If money were no object...

Looking at other home build blogs we sometimes think to ourselves what if money were no object to improve the performance and quality of our house with the caveat that we basically keep the same design, the below list are some examples of what we would do differently.

Please join us in dreaming and let us know in the comments section what your 'Cadillac' features would be...

Basement:

·         Vapor barrier underneath basement floor
·         Insuldeck (ICF-style) floor (R25) - with Radiant heat
·         2^nd water line / meter for outside water use feeding into own (2^nd ) PEX / Monoblock piping
·         10” ICF walls with additional foam to reach a minimum of R30, heck let's do R45... ;-)
·         Excavation under the garage and porches (same 10” ICF walls as above)

Main level flooring:

·         Metal open web trusses
·          Insuldeck floor (R25) - with Radiant heat including the garage and porch floors
·         0.5” additional sound-blocking and fire-retardant covering the Insuldeck
·         Horizontal and vertical conduits for wiring

Main level:

·         10” ICF walls with additional foam to reach a minimum of R30, heck let's do R45... ;-)
·         Garage walls using same walls as the rest of the house
·         Vertical conduits for wiring
·         Triple-pane windows (but use proper coating to allow solar gain where needed)
·         Extend garage 2 feet forward
·         Extend living / dining room 2 feet to the back

Upper level flooring:

·          Insuldeck floor (R25) - with Radiant heat
·         0.5” additional sound-blocking and fire-retardant covering the Insuldeck
·         Horizontal and vertical conduits for wiring

Upper level:

·         10” ICF walls with additional foam to reach a minimum of R30, heck let's do R45... ;-)
·         Vertical conduits for wiring
·         Triple-pane windows (but use proper coating to allow solar gain where needed)

Attic flooring:

·         Insuldeck floor + additional insulation to reach R60 attic insulation
·         0.5” additional sound-blocking and fire-retardant covering the Insuldeck
·         Horizontal and vertical conduits for wiring

Attic / Roof:

·         SIPs panels for roofline with hurricane-proof tie-ins to the ICF walls
·         Metal roof + solar panels

General:

·         Geothermal heating/cooling 
·         Solar driveway and patios
·         Solar-assist for hot water (assisting the Geo)
·         Roof-mounted air blowers for near-silent kitchen vent hood

·         High-capacity ERV with full humidity control
·         Integrated Whole-house generator (200A)
·         10’ ceilings throughout – including basement -  except great room (keeping at 14.5’)
·         Whole-house sprinkler system (although might be redundant with all the ICF walls and floors)
·         Whole-house smart outlets / lights (all controllable via Web / Apps)
·         Whole-house entertainment (audio / video / internet)
·         All (O)LED lighting and screens

Note that the vast majority of these items would be nearly invisible as they relate mostly to structure and add a SIGNIFICANT cost to your build. Subsequently, most return-on-investment criteria for the above are to be ignored. Hey, we did say ‘if money were no object’, right? ;-)