Richland Chambers Lake Home Construction P4 - mechanicals

Construction on our house on Richland Chambers Lake moved along during the summer and into the fall of 2013.
After framing and sheathing we moved right into the mechanical items; electrical, plumbing, HVAC,  central vacuum and spider mister system.  The electrical work, like everything else is very important.  There are a lot of decisions to be made about receptacle and switch placement as well as how many, what kind and where to put light fixtures.

 Don't forget about things like under cabinet lighting, doorbell, communications, speakers and home automation. Be sure to take into consideration things like trash compactor, ice maker, microwave, floor plugs and areas that may have concentrated electrical usage.  The floor plug for the living room was one of those things I neglected and had to go back and cut the concrete to do.

While I'm on the subject another thing we had to go back and do was the control wires for the garage door openers.  Whoops!  It all came out OK and was not that bad to go back and do.

We  opted for pex pipe throughout the house for our water supply.  This is the blue and red high tech plastic pipe that runs through the walls and crawl spaces.  Also the water supply comes in to a manifold that allows you to individually control the water flow to every opening in the house and isolate it in the event of a leak. We are installing an on demand propane water heater sized large enough to supply the whole house.   Some other things to consider about plumbing are hose bib placement, salad sink, wet bar, coffee bar, utility sink, floor drains and garage sink. Obviously not every home has all these things but it is far easier and cheaper to do them in the rough in phase of construction that after.

HVAC systems are just as critical as any other thing. This one thing will determine the comfort and livability of your home. Choose a contractor that is experienced and does not cut corners. Multiple returns help move the air through your home more efficiently, thus creating more comfort and efficiency.  Also use careful consideration about the placement of your air handler units as this will affect you in the future every time you have to change the AC filter.