If you were to buy a new house...

[Shredhead]

You want an attached garage so you can enjoy pumping toxic shit into your living spaces?

Semi-detached = Duplex.

[old goat]

Never buy a house next to Dry Creek.

[El Chupacabra]

Never buy a house next to Dry Creek.

My lot borders against a Dry Creek (named on the county map) - a seasonal drainage that I've only ever seen have running water once, after it rained like 4" in one weekend.

[KQ]

keeping heat outside the house with exterior shades does a huge amount, but interior shades aren't that awesome since the energy is in the house before it is blocked (not to say they do nothing, tho)

I'll tell you what - when I lift my double celled Hunter Douglas blinds I can feel the rush of hot or cold air (depending on the time of year) come off the window. While it's true that air is already in the house it is at least trapped and not allowed to continually seep in. As you said - it does do something (I think quite a bit). I have the same blinds on my skylights which makes a huge difference in heat loss and heat abatement not to mention during the summer it helps prevent bleaching of rugs and furniture when the sun is directly overhead for longer.

I guess something else you might want to do is plant some good shade trees like a Sycamore. I have a huge one that shades a lot of my house. HATE the leaves and dingle balls it drops but I'd be a lot hotter in the summer without it.

Has this been mentioned? If I was building a new house I would make sure it was wired for a generator. I had this house and my well wired. Haven't had to use it yet but it's a nice knowing I still have water if the power goes out.

[ColMan]

- If it's a two story house (or one with a basement) spend an extra few hundred on RC channels between the drywall and the joists. The decrease in sound transmission is substantial.
- If your laundry is in the basement - laundry chute.
- Split/dual HVAC system (assuming 2 stories and gas forced air).
- Snow country - switched outlet in an eave on the north side for heat tape/dicing system. Add an extra one or two if you like to hang xmas lights.
- If you're going high end on your kitchen countertops, go with high quality cabinets as well. No lipstick on a pig.

[RootSkier]

- Snow country - switched outlet in an eave on the north side for heat tape/dicing system.

This is only required if your architect/contractor has no idea how to handle insulation details. Ice dams are caused exclusively by bad design and/or poorly executed building practices. If a house is built right, it will never have ice dam problems.

[Dantheman]

I guess something else you might want to do is plant some good shade trees like a Sycamore. I have a huge one that shades a lot of my house. HATE the leaves and dingle balls it drops but I'd be a lot hotter in the summer without it.

Heh. My Dad has three huge sycamores in his backyard. They are gorgeous in the summer and make it a veritable oasis. But come fall the leaves are just insane, and then all winter he worries about limbs dropping whenever it snows.

[Marshall Tucker]

bedroom over the garage with a fireman's pole connecting.
Because you never know when you'll have to jam.

[KQ]

Heh. My Dad has three huge sycamores in his backyard. They are gorgeous in the summer and make it a veritable oasis. But come fall the leaves are just insane, and then all winter he worries about limbs dropping whenever it snows.

I keep the inside of the tree pruned which helps but there isn't the snow here that you have (assuming he's in SLC). We do however have high winds (70mph night before last!) and so far they've held. But yeah, it's a hardwood and as with any tree close to your home you worry. Trade off - take into account your soil conditions and environment.

Oy vey those leaves! They NEVER break down!

[zion zig zag]

Heh. My Dad has three huge sycamores in his backyard. They are gorgeous in the summer and make it a veritable oasis. But come fall the leaves are just insane, and then all winter he worries about limbs dropping whenever it snows.

We have 4 huge (100+ feet) sycamores on our lot. The shade is awesome in the summer but they shed something year around between bark, leaves and branches. I took 7 truck loads of leaves to the green waste this fall.

[old goat]

My lot borders against a Dry Creek (named on the county map) - a seasonal drainage that I've only ever seen have running water once, after it rained like 4" in one weekend.

Just wait. (There's a couple of Dry Creeks near Sacramento and they both flood fairly frequently.)

[TahoeJ]

If anyone ever passed up on land off Dry Creek road near Healdsburgh, CA they probably regret it now... Some of the most valuable vineyard properties in the country.

[El Chupacabra]

Just wait. (There's a couple of Dry Creeks near Sacramento and they both flood fairly frequently.)

It's like 50' deep, quite wide, and drains downhill away from my house = not terribly worried.

It's like the house I had abutting flood plain, but the flood drainage zone was 200' below my house. If that ever flooded, it'd be beyond biblical proportions of water.

[guroo270]

Saw this today. Yeah. I'll be buying these.

[bagtagley]

Outdoor hose bib with hot and cold. Friend just built a house and couldn't stop talking about it. I dismissed it until I used it. Amazing. I'm currently working out the logistics of getting hot out to my current hose.

[::: :::]

Saw this today. Yeah. I'll be buying these.

easy to retrofit, same size as normal outlets
no-brainer

[boarddad]

Decent or zero neighbors

^ This X 1000

We're going to throw the mother of all block parties the day my jackass next-door-neighbor passes away/moves away, I really don't care how that goes down. Credit to my other neighbors (and even his wife and kids); we were warned before we moved in, and they've all been great. Just one fuck stick can make your life miserable though.

As for the house, floor in the attic so it is a usable storage space. We did this in both our garage and our house and it's been a life saver. What's more, it adds almost zero cost to the house if you do it during construction.

[Steven S. Dallas]

Built-in speakers are nice for a truly dedicated home theater. But Sonos costs about the same, is unobtrusive, works great, and you can take it with you when you move.

Things I wish our house had that it does not have:

-Good mud room. This is especially pressing now as we're doing a big retaining wall/yard project and the area around the house looks like the Russian Front in 1942
-Non-collapsing retaining wall
-Laundry near- or at least on same level as- bedrooms
-Outdoor shower
-Non-stupid thermostat location
-If not a multi-level dwelling, some way to close off the common spaces from the bedrooms. (We are adding a sliding barn door, which should do the job.) Not really an issue if you don't have kids but I do and it is annoying to worry about making noise once they are asleep.

[KQ]

Outdoor hose bib with hot and cold. Friend just built a house and couldn't stop talking about it. I dismissed it until I used it. Amazing. I'm currently working out the logistics of getting hot out to my current hose.

Got that on my house and in my barn - very nice.

[boarddad]

^^ be sure and get a good engineer and go through all the legal procedures to do the retaining wall. I was involved in a project where the homeowner built a non-permitted retaining wall to level a space to build a pool. The city caught wind of it and made him tear out the wall...and the pool. They were lucky they didn't undermine the house.

Admittedly a bit extravagant, but we just got a Nest thermostat and LOVE it! Our old programmable thermostat never really worked right, so my morning routine included turning down the thermostat every day. For about the first week or so I adjusted the Nest as we went through the day to keep the house comfortable - now it does it for us. Turning the temp down while we are away on vacation (and ONLY while we are on vacation) is really easy with the Nest - couldn't do it with the old thermostat. It is really hard spending +$200 to replace a $40 thermostat, but you won't regret it.

[Sirshredalot]

^^ be sure and get a good engineer and go through all the legal procedures to do the retaining wall. I was involved in a project where the homeowner built a non-permitted retaining wall to level a space to build a pool. The city caught wind of it and made him tear out the wall...and the pool. They were lucky they didn't undermine the house.

Admittedly a bit extravagant, but we just got a Nest thermostat and LOVE it! Our old programmable thermostat never really worked right, so my morning routine included turning down the thermostat every day. For about the first week or so I adjusted the Nest as we went through the day to keep the house comfortable - now it does it for us. Turning the temp down while we are away on vacation (and ONLY while we are on vacation) is really easy with the Nest - couldn't do it with the old thermostat. It is really hard spending +$200 to replace a $40 thermostat, but you won't regret it.

I had a retaining wall project go tits up. The first gc fucked us and I ended up running the permits myself and hiring a concrete engineering/build firm directly to do the job. It was a nightmare. Thoughts and prayers to anyone stuck in that hell.

Rocky Mountain power is offering a nice rebate on the nest thermostat right now, in case anyone wants to upgrade.

[Steven S. Dallas]

This project has been, if not a nightmare, a real drag. We're about 35% over the estimated price and it's taken about twice as long as planned. I don't really blame the contractor- the delay is mostly due to weather and the added cost due to several previously unknown, preexisting conditions that needed remedying- but it still sucks to spend a lot of money on something that doesn't really enhance the value of the house (although the collapse of the wall, and then the yard, into the creek, would surely diminish its value, so).

Whatever, it's a badass wall, I look forward to urinating over it for years to come. And I did have fun that weekend they accidentally left the keys in the backhoe.

[KQ]

Had this monster built back in 2013. I call it "The Great Wall of Walla Walla". Took care of an erosion problem created by the deer using the bank for a super highway and created a nice extension to the upper lawn.

[bagtagley]

If not a multi-level dwelling, some way to close off the common spaces from the bedrooms. (We are adding a sliding barn door, which should do the job.) Not really an issue if you don't have kids but I do and it is annoying to worry about making noise once they are asleep.

We live in a tiny tri-level house where the stairs to the bedrooms basically land in the middle of our completely open main level. My wife was a psycho about noise because she was so worried about waking the kids up. Turns out, they sleep crazy hard. Being scientifically minded, and highly irresponsible, I tested her theory one weekend while she was out of town. Two nights of cranked music and drunks yelling and carrying on, and my kids didn't even change positions. I demonstrated this to her upon her return and she was amazed. It's very liberating.

[Steven S. Dallas]

Two nights of cranked music and drunks yelling and carrying on

I'll just assume my invitation got lost in the mail.