Any clues for smart design and durable construction when home shopping?
My parents are looking at houses and I’m doing my best to steer them towards something that was built alright, or possibly better than average. They are looking for something a bit larger than most people here would probably consider because it would conceivably house them, their adult child with disabilities, a caregiver, and possibly another adult child and spouse.
They came across a custom home built in 1999 with some unusual features. It seems to offer higher end construction for what appears to be an average price for its size and age, and so possibly a good value.
When I was looking through the listing, the following combination stuck out to me:
-post and beam construction — it may be the only P&B house the builder has done, or maybe they did one more (it’s hard to tell from their website).
-cathedral ceiling with lots and lots of dormers. So many dormers.
-lots of glazing.
-forced air gas furnace for heating, ductless mini-splits, radiant floors, (electric?). radiators, tankless hot water heaters, and an HRV/ERV system.
-a fireplace.
-bathroom exhaust fans.
To me it feels like whoever was designing the building enclosure and mechanicals was going off some kind of checklist or wishlist instead of an actual cohesive design. Or maybe a lot of these things were new in 1999 and designs hadn’t caught up yet. I know radiant floors were in high demand during this time. Maybe the mini-splits were added later because the existing systems performed poorly? EDIT: or maybe they were just for AC.
The inclusion of an HRV/ERV (the listing doesn’t specify which) seems really weird for its time, but maybe it was retrofitted? Were houses ever built with fireplaces, bathroom exhaust fans, and HRVs in the late 90s/early 00s?
And are some of these actually HRV/ERV ports? I think two of the pictures might be fire alarms, but the other two seem like they’re ports.
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Would there be any way to tell what the roof assembly was without asking the builder? Or would it more than likely be SIPs? I did notice that there was only track lighting on the ceiling.
My gut feels like this house has very, very high operating costs, which probably didn’t matter to the original owners because they had enough money to spend on things like post and beam construction and a lot of wood finishes. I’m worried that if the details weren’t executed well, it could be an endless source of headaches compared to a less flashy but also less demanding home. On the other hand, if the builder did a good job, maybe it’s a good value?
If it was built alright, I wonder if blower door testing and then Aerobarrier if it tests acceptably mediocre would be a good idea?
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Replies
At the very least you can ask the realtor (1) average past electric/gas bills and typical temp. setting (2) dates of the equipment install (or would a house inspector pick up the dates?).
You say forced air furnace - is there central AC? Or is the climate such that a couple of ductless minisplits suffice and may be that is why they are there?
And for a large house tankless water heaters might make sense because of savings on recirculating water from a distance hot water boiler.
Yes, it's possible that the minisplits are there just for AC. I don't know if there is central AC or not. In 1999 it would have been unusual to have AC here, people didn't start installing it here in Seattle until maybe around 5-10 years later.
Good thoughts on the past bills and temp settings.
in a 24-year-old house any outright flaws in the construction will have manifested themselves by now. I think it's fair to say that if something has lasted that long it's probably not a problem, even if it wasn't done right. I would be suspicious of any signs of recent work, it's quite common for people to patch over problems as they prepare for sale.
The utility bills are the best gauge of how efficient a house is. Some parts of Maryland are now making that a required disclosure. What that doesn't tell you is how comfortable the house is, whether there are rooms that are always hot or cold.
Thanks, appreciate the reply!
My main concern would be that maybe the house was very uncomfortable and so the ductless HPs were added later on to address that, but who knows.
Do you know if the real estate agent could normally answer questions about the roof assembly or whether it has a rainscreen, or if that's something I should just go straight to the builder for?
The agent might answer those question. Answer correctly is a different matter.
“Smart design and durable construction”
To my way of thinking cathedral ceilings with lots of dormers are negative, lots of glazing like more than 20% of the wall area is also a negative. Another negative is half story construction IE anytime the smaller second floor sits on top of a larger first floor. Cape, Cottage or Dormer are all negatives.
It would not be unusual for a custom home to sell for less than a production home in terms of dollars per square foot. Mostly because people that build custom homes want and build strange things into the home and strange does not sell.
The HRV retrofitted in a drafty old house is becoming quite common as the proponents of these devices have convinces a lot of people that getting one will solve any problem you can imagine.
There are people that have come to the conclusion every building should be “electrified” and by that they mean it should not contain any fuel burning appliances and the miny splits could well be some putting their money where their mouth is.
Walta