Some blog authors use their blogs as a cross between a public information source as well as a private one: for example, John Dowdell will often make notes in his blog when he wants to save information for a later date, in an easily searchable format, that other people may also find useful. I’m going to do that here in my Home Buyers section of the blog by adding a few notes about our home buying experience so that the next time we buy or build a house, we’ll have all our notes at our fingertips. Having said that, here’s my notes so far:
In the master bedroom, people shouldn’t be able to hear the garage door open/close, and people shouldn’t hear a TV playing in the living room.
The pantry should be well-lit so that food is easy to see.
Get electric outlets positioned outside for landscape lighting.
Have an attic fan, gutter guards, and upgraded bathroom fans installed while the house is being built. These are cheap to upgrade initially, but expensive to have done down the road. No matter how good they say the bathroom fans are, they’re probably junk. Get the exact make/model and go to Home Depot or Lowes to check its noise ratings and air volume ratings.
Make sure bathroom light switches are in the bathroom – not out in the bedroom. You want to be able to turn on the bathroom light without disturbing people sleeping in the bedroom.
If the television in the living room will be visible from the kitchen, have speaker wiring installed in the kitchen. That way, the living room stereo can be hooked up to speakers in the kitchen, allowing people in the kitchen to hear the TV without turning the TV up too loud.
You can never have too much recessed lighting. We have about 4 recessed lights for every 18×18 area of the living & dining rooms. And get dimmer switches on it.
