5 years and HVAC

 Our house has spray foam in walls and roof, so we have an enclosed building envelope.  The good, our AC bill is lower in the summer.  The bad — our HVAC system was not properly installed... and the correct type of unit was not installed.

Our builder had a 3 ton unit installed.  No heat pump, single speed blower (it has multiple sppeeds but is set only for one), an outside make up air duct, filters at the registers and no damper on makeup said vent.

We were on a maintenance contract with an HVAC company, when they inspected last fall, there was mold throughout the system.... they bid $4500 to do cleaning and add UV light.  So... we called a few HVAC companies.

What we learned for spray foamed:

- HVAC needs a fresh air vent with an electronic damper control.  We just had an electric damper installed April 2021... the dust in the house is 90% less.

- HVAC should have a 4” filter at the unit (no need for filters at the registers).  If dust isa major concern, consider looking into an electro static precipitator at the unit too

- HVAC Ducts 

—should be connected with Wyes.  Ours initially had triangle boxes.  The wyes have less resistance and therefore allow more air to flow through and reduce the static pressure so the fan does not have to work as hard. 

—  Look at where the ducts are routed... we have lots of space in attic, but it’s unusable because of wires and ducting

— consider solid ducts rather than coiled —  much easier to clean and less static pressure

 — HVAC main unit should be a variable speed unit.

- Heat pump would be good as well 

-  Humidity control is a challenge... the dehumidifier will be $3500 if we decide to have it installed... we are adding a vent fan in the master bath area to remove steam from shower.  Major sources of humidity are showers and cooking in our house.

EcoBee thermostat— great control, includes humidity monitor, can over cool to reduce humidity

HVAC — after having the unit cleaned, the HVAC company installed a UV light in the coils area.

— consider adding surge protection for HVAC, especially if using a higher SEER unit

— after snowmageddon 2021, I would consider installing a propane furnace

Building envelope - 

- with spray foam, the building envelope is sealed, so there is minimal air infiltration... makes for better efficiency if there are no leaks

- we had three HVAC companies out to look at our system.  Only one (Larco in Millsap) took the time to walk across the attic to the fireplace.... found air gaps around the chimney, which is another source of humid air to enter.

Our $2200 HVAC temporary solution :

Replaced triangle duct boxes with wyes

Built new plenums (old was moldy)

Installed UV light

Cleaned coils and blower fan

Sealed around fireplace

Installed 4” media filter 

added electronic damper

2020 -- Five years later

 Howdy!

So it's been almost five years since we built this home.  Overall, we are very pleased  Of course, there are a few things that we would have done differently -- hindsight is always 20/20.  So, below are some items that we might consider doing differently. I'll post some photos in the near future!  I hope this is helpful to anyone building or remodeling their dream home.

General:

Doors -- would consider using 8' doors throughout.  Would prefer solid wood doors stained; or solid core doors (master bedroom and laundry room have solid core doors and greatly reduce noise).  If not stained, would paint the doors with a dark color (black or near black) with white trim.

Wood Flooring -- we used a very dark color on the wood.  Hubby was right and should have gone with a little lighter color -- the dark shows EVERYTHING -- white dog fur, dust, etc.

Lighting -- choose fixtures that the globes for cleaning are easy to remove and clean (or you can easily clean with the globes still on.  Recessed lighting has been amazing!

Layout -- 

• Pantry -- Have adequate storage in the pantry for the large appliances and other items used regularly
• Laundry Room -- have a dedicated room for laundry.  Ours is a pass through from the garage -- and I still don't know why I did this!  
• Cleaning Supplies Storage Closet -- Have adequate space for cleaning appliances and cleaning items -- vacuum cleaner, Floormate, steam mop, etc.
• Mudroom with a sink
• Dream world -- dog/boot wash; entry from outside to master bathroom when coming in from shop/outside dirty; butler's pantry with space for vases, table cloths, etc.
• Kitchen -- love having three entries -- need extra clearance in front of the refrigerator
• Guest rooms -- these are all right around 12x12.... could use an extra 2-3 ft lengthwise for the dimension between the wall the bed goes against and the opposite wall to allow a desk or chair to comfortably fit in the room with a queen bed, chest of drawers and night stand

Kitchen -- as they say, the kitchen is the heart of the home.  Our kitchen is a reasonable size, but there are a few items that would definitely be changed:

Things that are great:

• Copper single sink
• Love the knotty alder wood cabinets with Dark Walnut stain
• Slide out Trash that is full height.  For future, I'd consider a hidden drawer to hold the garbage bags.  Make sure this cabinet is completely enclosed -- keeps odors to the location
• Drawers under the cooktop and the other drawers
• Custom dividers for utensils -- these were built this last summer and they make opening the drawer and finding items so much easier

Appliances:

• I got talked into Kitchen Aid appliances.  The dishwasher has been great.  The oven with blue interior -- it is not nearly as easy to clean as my LG oven.  The cooktop -- I get very frustrated with it -- not nearly the control that I expect from a gas stove top.  If I had to do over again -- it would be LG appliances or Viking (if my budget could afford it).

Cabinets:

• Hardware -- I would go with black iron hardware next time
• For the bottom cabinets -- I would only do drawers -- no doors on any.  For the baking sheet cabinet, I'd do a narrow tall slide out (I bought hardware to build slideouts for all of my lower cabinets with doors

Layout:

• Need additional clearance for the refrigerator
• Coffee station cabinet would be handy
• Charging station

Living Room

• LOVE:
• Built-in Cabinetry
• Stone Fireplace
• Modifications
• Need just a little more space to have better layout and accomodate more people
• Window to back yard -- would do one single pane.  We never open it, and having a single unobstructed view would be amazing
• Add lighting to the built-in cabinets
• Ceiling fan -- would not have installed the light fixture (that is what they were supposed to have done)

Formal Dining

• LOVE:
• Recessed ceiling
• Arches into the room
• Modifications
• A little more space to fit all of the dining room furniture -- sideboard, buffet, china cabinet
• Lighting fixture -- Cleaning this one is a nightmare!

Master Bedroom

• Perfect size for us

Master Bathroom

• Love -- not having a shower curtain or glass door to clean
• Would modify layout -- use a stand alone tub
• Shower -- seat depth should be 18-24" deep; make sure built-in shelves have adequate space for what you use.

2018 updates

Here are a few things that we have done:

Landscaping in front with dry creek bed —- very happy with overall design... notes below

Our builder hauled in yellow-orange muck as fill... we scraped and removed as best as possible... and hauled in good topsoil.  Warning!!! We have had several young trees die when the roots hit the compaction layer — a result of cement trucks, construction trucks etc... best bet is to limit when vehicles can drive.

Grass selections — we used a combination of buffalo grass and blue grama.  We had our local feed store order two varieties of buffalo grass... also ordered some Sundance online.  Really love this grass mixture.

Septic — so we wish the tanks were in a different location.

Propane line for grill — wish it was on east side of porch — not the west

Shop — wish the elevation of the slab was higher.

Attic — our attic access has a major flaw... there is less than one foot of landing space at top of stairs.

Entertainment center and speakers — we ran our own speaker wires...we should not have listened to the audio experts and should have run an Ethernet cable to all TVs in the house and the media center receiver.  They talked my husband into a high dollar HDMI cable — the construction crew put a staple through the wire (the media folks should have ziptied cables so the would be out of the way for the builders.  They got to replace cable for free!

Master closet — installed motion sensor light... I love it... I feel like a princess when I walk in and lights come on.

Exterior LED lighting -- missing sconces on front columns (added later)

Lighting

Lighting is lots of fun.  Amazingly, we only have one fixture that we wish I had not selected (in the entry way).  And I wish that I had selected a chandelier for above the tub in the master bath -- but that can come later.

This one is not my favorite

Of course... found it for less on-line

I suggest making some preliminary selections prior to signing the contract and seeing how far over budget you are.

Our builder was very flexible, so we might have been able to save some money by shopping around.  Note: many builders may not allow this -- as they hold the supplier responsible for making sure everything is correct and expect them to make corrections ASAP and provide customer service.  The supplier usually orders and holds the fixtures until the builder is ready for them.

There are so many options.... I really wanted my husband to build some fixtures, but he was willing to spend extra $$$ instead. (not to mention he was gone for the last three weeks of the building process for work)

Our guest bedrooms need additional lighting sources, such as lamps.  Otherwise -- very pleased.

Bathroom lighting -- we installed sconces.... this was not originally planned, but it looks great.  As far as height, I searched internet to make sure the sconces were set at the proper height.

Lovely holes in the "painted" wall to pull the electrical for the sconces... 

Patched after sconces installed

Guest bath -- Mirror was from Kirklands and then tiled

Finished!!! Mirrors came from Ross -- less than $35/each

My formal dining room lighting -- my hubby let me splurge and I love it!!! 2020 Note: these lights are a pain in the rear to clean... it takes a magician to put the clamps back together to hold the glass globe! 

Kichler 

Brinley Collection 8 light Pendant | Olde Bronze42890OZ (Olde Bronze)

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**** update*****

So far all good on lights.  Just wish I had seen this ceiling fan for my living room... http://wildwestliving.com/western-star-ceiling-fan-cc-kvwst.html

The little things that make it yours

The little touches are what make your custom home unlike the rest of the custom homes built in the neighborhood by the same builder.

Door handles -- we opted for lever style on most of the doors.  But for the double doors with dummy knobs into the office and master bath -- we had them install crystal door knobs with plates.  Small touch, but it says that we did it

2020 Update:  I would likely use black matte for all the door hardware.  Black goes with anything and will never go out of style.

Toilet Paper holder in Master -- I made a double with a shelf (gives a spot to put that phone down) using iron pipe and leftover trim materials

Faux finishes on ceilings -- see earlier post.

Do what is important for you

Selecting Interior Paint and Budget

After hours of looking at paint colors on rooms in Houzz, looking at color chips, I finally settled on 12 different possibilities.  I purchased samples of these and painted them on some extra sheet rock that I had scavenged when they were finishing the sheet rock.  I ruled it down to three colors for the main living areas and three colors for the master bedroom, office and one of the guest rooms.  I painted samples on the walls and looked at them in various lights and then gave my husband two options.  I am sooo pleased with the outcome.

We did go neutral, but we did not go "white" -- which is the "in" color for 2016.

I wanted to paint my doors dark -- a color called Black Fox by Sherwin Williams, but the painter wanted $1,000 to paint them -- so that is a project for a different day.  They also wanted $1000 to paint ceilings white in the guest bedrooms

Our color selections were:

SW7546 Prairie Grass -- all other rooms

SW7844 Amazing Gray -- Master, office, Master bath, guest bedroom #2
SW7004 Snowbound -- trim


We have tray ceilings in the formal dining, living, and master bedroom.  Our builder allowed us to do faux finishes on these prior to moving in or installing the floors.  Fortunately, we had access to scaffolding -- which made this all possible -- as ceilings are 12' or higher in dining and living and 11' in master

For the Dining -- I used Ralph Lauren's Polished Patina in English Earth -- easy to put on and looks fabulous
Master Bedroom Ceiling -- custom mixed the Ralph Lauren Polished Patina in one of the metallic colors "Wedding Bells" -- love it
Living room ceiling -- dark brown faux glaze -- applied with paint brush, dappled 2 coats with plastic bags, brushed final coat; I like the finished product, but it was a pain.

Again, I held my breath and stressed over these selections -- as definitely not anything that I want to redo in the near future. ;)

Exterior selections

I spent many hours looking at photos, driving around with my husband looking at rock and brick combinations, and researching information.  I stressed and held my breath until the final product was actually installed.  These are things that once put up -- you are pretty well stuck with until you decide to move.

Rock -- we looked at builder's stone (irregular shaped) in a variety of colors; chopped stone (rectangular shapes -- typical of most Austin white limestone).  Bell's Stone was very helpful and gave addresses to go look at for the stone.  After looking through 1,000s of photos and 100's of houses, we settled on a stone called "French Country".  It has some grays and a bit of beige, and very little yellow.  I absolutely love it.

Brick -- Pewitt's Brick from Mineral Wells was fabulous.  We selected Claymex's Kansas Brownfield with a Handmade Buff Mortar (they use local sand to give the buff a bit of color)

Paint -- Initially I wanted a different color on the garage door, but it was going to be an extra $400, so we selected HGSW2484 Pebble Pathway and are very pleased with the results.

After days of fretting over these decisions -- I'm extremely pleased with the outcome.