I've been in construction and home improvement all my life. I'm very picky and detail oriented in every job I do. My biggest pet peeve is to go back and fix something a second time! I believe in doing things right the first time. That's one of the reasons I watch this channel. Matt R. is the same way, detail oriented and wants it done right the first time! I watch all his videos and I generally learn something from it even if it's only one small detail. I also like the fact he covers everything from Construction Techniques to Building Materials to Tools/Equipment. I tip my hat to you Matt R.!
I love this video!!! It’s taking me longer to build a team but that’s what I want a team that understands my needs and a team that each trade help each other succeed so we can all succeed and work decades together. Great job Matt and Steve
In the next year, I wanna be building my house south Central Virginia and it’s gonna be on a full basement. I never thought about putting a lightwell like that but that really is a great idea. It truly is.
Understand that you want to get as much of thw lower level considered 51% above grade so it doesn't appraise as basement which is only about 10% of the value of above grade. Even leaving the top half exposed and grading back 10 before a wall or thw original grade resumes is nice. Put in flower, outdoor antiques or sculptures. Very nice. Those below grade patios don't have wind, are much quieter and obviously more private.
We added an elevator in our new construction home. 3 floors, roughly $26k. The pricing has come down quite a bit in recent years. One of the strangest requirements was that we are required to have a phone for emergencies… but we have no landline. We bought a burner phone and installed it in a custom compartment with a USB charger.
Elevators definitely on par with half baths and kitchen sinks for me. Just like the indoor pickle ball court and hidden safe room. Pretty much a given. /s
Ah yes to be able to have "those" issues in a build.... Love seeing it but Damn, I'd prefer to see what can be done for folks with only above to average means...
An 80s house that was all tennis. Exterior court next to the house with a retractable roof. An entire indoor court, 35'-40' ceiling and a glass wall on one side for the second level viewing area with bar. An indoor squash court with the viewing area only on thw short axis. Swimming pool was outside,if I remember right, but an indoor spa/gym area. The best thing on that house was the fence. It was just flat steel about 3/4" thick and 6" or 8" wide. Embedded in concrete and spacked about 4 inches apart at an angle. Typical 3', 4' and 6' heights. You could hear the Miami Vice theme song in you're head while walking around. 😊
I despise floor to area regulations. IMO the rule should be “don’t cast neighbors in a shadow” which is the system Japan uses. The mega basement is very London UK.
Roth IRA at age one is possible if you have wages. I think it's 3k a year from age 4 to 18, is over a million at age 65 if you just lock it into a low-cost S&P 500. But you have to have the wages to put money into an IRA.
Every house I’ve ever had custom built always had an extended course (height) basement that had daylight/legal egress, a backyard walk-out (natural or forced), along w/ both an internal and garage staircase entry into the basement, also always had the mechanicals and utilities positioned for future build out of a full bathroom, kitchen, etc
You don’t need to use flex duct. HVAC guy here. Air is residential is 90% quiet. If it’s not the, duct design/equipment sizing is bad. You can use it if you want. The ductwork is perfect in this house.
@@Onward1969what about sounds transmitting from room to room? Back in the day I could listen to a conversation in most rooms in the house by listening at the vents.
If you've ever run both, the difference is apparent. Just like you can hear the difference in sound transmission between a metal pipe and a plastic pipe. It's way less about the "turbulence" they tried to pass it off as and more about the sound transmission coefficient. HVAC guys are taught to remember what they've been told and shears do things a certain way, the right way. I've actually seen student apprentices being told that thinking leads to trouble and just always follow the rules. Don't expect the technicians and installers to understand and use first principles, they're rule followers who almost always took votech in high school, not academic science and math. That's not meant to denigrate but to inform those who hire services about how their decisions are made. It's recipe based and anything different throws them for a loop. Even Matt, who I greatly respect, parrots general rules sometimes like in this case.
In Canada the foam on the basement wall adds normal 2x4 structure or 2x6 and filled Roxul mineral fibre insulation than drywall and insulated floor either above or below concrete
Finishing out my walkout basement now with a bedroom, full bathroom, and kitchen. It will be a guest room, though long term, could be for live-in caretakers living arrangements.
When you do the exterior dig out ass much as you can along the walls. If it's 51% exposed it appraises as above grade. That can be the top 51% of the wall. Basement on standard homes get a flat value per square foot and it's only about $20-30. When refinancing a loan it helps get a netter rate with a lower LTV. 100k here a 100k there adds up.😊
7:42 bleach sprayed liberally is the best thing to do on wood. Come back and see if it needs to be addressed again. High streng bleach from costco is a good price to start. Look at the percent on chemical, at least 4% in the final mix. You can get a barrel of 14% bleach from a commercial supplier and water it down to what you need.
Just a quick comment on the mold deal. A buddy of mine runs a pool company. He saw me buying Clorox bleach. WTH are you doing here laughed. He then showed me liquid pool bleach. 1 gallon was $3.40 it made 60 gallons of regular bleach. I was living in the Virgin Islands. Long story short made my own bleach with just a splash of orange cleaner to smell better and any place that had a bit of mold, whether house or boat got a quick spray from a sprayer Dries quick no mold. I think a gallon of pool bleach now is 7 bucks, but it still makes 60 gallons of household strength bleach.
Bleach is an oxidizer which will attack metal like nails and screws. A better option is a activated peroxide. Strong stuff which needs proper speed. Cheap, safe on materials and will kill the mold spores
@sterlinghousewashpressurew9594 peroxide at the strength needed is way .ore likely to injure a worker and cause a problem in storage. "Pool bleach" can be different mixes of chemicals. Make sure you're just getting sodium hypoclorite at 14%. Works great. Make sure to seal the container and store in the dark when not in use because it breaks down over time.
I don't like floor drains going to the septic (or sewer systems for those stuck with that). I learned a long time ago to run them out a separate pipe down the hill and empty into a gravel pit
@@sparksmcgee6641 I ran mine a couple hundred feet sloping down and out to a gravel pit. Yes I know a lot of houses are on postage stamp lots essentially flat. First consideration, is this a good condition for a dry basement? My observations indicate it's not. But it could be potentially mitigated with a deeper excavation adjacent, providing a down slope from the basement floor level, all filled in with gravel and drain tile. But who does this? I came up with the idea on my own as an obvious solution and excavated my site accordingly thirty yrs ago. As a result I've not had as much as a suggestion of water ingress even when the area experiences flooding. So I know it's possible (unless one is constructing in an area where flood waters approach basement depth). Common sense goes a long way. If you turn it over to the professionals then you'll get what everybody else gets. And I guess that's good enough for most folks.
I sprayed my entire house with concrobium, all but the underside of the floor sheathing and the wall sheathing. Because the walls were getting foamed and the water dripped off the seams so the bottom of the sheathing stayed dry. Probably could have fogged it for more money.
It is going to be a beautiful home and you have thought of many details but I noticed that you did not run a return hot water line to that basement bathroom for a recirculatory system. Is immediate hot water at every faucet being addressed by a different method?
In Austin, you might have to do blasting in order to get through all the rock that is just inches below the surface of the dirt. I know that in our neighborhood, they did have to do blasting to get pools installed -- residents that have been here for decades have told me about that.
@@michaelfranks341Michael I have to demur-it’s the cheapest form of sq footage you can buy once you’re setting up forms and pouring concrete from trucks. There ARE issues , how to,insulate esp if not using spray foam, etc, need to make sure your not adding to moisture issues…and might like to insulate the exterior walls, but you can easily make this very versatile space beyond just storage,wine cellar, safe room. Even a guest bedroom if you don’t need an egress window…
Adding ten feet flex at germination makes no sense to me it’s still the weak link in your system-if a rip, tear etc, you can’t replace that without ripping out drywall at least…and if you are using a variable seep blower and full inverter system, most time the fan is a low, often VErY low speeds and imperceptible.
@@johnwhite2576 yeah, the cost of spanning like 3 car garage with beams and structure to hold up the weight of vehicles and the house above its just too costly in the US....definitely wouldnt be the cheapest per sq ft of space in a house....
You engineer them to a higher deflection standard. Usually list in the design as a limit on deflection. L/180 or L640. The lower thw number the better.
I need a builder that follows these standards in the Central Northeast Alabama region. Specific to the Huntsville and Harvest area. High Cotton Homes is located too far west. I'd love to have them do our custom build, but travel for them might be too far.
Reach out to them & see if they have any recommendations. I would love there to be some sort of Build Network database of folks who think & work like this.
2nd generation builder here, my father always told people we can do anything,some things just cost a little more. Don’t settle for you can’t, builders who tell you that are saying we won’t
Understand that basements are appraised at a much lower rate. Only 20 or 30 dollars a square foot. If the exterior wall is 51% above grade is apprised normally. You can dig out around the basement, say 10" and use doors as egress on bedrooms into a patio area. That's a $200,000 higher appraised value on a 1,000sf area. The appraisal will take into account the value of bedrooms and bathrooms in the overall pricing but that's it. It's still a 5 bed 4 bath house.
I've seen a few Georgia builds, & wasn't impressed with the standards that I saw just outside ATL. But it was a decade ago so if things have changed for the better than that's good to know.
@@ericscott3997 it all depends on the builder and the local inspector. The builders I have worked for are very good but I’ve seen some horrible homes for sure.
We have be spraying new construction framing with 2 part activated peroxide in Florida. It's kills the mold and doesn't harm steel fastners. Just use and airless paint sprayer or a 12v agricultural pump to apple. Chen-Zone ask for Greg.
Extra strength bleach will take care of it. Us a garden sprayer. DO NOT USE A BACKPACK SPRAYER! You can buy bleach in barrels for much less. The amount of bleach is so little it won't effect any steel, but bleach will damage the zinc in galvanizing agent on hanger and other galvanized hardware. In the pressure wash industry, especially the South, this is basic stuff. If I was between Houston and Florida I would just call a "softwash" company to come spray it.
Price wise there are plastic pins that thread onto the base of the bolts on the inside. Then you use the 8 foot "basement" fiberglass batts and tape thwm together. A high quality adhesive, I used Locktite X 9. Locktite MAX a HD I think. Then I glued 2 layers of 4" 4X8 sheets of foil faced polyiso, with foamed and taped seams. Make sure to put some vents in to let the air out behind insulation. The gaps along the curves the polyiso sheets created was great for cross ventilation.
Firemen have a saying, "Never trust a truss." the moment they spot a truss used that way, they are out and the whole house is going to be a total loss. If there is no one to save, there is no reason to risk lives trying to save insured property due to a high collapse risk from building technique.
Need a larger lot, so it often not an option in cities. All the elderly people I know that use them like them. Thw bigger issue is steps to get the their car in the garage. One step here and another there is the biggest issue.
One man's home is another's mansion. Yes by some definitions anything over 5000 sqft is labeled a "Mansion" , but to me, it has to be larger than 10,000 sqft for it to be a mansion.
@@JeremySpidle Not your place, or mine to decide what anybody "needs". Besides, if you don't have folks willing & able to spend the money on these types of projects, the lessons/knowledge learned by the trades, & contractors, don't get spread out to other less expensive homes.
@ericscott3997 Yes, it is everyone's place to decide what is grotesque excess. No, we don't need trades building gold plated monstrosities to learn great building techniques. Great job shilling for the Oligharchy though!
Another great tip: The easiest way to shingle your roof is to give your kids some hook blades, a roofing nailer, and 15 bucks. Skip the harnesses because your kids cant sue you. They'll roll around on that roof all day and just have a great time. Your roof will get done, they'll have a good time and get a nice tan, and you'll save money. It's a win win win.
Oiled the wood exterior one summer of a multi story with cedar shake roof. Learned real quick go in one direction, so I wasn't walking on the shake that got oiled below the wall.
Hey, Matt/Steve, what you say about mold on framing lumber being okay is not supported by Cheryl Seiko Architect: www.youtube.com/@CherylCieckoArchitect
I’ll say it again. Put skin in the business. You should have your own guys on your payroll framing and trimming the jobs. You’re supposed to be custom home builder. Instead your project manager is now acting as the GC. In our area building contractors have the guys on payroll. It’s like a family and about relationships like you just said but with how you have it you could just drop them and say times are tough you’re on your own. Grace and Peace Slick
Wow this is the most insightful comment I’ve seen in ages on build show site. Having built 5 houses for myself I echo this completely. Always consider the number of employees any’builder’ has on their staff. Otherwise you will never even get the site broom swept every nite, etc. There are always dozens of things that ned to be done that don’t fall clean only and explicitly under the contract, written, verbal or just understood , that subs can/will do . The client ends up pissed, doing the work themselves or paying the gc with profit over head to do it ad hoc. But then, of course, that’s why so many GCs are 2-3 man operations. No overhead and can pass along costs to client. No comparison though. And implied in your comment is the centrality of having a full time pm on job like you see in theses shows,but who has and extra 100-200k to allocate to a job for dedicated pm. /?
It'll be a nice outside patio once done. They're more quiet and there isn't any wind. I bet that wall is at the property line or maybe 5' from the line. If you're building on a 6 or 12,000sf lot these are great.
A little surprised that you are being so cavalier about mold on lumber. those wall cavities are not conditioned space. Humidity flows in and out- especially from a basement foundation. You might also want to do your homework about the 99% of the population being okay. 25% of the population has the genetic predisposition to become chronically ill from mold exposure. Carriers of the HLA-DR (human leukocyte antigen) gene are prone to develop chronic health issues involving systemic inflammation, whether the cause is mold, Lyme disease/ other tick borne illnesses , gluten, or countless other catalysts. HLA-DR makes a person helpless against biotoxin sickness, it additionally makes detoxification very difficult .
OK you ended with "detoxification" so we know all of this is BS. We know more about mold issues than you. It's something so well known it's not .entioned in thw video.
I honestly feel like metal ducts are obsolete now that there is so much variation in plastic and PVC materials. Cheaper and less worry about air sealing.