Category: Selection

What’s On The Roof?

A METAL ROOF

This covers zincalume, galvanised steel and colorbond. Following are a few thoughts:

  • In general a metal roof is noisier as you can hear the rain (which I like)
  • They are fairly light so they don’t put as much load on the structure.
  • With modern screw fittings they can be extremely resistant to very high winds and hail.
  • Might get dented but will still be weatherproof in extreme hailstorms.
  • Less likely to leak.
  • Can be laid at lower pitch Which means the roof isn’t as high.
  • They are capable of lasting over a 100 years with minimal rusting.
  • Available in zinc finish or a wide range of colorbond colours. Zinc finish will be best for reflecting heat, followed by lighter colorbond colours.
  • Can be more expensive than tiles.
  • Fitting solar panels will be cheaper and easier on a steel roof.

One drawback is that you will need an external TV aerial and mobile phone coverage may be worse than under a tiled roof.

Tiles

Can be clay, terracotta or concrete. Their characteristics are:

  • Concrete has lower initial cost although some clay tiles and terracotta tiles can be very expensive.
  • Provide better insulation both heat and noise.
  • Heavier.
  • Brittle.
  • Need to be individually screwed down in high wind areas.
  • Wide range of colours.
  • Can add character especially as they age.

I have previously had a steel roof but now have tiles.

If building again I would probably go for metal.

Do you like the sound of rain on the roof?

For Similar posts look in the Design Category

Why I don’t like a Flat Roof!

 

 

Plumbing – Are You Getting Hot Water?

One of those things I have never got quite right is hot water plumbing.

This means running the taps for a while to get hot water.

In the morning I switch the shower hot water on and can have a shave before the shower is ready to jump in.

Some Suggestions

The key thing is to get the hot water service close to the taps, or showers that are going to be used the most.

The usual site for the hot water service is outside the laundry.

That made sense when people used lots of hot water in the washing machine.

Now with cold wash detergents it’s probably the showers that use the most hot water, especially if you have teenagers who want to spend half an hour in the shower.

The more you can group bathrooms and the kitchen the sooner you will get hot water, and the less water that will be wasted.

If you can’t do this and you have a big house perhaps two separate hot water services or several small instantaneous hot water heaters may be the way to go.

Not Easy

In the last house I built I thought I had got it reasonably correct.

The laundry, 2nd bathroom and the kitchen are reasonably close to the centre of the house as is the hot water service.

What I hadn’t allowed for is that the kitchen sink is in an island unit.

The pipe run the plumber chose was up into the roof, past the island unit to the wall, down the wall, under the floor, and then back up to the sink. That’s about three times the amount of pipe than if the run had been direct under the floor to the sink.

It uses more cold water to get to the hot water through to the kitchen sink than our ensuite, which is further from the hot water service.

I suppose I should have discussed the actual pipe runs prior to signing the final contract!

 

For similar posts see Plumbing

 

Changing Builders Standard Plans

Most builders will change their standard designs to some extent.

The builder of the last house we built, Metricon, was fairly flexible.

Here are some of the changes that you could talk with the builder about if their standard is close to what you want.

    • Handing. This means swapping the design around so rooms on the left become rooms on the right. Generally this should be available at no cost.
    • Partial handing. This means swapping either the front or the back of the house while leaving the remainder the same. We have done this when we wanted the bedroom and the garage on the opposite sides of the house to the original plan. (Again this didn’t add to the cost)
    • Raising the cill height of windows. We adjusted the cill height of most windows on the south side of the house decreasing the the size . At that time this was a no cost alteration. N.B. The builder will not usually allow any changes to the front of the house.
    • Swapping position of  windows. We wanted to change the position of a patio door with a window, this was a no cost for this as long as the total of windows and patio doors stayed the same.
    • Providing additional internal walls and doors. We wanted this to reduce the amount of open plan living. This was achieved at what we thought was a reasonable cost.
    • Relocating internal walls. This was a no cost alteration.
    • Decreasing the size of  rooms. We wanted to reduce the size of one room by 1 metre which reduced the overall length of the house by the same amount. For this change we made a saving.
    • Additional power outlets, light fittings and switches. These were standard extras.
    • Extra outside taps. Makes watering the garden, and washing the car easiser. These were standard extras.

What have your experiences been when looking to change a standard design?

For changing things see Selection

 

Electrical Planning – Bathroom and En-Suite

Here are a few thoughts about electrical planning for your new bathrooms.

  • Fan over the shower. I like these better than the centrally mounted fans.
  • Heating unit. A lot of people like those 3 in 1 heating/fan/light units but I prefer separate lights,heaters and extraction fans.
  • Heated towel rail.
  • Power sockets If you really want them try and avoid putting them in a place where you will not be tempted to touch them with wet hands.
  • The ‘lady of the house’ will probably appreciate good lighting of her face (with warm white lights) when she stands in front of the mirror. It is easier for her to get her make-up right.

Luxury Bathrooms

When it comes to luxury I’m not really an expert as I am more a; get in, S**t, Shave, Shampoo, Shower (SSSS) and get out.

A friend of mine however went the five star treatment.

His bathroom includes a two person spa, flat screen TV, and ‘champagne fridge’ within easy reach of the spa, a bit out of my league.

Another luxury fitting which is gaining a following are those ‘Japanese Bidet Toilet Seats’. If you want one of these you will need a power point behind the toilet.

Interesting Fact

Do you know that in England the Electrical Wiring Regulations don’t allow power sockets or wall mounted electrical switches in bathrooms.

All switches must be ceiling mounted pull switches.

The Australian Regulations are far more relaxed about people touching 220 volt switches with wet hands, or dropping the hair dryer in the basin!

 

For similar posts see Electrical

More Electrical Planning including 24 pages of Check Lists

in the ‘Selection / Pre-Start Guide’

 

Rooms over Garage

Will your new house have a bedroom above the garage?

If so you should check what the builder specifies in the way of Insulation between the garage and the room floor.

Although regulations quite often specify insulation on external walls they usually don’t consider above the garage.

Why this matters

In winter garages can get very cold, particularly if the garage door is left open.

In summer the garage can get very hot. . . more so if the garage door faces west and absorbs the afternoon sun..

This means that in both summer and winter the lack of insulation can make the room uncomfortable!

What You Can Do

Make sure you discuss with the builder the option of putting insulation in the garage roof before the ceiling is installed.

Doing it then is going to be much cheaper than trying to do it later.

Already built? . . . perhaps you could add Insualtion to the garage door.

Benchtops

There are a wide range of different benchtops around………. so which benchtop should you buy.

Here are some thoughts about the options.

Laminex/Formica

Probably the most popular benchtop available in a wide range of colours and patterns and reasonably hardwearing.

Just don’t get one with a textured finish.

We made that mistake once, never again.

Tiles

Wide range of colours and sizes, a few problems are;

        • Uneven surface
        • Dealing with the exposed tile edges,
        • Keeping the grouted joints clean.

Wood

Can look good but will tend to suffer chips and dents.

Can stain easily especially around the sink.

Requires a lot of maintenance to keep its looks.

Marble

A natural stone which can look very attractive.

For kitchen benchtops its big problem is that it is porous and not very acid resistance.

Any breakdown of the surface sealant will result in staining which is nearly impossible to remove.

Granite

Available in a wide range of Colours including light greys.

Being less porous than marble staining is less of a problem.

Matching can be a problem if a piece is damaged during installation so its best installed by professionals to get the jointing right.

Engineered Stone

This covers a wide range of materials.

Basically it is consists of natural stone chips, which are mixed with some binding agent to form a stone like surface.

The binder can be anything from cement, to polymers, and epoxy resins.

Very resistant to stains and is available in a wide range of colours and can usually be easily matched.

Very durable, but usually more expensive than a natural stone like granite.

Keep away from the installation as the dust can cause major health problems.

Stainless Steel

The standard choice for commercial kitchens because its easy to clean.

Currently more of a fashion statement, which isn’t for everybody.

Will probably look dated as another look replaces the commercial look.

 

One issue I have found with the stone type products is that they are much noisier when you put plates down.

Not too good for me as the kitchen is next to the bedroom, and I get up over an hour before my wife.

Finally

On cost I would choose laminex but for a more classy look it would be either granite or one of the engineered stones.

Before you make a decision remember that you shouldn’t cut food directly on a benchtop.

Always cut it on either a wooden or plastic cutting board, other wise you will  damage your knives and/or the benchtop.

 

For similar posts see Selection

For more  information on choosing fittings for your new house see

 ‘Selection / Pre-Start Guide’

House Style or Fashion Victim

Appearance is very much a matter of taste with different people liking different styles, there no right solution.

If I put up a picture of something as the way to go than more people would think I was wrong, than would think I was right.

But here are a couple  of thoughts:

  • Avoid being a fashion victim, by going for the latest builders style, which was designed with the aim of grabbing your attention…………… The ‘WOW’ factor……………. In a year or two the ‘WOW’ gimmick and fashion will have moved on. For example about 30 years ago in Australia there was a trend for white bricks, which looks really dated now.
  • Going for the Victorian look, which seems popular, but can be risky. . . One mistake I have seen is this big two storey Victorian mansion on a small block surrounded by single story modern houses. It looks more like a pub than a home.

I try and go for what you could call a timeless appearance but what’s that look like?

The best suggestion I can make is to walk round an estate near where you live that is around 20-30 years old.

Some of the houses you see will look very dated.

Other will look as though they could have been built a couple of years ago.

They won’t all look the same……………….. just timeless.

Take some photos of the ones you like to help you compare with other designs you come across.

Here are some things you should consider avoiding:

      • Too many different materials. Brick, render, stone, painted wood, stained wood, all on the same façade can look very messy.
      • Different sized windows. The human brain likes to see order and a range of different window heights and widths on the same wall looks confusing.
      • Too many decorative elements.
      • Garage dominating the house.
      • Anything with a structural appearance that looks obviously stuck on.
      • Roof out of proportion with house. Could be either too large or too small.
      • A front façade that doesn’t link in with rest of the house. Some really look as though they have been stuck on the front face, particularly when they stop at the corner rather that continuing to a natural break point.

 What trend do you think will mark a house as a Fashion Victim?

3 in 1 Bathroom Heaters or Separate Units?

In a previous house we had one of those 3 in 1 bathroom light/heater/extraction fan.

I can’t say I was impressed. . . . It suffers from the Swiss Army Knife Syndrome…… doing lots of things, but none of them as well as a purpose designed tool.

It seems more sensible to me to have the fan directly above the shower and extract the steam at it’s source, rather than let it drift across the ceiling and then extract it.

As far as Lighting is concerned it’s easier to see yourself clearly in the mirror if the light is in the area between the mirror and you, rather than behind you. . .

I think that ladies putting on make-up in the bathroom will agree!

For heating I never seemed to get much heat from the heat lights. (One exception was a unit in a hotel bathroom with a low 2.1m ceiling)

The best bathroom heating solution for us has been a wall mounted fan heater

A couple of low price alternatives are:

  1. Leave the door partially open overnight allows enough heat from the ducted heating to flow through to the bathroom in the morning.
  2. Switch the bathroom fan on a few minutes before your shower and it will pull the warm air into the bathroom.

 

Thinking about underfloor heating? . . . Check out this Link : Underfloor Heating

 

For more see Bathroms and Ensuites

 

Getting the Colours Right

Let face it, I am a typical man and colours don’t really interest me much.

I like to limit myself to the standards of White, Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.

I’m even not too sure about Indigo and Violet. . . What’s wrong with just saying Purple?

Don’t start on talking about colours like Aquamarine and Avocado as I will quickly get lost. . . and that’s before we mention the 100 different types of white, or ’50 shades of Grey!

The average project home builder has about the same sense of colour as me so if you want a particular colour here are some things you need to do:

  • Find out if the builder has a standard paint supplier or will allow the use of any paint manufacturer as early as possible.
  • Get that paint manufacturers colour charts and pick the colours and finishes (gloss, satin, matt etc) you want before the colour selection.
  • Make sure the full description of the colours are handed over preferably with copies of the colour cards stapled to the documents for reference.
  • Check the colours are correctly described in the contract documents.
  • Check the final finishes against the cards at the PCI inspection.

Did you finish up with a colour you hate on your house? Or just the wrong shade of white?

For similar posts see Selection

More about selecting finishes including 24 pages of Check Lists in the‘Selection / Pre-Start Guide’

 

After The Deposit

If you decide that you want a house built by a builder you will normally be given a budget price and asked to pay a deposit.

What happens next?

These are the steps that follow in progressing to a full contract:

1. Survey

A survey of your site need to be completed if one hasn’t already been done.

This will allow the builder to work out if there is any additional excavation, or fill required over the standard allowance.

2. Soil Test

A Soil test needs to be done.

From this the builder will work out if there is change in foundation requirements, over the standard allowance.

3. Initial Meetings With Builder

This has two parts

Initial Contractual Discussions

      • Being informed of the cost implications of the survey and soil investigation
      • Making any changes to layout and elevations
      • Agree the position on the Block.

Selection  (sometimes called Gallery.)

Items selected typically include:

          • Bricks
          • Roof tiles
          • Heating and cooling
          • Electrical fit out
          • Floor tiles
          • Wall tiles
          • Kitchen units
          • Oven and hob
          • Bathroom and toilet fittings
          • Paint colours.

NB. Sometimes Builders do this meeting after Signing of Contract when it is normally called Pre-start

Much more information is included in my  Selection Guide 

4. Finalisation meeting with Builder

This will be to sign the Contract Documents.

Before the meeting:

        • All the details should be confirmed together with the final price.
        • The council approvals should have been obtained.

You need to make sure that all the changes you want are included both in the words of the specification and in the drawings. My advice would be to ask for the contract documents a few days before the meeting so you have plenty of time to check them.

 

You then have to wait until the builder is ready to start Construction which hopefully won’t be too long.

 

For similar posts see Selection and Contract Documentation

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