I am in the beginning stages of building a new house, and i am trying to plan out all of the details of how i would like it to be constructed. I feel it would be worth an extra expense upfront for a better built home, one that is better insulated and more comfortable to live in. But i cant afford to just throw money at it, it needs to be cost effective as well. Here are some of my thoughts so far, if you have any comments or suggestions please reply with them.

I already have another thread going that covers the insulation questions i have and how to address them

Drain tile installed along the side of the concrete footer, wraped in filter fabric sock, burried in 18-20" of 3/4" clear gravel, topped with filter fabric and backfilled with dirt to grade level.

Another thing i read online is to install a concrete "wedge" at the exterior point where the foundation walls sit on top of the footer. It seems like it would channel the water flowing down the foundation wall and direct it towards the drain tile. I figure i could just mix up a few bags of concrete and form in a small 2" triangle with a trowel. Think this would be worth the effort and minimal cost?

Use AdvanTech moisture resistant floor decking, wall sheathing and roof sheathing. I checked at a local building supply warehouse and the cost on these is pretty much the same as regular old osb, so this is a no brainer and not much of a cost adder.

I am tossing the idea around of using 2x10 floor joists at 12" on center instead of the standard 16" on center. That or would it be better and/or cheaper to use 2x12's with the 16" on center spacing? My goal here is to try to stiffen up the floors and to help minimize/eliminate floor squeaks. I am also planning on either have the carpenters screw the floor decking down, or if they charge too much for that, just doing it myself after they glue and nail the decking down.

Use OSI Quad synthetic rubber caulk for ALL exterior caulking.

Use Air Vent Shingle Vent II ridge vents. And i will install a wire mesh animal guard at the vents.

I would prefer to use pex tubing for the plumbing lines in a home run setup, instead of copper lines. I wouldn't think this would be much of an extra charge. More material, but cheaper on the installation might make it a wash.

Use a 60 gallon hot water heater, and i will buy an insulating kit for it after we move in. I'm still not sold on tankless water heaters. Have heard of the problems that some of them can have, and some don't perform as expected. Can anyone talk me out of the std hot water heater???

Would the house wrap go on the wall sheathing, or on the foam?

Install 1x4 firring strips to mount the vinyl siding to, and to act as a rain screen. What would be a good and cost effective product to use here? Std wood boards, plywood ripped into strips, cement board ripped into strips? Also the guy at the local building supply warehouse said that they now make a exterior house wrap that has built-in dimples or channels that act sort of as a rain screen. Has anyone used this type of product (said it is only a few hundred more for a whole house), or would it be better to pay extra for the firring strips?


Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

A well insulated Marathon tank would not need an additional wrap.  See http://www.marathonheaters.com/

Where are you building such that footing drains are considered "extra expense"?

Water follows the path of least resistance. All you really have to do is make it easier to get to your footing drains than to go between the two concrete pieces. Putting a two inch fillet of concrete at the base of your foundation wall is only going to make a couple of two inch cracks the water has to go through before it begins to negotiate the 6-10 inch crack between the footing and the wall. I see footings that get troweled down in the center ever so slightly. That would seem to facilitate water leakage at the base. An alternative would be to make sure the center of the footing is crowned ever so slightly, instead. There are also water-expansive putties that I have seen people roll into a rope and lay in the footing keyway. When water gets to it, the putty expands, sealing up the crack. That's the theory, anyway.

Engineered I-beam joists known as "TJI"s are in common usage as they can give a stiffer floor. Screwing and gluing the subfloor is commonly done as a way to eliminate squeaks. Remember that using shallower joists reduces the insulation depth as well.

The footing drains are not an extra cost, the extra cost part would be me installing a concrete wedge if it is considered worth it. Standard installation is a 4" perforated drain tile buried in 4-6" of gravel. I think it would be a better installation to have it wrapped in a filter fabric sock, with deeper gravel and a filter fabric laid on top.

Concrete is a sponge, and will grab moisture from its environment. Take a look at using Fastfoot on your footings to prevent rising damp. This project here, http://fab-form.com/fastfoot/fastfootProjectBodaConstruction.php, is what should be done on all footings alongside your drainage

I think it would be a better installation to have it wrapped in a filter fabric sock, with deeper gravel and a filter fabric laid on top.

You are correct. That's what I do. However, I'm just the guy who has to live in the house, not make a buck off it.

If I were you I would use an engineer I-joist system for your floor or a webbed floor truss system. I-Joists can be bought with different flange sizes and many lengths not to mention they are much stiffer. They go together just like dimensional lumber joist floors and are all around a better system. The manufactures all have span charts on their websites that show how stiff they are over different spans and spacings so you can achieve as stiff as a floor as you would like. The best route for a solid stiff floor would be webbed floor truss system made to order for your house from a truss company. Im a framing sub and we build many houses and most of them being webbed floor truss systems. Also webbed floor systems allows you to run mechanicals through them and and they are as stiff as it gets. Getting good engineered shop drawing and crane delivery is also a bonus plus they go together much faster too. The cost difference is no as much as one would think.

Screwing down floor should not cost you hardly anything. The difference is less than 50 dollars for fasteners. We screw down floors for free if were asked by the builder or owner so im guessing you will not be charged enough for you to justify going around and doing it by hand.

Thank you all for the helpfull suggestions. I will look more into the wooden I-joists and the webbed floor trusses.

If you are a squeak freak (can't stand a squeeky floor) go with the TJI, the truss plates on a floor truss are known to squeak. As for the vinyl, I would want it fully supported (on the sheathing) just use good windows and flashing/sealing practices and remember that it says in the vsi book that "the wall substrate should be waterproof before the installation of vinyl siding" or something to that effect. Make sure that your siding contr. follows that book to the "T" there are sever steps that involve "turning the water out" on top of the siding that are many times skipped over. Do this and follow the cleaning/maint. on your part and you'll be a satisfied customer. The same would go for cement siding if you opt for that. If you have a high water table and need extra measures to keep your bsmt dry, there are a few "systems" available. The 2 that I have used were installed by the foundation coating guy. One was basically a fancy drain tile sys. that really "hugged" the found. wall. It was rectangular (3"x6"?) with inside and outside corners, and had a filter cloth type covering. The other method was applying a drainage "mesh" type 4x8 sheet that was stuck to the wet found. coating.