Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Things you forget - summary page 32 27Jun 17, 2008 7:40 pm Draconis Duminda Quote: INSULATE YOUR HOT WATER PIPE!! Don't the pipes themselves have some insulation? No your water pipes are just copper pipes and if you live in an area that gets bellow 0 deg then you will want to have all your pipes insulated even the ones in the walls. It will save the lose of unreplacable items when the pipes burst! I thought they were all black plastic (poly?) now....cheaper and probably still cr*p insulation. mmm....donuts Homer Simpson 1956- Links: Site Costs Ready Reckoner | H1 Addiction Medical Advice | Château TDL: The Backyard Re: Things you forget - summary page 32 29Jun 17, 2008 7:47 pm to_do_list Draconis Duminda Quote: INSULATE YOUR HOT WATER PIPE!! Don't the pipes themselves have some insulation? No your water pipes are just copper pipes and if you live in an area that gets bellow 0 deg then you will want to have all your pipes insulated even the ones in the walls. It will save the lose of unreplacable items when the pipes burst! I thought they were all black plastic (poly?) now....cheaper and probably still cr*p insulation. Ours are copper - no idea if they are insulated though?? If I got in the roof would it be obvious? Paula Re: Things you forget - summary page 32 30Jun 17, 2008 8:22 pm petal miss81 Well being first home buyers, we forgot a few little things: - skirting boards to be laid after handover (gee they are cruel) Will they do that????? We'd love PD to do that, so we don't have the quad bit once the flloor boards are laid, but I bet they won't!!! Most builders won't ! Re: Things you forget - summary page 32 31Jun 18, 2008 9:31 am Paula to_do_list Draconis Duminda Quote: INSULATE YOUR HOT WATER PIPE!! Don't the pipes themselves have some insulation? No your water pipes are just copper pipes and if you live in an area that gets bellow 0 deg then you will want to have all your pipes insulated even the ones in the walls. It will save the lose of unreplacable items when the pipes burst! I thought they were all black plastic (poly?) now....cheaper and probably still cr*p insulation. Ours are copper - no idea if they are insulated though?? If I got in the roof would it be obvious? If the pipes are insulated they will have the insulation wrapped around them. Thanks all! 32Jun 22, 2008 1:11 pm Thank you all for the great tips! I have already taken most of them and incorporated them into the house. A few of them it is too late and we can't make changes at this date.
We did get the tap in the fridge space and we had the skirting board put on because the builder charges extra to leave them off. I can't undersand that we have to pay them for not doing something! I must admit that I know nothing about the pipes. But I will try to find out more. Re: Things you forget - summary page 32 33Jun 26, 2008 4:46 pm This is such a great thread!!
Especially for someone like me who doesnt know much about building and havent actually gotten far with the house designs. Keep them coming!! Re: Things you forget - summary page 32 34Jun 26, 2008 5:04 pm oznow INSULATE YOUR HOT WATER PIPE!! I was told the other day by a home energy expert, that it is only necessary to insulate the first metre or so of your hot water pipes to prevent circulation of the water back into the cylinder as the water cools down. It can actually cause more heat loss if you do insulate them, the reasoning being that the insulation will warm up to the same temp as the water after a little while and you lose more heat as you have increased the surface area of the pipe with the insulation. As I said he is an expert, but it still doesn't sound quite right to me. Surely good insulation would take a long time to heat up...but I didn't think to ask this until later. 'chelle We have a hand-over date...15/10...but I won't hold my breath! http://people-in-glass-houses.blogspot.com/ Re: Things you forget - summary page 32 35Jun 26, 2008 5:05 pm If you're building double story, a few items to consider (which we're doing):
1) Put in soundproofing insulation between upstairs and downstairs 2) If your upstairs sewer and water waste pipes run through your house, rather than via the outside wall, consider having soundproofing lagging installed. And if you're provisioning for PayTV, don't forget the phone cable that should be installed to the outlet as well as the coax cable (we did, but caught it just in time). Also, look at where your manhole is in relation to your ducted heating. Ours is very close to the heating/aircon in the roof cavity, which is fine, but it is so close to all the really big ducts that there is basically no access to any other part of the roof space. We're going to have a second manhole put in, so that there will be some reasonable access to other parts of the roof. I guess God didn't use subbies... Re: Things you forget - summary page 32 36Jun 26, 2008 5:21 pm one of the main things we checked was the location of light switches.
Particilaurly as we added 3 double doors to living areas, and the original light switch location would have been buhind where the door opens (hence youd open, wlak in to dark room and have to close door again to get to the light switch. This can be a problme on some plans even without modifications so check the locations! Also we ended up with a 1m2 section of carpet between our kitchen and laundry as we didnt see it when we made our changes. Since I'm refusing to pay in excess of $700 to change this I'll be ordering extra tiles and fix it myself afterward extra powerpoints and telephone points, light in the panrty if you have a walk in. We also raised our bench height by an inch and extended the benchspace by adding an extra cabinet module. Exhaust fan to the laundry. After living in a house with no ventilation in the laundry this was an absolute must for me. ducted vaccuum. Re: Things you forget - summary page 32 37Jun 26, 2008 5:48 pm Just thought of one - check the location of ceiling vents for heating and air con - our (first) CSR, whose mum had built with PD alerted us to this. PD locate them right above where the kids' heads will be once the bed is in, and she suggested we move them away from there - which we did! Solidarity, not solidity.......The Lexicon of Life Re: Things you forget - summary page 32 38Jun 26, 2008 6:35 pm We've put a TV point in the Alfresco. You never know when you might have a Grand Final BBQ and want to watch it outside!
We also put in an extra hard wired smoke detector outside the laundry purely for the clothes dryer...just in case! Also make sure you are aware which windows are fixed and which are openable on your plans. We have requested more to be openable for cross ventilation. Otherwise all of the other things I thought about have already been mentioned. Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Depends what you're current inclusions are, but we're not including wardrobes and will just use second hand ones until we can save later on to get them built. Also have a… 3 11918 Looking to start the journey of becoming an owner builder in SA. Feeling pretty (overly) confident on the building and construction details, but really struggling to find… 0 8621 No. It's not original. Circa early to mid 90s would be my guess and maybe even as late as early 2000s 1 6866 |