New home ideas

[JayKay]

main entrance and garage facing south.

If not south, then west. It is SO nice to have my driveway melt and be dry all winter.

 

[LOV2HNT]

If not south, then west. It is SO nice to have my driveway melt and be dry all winter.

I'd say east. My old house it faced west and it would get damn hot in there during the summer and it was insulated. My current house the garage faces east and it rarely ever gets hot in the summer. Plus the wind blows out of the east the least. Each their own I guess.

 

[AaronJ]

In 4 years we ar hoping to build 1 level, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, HUGE garage (enough for 2 boats and 2 full sized vehicles) wiring through conduit standing outside of walls, with metal siding for interior of garage, 3 floor drains, and 2-3 heat sources in garage. Oddly, my wife and I agree on everything so far.... well laid out, open floor plan, moderate priced interior finishes with much of the focus on kitchen, master bath, and garage.

 

[BRK]

At my old house the driveway faced west with literally nothing in the town blocking the NW wind. To make it worse, I had a neighbor to the south, a kind old lady, so blowing snow in any kind of north wind over 10mph was near possible. I've never worked harder moving snow around than I did at that home for four years. It really drifted in there good.

 

[guywhofishes]

If not south, then west. It is SO nice to have my driveway melt and be dry all winter.

north facing driveways really are horrible - no sun in winter, not necessarily any shadier in summer (when sun beats darn near straight down)

 

[Bfishn]

The other nice thing about west facing house is your deck is shaded in the summer evenings, and since the wind is usually from the NW it mostly protects you from wind. My west facing garage never gets hot in the summer, but i do have white 2" insulated doors that really reflect the heat off.

 

[Kurtr]

What ever you are quoted add another 10-20 percent

 

[WormWiggler]

In 4 years we ar hoping to build 1 level, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, HUGE garage (enough for 2 boats and 2 full sized vehicles) wiring through conduit standing outside of walls, with metal siding for interior of garage, 3 floor drains, and 2-3 heat sources in garage. Oddly, my wife and I agree on everything so far.... well laid out, open floor plan, moderate priced interior finishes with much of the focus on kitchen, master bath, and garage.

In case you are unaware, some city codes have restrictions on garage size, a neighbor of a friend had to reclassify some of the garage space into living area. Not sure how they accomplished this as it was just small talk one afternoon and I didn't pry.

 

[5575]

We had our home built up in Manitoba then jacked up and hauled down here. They call them RTM "ready to move" homes up there. We did it when the exchange rate was really good, was almost 40% off. Right now its still good at almost 25%, so a home costing 250K Canadian is about 195K US right now.
It has to be a one level ranch style of course and not more that 34 foot wide I believe, we had it put on a full basement. Came down the road with a 3 stall finished garage attached even. My buddies had a 30x40 attached when it came down the road! Ours was 1850 sq ft on the main floor, I've seen some plans up to about 2300. We had Penner builders build ours, Mennonite folks that take great pride in their craft. You can design the interior and exterior anyway you want, they do the blueprints right there.
Just an option to think about, we are extremely happy with out decision. Cost us half of what they wanted to build in our area. Dozens of their homes in the smaller towns around our area of western ND.
Good luck!

 

[AaronJ]

In case you are unaware, some city codes have restrictions on garage size, a neighbor of a friend had to reclassify some of the garage space into living area. Not sure how they accomplished this as it was just small talk one afternoon and I didn't pry.

I do know this. I live in Devils Lake where pretty much anything goes; but we will not be building in town (currently county as well). A cleverly designed home/garage most do not know that 66% of the footage is fulled with boats and vehicles. I have already seen the home we want; there just needs to be 1 or 2 small adjustments to the plan as I walked through and it will fit the bill perfectly.

 

[SDMF]

I do know this. I live in Devils Lake where pretty much anything goes; but we will not be building in town (currently county as well). A cleverly designed home/garage most do not know that 66% of the footage is fulled with boats and vehicles. I have already seen the home we want; there just needs to be 1 or 2 small adjustments to the plan as I walked through and it will fit the bill perfectly.

Why not a Morton (or similar) building w/living quarters?

 

[Lapper]

My wife is an interior decorator/designer if you need any help when you get to that point.

 

[AaronJ]

Why not a Morton (or similar) building w/living quarters?

Hasnt been ruled out. But, the research I have done shows they are harder to finance though. I know we all pay cash for everything and dont want to be the outlyer..

 

[Fishhard]

I would like to have just one floor but we are building into a gradually sloping hill as we will have a walk out basement. The driveway is gonna have to face west just because of the lot shape and how house will face. Plan on building a loft overlooking the main floor great room if possible. We are putting all the stuff we need when we get old on the main floor so we won't have to use steps such as laundry and master bedroom. Lots of good ideas from you guys and I appreciate it. Please keep them coming. Any information or suggestions are a plus for me! Thanks again!

 

[pluggin]

If you don’t mind me asking what was the name of the place you got your house from?

- - - Updated - - -

We had our home built up in Manitoba then jacked up and hauled down here. They call them RTM "ready to move" homes up there. We did it when the exchange rate was really good, was almost 40% off. Right now its still good at almost 25%, so a home costing 250K Canadian is about 195K US right now.
It has to be a one level ranch style of course and not more that 34 foot wide I believe, we had it put on a full basement. Came down the road with a 3 stall finished garage attached even. My buddies had a 30x40 attached when it came down the road! Ours was 1850 sq ft on the main floor, I've seen some plans up to about 2300. We had Penner builders build ours, Mennonite folks that take great pride in their craft. You can design the interior and exterior anyway you want, they do the blueprints right there.
Just an option to think about, we are extremely happy with out decision. Cost us half of what they wanted to build in our area. Dozens of their homes in the smaller towns around our area of western ND.
Good luck!

If you don’t mind me asking what was the name of the place you got your house from?

 

[eyexer]

you can def. get homes a little less expensive out of Canada. but there are some def. negatives to it. very limited on size and shape of home. some move in within a couple weeks, but there are some that can't get in for as long as six months after house is set due to home getting so beat up inside from the move. I had a buddy that did warranty work for beaver homes on the weekends. Had to quit his full time job to do that full time due to the amount of work load. He has had to completely re-trim many homes. There are so many uncontrollable variables in a home move.

 

[fnznfwl]

Wow, where to start.

Couple of ideas on layout. One single story home we owned was built in a "U" shape. The front entry, kitchen and eating area was on the bottom of the U. One wing of the U was the master bedroom area and the other wing was two secondary bedrooms and baths. If you can have a bath for each bedroom that would be the best but you need a hall bath for guests. Next would be a Jack and Jill bedroom/bath arrangement with a fourth bedroom and a hall bath.

Two story homes would have the master at the entry level and secondary bedrooms either up or down. We added a 1,550 sf second floor when we remodeled our home and put a separate furnace and A/C unit in for the second floor. We don't have the second floor too hot in order to keep the downstairs warm.

If you can plan your garage work area/cabinets I would put outlets at the same level as the kitchen so they will be between the upper and lower cabinets. Put outside outlets by the front door, on the patio, by the garage door and any other place where you might store something and need power to work on it. Put plenty of outside lights to light up space where you need it. I'd put a switched outlet under the eve of both the first and second floor roof to plug in Christmas Lights so you can switch them on and off rather than go out and plug and un-plug them. This carries over to the living room. Determine where your Christmas Tree will be and put in a switched outlet to plug the tree into. Then you don't have to plug and un-plug it every night. The rest of the year just leave the switched outlet on so you can vacuum when the missus tells you to!

Kitchen - the second most important room in the house. Granite countertops if you can afford them. They are impervious and will never need replacement until you need a change of scenery. Fluorescent lighting under the upper cabinets. They make good night lights and supply good lighting for work areas. When we remodeled our kitchen I had the electrician put a receptacle on every stud in the kitchen between the uppers and lowers. Had him wire them with 12/3 romex on 20 amp breakers with several circuits. I never have tripped breakers. Roll out lower cabinet shelves. Pantry with roll out shelves. Cast iron/porcelain sinks. Three quarter horsepower garbage disposer that can chew up baby back rib bones, chicken bones and crab shells. (She won't let me do that if she is around.) Instant hot water for soups and instant coffee/tea. Trash compactor - a blessing for us. With recycling I only have one garbage bag or less in a week. Wire pulls on cabinet doors and drawers to save the finish over the long haul. Gas cooktop with gas grill alongside and a 48 inch hood above.

Hardwood floors or tile in common areas. Where ever you put carpet, try to walk the area as well as you can to find any floor squeaks before the carpet installation and nail/screw them quiet.

All sliding closet doors mirrored, especially bedroom and entry coat closet. You need to look your best when you go out.

I have a wood stove insert in my brick fireplace and it heats the house well. If you are inclined to get firewood a free standing stove would be good. Plan a place to store firewood that is accessible. Get the most energy efficient windows that are reasonable for your area.

Prolaly think of some more things later that I can add. Things are way too different in Bismarck than in CA.

I had to triple check to make sure this wasn't typed in 1996.

So many better options are available right now for nearly everything you listed.

 

[Duckslayer100]

main entrance and garage facing south.

^^^ As a poor schmuck with a north facing garage and entrance, this comment can't be understated ^^^

 

[Kurtr]

you can def. get homes a little less expensive out of Canada. but there are some def. negatives to it. very limited on size and shape of home. some move in within a couple weeks, but there are some that can't get in for as long as six months after house is set due to home getting so beat up inside from the move. I had a buddy that did warranty work for beaver homes on the weekends. Had to quit his full time job to do that full time due to the amount of work load. He has had to completely re-trim many homes. There are so many uncontrollable variables in a home move.

I think alot of that comes down to quality movers and built homes. Had one sheet rock seam crack when mine was moved from Watertown to Mobridge

 

[Davey Crockett]

^^^ As a poor schmuck with a north facing garage and entrance, this comment can't be understated ^^^

I knew It was poor design but It was my only option . I ran floor heat pipe incase I keep getting older. One circuit of heat piping east to west for about 10 feet would be all I would need . I had extra so I did the whole thing but those circuits will more than likely never get used.