This week and next we’ll have a fireplace professional and educator on the show who will help us understand the different types of fireplaces and educate us about some fireplace misconceptions. We’ll also talk about his favorite type of fireplaces and the greatest piece of advice he has for consumers. In part one of our talk, he’ll focus on breaking down the major categories of fireplaces for us. It’s a great interview so let’s get right into it.
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The current homebuilding environment is a tough one. Builders and homeowners like us are dealing with historically high prices and historically low availability in building materials and labor. In this week’s episode, I’ll tell you about a May 2021 survey done for the National Association of HomeBuilders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The survey outlines the percentage of builders in the US who have ordered building materials and experienced significant shortages in those materials.
I’ll also give you a few ideas for what to do during construction delays that might result from materials shortages.
Show notes at BYHYU.com
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The cost of lumber has increased more than 300% since April 2020. Lumber sold for $348 per thousand board feet before the pandemic and peaked to a record high of $1,500 per thousand board feet in May 2021. Thankfully, prices have begun to fall in the last few weeks.
I checked lumber prices today and they are around $935 per thousand board feet, which is still considerably higher than prices were when many of us started thinking building. And lumber prices fell several months ago and went back up, so we’re in unpredictable times.
With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit an episode that I did on 2 alternatives to traditional stick-built, lumber-framed homes. Those alternatives are Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) and Insulated Concrete Forms, (ICFs). Both SIPs and ICFs provide both insulation and structural framing components for the house.
According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the cost of a standard 2,000 sq. ft. home has increased by $34K since April 2020. A similar 2000 sq ft house built with Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) also increased in price, but by only $8K or about 30%.
Show notes at BYHYU.com
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If you’re considering building a house with exterior cladding made of stucco and/or manufactured stone or thin natural stone veneer, this episode is for you. This week we’ll talk about the moisture control challenges that we can run into with stone veneer, manufactured stone, and stucco cladding.
Peter Barrett is our guest today. He is the Product and Marketing Manager at Dorken Systems. Dorken specializes in high-performance air and moisture barriers used to protect residential and commercial projects.
We’ll delve into how we can help alleviate the moisture problems that are often seen today with stucco and manufactured stone.
Show notes at BYHYU.com
This week I’ll tell you about some minor, but frustrating construction challenges that I’ve had in hopes you will learn from my experience. We’ll also discuss the “dried-in” phase of construction, rain screens, and the best-looking, virtually maintenance-free wood-alternative product that I’ve seen.
Shownotes at BYHYU.com
Decluttering gradually, over several months to a year before moving will decrease the overwhelm that usually comes with decluttering an entire house in a short period of time.
This week, I’ll give you a decluttering plan that you can use to help make the process easier and more methodical. It’s ideal to pare down before you move into your new house because transporting unwanted and unused stuff from one house to another means more time, effort, and money when packing and unpacking.
Show notes at BYHYU.com
Before we move into our new homes, most of us will need to declutter. And if we have the time, we should consider decluttering gradually, over several months to a year. This can decrease any potential overwhelm that can come with decluttering an entire house. So, even if you’re just at the beginning of your home building journey, it’s not too early to start sifting through your belongings to decide what things are worthy of a spot in your new build. In this week’s episode, I’ll give you a list of some common sources of clutter and tell you how long you should keep certain items like tax documents and spices. In my next episode, I’ll give you a decluttering plan that you can use before your move.
Show notes at BYHYU.com
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Heightened emotion and desire to make the best selections for our homes is understandable. But the pressure to make the “perfect” choice for every single thing in our new builds can deplete our time, energy, peace of mind, and definitely our enjoyment of the building process. If you tend to overthink most things or suffer from analysis paralysis or decision fatigue, this episode is for you.
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This week’s episode is part 2 of a show that I started a couple of weeks ago. If you haven’t listened to part 1, you might want to do that now because we’ll have some quiz questions in this episode that will cover information from the current and the previous show.
As I told you last time, I recently selected the plumbing fixtures for my project and was surprised about how much there is to consider when choosing toilets. In this week’s mini-lesson we’ll cover one-piece vs two-piece toilets, toilet height, floor mount vs wall mount toilets and some options that you can look for that will help keep your toilets cleaner for longer.
Show notes at BYHYU.com
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I recently selected the plumbing fixtures for my new build and surprisingly, one of my toughest decisions I had to make was regarding which toilets to get. I never know there was so much to consider when choosing toilets. Should you get a one-piece or two-piece model? Where should you position the flush handle? Is a single or dual flush toilet better,? Comfort height or standard height? Floor mount or wall mount? Whether we should pay extra for easy clean options and finally what color and style are best for your decor.
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No matter how large or small your house will be, most of us want our primary bathrooms to be a spa-like sanctuary or at the very least a place where we can escape, renew and relax. And with us spending more time at home over the last year, many of us are adding more amenities in bathrooms and homes—amenities that make our homes feel more comfortable and luxurious since we haven’t been able to get away on vacation or even to the gym or spa when we’ve wanted to.
So on today’s show, we’ll explore some of the reasons you might consider putting a steam shower/room or sauna in your new home.
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This week I’ll give you an update on my own project and go over some miscellaneous tips and tidbits I’ve learned over the last several weeks of going through my personal build. I didn’t want to give you another update until I actually had a structure to talk about. And now I do. We are currently framing!! I’ll also tell you about current lumber prices and give you some miscellaneous home building tips and tidbits.
Show notes at BYHYU.com
If you are looking at multiple neighborhoods or lots on which to build your new house, there may be some areas on the outskirts of the city that might interest you, but require you to have a septic system. Having some basic knowledge of septic systems and how they compare with city sewer systems will help you in making a decision about whether a lot needing a septic system could be right for you.
Sewer systems are more common and usually preferred, because they're funded and maintained by local governments. But as people move further away from cities, septic systems are becoming more popular. About 1 in 5 US households use septic systems. Septic systems are environmentally friendly, and give homeowners full control over their drainage. Plus, being open to lots that require a septic system gives you so many more possibilities for your homesite, especially those sites in rural areas.
Many people are apprehensive about the costs and maintenance involved with a septic system. But does a septic system really cost more and require frequent maintenance? That’s some of what we’ll talk about today. And If you fall in love with a lot needing a septic system, this episode will help you decide whether to put that lot on your shortlist of possible homesites, or whether to scratch it off your list altogether.
Show notes at BYHYU.com
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Because of the odd, but real, pandemic-driven toilet paper shortages, more and more homeowners have added, or are considering adding toilet seat bidets to their homes. So, this week I thought it would be valuable to revisit an episode about bidets. Keep in mind, bidets won’t usually completely eliminate the need for toilet paper, but will usually reduce your need to just a few squares per bathroom break.
As you’ll hear, you’ll want to tell your electrician where you want to include toilet seat bidets so he can install an outlet near the toilet to power the bidet. But what I’ve learned since that show, is that you’ll also want to instruct your plumber to plumb those bidet toilets with both cold and hot water. Typically a toilet only gets cold water, but if you’re adding a bidet, you don’t want a shocking blast of just cold water on your bottom when you activate the bidet. You’ll want comfortably warm water, so make sure you tell your builder or plumber that you want a cold and hot water mix for your bidets. We’ll also discuss radiant floor heat for master baths.
Show notes at BYHYU.com