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Build Your House Yourself University

Wish you knew more about the biggest investment you will most likely ever make? Build Your House Yourself University (byhyu) will teach you to save money and make smart decisions about the construction of the place you and your family will call HOME. We will help you understand residential construction— simplify and demystify the design build process. You’ll come away with successful strategies for building your own house, with or without a general contractor. Become an educated consumer, even if you prefer to buy, rather than build a new house. Complex construction jargon and best practices will be explained in easy to understand terms. It’s not the typical DIY (do it yourself) show. You will learn how to MANAGE the labor, not DO the labor for your new house. Join me, Michelle Nelson, host and fellow informal residential construction student. I’ll share the research I find on home design and building as I prepare to build my home. Together, our community of future home builders, will learn the tips, tricks and trends of experienced contractors and industry experts. I’ll interview owner-builders and construction professionals. During our mini lessons, I’ll inform you about framing, flooring, windows, insulation, kitchen cabinets and countertops…almost anything having to do with new construction homes. You’ll hear about energy efficiency and green building too. There will be product reviews in which you will be introduced to cutting edge, as well as, tried and true products and services. And in keeping with the university theme, episodes will end with short, fun quizzes. If we do our due diligence BEFORE we start construction, we will actually start construction with the most difficult part of the project behind us. Let’s put in the time, effort, preparation and research BEFORE we break ground and building our homes will be much easier and more enjoyable.
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Now displaying: December, 2019
Dec 18, 2019

What’s the best place for your washer and dryer? I’m a fan of putting them near bedrooms and bathrooms where there is easy access to where dirty clothes are taken off and clean clothes are stored.  But there are also some benefits to locating the laundry room in other parts of the house, such as the near the kitchen, in a mudroom, in a hallway closet or even a basement. This week we’ll talk about the pros and cons of locating your laundry room in different areas of the house.

Show notes at BYHYU 191

Dec 11, 2019

As I was going over the lighting plan for my new house, I wondered if there were different rules for lighting rooms with tall ceilings as opposed to standard 8 foot ceilings.  Is ok to use the same type and average number of recessed lights throughout your house, no matter a room’s function or ceiling height?  Does a 2 story foyer or rooms with vaulted ceilings need special lighting considerations? 

Worse than not installing enough canned lights and lighting fixtures is wasting money by having an appropriate number of fixtures, but fixtures that don’t put out adequate light in specific situations, like rooms with tall ceilings.  So I did some research about how to light rooms with tall ceilings, which many of us will have in our new builds. The information was much harder to find than I anticipated.  But, after days for searching lighting design, electrician, lighting manufacturer, and retail lighting websites, I came up with a few tips for some basic guidelines for lighting rooms with ceiling greater than the standard 8 feet.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

Dec 4, 2019

This week I have a rebroadcast of one of my most popular episodes.  It’s a mini lesson packed full of information.  It covers lighting design basics and lighting terminology.  This is a good review for next week when I’ll have a brand new episode that will discuss lighting specifically for rooms with tall ceilings, that is ceilings that are  9 feet or higher.  Basic lighting design principles need to be tweaked a bit for rooms with high ceilings, and we’ll talk about that next week. But have a listen to Lighting 101 now, so you’ll be ready for next week.  And quiz yourself, if you’ve listened before.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

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