Nit pick: Double that. At least
Anyway, small thing but think about adding USB ports in some of your electrical outlets. We use ours all the time.
Instead, I would do a whole house surge protector - those are pretty simple and inexpensive, it’s just another breaker. And do quality outlets - hubble commercial grade are good. But don’t bother with the integrated USB ports, that type of connector is already out of date and the problem is modern devices all need various advanced charging standards. Whether it be USB C power delivery or Quick Charge, you will need a wall wart to deliver it. You might as well just use a power strip with the charging ports plugged into the outlet, that way you can replace the power strip in a few years when the standards change again.
This is one of the major design questions left. The recommendation for these types of homes is aEnergy Recovery Ventilator but if I’m heating my house with hydronic floors adding a ducting system on top of it for air changes seems like I’m buying two systems that do the same job. I know that I need to avoid tight house syndrome so air changes are required which leads me to the ERV but I’ve really enjoyed the heated floors and consistent temperatures of the hydronic system.
As far as the USB outlets I’d rather have traditional outlets since like SamualA says USB standard changes every couple of years and at least that way I can just plug the new adapters in rather than having to change out outlets to get something different or faster.
I’ve been kicking around the whole house surge protector idea. From what I’ve read their effect is mostly limited to lightening strikes and similar where most power surges in the home come from other items on the circuit turning on and off. We do get some power outages due to lightening strikes each summer so it seems like cheap insurance but I’m not sure if individual surge protectors at the outlet level wouldn’t be better. Or is this a belt and suspender type situation?
Swapping outlets is a relatively simple task and most homeowners could do it themselves. It’s basically unscrewing the plate, taking out the old outlet, connecting the wires to the new outlet, and screwing everything back together. Because it’s so simple, I’d recommend you do it yourself as needed rather than having the builder install them since the builder will add a huge markup.
Individual surge protectors are better. They aren’t equal, though, I’d look at this review and get the one they recommend. (it’s not expensive)
But your stove, your microwave, your air conditioner(s), your light bulbs, even the damn bathroom fan. In a modern house, the modern version of every electrical device in that house uses an electronics board that is sometimes vulnerable to surges. I mean everything.
Bathroom fan - the quiet ones use DC motors, which means a power converter.
Fridge - modern ones use BLDC motors, which means numerous electronics boards
Dishwasher, laundry machine - ditto
Light bulbs - all the modern ones are LED, so an AC->DC converter at a minimum.
Stove/ovens - modern stoves, even the cheap electric ones, have electronics. And the newer induction stoves and convection ovens have more.
Not all the electronics will blow in a surge, there are tricks the engineers who designed them can do, but some will. I’ve lost LED light bulbs to a surge, for example.
So you want both, a whole whole protector and quality strip based protectors on the most expensive electronics.
Another thing - don’t ignore what I said about mini split air conditioners. The efficiency boost can easily halve the energy draw over other alternatives. (assuming you buy the extremely high SEER splits from Fujitsu or Gree or Carrier)
Assuming the heating and cooling is 50% of the energy draw of your new house (probably more - these days, lighting is negligible, modern appliances use lots less, if you do an on demand water heater it’s less), then doubling the efficiency of that component could mean you need 25% less solar panels and 25% smaller batteries.
That’s a substantial savings.
And/or - modern splits are so efficient that this means you don’t need as thick an insulation on the outer walls. The thicker walls you were considering probably are not worth it, they cost interior volume and I think the taxing authority goes by outer dimensions.
Also, over-thick wall and ceiling insulation is somewhat pointless because if you go from the recommended R-20/R-30 to R-40, this doesn’t do jack against the main losses, which are windows and air leaks. Standard double pane windows have an R rating of about 3. Very expensive triple pane, with glazings and inert gas, have an R value of…5.
I would not recommend any of the rammed earth techniques proposed for this reason, you’re just asking for problems for no benefit.
Obviously you want some massive windows, the most modern houses are all windows all around.
Pay attention to the quality of the foundation.
My coworker had a house built. A year later, huge cracks formed in the concrete walls and floor in the basement. You can did into it with your fingernail. He complained to the builder, and discovered they were out-of-business.
So why did the concrete crack? I’m not an expert on the subject, but am guessing they added a lot of water to the cement during the pour. Cement that is very “soupy” makes it very easy to work with; it’s self-leveling. Unfortunately, this also makes it very weak and prone to cracking.
When I had the floor poured in my barn, I told the concrete contractor I wanted a slump of 4. After I told his this he said, “What? A slump of 4?? That’s hard to work with. I’ll need to bring on two more workers to work the concrete! Which means the labor cost will be more expensive.” I said, “Sound good. Get the extra guys!” As a result, the floor in my barn is very hard, and there’s not a single crack in it.
No need to yell. I went on to say exactly the same thing…data ports should be installed throughout, especially where WAPs and routers will be located.
The amount of air the ERV will move is a fraction of what a full forced air system will move, so the ductwork will be much smaller and less expensive, though I would still use metal duct for it. And since it’s moving ambient air and not hot or cold air you won’t need much insulation on the ducts. I would get it to bring in fresh air on days when you don’t want to be opening windows. It should also provide some relief air when you have exhaust fans on.
During the construction process: Take lots of pictures.
Before pouring concrete, document the exact locations of any pipes or anything that’s about to be buried and hidden forever.
And every single day when the electricians and plumbers are working. Document where each and every wire, every pipe and every drain line runs.
Keep a separate set of all the plans , and as you take each pic, draw the wire or the pipe exactly where it has been built (not where the plans show it should have been built )
Taking the pics requires two people–have somebody hold a tape measure visible in each pic, so you can see the precise distances from the installed pipe to,say, the corner of the wall, and a second pic of the same spot, holding the tape vertically, to show the distance above the floor.
Also–place an electric outlet behind the door of some rooms. It’s the place to plug in a vacuum cleaner, and will never be blocked by furniture.
If you can, colour-coordinate all pipes and wires and cables. That is, all pipes or wires of a certain type should be the same colour. This will make it much easier in 5 years time when you are doing some maintenance and you come across a pipe: you’ll recognise a yellow pipe as being X.
Make the hallways wider than normal.*
Have a full bathroom on the first level.*
Have a laundry room/area large enough to accommodate an ironing board. Maybe have “only” 3 1/2 bathrooms?
Realize that cooking odors and cooking grease travel, before deciding on “open concept” or wall-defined space.
Put in more television cable outlets.
*You’ll be old before you know it.
Something else I thought of. Some houses have a guest bathroom or powder room right next to the foyer or entrance hallway. So if someone is in there urinating, this can be clearly heard by everyone sitting in the living room. For that reason, I’d want to soundproof that bathroom.
When we were relocating I thought we would buy bare land and build, as we had before, except not do every goddamn thing ourselves this time. I looked at this New England semi-custom prefab company which had a whole lot of good design ideas for sustainable housing, called Bensonwood Unity. Bensonwood is the original custom timber frame company; Unity is the spinoff prefab operation. While you may not be in New England, it is worth a look for design ideas.
We bought a 1790 Colonial pile on a farm, instead, but that’s another story.
Making room for an ironing board is an idea that never would have occured to me. I have never owned one or wanted one in 13 years of working.
We’ll definitely be sound proofing all of the interior walls and if it becomes a cost issue just the master bedroom and the bathrooms.
Thanks for pointing out Unity they are doing some interesting things but according to their website they only work in the Northeast. I have reached out to see if they might know someone working in the mountain west doing something similar.
These folks are out of Washington and deliver to Colorado. They’re not cheap, but have very interesting designs. A friend who is also a contractor flew up and visited the factory and reported that they have their act together (which is rarely the case for pre-fab). In a tight labor market like Denver it might make sense.
I’ve just spotted that you are going to have a basement. If this is going to be used for storage, put in a dumb waiter / goods lift so you don’t have to carry boxes of stuff upstairs.