Category: Selection

Sink or Cook Top on Island


I see a lot of island kitchens in display homes and when visiting friends……..one thing that puzzles me is that they all have the sink in the island unit.

In my opinion it’s better to have  the cooktop on the island (like the above photo) and the sink under a window, or wall, for the following reasons:

  • If you are having friends round for a meal, or even just talking to the family, you will be facing them while you cook.
  • Because of the extra pipe distance to get to the island bench it generally takes a long time for the hot water to get to the mixer.
  • Washing pans, or peeling veggies, are tasks where you don’t need to concentrate so its nice to look out of the window.

One problems is  you will  have less choice when it comes to range hoods, and perhaps need a more powerful model for the same effect.

If you really want a sink on the island, have the main one elsewhere but have a smaller sink at one end of the island. You will probably only need cold water to this sink but make sure you have a high outlet, so its easy to fill pans with water.

 

For similar posts see Selection

 

Thanks to Galloway Granite for the photo.

Internal Doors

Most internal doors these days are of lightweight composite construction. Basically a light timber framework with two hardboard ‘skins’ and a cardboard honeycomb filler.

Not the best thing is you have got teenagers who love slamming doors !

These type of doors are really inexpensive……………..

I recently replaced a damaged door and the door cost less than $50 and came primed, complete with hinge plates. and with a latch already fitted.(Many builders now buy door frames with hinge plates already fitted and the doors are installed by just pushing a hinge pin into place.)

The question for you when specifying your new house is:

“Although the standard internal door is cheap is it the best door for me?”

Appearance

Here are a just 3 of a wide range of doors available at my local DIY store.

A couple of low additional cost alternatives to the basic painted door that I believe are worth thinking about are:

  • A veneer face, typically maple.
  • A formed panel skin.

Strength
Getting a stronger internal door such as a solid door can have the following advantages.

  • Lower noise transmission…………good for home theaters and to isolate the laundry noise.
  • Fire Safety……….good for kitchen doors and internal doors to the garage.
  • Storage……….easier to install hooks on.

Just remember though that if you want a particular look you can get it, but the cost could be $300 or more per door which can add up if you upgrade every door in your new house.

What type of internal doors do you like ?

 

Want all the information about Pre-Start/ Selection, with handy printable checklists?…….  Why not buy my E-book ‘Guide to Selection’ for just $4

 

Pre-Start (Selection) Meeting

Some builders call it Selection, some call it Pre-Start, if you are having a custom built new house it will be Detailed Design.

Whatever it’s called this is the stage of the pre-construction planning when the basic floor plan and the structure have been settled.

Its now time to move on to all the details that finish the home off.

Spending some time thinking about the details can make a real difference to how you will feel about the new house you have built.

Cost

A word of warning, its easy to get carried away and add tens of thousands of dollars to the price of your new house so do some research and think about how you intend to use your house. (I have seen some houses with built in European Ovens costing thousands of dollars that hardly get used)

Choices

Some of the things you need to be thinking about at this stage are:

  • Roof and Walls – If you haven’t already chosen them you will need to select bricks and roof materials.
  • Electrical Planning – Have you got enough power sockets, are the light switches in the right place.
  • Kitchen Benchtops and Cupboards – The kitchen is the most expensive room in the house and the most used.
  • Plumbing – After Kitchens the next most expensive room. An expensive toilet can be ten times the cost of an acceptable builders standard toilet, so its worth thinking about costs not just the look.
  • Tiles and Splashbacks – A tile from the builders range won’t add much but choose hand made tiles and expensive glass splashbacks and the costs can rocket.
  • Floor Covering – There is a wide range of choice, or you could wait until the house is yours!
  • Doors – First impressions count so make sure your front door looks good.

 

Want all the relevant information from this blog and more in one place, with handy printable checklists?…….  Why not buy my E-book ‘Guide to Pre-Start / Selection’ for only $4

 

West Facing Solar Hot Water System?

If you are committed to sustainability then space on the North facing roof is at premium.

One option may be to look at putting the solar hot water system on a West facing roof.

This will mean you can maximise the space for north facing Photo Voltaic (PV) solar panels.

Although the solar hot water system will not be quite as efficient there are a couple of reasons why it is a worthwhile option.

    • If you check the solar alignment post you will see that its possible to get around 80% of the maximum efficiency compared with a North Facing system.
    • For most families the time when you will be using most hot water is the evening and early morning. The West facing system will have less time to lose heat before use than the North facing system.

I’m not saying West facing is best but it can be a good compromise.

 

For more Green Ideas see Sustainability

 

Want a Flat Roof ?

When thinking about a flat roof for your new home my advice is…..a roof can be:

  • Flat.
  • Inexpensive.
  • Have a long leak free life. 

PICK ANY TWO!

Sounds harsh but my experience, and others I have talked to, confirms this opinion.

My personal experience  with a flat roof was my parents house which had a pitched roof for the main house, but a flat roof for the garage.

After about seven or eight years the garage roof started to leak. Following 4 attempts to fix it they bit the bullet and had a pitched roof put on the garage. No more  problems in the next 30 years.

Yes, I know many multi-storey building have a flat roof without problems but with these tall buildings the roof is a small proportion of the total cost and so the builder can invest in a more sophisticated, and expensive, roofing system.

In your one or two storey property the roof will be a much bigger proportion of the total cost.

Most builders go for a low cost, low tech roof to keep the cost down. If it’s flat it will probably last until the guarantee period runs out and then you could be faced with ongoing repairs.

These comments will also apply to balconies over habitable rooms which are also prone to leaking.

If you do decide to have a flat roof you will need plenty of large downspouts (See Roof Choice – Risk)…………..otherwise you could have several cm of water on your roof in a storm, which will really tests the waterproofing.

 

Want Tiles or a Colorbond Roof see  What’s On The Roof

 

Solar Hot Water

With the current emphasis on building efficiency solar hot water systems are pretty much a standard option if not automatically included.

These systems incorporate either gas or electricity boosting for cloudy days.

Here are a few thoughts on the options for solar hot water:

Split System or Tank On Roof

  • Systems with Tanks on the roof are the most efficient . They don’t need a circulation pump to circulate the hot water to the storage tank and don’t have long pipe runs that lose part of the heat you have collected. If this is the way you decide to go make sure your roof has been designed to take the load.
  • Split systems are easier to service when they go wrong as everything other than the panels is at ground level. Many people also prefer the look as they don’t like the large tank on the roof for aesthetic reasons.

Flat plate or Evacuated Tube Panel

  • Evacuated tube systems are more effective. Also from comments on forums I hear 2mm evacuated tubes are stronger than flat plate collectors in the case of large hail, and are less likely to be hit square-on, due to their shape. Just make sure you aren’t getting cheap quality thinner walled tubes.
  • Modern good quality evacuated tube and flat plate systems should be essentially maintenance-free. Just make sure of the quality, it can cost $300-$400 in labour to replace a defective panel even if the actual panel is replaced under warranty.

Insulation

Some of the early Solar water systems only insulated the hot water coming from the system. This is poor practice as once the system starts running the water from the storage tank back to the panels warms up. If this cools in the pipes to the panels you will be loosing efficiency. Make sure you have all pipes insulated.

Boosting Systems

  • I think Gas Boosting is probably the best way to go even if you have the higher priced bottle gas rather than mains gas. This is because gas systems only boost the water when you want it rather than electricity where you are heating the whole tank up even if you are only using 10% of the contents.
  • If you `go for electricity its best go for an off peak boosting, but only switch it on if the forecast is for cloudy weather.

 

See why a West Roof Mounting may be worth thinking about

For more  information on choosing systems for your new house see  ‘Selection / Pre-Start Guide’

 

New E Book – GUIDE to PRE-START / SELECTION

Once you have paid the deposit on your new house the next big step is the Pre Start or Selection Meeting. (some builders call it the ‘Gallery Meeting’, if you are having a custom built house it may be called ‘Detailed Design’)

This is normally the day when you sit down with your builder and select all the details that turn an empty house into a home.

There is lots to think about on the day……………..and its difficult and expensive to change things later.

The builder will be trying to up-sell you expensive upgrades and all you want is another opinion!

To help prepare for this big day I have brought out the :

98 pages of advice and opinions including:

Electrical planning;

Plumbing;

Painting;

Heating and Cooling;

And much more with 24 PAGES of CHECK LISTS

And only $4.

 

For more information CLICK HERE

 

Another E Book from the author of the ‘Guide to Pre Completion Inspections’ 

 

Do You Want A Phone Line?

A few years ago having a land line phone was a must have have………….. but is this still the case?

We have always had a land line phone but both of us also have mobile phones. Really the mobile is the most reliable way for people to get in contact with us.

About the only people who call on the home phone used to be telemarketers.  When we went on the do not call register the telemarketers disappeared.

Now its just the Indian call centre scammers telling me they had detected a problem with my computer’s Window operating system. Sometimes I string them along for a while before I tell them I have a Mac, but they are still annoying.

Having recently joined Skype (with call costs of less than 3c a minute to an English Land Line) we now hardly make land line calls anymore.

If it wasn’t for the fact that my mother, who doesn’t have a computer, and occasionally phones we wouldn’t need a phone at all. A data line with a single socket at the wireless router would easily meet our needs.

When was the last time you used your land line?

 

For more  see the Electrical Category

 

Gas Plumbing

Most people who have mains gas available will have gas connections for hot water and central heating automatically provided by the builder.

But what else do you need to think about?

Meter Location

You will need the meter somewhere where it can be read from the front of the house but is not an eyesore.

Sounds simple but our last builders proposed location was behind a proposed gate that would have been an issue when reading the meter.

Oven and Hob

Our oven and gas hob are together so we have a gas line to that point.

Even if you have all electric cooking it may be worth running a blanked off line to that point if you have an eye on selling the house in the future.

Future Gas Fires

A lot of display houses feature gas log fires.

If you like the idea but can’t afford it now it could be worth getting a gas line put in for the future.

Hot water

If you have thought about the issues with long  Hot Water Pipe Runs you may want a different location to the builders standard for your boiler.

You may even prefer two separate instantaneous hot water units which will affect gas lines.

Barby

As previously mentioned in the External Plumbing post its worth considering a mains gas supply to your barbeque if you use it regularly.

What gas plumbing issues concern you?

 

For similar posts see Plumbing

 

More plumbing information and 24 pages of Check Lists in the

‘Selection / Pre-Start Guide’

 

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