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My new blog, Tracy DeCarlo's Home Building Lessons is live! For more practical ideas for building your home, click the above link.

Building or Remodeling?

Do yourself a favor and increase your knowledge of the construction process and your options. Being informed can have a direct positive effect on the bottom line, the conveniences inside your home, and the future cost of the running the home.

• Do you know how to select the most energy-efficient roofing?
• Do you know which commodes can save an average family of 4 approximately 7000 gallons of water per year?
• Do you know the difference between a positive and negative undermount sink and which one is easier to clean?

The Difference is in the Details: The Homeowner's Planning Guide to Building a Functional Home not only provides hundreds of tips like these, it also provides lives links to suppliers and organizations. This photograph-filled e-Guide shows you how to adjust the building sequence to your financial advantage while helping you create a healthy, energy-efficient home that works for your family—inside and out, from the foundation to the rooftop.

“With dozens of “how to build your new home” books available, what could be left out? Plenty, as author DeCarlo shows in her practical approach to topics often left out, forgotten, or given scant attention. Readers will thank her for raising subjects to consider in the earliest stages of planning a new home.”
-- Carol Smith, Author of "Building Your Home: An Insiders Guide"

• Click here for the Table of Contents
• Click here to place your order
• To read more about this home building reference manual visit www.DifferenceInTheDetails.com

OOPS! Avoid These Design Problems

Some design problems just don’t show up very well on house plans. As a result, they can easily go undetected until it becomes impossible or too costly to correct them. Here are a few I’ve photographed in newly constructed production model homes. Unfortunately, these errors will be duplicated again and again as carbon-copy homes are built.

Light Fixture Faux Pas: With only three inches between the ceiling and the top of the globes in this light fixture, changing the bulbs will be impossible. In some areas, due to fire concerns, installing light fixtures this close to the ceiling is a building-code violation.

Some light fixtures can be installed with the globes facing up or down. Hopefully this fixture falls into that category and simply turning it over will fix the problem.

Refrigerator Door Dilemma: The wall next to this fridge prevents the door from opening all the way. The homeowner is going to a hard time accessing the freezer portion of this side-by-side model, let alone pulling the bins forward. In order to remove the bins for cleaning, the entire refrigerator will have to be moved. Over time, the wall will also suffer damage as the door bumps into it each time it’s opened.

If a refrigerator will be up against a wall, make sure the wall is shallow enough to allow the door to swing open fully.

Awkward Ironing Board: The location of the board pictured to the right was not well-thought-out, to say the least. First, only left-handed people will feel semi-comfortable using it. Second, it’s too close to the cabinet to easily iron anything. Third, the door will always be in the way. Mounting the board at least 30 inches to the left of the cabinet could have prevented these problems.

When determining the location for a built-in ironing board, it’s important to take into account whether the person who does the majority of the ironing is left- or right-handed. You’ll want to be sure he or she has room to stand comfortably on the correct side. You’ll also want to specify on which side the door hinges. Most people prefer to iron on the side opposite the open door.

Remember that a built-in ironing board needs approximately 48 inches of unobstructed space in which to fold down.

It’s the details that make the difference; the difference between building in simple solutions to everyday problems versus living with daily pain-in-the-butt issues like those shown above. My hope is that these photos, along with the hundreds provided in my e-home planning tool, The Difference is in the Details, The Homeowner’s Planning Guide to Building a Functional Home, will help you and your construction team “see” and correct design issues on paper before it’s too late. Visit www.DifferenceInTheDetails.com for more information.

IS THERE A SUBJECT YOU'D LIKE ME TO COVER? Let me know by sending an email to tracy@tracystips.net.

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE? All past issues of this ezine are in the Ezine Archives on our web site. Click here for Ezine Archives !

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEBSITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

Tracy DeCarlo, author of "The Difference is in the Details" publishes the idea-packed, monthly e-zine "Tracy's Home Building Tips." If you're ready to learn how to plan a more durable, energy-efficient, and easy-to-live-in home, get your FR*EE tips now at www.DetailedSolutions.net.

Tracy DeCarlo owner of Detailed Solutions, Inc. and One Stop Green Home Certification, has more than fourteen years' experience in the residential construction industry. As a Home Building Function Analyst, Certified Green Professional, Green Certifying Agent, and Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist, Tracy addresses the functional aspects of home construction, design, and usage, including items such as energy efficiency, disaster mitigation, air quality, aging in place, green building, plumbing, electrical, lighting, and storage.

By working with homeowners to focus on their daily habits and preferences, she helps them create living spaces that support and compliment their lifestyles, while at the same time teaching techniques to manage the bottom line.

I’d love to hear from you:

• What topics would you most like to see covered in upcoming issues of "Tracy's Home Building Tips"?

• How has this e-zine helped you to improve your design or avoid change order charges?

• Mail to: Tracy's Tips E-Mail

Tracy DeCarlo, Detailed Solutions, Inc.

P.O. Box 161644

Altamonte Springs, FL 32714, United States

Phone 407-814-2328

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Copyright ©2010 Tracy DeCarlo Detailed Solutions, Inc.