Cool features in your next house??

[shawndoggy]

That's a different scenario, and I agree that from local machine to local machine, a wired connection is faster of course. But regular cable broadband internet service is only about 8 Mbps. Business class cable is around 15 Mbps. 802.11n is around 160 Mbps. That's my only point. So if the concern is internet speed, there's little argument for ethernet over wifi unless you have a T1 or fiber.

I have an Apple Airport Extreme router and it has a USB port for printer sharing or NAS. I have a USB drive hooked up to it. But when I need to move large quantities of data to that drive, plugging it right into the laptop is way way faster.

Agree re internet speeds, but if you are also using a NAS media server to serve up video to a couple of xbmc hacked xboxes, throughput becomes an issue.

[patmoore]

secret revolving book case entrance to the man-cave.

Already got one! I built it off the master bedroom in my condo in VT.

When we finally settle on where we retire I'm going to mount a triple chairlift chair in the rec room in front of the big screen TV. Until then it hangs from the garage ceiling.

[BobD]

Did anyone mention the urinal in the garage yet ?

I've always wanted one.

or go French, and put one one the deck for parties :lol:

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Did anyone mention the urinal in the garage yet ?

I've always wanted one.

or go French, and put one one the deck for parties :lol:

No, but that is a good one!! I have plans to plumb one. We will see if it get installed. The "Shop" will have a 1/2 bath, possibly a full (smallish shower) The "Garage" has a waste line plumbed in, however, the placement is not ideal. It was originally intended for the upstairs Master Bath. That route changed. Problem is it is right in front of the car when it is parked and that space is already tight.

Pat, that is sweet!! The rug might be a hint.

Very cool!!

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

When we finally settle on where we retire I'm going to mount a triple chairlift chair in the rec room in front of the big screen TV. Until then it hangs from the garage ceiling.

I bought one of the old "Hood River Meadows" chairs several years ago. It is only a double, good news it is hung from the outside not the middle. Making it easier for one person to sit in centered. The ceiling of the garage is 12' so it would work pretty well. Not sure if I am willing to give up the space needed for it. I would like to use a "Pivot" or "universal" joint on it which uses allot more space.

[thebionicman]

I finished my basement this past winter. I think one of the best things I did was prewire all the the speaker location, only second to running 1.5" pvc through the walls for multiple locations for the receiver. This way I can use two different locations for the receiver, multiple locations for TV (or projector) and if the lines need to be changed, ie cowax versus HDMI cables, I am ready to go. Wish I would of foamed for insulation but I couldn't justify the price.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

I finished my basement this past winter. I think one of the best things I did was prewire all the the speaker location, only second to running 1.5" pvc through the walls for multiple locations for the receiver. This way I can use two different locations for the receiver, multiple locations for TV (or projector) and if the lines need to be changed, ie cowax versus HDMI cables, I am ready to go. Wish I would of foamed for insulation but I couldn't justify the price.

It is really nice not having the wires running down the walls!! The trick is deciding where everything is going to go!

The foamed insulation?, you wanted to go with it for sound, insulating R value or both? Someone mentioned "Soy" spray on too.

1.5" should give you plenty of room.

[Dan]

How about sliding <a href="http://www.asagroup.org/mobile_shelving_systems/sliding_shelving_systems.shtml">library-style shelves?</a>

I would love to double or triple our book storage area, but they may be too industrial for our study.

BTW, this is definitely the best thread of the summer - lots of great ideas!

[BobD]

How about sliding <a href="http://www.asagroup.org/mobile_shelving_systems/sliding_shelving_systems.shtml">library-style shelves?</a>

I would love to double or triple our book storage area, but they may be too industrial for our study.

Might be adaptable for the ultimate snowboard storage system. Maybe Bryan could also adapt the Dewey Decimal system for his board collection as well.

BobD

[Jack M]

ok seriously, no talk of a kegerator? and you call yourself a man? ;)

Pat, very nice!!

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Time to update this.

Tankless WH - check

Bedroom washer dryer - check

Rain retention- check

Snowboard display alcove- check

4' x 5 ' shower- check

Poll is open again, Thanks Jack!!

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Did anyone mention the urinal in the garage yet ?

I've always wanted one.

or go French, and put one one the deck for parties :lol:

I am going to plumb for one.

Just heard about a new "Green" model that only require a drain.

Also checked out some sky lites with power (remote control) solar shades and opening. Probably not in the budget but very cool.

[pebu]

I think the most unusual feature that I am going build into my house is the heating/water heating system. I'm buying a rather efficient wood boiler (HS Tarm) that both my dad and my brother have. Also needed is a large tank for storing water. It's not actually storing water as much as it is storing heat. My brother has a 1600 gallon insulated tank buried outside his basement wall. The water that runs through the boiler also runs through coils in the tank. The water that is in the tank never actually gets used, it's just storing heat. The domestic water runs through coils in the tank and the radiant floor heat water runs through seperate coils in the tank. There's a bunch of different valves and such so that the tank can be turned off and heat run directly from the boiler, the heat can be turned off, the domestic water, whatever configuration is needed at the time. For example, we recently went on an 8 day vacation, so my brother turned off the tank and turned on the propane backup in the boiler. Instead of the propane trying to heat the entire tank, it just heated the water for the radiant floor heat. It's a quite complicated system, but it works really well. In the summer my brother can make a fire, burn it hot and hard until it's down to embers (approx 4 hours) load it up again and do the same, basically about a day and maybe a half of doing that, then he and his wife can live off of the built up heat for about 3 weeks. IN the winter probably down to about 1 week. If the tank were insulated better it would be even more efficient.

Ok, so maybe we're all a little too proud of this system. But I think that's about the only out of the ordinary thing for my house. Forced air sucks.

I was also going to have a walkout basement. Probably put my projector downstairs and make a home theater. Definately goign to use snowboards as decoration. Also guitars, though i might leave those in my current house and use it as a man cave.

edit: Ok, so the picture doesn't show, but it's cool. I'm not too keen on sending random people to my brothers gallery, so you'll just ahve to do without the picture.

edit again: ok, so I noticed that it actually had the URL for the picture in the properties. So I just took the whole thing out. Sorry.

edit one more time: Ok, so I'm trying to attach it. This time it shouldn't have any info on it. Lets see what happens.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Wow!! That is very impressive!!

I would love to do a ground source heat pump and combine it with a hydronic system. The cost is just not in the budget.

I would love to have heated garage slab etc. etc.

Nice job!!

What control software are you using??

[BobD]

In rural ares of the UK, different sources of heat are connected via a central tank using hot water coils. The main source is usually a large wood burning range. Additional fire places, and free standing wood fired heaters are also connected. Those systems didn't used to store heat, but I haven't been around those areas for twenty years, so maybe they do now. It would be great if when you light a wood fire anywhere in the house, you would add to the heat in the heat storage tank at the same time.

BobD

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

In rural ares of the UK, different sources of heat are connected via a central tank using hot water coils. The main source is usually a large wood burning range. Additional fire places, and free standing wood fired heaters are also connected. Those systems didn't used to store heat, but I haven't been around those areas for twenty years, so maybe they do now. It would be great if when you light a wood fire anywhere in the house, you would add to the heat in the heat storage tank at the same time.

BobD

I don't know why not. It would just mean more heat exchangers, piping and controls.

[pebu]

It could be done, but at the same time I think you'd be reducing efficiency. The more stuff you have in the system that isn't strictly heat storage, the more heat loss you'll get. Also, my brothers zero clearance fireplace is awesome for heating the livingroom and it's fairly quick at doing so, but it's terribly inefficient and he'd probably end up burning a cord before the tank temp even went up 5 degrees. And it would also take away from the heating of the livingroom.

For ref., a fire needs to be made when the tank temp gets to about 115 (though it occasionally dips below 100) and he'll burn it hard to get the tank temp up to about 170-180 or so.

Are you talking about control software for the heating? The furnace has it's own controls installed on it. The rest is just thermostats and circulating pumps.

[pebu]

Thought I'd show off a new feature of my current house. It's pretty small so I needed something a little compact.

shelves (2x): ~$12ea.

Lumber to hold it all together: $0 (recycled from my house, would have ended up kindling)

Snowboard Vice: ~$40

Total cost: ~$62

Having somewhere warm to take dings out of edges after nailing a few rocks at Steamboat? Priceless.

[DjulezD]

One thing I find mostly convenient in my house is the laundry system: a compartment in the bathroom closets. You open it at hand level and put all laundry within. Collection is done through low level doors. No laundry on the floor, no baskets.

Not very sexy or technologic, but simple and practical.

One thing I'd like to have is a remote control to turn on on the outside lights when coming home at night. Currently they have to be turned on friom within the house.

I recently looked at building a home wide sound system based on an audio server and wifi controllers in everyroom. Technology is not satisfactory yet IMO. That would definitely be a great feature.

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[pebu]

Look up XLobby for the home automation. Also, my brother has a very nice whole house stereo from Russound. It has a 4-input audio distribution and then each room in the house has a keypad that can select between the inputs. Pair with IR repeaters (which are built in) and you can do all sorts of stuff.

[bobdea]

no one mentioned a masonry heater?

expensive to have built but the cheapest damn things to run. build it yourself though and it can be done right for 2k just kind of takes the house being built for it though.

[BobD]

One thing I find mostly convenient in my house is the laundry system: a compartment in the bathroom closets. You open it at hand level and put all laundry within. Collection is done through low level doors. No laundry on the floor, no baskets.

Not very sexy or technologic, but simple and practical.

One thing I'd like to have is a remote control to turn on on the outside lights when coming home at night. Currently they have to be turned on friom within the house.

I recently looked at building a home wide sound system based on an audio server and wifi controllers in everyroom. Technology is not satisfactory yet IMO. That would definitely be a great feature.

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If you have a garage door opener, you could use the door opener light circuit to control a timer relay for the outside lights. If the garage door opens, the outside lights come on for five minutes. About the most simple way to do it.

BobD

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

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[b0ardski]

and I thought I had trouble deciding which ride to take out;)

[bjvircks]

Imagine doing this "lift" thing with a whole house!

A preservation society may well do this to lift a glass house above flood waters. 'The Farnsworth House' near Plano, Illinois is a landmark glass house built on stilts intended to cope with seasonal flooding of the Fox river. However the architect, Ludwig Mies Van der Rhoe, didn't go quite high enough and the house has has flooded 5 times since completion in (1952?). Not too long ago the house and land sold at auction for $6.7 million.