Things you wish you had in your home.

[im2fst4u]

Originally posted by arian_ma
High quality speakers in every room, with an amazing interface and ability to control which speakers play the music and such throughout the house. iPod integration would be great as well

We have the Control 4 system throughout our home. Great system. iPod control, various inputs etc. It controls my entire audio video system including powered blinds, theater lighting etc.
Great system. Highly recommend checking them out!

I can control my whole house from my iPad or computer from anywhere in the world.

[n1zm0]

i ripped out the old crap a little too 'enthusiastically' when we first moved in, now i've been patching the drywall bit by bit every week because of my mistakes

[sillysod]

Infloor is definately worth it IMO... especially in the basement.

For the house you would probably want to run a boiler, but for the garage a hot water tank with recirc pump, expansion tank, back flow preventer and regulator is enough to do the job properly.

If you just park your car in the garage and don't do anything at all in there then a furnace will do the job fine. But my garage is where the guys generally end up when people come over, I like to tinker in there so for me infloor was a must.

My parents have infloor through the entire house (even their furnace has a glycol heat exchanger instead of gas flame).




******************

Another thing that we did that I would recommend is recirculating pump for the hot taps.

All the hot water taps in the house run on a loop with a pump so that anytime you turn on the hot tap anywhere in the house (ie. master walkin shower) there is instant hot water.

Also put hot tap on the outside of the house for filling the kiddie pool and pressure washer

[ExtraSlow]

Originally posted by sillysod
recirculating pump for the hot taps.

omg, this.

[89coupe]

A new tad of info I got today that I will be adding to my place are water sensors.

Basically they are units designed to detect water leaking. Whether its from a broken line, a sink over flowing or a toilet bursting. The unit detects it and instantly sends a signal to shut the main water line off.

[l/l/rX]

Originally posted by im2fst4u


We have the Control 4 system throughout our home. Great system. iPod control, various inputs etc. It controls my entire audio video system including powered blinds, theater lighting etc.
Great system. Highly recommend checking them out!

I can control my whole house from my iPad or computer from anywhere in the world.

um...ok this is fricken pimp!

[Flacker]

Not for the faint of heart price wise but in the world of home automation it is hard to beat Crestron.

http://www.crestron.com/downloads/pd...me_control.pdf

[mr2mike]

Originally posted by 89coupe
A new tad of info I got today that I will be adding to my place are water sensors.

Basically they are units designed to detect water leaking. Whether its from a broken line, a sink over flowing or a toilet bursting. The unit detects it and instantly sends a signal to shut the main water line off.

Personally, I think that's a waste of money. Unless its on a vacation home where you are away a lot. Then I could see it lowering your insurance, if insurance goes for that setup.
But I could see it back firing too if you run an open loop infloor heating system. A toilet is leaking, water main shut in, infloor heat doesn't get the supply... ensuing dry pumps and additional repairs.

[Tik-Tok]

Here's something I already have in my house, but will definitely want in any future houses.

We have a floor level cubby hole by the entrance that fits 3-4 pairs of shoes/boots, and has a furnace air duct blowing into it. This does two things. (A) it quickly melts and dries your shoes after you come in from the snow, and even better (B) Your shoes are SOOO warm when you put them on in the morning. Feels so good when your mind is on the -30* you're about to walk out into, lol.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by mr2mike


Personally, I think that's a waste of money. Unless its on a vacation home where you are away a lot. Then I could see it lowering your insurance, if insurance goes for that setup.
But I could see it back firing too if you run an open loop infloor heating system. A toilet is leaking, water main shut in, infloor heat doesn't get the supply... ensuing dry pumps and additional repairs.

hydronic floor heating uses a completely separate supply. Not part of the domestic water.
*edit*...Sorry, didn't read the "open loop" part. My bad. Although I've yet to run into that system. Every house we've done uses a separate boiler.

[benyl]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
Here's something I already have in my house, but will definitely want in any future houses.

We have a floor level cubby hole by the entrance that fits 3-4 pairs of shoes/boots, and has a furnace air duct blowing into it. This does two things. (A) it quickly melts and dries your shoes after you come in from the snow, and even better (B) Your shoes are SOOO warm when you put them on in the morning. Feels so good when your mind is on the -30* you're about to walk out into, lol.

I am so doing this.

Asking for pricing now!

One at the front door and one in the Mud room.

[garnet]

i'd love a better filter system for the central air, newer HE units have some options for nice hepa set-ups, but in short, i am just so sick and tired of the dust that seems to get by no matter what you do

the other would be a better humidifier, then the little furnace one that came with, i'm cleaning it every month to keep the scale build up out of it
it nevers seems to provide enough additional humidity?
something larger and self cleaning

calgary is so dry and dusty

[codetrap]

Originally posted by garnet
i'd love a better filter system for the central air, newer HE units have some options for nice hepa set-ups, but in short, i am just so sick and tired of the dust that seems to get by no matter what you do

the other would be a better humidifier, then the little furnace one that came with, i'm cleaning it every month to keep the scale build up out of it
it nevers seems to provide enough additional humidity?
something larger and self cleaning

calgary is so dry and dusty

http://www.desertspringproducts.com/...ers_rotary.asp

I installed one of these last fall, and it's been great. I had to clean it once every couple of months to remove the scale from the tray, but it was cheese. I put the autoflush on it, and that helped a LOT in keeping the cleaning down. When I added a water softener to the house, I haven't had to clean it yet, 5 months now.

It works great for humidification. Sometimes too good, I have to turn it down in the winter.

[garnet]

Originally posted by codetrap


http://www.desertspringproducts.com/...ers_rotary.asp

I installed one of these last fall, and it's been great. I had to clean it once every couple of months to remove the scale from the tray, but it was cheese. I put the autoflush on it, and that helped a LOT in keeping the cleaning down. When I added a water softener to the house, I haven't had to clean it yet, 5 months now.

It works great for humidification. Sometimes too good, I have to turn it down in the winter.

hey ya

that might be the same one i heard about on the radio awhile back?
my old boss use to keep his running year round $$ with the furnace fan running day and night, just to try and get decent humidity in his place (it was a big place though)

my next new place that is definitely a must have item!!

[mr2mike]

Originally posted by C_Dave45
hydronic floor heating uses a completely separate supply. Not part of the domestic water.
*edit*...Sorry, didn't read the "open loop" part. My bad. Although I've yet to run into that system. Every house we've done uses a separate boiler.

Sorry to throw you for a loop there Dave. My parent's have a closed loop system which is about 10 years old and it's still working great, with water changed out every so often.

The gf lives in a condo that has an open system?! I thought it was odd too when I read it. But I guess they did this to save costs and have one on demand water heater. I would have done it differently, but thems the breaks.

Great idea on the small room with the heater in it. Reminds me of:

[codetrap]

Originally posted by garnet


hey ya

that might be the same one i heard about on the radio awhile back?
my old boss use to keep his running year round $$ with the furnace fan running day and night, just to try and get decent humidity in his place (it was a big place though)

my next new place that is definitely a must have item!!

I'm not sure. When I did my initial research, I was drawn to this one as it was the only one recommended for Asthmatics, and it's one of the most water efficient ones. It's design also inhibits mold growth (with the autoflush). The other thing is that it was specifically designed for Calgary water, by a Calgary company.

One other thing, I had a motor fail, so I called them up and they shipped me a whole bunch of stuff to replace the motor, gearing etc at no charge with a single 15 minute phone call. Super great warranty.


Now, I'm researching out air sterilization/cleaning technologies. I already use high quality air filters in my furnace to keep the dust down, but looking at UV or something along those lines.

[modpod77]

Original Post Removed. (Please read the Forum Rules and Terms of Use before posting again, or risk getting banned).

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by mr2mike


Sorry to throw you for a loop there Dave. My parent's have a closed loop system which is about 10 years old and it's still working great, with water changed out every so often.

The gf lives in a condo that has an open system?! I thought it was odd too when I read it. But I guess they did this to save costs and have one on demand water heater.

Right, I gotcha now. This is what we usually see in any SFD:

[mr2mike]

Very nice. Similar to my parents setup but they only have the basement and garage heated with in floor. But there's two HW boilers.

Infloor in garage, there's no substitute. I was talking to someone who said they can retrofit those too. Just run the lines and pour a layer of concrete over it. I'm sure its probably more technical than how he explained it.

[sillysod]

WIN!!!