Tips on New Home Construction
INTERIOR FEATURES
CEILING HEIGHTS - The typical ceiling or wall height in older homes is 10’ feet and the ceiling is flat. However, it is more common to see the height of the walls 12’ or even 14’ feet in a custom designed home. The ceilings can be flat or vaulted. In the North the use of high ceilings is discouraged because of high cost of heating however, in Florida we are more concerned with cooling costs. Hot air rises and if a ceiling fan is used to pull the cool air down and keep it down, the high ceilings will be quite energy efficient. There is a trend today toward high flat ceilings instead of vaulted ceilings. However, vaulted ceilings will remain very popular, but those seeking a more traditional feel may opt for flat ceilings.
WALL AND CEILING FINISHES - All builders in Florida use drywall for wall and ceiling surfaces. Where wallpaper will not be installed you will find a light texture finish applied to the walls known as orange peel. It can be wallpapered over, but the wall should be sanded prior to installing paper. The most popular wall finish is called a knock down finish or orange peel. It is more of a spray finish and matches the ceilings of today's luxury homes.
We encourage the use of round or radius drywall corners throughout the home. Small radius corners replace the square corners on all outside corners. The radius corners provide a very soft and elegant look to your home. While this is standard in a Dave Brewer home, it is not with most builders and should be requested.
INTERIOR COLORS are light and bright. The Florida Homebuyer shows an adversion to dark colors. I would suggest that you keep the materials in the home as light as possible. We are starting to see a trend more toward painted woodwork for this reason.
Should you choose the popular stained cabinets I would suggest you consider detailed stained woodwork as well. It is almost impossible to match some stains with the trim since many different types of wood are used in the home. Each type of wood in the home takes stain differently. We believe that homes are made lighter and brighter by painting the interior ceilings white and the walls a matching color. We will always suggest white ceilings except when crown moldings are used. Since the crown molding is usually painted or fauxed white. Or consider an accent paint to help with special custom details to tie the entire house together.
MOLDINGS - Most builders construct a home that is a mix of traditional and contemporary. They rarely include crown molding and other moldings associated with a traditional home. Should you desire these moldings you would need to specify them to the builder. With so many different styles of designs in today’s market, moldings can make all the difference.
Our homes include 2 piece crown molding as a standard feature throughout the home.
ATTIC STORAGE - Most luxury homes include an attic stairway in the garage. This attic space will typically accommodate storage of the Christmas tree, stereo boxes, etc. If you are designing your home from scratch you might ask the builder to design storage space in the attic. The roof trusses would be made to accept storage of heavier goods and the amount of storage space would be larger. If the trusses are not rated for attic storage the building code will not permit the builder to install a floor in the attic.
Ask your builder about a Florida Basement. This is a smart design idea for storage in two story and one story homes.
GARAGE FINISHES - Over the years we have found that installing paneling and slat on the walls in the garages instead of drywall eliminates maintenance. A paneled garage maintains that new look long into the future. We also paint all garage floors with a special garage floor epoxy which virtually eliminates dust in the garage.
GARAGE DOORS - The 2 types of garage doors available are wood or steel. The wood door is normally stained and varnished while the steel door is painted. Both doors are panel type doors and resemble the raised panels in an interior door. Our suggestion is to consider steel doors wherever possible. Wood doors require re-varnishing almost every year and can be a great deal of maintenance. Wood garage doors are not recommended in Florida.
PLUMBING FIXTURES - Homes above $800,000 typically have cast iron bath tubs while those under this price range normally have steel bathtubs. The fixtures may be polished brass, Brushed Nickle, oil rubbed bronze or chrome depending on your taste and budget. The commodes are normally 2 piece toilets and I recommend the elongated comfort height type. The single piece low boy commodes cost approximately $500-600 more than the 2 piece commodes. This should be a value judgement. The master bath normally has a luxurious bathing tub, either cultured marble or acrylic. We are seeing more and more acrylic tubs used since they come in more sizes and styles than marble. However, the cultured marble tub is thought to be the quality choice. If the tub in your master suite is far from the water heater you may consider having a second water heater installed nearer to the master suite. A recirculating pump is a good option also. You may sacrifice space to accommodate the water heater, but almost instant hot water will be your reward. We include a tankless water heater as a standard option for the master bedroom side of the house.
Each plumbing fixture and faucet planned for the home should be clearly specified in the construction specifications of the home. Do not accept a total allowance for plumbing fixtures, faucets, and tubs without details. How do you know what you get for that total allowance? If each item is specified there is no question of standard vs. upgrade charges.
PLUMBING SYSTEMS - In Florida, electrolysis occurs due to the water quality and frequent lightning. What this means is that if copper plumbing is used the copper will corrode over a period of time and will begin leaking. The only choice then is to completely re-plumb the water lines in the home. This is a very expensive problem. The answer is to use poly plastic water lines which are not affected by electrolysis. Flow Guard Gold piping is our preferred and recommend choice.
INTERIOR DOORS - Your choice is between Masonite hardboard (Elite) and wood (pine) panel doors. The quality choice is wood doors, but the hardboard doors are quite popular. Be especially careful to learn the height of the interior doors proposed. With 10 foot or higher ceilings, 8 foot doors should be used as opposed to the standard 6'8" doors.
POCKET VS. SWINGING INTERIOR DOORS - Many times the pocket door is used in door openings where the door swing would hinder the flow of traffic or the door is rarely used. If a door will be used often a pocket door can prove to be aggravating, keeping it on the tracks, etc.
DOOR HARDWARE may be polished brass, antique brass, brush nickel or a form of bronze. Most use bronze or brush nickel. If your home has double entry domay be Oil Rubbed Bronze, antique brass, brush nickel or a form of chrome. Most use bronze or brush nickel. If your home has double entry doors, both should have matching hardware with a "dummy" handle set on the stationary door. Many Builders do not offer this as standard and the entry suffers a loss of elegance when only one door handle is installed. We also add the proper finish plates at the bottom of all entry doors on the exterior for additional elegance.
We also believe that small things mean a lot! We change all of the interior door hinges prior to customer move in. The new hinges are brush nickel or oil rubbed bronze upgraded hinges that spell quality to all who see them.
SLIDING DOORS VS. FRENCH DOORS sshould depend upon the style of the home and your budget. If you are using sliding doors try to use pocket sliding doors where possible. If you are using french doors they come in one, ten, or 15 lite type doors. If they are opening to your pool we discourage the ten and 15 lite doors. It seems your eyes get caught in the grids and you do not look beyond to the pool. I would suggest either single lite french doors or sliding doors opening to the pool. French doors are normally wood or fiberglass doors. However, should the doors not be under a covered porch, but covered only by a small overhang you should ask that these doors be fiberglass to reduce future maintenance. When your home has 10 foot or higher ceilings request that the sliding or french doors have transom glass installed above. This brings the room into scale. Furthermore, when 10 foot tall ceilings are used, all exterior doors should be 8 foot in height as opposed to 6'8". This should be clearly stated in the specifications
WINDOWS - The most commonly used window in Florida is a double glazed, insulated aluminum or vinyl framed window. We are beginning to see more use of wood clad. It is important that you specify that windows not covered by a porch be insulated or tinted. Tinting is the most important thing you can do with windows to lower energy costs in Florida. Think of owning an automobile without tinted glass in Florida. It would not matter if the glass was 10 panes thick you would still have tremendous heat and sun glare through the glass.
Since we do not heat as is required up North we do not have the problem with condensation that comes with aluminum windows. Therefore, the aluminum windows work well. In the luxury homes we are doing some wood windows such as Pella, Anderson, Hurd, etc. However, the wood windows can easily add $15,000 or more to the cost of your home. When you realize that drapes will cover most of the window most buyers decide to use this money elsewhere.
When your home has 10 foot or higher ceilings all windows should be taller than normal. Furthermore, to keep all rooms in scale the windows should also have transom glass installed above them.
Florida homes should have screens on all windows except for those opening to the screened porch or pool area.
WINDOW SILLS - Most homes in Florida have aluminum windows. They usually have a wood window sill.
CEILING FANS - You should have the bedrooms, rear porch, and major living areas prewired for ceiling fans. The ceiling fan helps lower energy use and does an exceptional job cooling the home. If you want light kits installed on the bottom of the fan you will need to advise the builder so that proper wiring will be done.
APPLIANCES - You should have the choice of appliances used in a custom home. I would suggest that you spend time looking and studying the various appliances available. This will assure you long term satisfaction with the appliances.
HARDWOOD FLOORS are becoming more popular in Florida, however, the soil around your home will be sandy. If you have children who will be tracking in, etc. you might reconsider using hardwood floor. The sand will create a major maintenance problem if not managed properly. Also, hardwood flooring can be easily damaged by high heels. Wood floors can be a great choice if planned properly.
CERAMIC TILE or Natural stone - Ceramic floor tile will be installed over a concrete slab. Again, it is quite normal for a slab to develop small cracks. This can be devastating to a tile floor.
We have learned and put into practice many ideas to eliminate the floor cracks. To further insure that you will not have problems with this, we install a special laminate vapor barrier between the slab and the tile over any evident cracks. Should a crack expand the felt absorbs the crack and spreads the separation throughout the floor and not just over the crack. This method of installation has almost eliminated tile problems. However, just to be on the safe side be sure to keep at least 2 boxes of the floor tile in a safe place should a small crack develop sometime in the future. Without the spare tile you have no chance of matching the tile.
One of the worst things that can happen to a home is for water to get behind the wall tile in the bath areas. We believe very strongly that all bath wall tile should be installed over concrete mud work or concrete wonder board and sealed with a special membrane. The additional cost of mud work installation vs. tile over water resistant drywall will be paid back many times over in the future. Never accept bath wall tile to be installed over water resistant drywall as opposed to concrete mud work!
Ceramic tile specifications should give you a per square foot allowance for material. You may then go to a tile store and look at available selections to be sure that the allowances given are adequate. Be very careful if the builder offers a total installed allowance for all tile in the home as opposed to an allowance for each square foot of tile in each area. The builder may err in the estimation of the amount of tile required or low ball the tile allowance in order to offer a lower price.
Furthermore, the tile allowance should be specified as an amount per square foot for tile material only. Do not accept this allowance as a total amount for ceramic tile installed throughout the home. Should the Builder have underestimated the quantity required or used an unrealistic allowance for tile you may end up with a very unpleasant surprise in the end.
WALLPAPERInstallation typically costs $12.00 per roll and average paper, at builder's cost, is $25.00 per roll. It is not unusual to use 30-40 rolls in the master bath and 8 - 10 rolls in secondary bath. If you are given a total allowance, as opposed to a per roll allowance, you may very well be surprised again. Ask that the wallpaper allowance to be stated as "x" Dollars per roll as opposed to a total amount for wallpaper installed in the home.
