) placed our house so the narrow ends are east and west so we can take advantage of prevailing NW winds to keep house breezy and cool in the summer. You didn't mention anything about going green in terms of insulation and hvac.

Re basement, best way is if you have a sloped lot at all to put in curtain draining and take advantage of the slope to let gravity pull the water away from the house. The other important thing is draining water away from the house from the roof so pay attention to things like gutters and leaders.

Below is a link to a very long thread, but if you're building it is worthwhile looking at as it is chock full of suggestions for things to think about when you're building.

Here is a link that might be useful: Things that get forgotten
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robin0919
9 years ago
Look at using ICF for the basement.
User
9 years ago
I have Superior walls for my basement and I've been very happy with them.
6fthook
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll try to address all the posts:

Bungalow14: we're planning on 9' on the first and second floors

AnnieDeighnaugh: our current plan is to face the front of the house north so that the kitchen, dining room, and living room has the most southern exposure for sun during the day. Standard insulation from thr company are: ceiling R49, floor R30, walls R21, all high density fiberglass. As for hvac, depending on funds we are hoping for geothermal heating/cooling and also solar for supplement.

Robin0919: we will look into ICF for basement walls, is it similar to superior walls as in pre-fab wall sections?

Patriceny: good to hear you're happy with it, how long have you had it if you mind me asking?
jackfre
9 years ago
Nine acres. I would suggest at least a Kubota BX. A B series would probably be better. I like the mid mount mower attachment. The front end loader and other implements just make you stronger. Snow removal is an issue for you as well. I couldn't handle my property without my BX.
User
9 years ago
This is actually my 2nd house with Superior.

I lived in the first house for ~15 years, and had zero issues with the basement there.

My second house is in a wet area - we have some underground springs on the property. Knowing that we were very careful to plan for that. The footer drain runs almost constantly. We haven't had any water issues in the basement. The insulation is also nice, as is the easy ability to run electrical through the walls.
Annie Deighnaugh
9 years ago
Great plan. So glad you are going green. We have geothermal and solar PV and are extremely happy with the result.

We also built into a southern facing slope so we have solar tempered rooms...gain 4 degrees in temp just from the sun in the winter. Our lower level is a finished basement, technically, but it doesn't look like such. We don't heat or cool the lower level...we can, but we don't...but it maintains a temp of between 60 and 78 all year. We also did closed cell insulation and put all the duct work in conditioned space, and have a fresh air exchanger to keep the air fresh year round.