Easy-to-Forget Things When Building a Home

If you are planning on building your dream home in McKinney, TX, then you are going to have a few “why didn’t I think of that” moments after it’s too late.

Over the past years of experience, our professionals from Ryan Hartman have kept a list of various small and manageable but essential features that you need to remember when building a home.

Below is a list of a few key features that you need to keep in mind when building your perfect dream house.

Using extra materials

Make sure that you ask your builder for some leftover sets of each type of carpet, grout, tile, brick, wallpaper, paint, and trim used to build your house for any future repairs and remodeling projects.

After you get your hands on each of these products, you need to catalog the exact description and manufacturer in a document just if you need more than the excess amount or if your label is not readable anymore.

If all this information is not marked on the products, you will have to talk to the builder before the project completes.

Switches, lights, and power outlets

You must check the location of switches and lights around your house. The chances are that you may find a few places like the pantry where the planned placement of your light controls is going to be inconvenient once the area is being used.

As for power outlets, you need to take note of their planned location outside the house. A few specific examples include the following:

If you have a second freezer or refrigerator in your house that you put in the garage, you need to think about where it may be placed and add a power outlet accordingly.

Ensure that you have a power outlet towards the front of your garage, near the driveway. This will prove helpful if you plan on installing an irrigation system and want your master control to be accessible from outside the garage.

This location will also be ideal if you vacuum your vehicles when parked in the driveway or plan on doing some DIY projects in the driveway.

It would help if you also thought about where your trees and flowerbeds are going to be planted. This is because you may wish to get some landscape lighting done around your garden.

If you decide to choose a low voltage landscaping, then you need to run wires from a power circuit to various places in your yard. If you go for the regular 110 V landscaping, you need to ask the builder to stir up a power box in various strategic places from which you can run the landscaping wires.

Make sure that you do not forget about Holidays such as Christmas and Halloween. If you have plans to install a powered mummy that rises from the grave during Halloween or wish to wrap all your front trees and garden with lights during Christmas, then you will benefit from a power outlet nearby.

This is the reason why it would be best for you to get a power outlet installed nearby. You can even choose to put all these holiday power outlets on a light switch with an easy on/off or timer installation. But remember that your landscape lighting switches are going to be different from your holiday switches.

Dimmer switches

Throughout the entire house, you need to decide which lights are supposed to be on dimmer switches. Having your builder install these will help ensure that the proper type of switches are installed, especially if there is a 3-way switch involved. Don’t forget that this also means you will have to buy LED lights that are dimmable for these areas.

Lights above and below your kitchen cabinets

Suppose you feel like you will add any indirect lighting below or above your kitchen cabinets later. In that case, you need to consider placing a power box somewhere above or inside your cabinets for easy installation after the project is completed.

Securing your sub-roof

You need to insist that your builders use nail screws (or screws) and a liquid nail to secure your home’s second story (sub-roof) and the stairs. Using regular nails will allow your subfloor to have a little movement over time, which may lead to floor creaks when you walk on it.

This can be quickly inspected by a professional after the flooring is laid and the stairs have been constructed. If you notice that your builders are using a nail gun, you need to talk to the project supervisor.

The chances are that they may be using nail screws that emulate a screw due to spiral grooves, which may cause them to screw in slightly as they penetrate the wood.

Showerhead height

If there are any one of your family members who is 6 feet or taller, you need to consider putting your shower head fitting at 6’7″. Once your shower head is attached, it will be about 6’5″, which is perfect for tall people.

Medicine cabinets

It is not very difficult to ask your builder to install recessed medicine cabinets in your bathroom next to your sink. It is an excellent optimization for that space and is highly functional in the long run.

Get in touch with Ryan Hartman for more such tips!

Here at Ryan Hartman, we have all the required expertise and knowledge to handle all the various details of making a home.  Our builders will pay close attention to all your needs, ideas, desires, dreams, and budget and will use this information to give you a home that you genuinely love.

Give us a call at 972-741-5447 or contact us online, and we will get to you shortly.