Significant progress has been made on my house, but if you’ve been following me for a while, you know the process has been painfully slow. Soil instabilities found during excavation of my property and the subsequent foundation redesign and retaining wall construction added more than 6 months to my timeline. Record rains, including overflow of the river, a brutal winter storm, and a global pandemic added even more delays to my schedule before we had even started framing. Unfortunately,...

This week we’ll go over some design tips that I read in a recent article on houzz.com called 7 Major Decorating Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.  Even if you like interior design as I do, it can be intimidating to decorate an entire house.  But information like this will give us some guidance and a little more confidence when making decisions about our decor.  Show notes at BYHYU.com www.facebook.com/BYHYU

This is the second part of our interview with fireplace professional Jake Cromwell of Top Chimney and Roofing. He’ll continue his discussion about high-efficiency direct vent gas fireplaces, which he recommends for those of us who want the heat and beauty of a fireplace, but don’t want a lot of maintenance. He’ll also tell us what we need to look for if we want to mount our TV above our fireplace and where we can find certified fireplaces professionals. Show notes at BYHYU.com

This week and next we’ll have a fireplace professional and educator on the show who will help us understand the different types of fireplaces and educate us about some fireplace misconceptions. We’ll also talk about his favorite type of fireplaces and the greatest piece of advice he has for consumers. In part one of our talk, he’ll focus on breaking down the major categories of fireplaces for us.  It’s a great interview so let’s get right into it. Show notes at BYHYU.com

The current homebuilding environment is a tough one. Builders and homeowners like us are dealing with historically high prices and historically low availability in building materials and labor.  In this week’s episode, I’ll tell you about a May 2021 survey done for the National Association of HomeBuilders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI).  The survey outlines the percentage of builders in the US who have ordered building materials and experienced significant shortages in those...

The cost of lumber has increased more than 300% since April 2020. Lumber sold for $348 per thousand board feet before the pandemic and peaked to a record high of $1,500 per thousand board feet in May 2021.  Thankfully, prices have begun to fall in the last few weeks.  I checked lumber prices today and they are around $935 per thousand board feet, which is still considerably higher than prices were when many of us started thinking building. And lumber prices fell several months ago and went...

If you’re considering building a house with exterior cladding made of stucco and/or manufactured stone or thin natural stone veneer, this episode is for you.   This week we’ll talk about the moisture control challenges that we can run into with stone veneer, manufactured stone, and stucco cladding.  Peter Barrett is our guest today.  He is the Product and Marketing Manager at Dorken Systems.  Dorken specializes in high-performance air and moisture barriers used to protect residential and...

This week I’ll tell you about some minor, but frustrating construction challenges that I’ve had in hopes you will learn from my experience.  We’ll also discuss the “dried-in” phase of construction, rain screens, and the best-looking, virtually maintenance-free wood-alternative product that I’ve seen. Shownotes at BYHYU.com

Decluttering gradually, over several months to a year before moving will decrease the overwhelm that usually comes with decluttering an entire house in a short period of time.   This week, I’ll give you a decluttering plan that you can use to help make the process easier and more methodical. It’s ideal to pare down before you move into your new house because transporting unwanted and unused stuff from one house to another means more time, effort, and money when packing and unpacking.  Show...

Before we move into our new homes, most of us will need to declutter. And if we have the time, we should consider decluttering gradually, over several months to a year. This can decrease any potential overwhelm that can come with decluttering an entire house. So, even if you’re just at the beginning of your home building journey, it’s not too early to start sifting through your belongings to decide what things are worthy of a spot in your new build. In this week’s episode, I’ll give you a...

Heightened emotion and desire to make the best selections for our homes is understandable. But the pressure to make the “perfect” choice for every single thing in our new builds can deplete our time, energy, peace of mind, and definitely our enjoyment of the building process. If you tend to overthink most things or suffer from analysis paralysis or decision fatigue, this episode is for you.   Show notes are BYHYU.com www.facebook.com/BYHYU

This week’s episode is part 2 of a show that I started a couple of weeks ago. If you haven’t listened to part 1, you might want to do that now because we’ll have some quiz questions in this episode that will cover information from the current and the previous show. As I told you last time, I recently selected the plumbing fixtures for my project and was surprised about how much there is to consider when choosing toilets. In this week’s mini-lesson we’ll cover one-piece vs two-piece toilets,...

I recently selected the plumbing fixtures for my new build and surprisingly, one of my toughest decisions I had to make was regarding which toilets to get.  I never know there was so much to consider when choosing toilets. Should you get a one-piece or two-piece model? Where should you position the flush handle? Is a single or dual flush toilet better,? Comfort height or standard height?  Floor mount or wall mount? Whether we should pay extra for easy clean options and finally what color and...

No matter how large or small your house will be, most of us want our primary bathrooms to be a spa-like sanctuary or at the very least a place where we can escape, renew and relax.    And with us spending more time at home over the last year, many of us are adding more amenities in bathrooms and homes—amenities that make our homes feel more comfortable and luxurious since we haven’t been able to get away on vacation or even to the gym or spa when we’ve wanted to. So on today’s show, we’ll...

This week I’ll give you an update on my own project and go over some miscellaneous tips and tidbits I’ve learned over the last several weeks of going through my personal build.   I didn’t want to give you another update until I actually had a structure to talk about. And now I do.  We are currently framing!!  I’ll also tell you about current lumber prices and give you some miscellaneous home building tips and tidbits. Show notes at BYHYU.com www.facebook.com/BYHYU

If you are looking at multiple neighborhoods or lots on which to build your new house, there may be some areas on the outskirts of the city that might interest you, but require you to have a septic system.  Having some basic knowledge of septic systems and how they compare with city sewer systems will help you in making a decision about whether a lot needing a septic system could be right for you. Sewer systems are more common and usually preferred, because they're funded and maintained by...

Because of the odd, but real, pandemic-driven toilet paper shortages, more and more homeowners have added, or are considering adding toilet seat bidets to their homes.   So, this week I thought it would be valuable to revisit an episode about bidets.  Keep in mind, bidets won’t usually completely eliminate the need for toilet paper, but will usually reduce your need to just a few squares per bathroom break.     As you’ll hear, you’ll want to tell your electrician where you want to include...

This week I have part 2 of the list of the best things homeowners did when building.  The information comes from a couple of posts at Houzz. com.  Homeowners who had built previously listed the favorite features they included in their builds—features that made life in the house easier and/or more enjoyable. Show notes at BYHYU.com

I was recently on Houzz on the “Building a Home” forum in the gardenweb.com section of the website. One of the discussions there caught my attention. The homeowners were asked to list “The Best Things You did When Building.”This was a forum discussion where homeowners who had built previously listed the favorite features they included in their builds—features that made life easier and/or more enjoyable. Show notes at BYHYU.com

Although I’m not particularly interested in having the very latest gadgets, electronics, or technology in my house, one techie element I do want to invest in is fast, reliable internet service.  Having high-speed internet is nice for those of us who mainly shop online and visit various websites and social media platforms, but a fast internet connection is especially important if you or your family members are gamers or movie or tv buffs who regularly use streaming services like Netflix or...

Since we can often learn from the project of others, in this week’s episode, we’ll be reviewing a modern-style, green home with Lake Washington views in the Seattle Washington area.  It’s a 2 story house that’s almost 3200 sq ft.  There are 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms, including a mother-in-law suite. The house has solar panels and is certified by the DOE Zero Energy Ready program, the Northwest Energy Star program, and EPA Indoor air PLUS program.  And this home costs the homeowners only...

For years Fort Worth magazine has teamed up with an area builder and local designers and vendors to build a house highlighting the latest in home design.  Called the Dream Home,  it’s been a showcase house charity fundraiser that many in and around Dallas, TX look forward to every year. This year, for the first time, 3 homes were built to be showcased in an event called, not Dream Home, but Dream Street.  The 3 luxury showhomes were in all on the same street in Southlake, TX, a suburb...

A couple of weeks ago, I took a road trip to the Vesta Parade of Homes in Memphis, TN.  As usual, there were several new construction houses in the same neighborhood that were open for tours.  I think this was my third year going to the Vesta parade of homes, and it never disappoints.  The houses were transitional in style, meaning there was a mix of traditional and contemporary decor.  Patterns and colors of furniture, rugs, and art leaned just a little more traditional than contemporary,...

Choosing the right hot tub entails more than picking out the prettiest unit that’s within your budget.  It’s important to know the basics about a hot tub’s construction, jets, water pump, filtration system, and maintenance in order to choose a spa unit that will be enjoyable and energy-efficient. Here is a list of things you should consider before buying a hot tub. Show notes at BYHYU.com Email me at [email protected] if you’d like to be a guest

At the end of August, I released episode 212 where we talked about what features to choose if you want a quieter garage door.   In that show, we focused mainly on the garage door opener, track, and apparatus. This week, we’ll focus on the outer shell of the garage door— the material the door is made of (steel, wood, fiberglass, aluminum, and glass, or vinyl) and how that material will effect the door’s look, price, durability, and level of maintenance. Show notes at BYHYU.com