Things you forget - summary page 32

Consider the water quality on your area. If you intend on having a water filtration system installed down the track (They can be pricey) have the builder run the incoming water mains in a loop down through the garage and back up again before it hits its first outlet. This makes it simpler and cheaper to install the filtration system and keeps it inside, out of sunlight. Also, there have been reports of people stealing them when they are mounted externally. The loop should cost no more than $300 and will be well worth it.

Us too!

I have moved in and my light switch has 3 switches, but only controls 2 globes, NFI what the 3rd switch was for....

Didn't you have an electrical plan for the house?

provision for ceiling fan?

I can’t reply to a post for some reason.... someone commented last page about not wanting a motion sensor in the garage for the alarm. We had one on our old house, the remote that did the garage and the gate also did the alarm. So the only time I ever used the key pad was if going for a run and not taking keys.

hi everyone. I have built my first home over 6 years ago and me and my partner just made a decision to build another one. I have used this summary page with my first built and wanted to say thank you for keeping it going still with so much more information added on.

I have not read everything just yet but it was not mentioned when I was building so excuse me if I am repeating what's already been said. When I built my house back in 2014, I was not aware to check the kitchen width between benches and fridge recess/oven tower. I was under the impression that it should be pretty standard. Fast forward, we can't open our fridge and dishwasher at the same time and the walk through is only wide enough for one person and in general the kitchen is only suitable for one person to be in there any given time. Big lesson to learn. So when in June my son decided to build his first house, first thing we did we went to the display house and checked on how wide the kitchen is on display. To our surprise, it was 50 cm wider then what was showing on the plan. That did make sense why it looked so spacious and mine wasn't. It did not cost him anything at all to move the kitchen bench out by 50 cm. We are going to do it too in our new house.

Good point about the kitchen spacing..Apparently 1200 between the bench and island is standard these days, i find it to cramped myself. I have 1800 spacing where i live now and it allows for people to pass and move around each other easily. It costs nothing to space it out a bit more but definitely makes it more practical,just allow for it to eat into you dining area a little..

Jesus, 1200 is not too bad, mine is only 900 at the current kitchen so can you imaging how narrow it is.

Wow! I thought 1200 was a tight fit, i couldn't imagine 900!

We moved ours from 1100mm to 1400mm during our consultation and the consultant was surprised that we thought about it and said we were the first person to do that.

So design the house how you would use it and don't always trust the consultant who may not has built a house themselves.

We have 1700 and probably the best thing, as it makes it very easy to stand around people while cooking and having conversations

1200mm between benches s pretty standard. Just remember that the wider you make it, the less efficient it is going to be for the cook. Personally ( being the cook in our house ) I'd put a glass of wine in their hand, tell them to sit at the island and get the hell out of the kitchen.

Stewie

Its all about compromise, your island bench is quite narrow at 900mm so allows for more space between the bench and island..if you had a larger island, say 1200 then a 1700 spacing would be eating up a bit of space..a 1200 island with about 1400 space seems like a good compromise..

Wow, thought my electrical was all great, but after reading everything I think I just made a $2000 order with our building sparkie!

Added lots of data points
Added extra powerpoints
Added extra lights
Added provision for future circuit for a shed!

Hi everyone. People here are really helpful and would like to ask for anyone assistance please on suggestions on the electrical lay out of our 2-storey house. I don't want to miss important location and not sure where to add more. So far, will add:

• 3 pendant lights above kitchen island bench
• GPO at side-end of kitchen island
• light under stairs

Really appreciate anyone inputs. Thank you in advance!

Hi, I think you need a lot more lighting in each room - especially if they are downlights. Our build has 2 downlights in rooms such as study, kids bedrooms, dining. We have 4 lights in rooms such as master, sitting room, living room, rumpus room, upstairs retreat. Also, one light in your garage won't cut it. We had Metricon put two fluros in the garage and it is great.

You also need a lot more ppts in each room - at least two doubles per room. Put them on opposite sides of the room - especially bedrooms. Think about kids bedrooms that one day will have bedside lights on one side, and maybe a desk with pc on the other side. Ensure you have enough ppts in hallways and open areas for vacuum/steam mop. Lots and lots of ppts where TV is - Foxtel/other devices/stereo etc behind a TV unit. You will not regret too many ppts!

shokel1975 thank you mate! Definitely will make sure all the suggestions given will be added to our electrical plan

If your garage is going to have workbench areas in it, include some lighting above it.

Having the light in the middle of the garage might be fine to let you park your car, but next to useless if you use a workbench.

For downlights make sure you use a warm white throughout the house to give it a homely feel. We aren't living in a factory. 3000k is perfect.

Cheaper ones will distort the colour of the light and not look as good, so ensure you get good quality ones.

People use their downlights so wrong these days....they are made to highlight walls and working spaces. Not to light the floor area....have them above kitchen benches, bathroom sinks and along wall edges for the most benefit out of them.