New House Build. Help/Suggestions please(HVAC, Cinema, Electrics, Cladding, Timber etc)

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billgates

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#175311 24-Jun-2015 20:40

Hi Folks,

I am in the process of finalizing my draft plan which will then be sent to a Draughts person, Engineer and Carters for final working drawings and fixed costs for the house build. The section I have got is 1252 sqm and I am planning to build a covered area between 415sqm to 420sqm. I live in Hamilton and this will be a double storey build. The back of the section has a deep 10M drop ravine so no views obstruction from the back of the house. The section ends 2M deep into the ravine so I am seriously considering building a air floating deck that I can legally build as far as I can into the ravine permitting council/soil conditions next year when more funds allow. My side neighbour has already started building his house which I know for sure already that it is a double storey construction and will be a completely flat roof design and covered floor area will be over 300sqm.

I am going with a mono pitched design. Below is what I have so far selected after reading though many posts, threads, forums and websites over the last 10 months. I need your tips, suggestions and help with whatever area of the house build you can offer assistance with. If you know of something cheaper and yet as good as what I have listed below or offering slightly lower performance than what I have listed below but much cheaper please provide that recommendation with a name, model and link to the product. I do not plan to sell this house at all. EOL will be here. At this stage, I have my mind made up to build with a group builder to which I will supply a lot of stuff with that they have agreed to including LED lights, gang boxes for wall, data cabling, power points, RJ45 plates, 7.2ch sound cabling, plates, Insulation if from Knauf, Rylock/Viridian combo because they don't deal with them, Carpet, tiles and timber (I should get it cheaper due to no builder margin?)

Base - Concrete. Rib Raft from Firth. Slab Edge Insulation from MaxRaft instead of Rib Raft

External Cladding - Deciding between AAC block (Aaerated Concrete), Resene Rockcote Integra AAC or Plaster over Brick

Joinery - Rylock Pacific Thermal Suite with Viridian Low-E glass. Thermally broken with argon gas. One of the sliders by family room is floor to ceiling height and will have level sill step.

Insulation - R3.2 walls (Pink Batts or Knauf), R4.1 Ceiling and Joist/floor between first and ground floor (Knauf). Should I upgrade Ceiling to R5.2? Should I lower R value beteen ceiling and joist/floor between first and ground floor if top floor ceiling will be R4.1 or R5.2? I am getting the garage, all bedrooms, cinema room, toilet, bathroom and laundry getting insulated to keep the noise down.

Lighting - LED lights everywhere with dimmers in cinema and couple of other places. Sourcing LED lights and dimmers from Australia unless someone can recommend something good for a good price available locally?

Stud Height - 2.7M on ground floor and 2.4M on first floor. If height restrictions allow then 2.55M on first floor.

Timber - 140 x 45 due to R3.2 insulation across the entire house.

Roof - Coloursteel Endura 0.55M

Driveway, covered & uncovered deck area on ground floor - Aggregated concrete.

Garage door - Insulated garage door. Double door will be 5.5M wide and single door will be 2.6M wide. Getting bigger garage so no door opening issues between cars, plenty of work space for bench area.

Internal flooring - Quickstep Largo in every room but Cinema. Cinema will be concrete, recycle rubber then 11mm padding then plyboard and then carpet.

Soundproofing - All bedrooms including Cinema room will have 2 x gib board stuck via Green Glue in internal side. Cinema room will have 2 x 13mm fyrline GIB then double stud walls then single 13mm noiseline GIB on outside. Bedrooms will have 2 x 10mm standard gib in internal side, single stud wall and stand 10mm standard GIB on outside. All these rooms will have insulation including in the toilet and bathroom. The cinema with it's double wall stud contruction will be de-coupled. the cieling in cinema room will be double GIB'd with hats/channel setup to de-couple the top. 2 x Solid core doors in cinema room with seals and drop down jamb. All bedrooms will also have solid core doors and seals around the door.

Kitchen/Scullery - 60mm stone top. Granite sink in kitchen and steel sink in pantry. Fisher & Paykel/Bosch appliances.

Bathrooms - Al bathrooms are walk in shower with tiles from floor to ceiling. No glass what so ever in the bathrooms except for the mirrors.

Stairs - Floating timber stairs on steel support beam.

That's it for this post. Will be creating a dedicated post for the Electricals, HVAC, Solar, Cinema, Server rack etc tomorrow. Reserving 2nd post for that!

Thanks for any suggestions and help in advance that you are about to pass on.

Click on small thumbnail image to enlarge it.

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Do whatever you want to do man.

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#1330962 24-Jun-2015 20:40

This is the electrical quote that builder's sparky has provided. This quote excludes any data cabling, data ports, speaker cabling, speaker placements, LED lights or any lights for that matter. It included sparky supplying/installing the electrical cable, 8 RCD's, circuits, power box panel, gang boxes and power points. $26k incl GST. I feel that it is VERY HIGH. Any one from an electrical background or sparky care to comment please on the quotation pricing? I will get couple of quotes from external sparky's outside as well.

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Do whatever you want to do man.

Disrespective

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#1331153 25-Jun-2015 09:39

Some quick thoughts:

Have you considered Mammoth insulation? We had their rep come in the other week and discuss it with us. It’s recycled from plastic bottles and their R ratings are actually below what the tested R value is. As in, their R2.2 actually performs at R2.4 (or something like that). As they are polyester there will never be any sag over time with the insulation but does require a little more attention to detail when installing.

For a decent SS sink you could look at the Robiq range from Heritage Hardware. They’re much cheaper than the Quadra range but very similar in appearance.

A 60mm bench top would be expensive, you could look at using a composite stone with a mitred front edge and 60mm facing. It would give the appearance of 60mm stone but not need a full steel frame beneath it for support. It’ll still need some steel, but nothing like a solid stone top.

When buying the LED’s and dimmers, make very sure they comply with our regulations and that the LED’s themselves will work with the dimmers. We’ve recently had some trouble with LED dimmers causing flickering issues. You will also need to ask for S-Doc’s for the LED lights. Electricians can’t sign off on the lights without S-Doc’s for them.

Consider special lagging around waste pipes if they are near areas where noise could be an issue. Discuss having them specified at an angle to reduce possible drip noise.

As you are using a low degree mono pitch roof you’ll need to specify a trapezoidal profile to allow use under 8 degrees. Dimond LT7 or Calder Stewart Eurotray (double, or angle seam) might be worth looking at.

Have you thought about your internal hardware? Handles etc? They’re the things you’ll be touching every single day and if you are going to live there until EOL you might want to consider something which will be easy to use when older i.e. Lever handles are going to be better than knobs.

You’re going hard out on the bedroom silence. Rather than solid core bedroom doors (they’re heavy and prone to hurting children fingers…) have a look at a poly core door. It’s hollow but filled with polystyrene insulation. Also, adding seals to these doors is a pretty big expense. It’s not something we would do unless privacy was a BIG concern.

Fred99

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#1331166 25-Jun-2015 09:48

The pitch on that roof looks low to me - I can't remember what the minimum is (7 deg? - it's been changed increased). There's a house with minimum pitch roof being finished next door to me now. Over the width of the trusses, there's still probably 1200mm height at the high end. But there's a problem IMO - the diagonal bracing is so tight, that there's no possibility of being able to crawl between trusses in future. If it had been my place, I'd have asked an engineer to design the trusses with an opening in each so that future access would be possible - though I'm not sure how that might best be achieved.
I mention that as people seem to be very concerned about "future-proofing" WRT cabling etc etc. Problem is that nobody know the future - so when "future proofing", depends whether you mean 5 years, where a reasonable guess can be made, or 20 years - where nobody has a clue.

With the exposed aggregate paving, thoroughly check out the aggregate type/finish. With some, if walking on barefoot, it's almost like walking on chipseal - ie not very nice at all.

I suggest looking at some of the composite / polymer benchtops available these days. They look very good, much lighter weight than stone, stronger, and with some, invisible patch repair is possible - ie if you decide to change something down the track, shift a tap etc.

billgates

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#1331213 25-Jun-2015 10:37

Have looked at Mammoth. Will consider them more seriously now. I was going to use Pink batts for walls (due to no sag issue with polyster unlike Knauf's solution although no hard data I could find on Knauf getting the sag over the time when placed vertically in walls) and Knauf for ceiling as it will be placed horizontal anyways. Knauf is a lot cheaper than Pink Batts. Will get in touch with Mammoth now and see what they price at. Though looking on their website, their R values are not as high for their best product unlike Knauf or Pink Batts.

The electrician that builder quoted me on (which is over priced I think and will post the quote in 2nd post) did mention that LED lights will need the sDocs and I will confirm with the company I am buying them from in Australia that they can supply me with that information.

The top roof's angle as per I recall what the builder told me was a 3 degrees pitch towards the south. Will this effect when wanting Solar panels installed facing north? I am getting lots of cabling placed now along with 25mm or 32mm conduits with pull strings. All current cabling will be laid outside the conduit.

When I spoke with few heat pump companies. most said that it's almost impossible to do duct heat pump solution with flat or mono pitched roof anyways. Can you guys please guide me through with what a better angle for a mono pitched roof that will let me do ducting along with a proper HVAC (heat recovery solution like smart vents, lunos or cleanair etc?). I also need recommendations on whether I should get splits heat pump in every room along with a heat recovery solution or ducted heat pumps with heat recovery solution. Which brand?

The electrician also said that because I want induction the house will need 3 phase power and because I am getting close to 75 power points around the house. Is this true? I know there is an extra monthly cost from the electricity provider for a 3 phase setup. He said, he will place 8 RCD's. Each RCD will have 3 circuits and each circuit will only be connected to 5 power points max.

Thanks for the suggestion on the benchtop material. Will look into this. Wife wants 60mm stone tops because it looks luxurious in both pantry and kitchen area.

Looking at getting taps, shower taps, shower heads from a German website that sells HansGrohe stuff which is a premium here even after paying customs/GST and DHL courier. Lever handles idea is a great suggestion!

Will be placing drains in kitchen, laundry, toilets and bathrooms in case of accidental flooding as well.

A solid core door with seals around it is $300 each which is pretty good price considering normal hollow core doors alone cost $150.

Please keep the tips and suggestions coming. Thank you. Very helpful information.

If there any questions that you would like me to ask the builder that I don't know the answer to, please let me know and I can get the answers from them and post a reply.

Do whatever you want to do man.

maxeon

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#1331220 25-Jun-2015 10:42

Can I ask who is your builder / architect? and do you have their past work to compare?

billgates

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#1331224 25-Jun-2015 10:48

No architect. This is a Jennian plan that is custom made. It's a 3 staff band. Husband and Wife along with a new house consultant. The consultant happens to be damn good with CAD software. I have had many many many changes done on the current plan and have had few other looks before this design and she drops them back to me printed on A3 in few hours turn around to my house. She is a very keen CAD and home designer by hobby. I can tell that this is her passion. It is not a standard plan off their website that I could find and she spent 3 hours with me on initial day asking which room to be placed where along with toilets etc placement because I have to place kitchen, bedrooms etc in certain direction because WIFE and Astrology.

I have seen their show home and they took me to a house that they recent completed which had occupants living inside who were kind enough to wait outside their own home while I was shown the fit and finish and quality of the workmanship. I was shown another house under construction that was 70% finished. I approached 3 group builders with same information 5 months ago. Dropped 2 and now left with Jennian as they seem to be very keen and honest with their replies. I will be asking an independent builder for a quotation once I have got working plans and confirm with Jennian that I will own the copyright to the plans once I have paid for the draughts persona and engineering service cost.

Do whatever you want to do man.

billgates

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#1331261 25-Jun-2015 11:17

For kitchen bench top when you say "composite stone with a mitred front edge and 60mm facing", is that also called an engineered stone? Is this what you mean http://www.e-stone.co.nz/ ?

Do whatever you want to do man.

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DarthKermit

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#1331425 25-Jun-2015 14:59

It might also be a good idea to have a floor drain in your HW cupboard.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

billgates

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#1331431 25-Jun-2015 15:05

HW cupboard = Hot Water Cylinder? Sticking with Infinity gas. Have had one for over 10 years in current house that was built in 2005 and no issues apart from water pressure being shared/slowed when kitchen and a bathroom starts using water at same time. When 2nd bathroom also starts it gets worse. The new house will have 3 bathrooms, a kitchen and pantry both with sinks. I have asked the builder for 3 x infinity gas units from Bosch. 1 x 21L for ground floor bathroom, 1 x 21L for kitchen and pantry sink and 1 x 26L for upstairs bathroom and second bathroom upstairs? Having it placed closer to their sinks. Any better way of implementing it?

Do whatever you want to do man.

Disrespective

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#1331468 25-Jun-2015 16:30

billgates: For kitchen bench top when you say "composite stone with a mitred front edge and 60mm facing", is that also called an engineered stone? Is this what you mean http://www.e-stone.co.nz/ ?

Yeah, we tend to specify Caesarstone in our office: http://www.caesarstone.co.nz/ See page 21 onwards, of the pdf linked below, for pics of what I mean with the mitred front face. http://www.caesarstone.co.nz/Portals/nz/Images/Related%20Info/Caesarstone-NZ-Design-Guide-%2018%2011%202014.pdf

maxeon

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#1331470 25-Jun-2015 16:33

Disrespective:
billgates: For kitchen bench top when you say "composite stone with a mitred front edge and 60mm facing", is that also called an engineered stone? Is this what you mean http://www.e-stone.co.nz/ ?
Yeah, we tend to specify Caesarstone in our office: http://www.caesarstone.co.nz/ See page 21 onwards, of the pdf linked below, for pics of what I mean with the mitred front face. http://www.caesarstone.co.nz/Portals/nz/Images/Related%20Info/Caesarstone-NZ-Design-Guide-%2018%2011%202014.pdf

I was trying to remember the name so far. It is the above we used as well and at that time during my research they said man made stone was better than natural stone. It was more resilient towards certain chemicals and long life.

Disrespective

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#1331482 25-Jun-2015 16:35

DarthKermit: It might also be a good idea to have a floor drain in your HW cupboard.

From memory you have to have a HWC in a tray anyway.

billgates

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#1331501 25-Jun-2015 16:43

Thanks. So go with the 30mm Caesarstone with 60mm mitred front edge for both kitchen and 30mm for pantry? Out of the 3 Caesarstone on offer, any better than the other?

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floydie

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#1331611 25-Jun-2015 17:52

the three infinities is the way to go.i wish we'd gone for two in our house

have you thought about the composite granite sink such as Franke? we have one and we love it. it takes a bit more looking after than stainless to avoid water spots but no CLINK CLINK CLUNK when doing dishes and the insinkerator is MUCH MUCH quieter than when in a stainless.

not sure what you are doing for heating but a ducted heatpump is just great in our house... only improvements to our fujitsu would have been some sort of smart phone app (ours doesnt even have a remote) and zone ducting but im thinking that with the size of your place you could just get two seperate units

dont forget to run ducting out from your media cupboard out under your floor slab for garden LEDS. and also to your kitchen for cupboard lighting if you want it.

maybe look at some sort of emergency lighting thats fed by 12v and comes on in a power cut or if your smoke alarm sounds.

One thing i wish we could have put in our house was a sprinkler system,especially in my mancave where theres always battery charging going on, but the beurocrats have made that simple safety feature faaaaaaar too complicated and expensive here in NZ.

floydie

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#1331635 25-Jun-2015 18:29

oh and maybe adjust your plan to have a media cupboard close to your cinema room so that you can get HDMI etc without having to use baluns.or maybe move the door into the room down the other end so your door isnt conflicting with speaker placement
also place it so that you can run the AV wires upstairs. also run decent ducting from the street for fiber (your sparky will no doubt have NO IDEA what they are doing when it comes to AV/network and fiber. a decent 50mm duct that you can haul cables in will be a god send

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