I would like to comment about the homes.... (Sheridan: house, school)

[treedonkey]

Oh, brother, as if there's mot enough things to argue about, we have to start putting down other people'sl floorplans as 'retarded'? Sure I would not mind having my laundry closer to the bedrooms, but that's just not the way my house is laid out and it's not a big deal at all. I'd rather keep the laundry machines in the basement then move them into the bedroom or the living room just to save some steps.

I've always preferred 1-story 'ranch-style' homes myself, but they were just few and far between everywhere I looked, and to get the same square footage they take up a lot more space.

[dpitts]

Originally Posted by lalahartma

I agree. I think the mass produced hoome layouts are yucky. But to many people, a 3-car garage is a status symbol and cars are an important par tof their lives!

I disagree. I park both my cars in the garage to get them out of the weather. i then use the third to store lawn mower, barbecue, etc. If i did not have the third car garage I would have to buy a shed.

[ryanek9freak]

I don't know about you treedonkey, but I don't enjoy carrying baskets of laundry up and down 3 flights of stairs.

[Mike from back east]

A few things I forgot to mention in my haste to post the other day.

- Pocket doors. I like them, a very graceful way to solve the issue of doors. I hate a hallway full of doors, and that's one reason I hate upstairs hall closets on the BR level, geeez, I've seen some model homes that look like door stores. Pocket doors are especially good in bathrooms having an enclosed water closet, the conventional door just gets in the way, a sliding pocket door really works well here, as well as for walk-in closets.

- Light tubes, aka solar-tubes, in place of windows and skylights. I've seen guys install skylights, DIY, and their efforts to wallboard the area between the ceiling and the roof was horrible looking. Light tubes are round, flexible, extremely reflective metal tubes that can funnel light from a roof into most rooms. In new construction they can extend down to basements, something skylights really aren't suited to. Light tubes are much easier to pop through a roof and they need no framing and wallboard work as do many skylight installations. I had a buddy install light tubes in a makeover of a major structure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in east Baltimore, and he said they went down four stories with them to provide sunlight.

- In-line water heaters. These are wall mounted and not much larger than a standard briefcase. Highly efficient with energy. Very hot water comes out of these almost instantly, even though there is no large tank of water that needs frequent heating to stay hot. The in-lines can be put near a laundry and are excellent to have on the BR level where there often are two bathrooms and a laundry. Another one can be in the basement for the kitchen and other bathrooms. If I were king of the building codes, these would be standard in all new construction and replacement work.

I'd love to see a developer work all these aspects into new homes, along with solar roof panels, small wind turbines, etc.

[treedonkey]

Originally Posted by ryanek9freak

I don't know about you treedonkey, but I don't enjoy carrying baskets of laundry up and down 3 flights of stairs.

3 flights of stairs? You live in a four-story house? In that case, it seems like you'll have to do a lot of stair walking and laundry-hefting not matter where the machines are. One question - If the bedrooms are all on the top floor and the laundry room is in the basement, then what's in between?

All I'm saying is, my floorplan is not perfect, but whose is? I'm just happy to have a washer and dryer now. Walking up or down steps is still easier than driving to the laundromat.

[SaxLuva]

Originally Posted by treedonkey

3 flights of stairs? You live in a four-story house? In that case, it seems like you'll have to do a lot of stair walking and laundry-hefting not matter where the machines are. One question - If the bedrooms are all on the top floor and the laundry room is in the basement, then what's in between?

All I'm saying is, my floorplan is not perfect, but whose is? I'm just happy to have a washer and dryer now. Walking up or down steps is still easier than driving to the laundromat.

Amen

[TCMaster]

Originally Posted by Charles

A three car garage is not big enough. Two big cars (my F-150, wife's 2008 Sequoia) can barely (and I mean barely) fit in two bays. Add six bikes, scooters, a workbench, a tool box, skateboards, lawnmower, gardening tools, two strollers....not enough room.

I'll trade a dining room and a living room (heck, and even a bathroom) for an extra garage bay.

Maybe you should scale down on the vehicles!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by TCMaster

Maybe you should scale down on the vehicles!

Won't do that.

The only thing more important than MPG and garage space is health and safety. I like three tons of steel and six airbags.

Besides, six people in big hunk SUV is more people-miles/gallon than two people in a VW.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Charles

Won't do that.

The only thing more important than MPG and garage space is health and safety. I like three tons of steel and six airbags.

Besides, six people in big hunk SUV is more people-miles/gallon than two people in a VW.

All true. We had an excellent heart surgeon at the hospital in Fairfax, VA. He drove an antiquated 1976 Cadillac, in fact he owned several of them. He told the WaPo in an interview that he wanted this largest of all Caddy's wrapped around him when he drove, as he'd seen too many people die on his ER table, people in small cars that got whacked by big honking vehicles.

[treedonkey]

Anyone who truly believes that bigger=safer needs to do more research on safety ratings. Defensive driving habits and speed have more to do with safety anyways, even when it is the 'other guy's' fault.