Cool features in your next house??

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

So, what clever or innovative features do you have in your current home that have proven invalueable? ONLY list features you would definitely bring to your next home. Examples: Built in vacuum system, Plant shelves, Hydronic heating system,

The poll is just intended to get the ideas rolling, I respect my clever fellow BOL members and know they have come up with some "Must have" features. Please feel free to list your favorite items not on the poll.

So far, I really like plant shelves, although I don't have plants on them and they are dust collectors.

Love my electric tankless WH. Saves about 25 percent off the electric bill. Bottomless hot water instantly.

[Jack M]

secret revolving book case entrance to the man-cave.

radiant heat.

but isn't gas better for a tankless hot water system? like a rinnai?

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

secret revolving book case entrance to the man-cave.

radiant heat.

but isn't gas better for a tankless hot water system? like a rinnai?

Dude, I so want the "Green Hornet" garage!! Know what I mean?

Yes, revolving book case is handy, especially for the married guys. My whole house is a "Man Cave".

Tunnel to the shop would be cool.

Gas is more common, but not if you don't have gas. They are also very expensive in comparison. I am looking at that, if I can get gas.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Instead of "Intercom System" I probably should have added "Video" Intercom system, although that is also covered by Smart House general catagory.

But as long as I am dreaming.

[Allee]

A fully tiled spa shower with 16 jets, a back massager and enough pressure to take your head off. With two big-a$$ water heaters to supply it.:) If said shower had an attached infrared sauna, I'd never go to work.

A rolling kitchen island with a granite top. Roll it out when you need it, park it away in the corner when you don't.

Wine cellar/cool room. Not that anything will ever be cellared long enough to be "cellared".

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

A fully tiled spa shower with 16 jets, a back massager and enough pressure to take your head off. With two big-a$$ water heaters to supply it.:) If said shower had an attached infrared sauna, I'd never go to work.

A rolling kitchen island with a granite top. Roll it out when you need it, park it away in the corner when you don't.

Wine cellar/cool room. Not that anything will ever be cellared long enough to be "cellared".

Allee, you never fail to impress!!! I like your style young lady!!

My Dad once built a custom blower/heater for a guy. It was set up so it would pre-warm, then dry your entire body off with a flood of warm dry air.

No towel needed!!

[utahcarver]

Over the past few years, I've been helping a former co-worker build his 'off the grid' house as the need arises. I helped him pour his basement foundation and recently, we moved landscaping rocks onto his property to follow or 'mimic' his northern roof-line. He is a gifted artist and an inspiration to watch as his house has taken shape. Even here in northern Utah (high cold desert), he's incorporated a roof-fed cistern-system to use rain and snow-melt to flush toilets and irrigate the 'green-roof' he's building into the design. Though he did not go with radiant panels for heat, he's created an atrium space which houses the multi-fuel fire-stove and family area. The house is insulated on the northern exposure with recycled tires filled with dirt. He's planning on adding passive solar as money permits. There is a detached root cellar and a yet unenclosed barn, too. He's done this without owing anyone any money. No debt and cash only.

I've always wanted a log cabin home off of the grid but, after seeing this, I'm down for recycled. He's used recycled windows, doors, and fixtures. All on the cheap. It is certainly not anything cosmopolitan but, if anything ever goes wrong with our Beautiful And Great American Economy he'll do better than most of us will.

Years ago, I studied up on straw-bale homes and saw similar thinking as my former co-worker has. Cheap, very cheap living but very comfortable, too. Not as Spartan as you might expect.

His family has planted trees, garden, and low-maintenance landscaping to complement their living space. I'll ask for permission to post pics.

Mark

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Love to see it Mark.

I love the "off the grid" concept. Ran into an old timer the other day that was doing something similar on a smaller scale. He is a retired engineer and using re-cycled building materials. Some of the items are really cool. He has about 60 windows with the wire mess sandwiched in the middle. Creating double pane "Thermo" windows with added security and "Beefy" look.

I have happened on several "Take Down" projects. One I was very envious of was a large warehouse the owner bought for 3000$ . Of course he had to

take it down and put it back up. HUGE!! With old growth timbers!! He built a 2000 square foot "Apartment" in one corner. Man, could that hold some snowboards:freak3:

[Bordy]

I would love to have a "earthship" style home off the grid! One thing I always mention to friends building a home is to put your washer and dryer in your bedroom or on the same floor... Why lug laundry around? do it where you dress and keep you clothes.

[Steve Prokopiw]

Our little prefab in Colorado had a whole list of great options that most of our neighbors did not take advantage of.We were allowed to have the house put on the lot at whatever angle we chose for example.I went out to the lot a couple of times to watch the arc of the sun and then put the house at an angle to maximize it's effectiveness.We put large windows in the east, south and west sides of the house as well as six skylights.Longer roof eaves were an option, so we chose that to create shade in the sun's higher arc in summer over the windows while still allowing sun in during the winter months.We chose all electric including heat and had considerably lower heating bills than all our skeptical ,natural gas powered neighbors. We did not need to heat the house at all while we were at work as the sun did that for us.The future would have brought more mature trees for strategic shade/cooling as we moved away before reaping that benefit,but we currently enjoy our shade trees (and vines)where we live now; beautiful ,simple and effective.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

One thing I always mention to friends building a home is to put your washer and dryer in your bedroom or on the same floor... Why lug laundry around? do it where you dress and keep you clothes.

I see the reason. Growing up we had a laundry shoot. That was cool! Dumped right onto the washer

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

We chose all electric including heat and had considerably lower heating bills than all our skeptical ,natural gas powered neighbors.

I think the new "Ductless Mini-Splits" make electrical heating cooling more economical.

I am working on a system for more economical cooling. Adapting commercial / industrial methods.

[Arclite]

whats the purpose of concrete counters?

What, granite isn't good enough?

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

whats the purpose of concrete counters?

What, granite isn't good enough?

No, not at all. Granite is very nice.

Concrete is renewable, very customizable (is that a word?), cost effective and very cool looking.

Note: one of our own members does some killer concrete work professionally.

Another alpine rider I know has very cool concrete floors, very rich looking. I love the "Industrial" look.

[Arclite]

No, not at all. Granite is very nice.

Concrete is renewable, very customizable (is that a word?), cost effective and very cool looking.

Note: one of our own members does some killer concrete work professionally.

Another alpine rider I know has very cool concrete floors, very rich looking. I love the "Industrial" look.

I guess it makes it easier to clean messes too?

[KingCrimson]

Concrete is great..if it's sealed. Otherwise blood is a pain to get out!

Granite gets acid etched too, which looks like crap and ends up being expensive as hell.

I always wanted to have that shop-towel blue epoxy finish with the little blue flakes as kitchen flooring.

[tex1230]

I like the list, but the one thing I would advise against (solely from my personal experience) is the central vacuum. convenient...yes // expensive as hell to fix when it breaks every couple of months - HELL YES !!!

[MEC]

I have a little list of dream house wants:

A geothermal heat pump for heating/cooling/hot H2O.

I would also want a soapstone masonry heater, instead of a wood stove, for fire heating. I know it's redundant with the heat pump, but I love to have burning fires, and the masonry heaters are extremely efficient, and you don't need to run home at lunch or get up in the middle of the night to put more logs on.

A 10-run dog kennel with radiant floor heat in the individual condos and mountain spring fed running water.

A gear room that has been designed and outfitted by some type of closet organizer professional. It need to have a comprehensive ski and board tuning bench, storage compartments for at least 30 pairs of skis and 20 boards, a surf board slot or two, boot cubbies, a row of boot dryers, storage compartments for the various snowshoes, tents, sleeping bags, mountaineering boots, crampons, ice axes, helmets, pads, a closet area for outdoor clothing (ski pants, jackets, etc) skylights for overhead natural light, hooks for climbing ropes and gear, a bike stand and bike hanging hooks, and most importantly, a small fridge for beer and diet red bull.

An 8-burner Wolf stove and double wall ovens.

A comfortable garbage and recycling area which is not next to my porch.

[Justin A.]

Professional-style kitchen. It would be nice if it looked nice, but I really want functionality - a 6-8 burner range, small deep-fryer, double ovens. A small walk-in cooler/freezer would be nice instead of having a laydown and/or aux freezer in the basement.

Cool room/wine cellar.

Heated brick or cobble/paver driveway and walkway - no more shoveling or ice problems

Off-the-grid functionality

I've looked into underground homes a few years ago and really liked what I saw - once you go down about 8 feet, it's 55 degrees F all year, minimizing heating and cooling needs, leaving more of my solar and/or wind power available for my other wants like the walk-ins and heated driveway.

Large heated garage - >2000ft^2, with drainage in one area, and a lift in another. Cabinets, shelving, dedicated sporting equipment storage area/system, and heavy lighting suitable for detailing.

Sporting goods equipment area of at least storage for 20+ snowboards, 10+ pairs of skis, boots cubbies, Golf bags, firearm safe, bicycle hangers, 3+ kayaks, and track tire storage.

Heated pool, large hot tub. Both outdoors either heated concrete approaches/surrounds or synthetic decking approaches for traction.

Party shower. Nuff said.

Flush-mount cabinets and builtins all over the house. I love builtins.

And my other half wants a Claw-Foot tub. I don't know why, but she does.

I know that we've come up with more than this over the past few years, but can't think of it now that I'm on the spot.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Wow!!

These are some great ideas!!

I like the heated walk way / approach.

Here in the PNW it would only help with snow every couple years for a day or two. Love to do it in the garage. BOL member in CO should me his garage on a sub freezing day and we could tune boards in t-shirts! SWEET!!.

Looks like so far in the POLL the Oversized shower and Sky lights are big favorites. .

As far as built ins: I would like to add snowboard displays in the wall, small in wall boxes for collectables (with lighting)

Keep them coming!! Thanks, Bryan

[Dan]

We have a skylight in our bedroom...in the summer, I get to greet the sun every morning at about 5 a.m. So, no skylights in the bedroom. Ours is not particularly thermally efficient either, which keeps the bedroom pretty cool in the winter.

I would take light pipes/light tubes over skylights - better thermal efficiency from what I hear, and similar ability to take advantage of natural light.

I would definitely want a cellar that's deep enough to be at constant temperature. More of a beer cellar than a wine cellar in my case though -- there's lots of beers that improve with age. Along the lines of a 10 x 10 room would be awesome.

Cement countertops are awesome (though I don't have 'em now), and when we replace our water heater, we'll definitely go tankless.

For showers, dual showerheads/dual controls would be awesome, so you and a friend can each have the temperature you like.

And if I was tearing down the home and starting over (or buying a plot of land in Parkdale with a nice view of Mt. Hood), I'd definitely be looking at earth-sheltered.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

I like the list, but the one thing I would advise against (solely from my personal experience) is the central vacuum. convenient...yes // expensive as hell to fix when it breaks every couple of months - HELL YES !!!

Sort of wondered about this, some rave , most say it is just too much trouble with the great new, lighter machines.

What breaks? The canster in the garage or the cleaning head.

[Jack M]

Bamboo floors. Cheap, very attractive, very renewable. Don't do concrete. Some friends of ours did this and they regret it. The look is trendy and it's uncomfortable.

Home Theater: even if you don't do the speakers or anything now, run the wiring now. Wish I had done this when we built our garage with play-room above. Doh.

+1 on Bordy's laundry. Put it on the same floor as the bedrooms. At the very least keep it out of the basement.

[pow4ever]

I been watching this channel:

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/

so many good ideas. Renewable material, efficeint cooling and heating seems to the primary theme for going green.

soy based spray foam insulation

diatomaceous earth in the wall to keep the bugs out.

window facing south

bamboo/cork floor tile

native plants for garden

I don't know how the rest of you deal with it. After I completed redid my floor, kitchen, bath room it's nothing but constantly cleaning and up keep. I miss the day where I can cover up the hole in the wall with poster... Growing up/old suck...

on another note; my next place must have the following feature:

stone throw away from a world class ski area.

200+ days of ski.

Is there such place afforadable enoguh for mere mortal?

--

David

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Bamboo floors cheaper than hard wood floors?

Wondering if putting a washer dryer in the master bedroom is too strange?

Plumbing wise I think it would be pretty easy. Dryer vent on outside wall.

Perhaps plumbing, wiring and vent for it just in case?