Build Your House Yourself University

This week’s episode will give you the pros and cons of different types swimming pools in hopes of helping you decide whether your dream house should even include a swimming pool, and if so, what kind.   We’ll compare vinyl pools, fiberglass pools and concrete pools this week and next week we’ll talk about sanitation systems, including chlorine, salt water, and ultraviolet systems.  We'll begin the lesson by briefly discussing how a pool might impact the resale value of your house. 

Show notes at BYHYU.com

This week we have the final part of my interview with Sue Burkett of Owens Corning.  She’s educating us about how we can make a statement with roof color using Owens Corning roof shingles. 

If you think of the front of your house like a face, then the roof is like hair.  And roof color, like hair color, can drastically alter the overall appearance and reflect your personal style.

What I love about Owens Corning shingle colors is that they have so much dimension.  In keeping with our hair analogy, their shingles aren’t just flat, uninteresting colors.  Instead, the roof shingles have depth, kind of like highlights and low lights in hair color. 

Take a look at Owens Corning.com for inspirational photos of their roof shingles and design tools that will let you test out different roof colors on photos of sample houses that they have on their site or on house photos that you can upload yourself.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

Too often we think of our home’s roof as only a structural element, when, in fact, choosing roofing that’s also stylish and unique is a great opportunity to make your house stand out from others in the neighborhood.  On average, a roof accounts for 40% of the home’s exterior appearance.  So choosing the perfect roof color is vitally important in building a distinctive and attractive dream home.

This week and next week, we’ll hear about Owens Corning Roofing. Now, you probably know Owens Corning’s insulation by its signature pink color.  But they also produce other products for the home, including roofing.  Sue Burkett will tell us about Owens Corning roof shingles, which come in beautiful hues that are tasteful, but far from ordinary.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

This week we're talking about dishwashers. We’ll cover some of the newest and most popular options that you’ll have to choose from when selecting a new dishwasher.  Since most of our homes already had a dishwasher installed when we bought them, many of us have never had to shop for a dishwasher.  I’m hoping these 12 quick tips will help you narrow your choices. 

Show notes at BYHYU.com

Welcome to episode 79 of Build House Yourself University—BYHYU. I’m Michelle Nelson, your host and fellow student, and together we’ll learn the basics of home design and construction and demystify the building process, so we can ask the right questions and build quality dream homes, with or without a general contractor.

This week I’ll give you the surprising update on my project.  I’ve hit a stumbling block (actually two).   But, I’m working through it.  No one said the road would be easy. 

Show notes at  BYHYU.com

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If you’ve decided to hire a builder to be a general contractor, site supervisor, or even a consultant for the construction of your new house, there are a whole slew of questions that you’ll want to ask him before you commit to working with him.  There’s the basic list of questions that you’ve probably heard before.  These are questions that most people ask when they are vetting, or investigating, a builder.   I bet you can guess many of them:

Are you licensed and insured?

How many years have you been building?

What kind of warranty do you offer?

How do you handle change orders?

So, there are also a few other questions that I came across last week that go beyond what the average homeowner typically asks. This list of questions is from one of my favorite websites, energyvanguard.com.  That blog post was called “10 questions to ask your prospective builder.”  We’ll cover 9 or those 10 question today.

Show notes at BYHYU.com

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I know what you’re thinking… Really, Michelle? A full mini lesson on kitchen sinks?  White or stainless steel.  What else is there to think about?  What’s the big deal? 

Well, even if, like me, you don’t cook most days of the week, you do probably use your kitchen sink every single day, and probably several times a day. 

The kitchen sink is one the hardest working fixtures in the entire house.  So, we need to choose the best sink for our kitchen routine and our kitchen design.

Some sink materials are tougher than others.  Taking the time to become familiar with different sink features and materials will help you find a sink that will make your kitchen look great and function well. This week we’ll go over the pros and cons of the most common kitchen sink materials, then I’ll give you a few tips for choosing the best sink size and style for your home and habits.  Plus we’ll go over our Pro Term: Farmhouse sink.

Shownotes at BYHYU.com

Learning about kitchen faucets probably won’t be the most exciting thing you do today, but it’s important that we get a basic understanding of the features we should be looking for.  Because we use our kitchen and bathroom faucets so often, we’ll want to choose those that will last for a really long time without problems and that work with our house design and preferences.  Here are 12 kitchen and bathroom faucet quick tips.

Show notes at http://BYHYU.com

What’s up with house shaming people for wanting a larger house?      That's so judgy.  When researching this post, and just talking to people in general about new houses, I’ve run across tons of derogatory statements about larger houses and people who want to live in them.  House shaming people for living in, or building larger houses, is far more common than house shaming folks who like small houses. 

Just like smaller houses, larger houses have some disadvantages, but there are also advantages to living in a larger house.  My feeling is… to each his own.  If you like a smaller house, cool.  Build a small house.  If you want a larger house, and you have the budget to build it, that’s okay too.   

Last week we talked about the pros of living in a smaller house.  This week, we’ll go over the pros of living in a larger house.  Yes, despite what you’ve heard in the media, there are advantages to living in a larger house.

Shownotes at BYHYU.com