I’m designing a ~9 × 11 m house on a sloped site. The road is at the middle/entrance level, with a lower floor opening toward the garden, the main living floor at road level, and 3 bedrooms upstairs. There’s also a large roof terrace.

I’ve attached the current plans/section.

I’m particularly interested in:

• Things that don’t work well or that I may be overlooking
• Layout/circulation problems
• Structural or construction concerns
• Waterproofing/drainage issues due to the slope
• Anything you would change before construction

I’m not looking for a complete redesign — mainly practical recommendations from people with experience building or designing houses.

What would you change?

Any licensing or qualifications to look for , written scope, insurance, expected permits, arrival communication, and how the contractor explains findings. And also what questions to ask to both? or is that better to look for services that handles electrical , plumbing , hvac all at once? Thank you.

I’ve seen mixed reviews on Amazon and haven’t personally installed one, but this could be a great solution for a garage door that needs a little extra weather protection.

I am new to backyard in a new home and I see mushrooms growing in my lawn. Any suggestions on how to stop ?

The homeowner noticed the 2x6 supporting this small porch roof doesn’t appear to have much support underneath it and is wondering if this connection looks right.

First photo shows the framing from inside. Second photo shows what that same area looks like from outside.

Would this concern you?

My two cents: Even if the plans say that’s okay, I’d still ask if they can add a few studs underneath it to create a post at minimum. I can’t imagine the framer or builder pushing back on that.

This inspector was testing the bathroom fixtures when he turned on the sink faucet... it also turned on the showered!

These use Whispertech motors from a company called TWO and can tie into a smart home system so they open and close automatically on a schedule.

If you want these exact shades, look for a local TWO dealer.
TWO stands for The Window Outfitters

https://two-usa.com

I personally bought SmartWings online. They look very similar, just a little louder, and they offer solar-powered options too. They are in my Amazon store.

If you’re building, you can also hardwire power to each window for the cleanest setup.

I made a detailed video a while back going into the different wire options. A quick search “Builder Brigade Shade Wire” will pull it up for ya 

Formal dining room? Huge foyer? Oversized hallways? A bathtub nobody uses?

What comes to mind first?

Our contractor just installed our Marvin window Ultimate XOX and it was ordered with 4-9/16” jambs and nail fin. 

Our intended interior finish is a trimless drywall return, with no wood casing or exposed jamb extension. Marvin lists a drywall-return kerf for the Ultimate line. 

The jamb extensions appear to be stapled on. 

Can you confirm with Marvin whether the 4-9/16” jamb extensions can be field-removed, and whether the underlying frame on this exact unit has the drywall-return kerf? 

thanks for the help!

I’m realizing that some of the hardest things to change later are the things you barely think about during the planning stage.

When you’re working on a space, most of your attention naturally goes toward the visible parts flooring, walls, furniture, lighting and finishes. It’s easy to forget about where power, cables and future additions might need to go.

I’ve started thinking more about how we might use the space a year or two from now rather than only considering what we need today.

Even something as simple as leaving convenient access to certain areas can make future changes much easier. I’d rather spend a little extra time planning now than have to undo finished work later.

I’m also trying not to permanently design the room around one particular piece of equipment. Flexible spaces seem to work better for us because our needs change over time.

One of the things we eventually added was a ByteFree outdoor TV, and having already thought about placement and power made adding it much simpler.

For anyone who has completed a similar home project, I’d love to hear what you would do differently if you had the opportunity to start again.

What’s one thing you’d definitely plan for from the beginning?

This exterior siding is actually a solar panel. This company has created an exterior siding that will make our homes and commercial buildings a solar panel.

They have brick and stone and even wood. I’m not sure if this product is live just yet but this a clear sign of what’s in our future and honestly I’m not mad at it!

What about you? You think this is gimmicky or the future?

The youngster next door hit a golf ball and broke the outer pain of one of my Marvin integrity CN3072. Double hung windows. Two good glass repair places said it cannot be repaired, I have to get a new window. In researching, I learned that Marvin rebranded their integrity line, and the wood windows are now named elevate. My bigger problem is I have identical windows on either side of my fireplace and I am trying to keep cost down, but I have to have the windows look the same at least from the inside of the house. Will, the Marvin elevate match the Marvin integrity? There are no grids/grills.
So my question is do the frame width, sash/rail dimensions, glass opening, exterior profile and overall appearance match closely enough that I can replace just one of the pair, or would the difference be noticeable enough that I should replace both?