Ask the Builder: Remodeling and new home hacks

As you might suspect, with nearly 50 years of hands-on building experience, I’ve accumulated quite a few intriguing hacks that should be in many homes — as well as a handful of fantasy hacks that you will only find in homes built by those that can afford them.

Not too long ago, I shared with my newsletter subscribers that I was going to produce a simple yet in-depth book sharing my hacks. I decided to engage my subscribers and asked them what they’d love to have in their next home if they had a magic wand and unlimited budget. All who offer a suggestion will get a free PDF copy of the book. This same offer is open to readers of Ask the Builder, and the link to the form to share your ideas is at the end of this column.

Let’s start on the outside of the house and work our way inside. I’m not an RV owner, but I got more than one suggestion to create a dump port 4-inch pipe that allowed the RV to discharge its sewage into a septic tank. As a master plumber, I can tell you it would take all of 15 extra minutes of work to do this as the piping is being installed from the house to the septic tank. What a great idea!

Another really inexpensive hack is to install an outdoor frost-proof hose faucet that has both hot and cold water supply. I did this in my daughter’s garage so they can wash a filthy child or dog or clean a salt-encrusted car in bitter-cold weather. Once again, it only takes a few extra minutes in most cases to install the hot water line to this faucet.

Generous roof overhangs, roofs over exterior doors, deep porches that offered shade on sunny days, and screened-in porches were features many wanted on their next home. A variation on the screened-in porch is an octagonal stand-alone structure that could be located in a lush shade garden. I built one of these years ago for a customer. Ever since I completed the punch list, I’ve always wanted one for myself.

Many folks wanted to ditch their propane grill canisters. They want a pipe that extends out to their patio or deck that connects to the propane or natural gas lines that service their furnaces, water heaters and ranges. Guess what? I had this at the last house I built for my family. It took me just 30 minutes to install the tee fitting in the black-iron pipe line, cut and thread the short piece of pipe that went outdoors, and connect the shut-off valve and quick disconnect for the hose that extends to the grill.

Moving inside, right at the top of my son’s wish list was hard-wired ethernet cables to all bedrooms and any room that might have a TV or monitor connected to the Internet. Many feel wireless is the way to go, but if you do your homework, you’ll discover a hard-wired cable provides faster and more secure connections.

Quite a few people walked down memory lane and desired an old-fashioned laundry chute. These require a considerable amount of work and harken back to the day when someone in the house didn’t mind sorting through different people’s laundry in the cage that hung from the ceiling in the basement. With people wanting convenience with laundry rooms — often on the same floor as the bedrooms — I don’t think builders will get many requests for these.

Perhaps the most popular suggestions were practical ones about secret spaces to hide valuables. As you might suspect, I had thought of that and have one such place in my existing home. At the very least there are simple ways to do this in attached garages and basements using ordinary building materials and containers that would trick a sly burglar. If you do this, always plan for floods. You must make sure valuables can’t be damaged by water.

Others wanted full-blown secret rooms with hidden entrances and exits. As for myself, I’ve always wanted secret staircases and passageways in a house. They’d work much like in the game of Clue where you enter a passageway in one room and exit into another room in a distant part of the house. Think of the possibilities!

There are several companies that offer different doors that are disguised as bookcases, steps that lift up, and other ways to hide an entrance to a secret room. You can locate these companies with ease on the internet. YouTube has quite a few videos of clever ways to create secret doors.

If you want to offer up your suggestions about your dream home hacks, I’d love to know about them. Go to the following URL and fill out the form. Once I complete the book, you’ll get your own free PDF version. https://go.askthebuilder.com/newhomehacks

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