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Make sure they put a wall socket under the eve of your
roof so you do not have to rig your porch light to power your
Christmas lights.
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In your bathroom cut a 1/2" deep and about 2'
tall groove in every 2x4 at about waist high. Then put 1/2" thick plywood along the
wall in the groove making it flush with all the 2x4s. That way when you hang your towel racks you do not
have to always go searching for a stud.
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There is no such thing as too many wall sockets in a
garage, kitchen, office, and living room.
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Label the circuit breakers to which rooms they power
while the wiring diagram is fresh in your memory. And use weather proof labels and ink!
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Have your water line installed with the ability to add a
water softener (even if you decide to do it later)
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Run conduit from your data boxes
to the attic so that later you can
always run network wire, fiber optic cable, coax cable, etc.
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Get a larger service panel than what you need. Then when
you want to install that 240V 60A welder, the 6HP 33 Gal. air compressor,
and the 6.25 HP 16 Gal shop vac with blower accessory and run all
these at the same time, you will be able to add an extra circuit breaker.
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Wire your kitchen sink for a garbage disposal (you can
always install one later)
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Wire the ceiling of your garage with a wall socket for a
garage door opener.
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Wire the ceiling of your garage with wall sockets for
extra lighting. Have these wall sockets terminate at a switch on the wall.
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Know where the beams are in the ceiling of the garage so
you can install heavy duty hooks to hang bicycles, tools, etc.
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One word: Pegboard
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Run speaker wire from where you would locate your stereo
system to remote locations where you would want music (like you back yard
or garage)
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Take plenty of pictures while it is being built for
reference later.
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If you have a 2 story house, do a good job insulating the
walls from the sewage drain that runs from the upstairs toilets so that
you don't have a really loud gushing sound whenever someone flushes.
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If you plan on living at your new house for the rest of
your life, consider making it handicap accessible.
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Want hot water immediately when you turn on the hot water
at your sink? Run the hot water from your water heater tank in a
single pipe to all your water faucets, then have it loop back to the cold
water intake on your hot water heater. Use a small water pump to
circulate the water and a check vale to prevent cold water from running
the back way. Be sure to insulate all your hot water pipes!
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Put plastic grommets around
the water pipes where they go through holes in the studs. This will
prevent the sound of rushing water whenever someone turns on a faucet.
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Place a wall socket in a
centralized location so that you can vacuum the majority of the house
without having to search for a plug.
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Ream out all our copper
fittings. This prevents water turbulence so when particles (such as
sand) are traveling through the water they are not flung against the pipe.
This is why when pipes leak it is almost always near a fitting.