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Building a New House

Jadow

Jadow

Diamond Member
Got some decisions to make, wondering if ATOT has an opinion, I know one guy on here built a house and had all kinds of pics awhile back.

Basic Info: location Wisconsin, size, 1900sq ft upstairs, another 1300 or so in a finished walk-out basement.

Q1. Should I pay about 1800 extra for a natural gas heater in the garage. The garage will be insulated.

Q2. Marvin Integrity Windows or Anderson 400 series

Q3. Should I pay an extra $700 for a 96% furnace with a variable speed fan vs a 95% that has 1 speed.

Q4. Granite counter tops or Quartz?
 
That was probably me with all the pics of my build 🙂

1) Depends. How much work do you do out in the garage, and how cool do you mind it? I've got three stalls (a single and double door), two windows, and two entry doors. It was almost -10F the other day and my garage was still 45 degrees. That's plenty warm to do basic vehicle maintenance and other stuff. Beverages will never freeze.

If you need it warmer, I'd heavily consider going radiant heat over forced air.

2) No clue

3) No clue 🙂

4) Quartz all the way.
 
Wisconsin is one cold state. If you want to be in your garage during the winter I'd get some sort of heating. For Q3 I'd get whichever is more efficient. You'll save that $700 over time if you live there long enough. Q4 I've always liked granite.

Q2 will just take some googling I would think.
 
yeah it was you, there was like an extra pipe under the floor in your basement you were worried about. heh

As for the garage, I don't really work out there much, it is a big garage, 18 foot door and a 9 foot door, and about 30 feet deep by 35 feed wide, but my 11 year old truck has trouble starting when it's like 5 degrees or colder. Maybe just having the insulated garage sharing a wall with the house will be good enough to bring it 10-15 degrees warmer than outside.

I'll probably rough in for it, but not install the heater right away.

As for radiant heat, yeah I looked into that, for the basement floor, and while it's really nice, I heard it costs a fair amount of money to heat all that water constantly.
 
1) As had been said, depends on how much you plan on being in your garage in winter. If its insulated anyway, I wouldn't.

2) Whichever has the higher R rating and, more importantly, whichever aesthetically pleases you more.

3) Yes. It's Wisconsin. You want as much efficiency as you can possibly get. $700 seems like a minimal investment (to me).

4) Quartz is lower maintenance than granite is. If I recall, granite needs to be re-sealed every so often, whereas quartz does not. Quartz is, however, more expensive.
 
You can figure out the answer to 3. Estimate what your bill will be, take ~1.05% of that, and that'll be your savings. Figure out what your savings will be over the life of the furnace, discount those cash flows back at the rate of your mortgage, and see if the NPV is > $700.

I can do it if you give me:

1. Life of the furnace (20 yrs?)
2. Your mortgage rate
3. Estimated heating bill and frequency ($100/mo etc)
 
silverpig said:
You can figure out the answer to 3. Estimate what your bill will be, take ~1.05% of that, and that'll be your savings. Figure out what your savings will be over the life of the furnace, discount those cash flows back at the rate of your mortgage, and see if the NPV is > $700.

I can do it if you give me:

1. Life of the furnace (20 yrs?)
2. Your mortgage rate
3. Estimated heating bill and frequency ($100/mo etc)
Click to expand...

The 1% efficiency difference isn't really much, the price difference is more for the variable speed fan.
 
Tweak155 said:
Wisconsin is one cold state. If you want to be in your garage during the winter I'd get some sort of heating. For Q3 I'd get whichever is more efficient. You'll save that $700 over time if you live there long enough. Q4 I've always liked granite.

Q2 will just take some googling I would think.
Click to expand...

yeah I find 10 answers saying go with Marvin and 10 with Anderson. I think they're pretty much equal.
 
I've got 2x6 framing and 1" foamboard around the outside of my house. My garage doors are 16x 9 and 8x9 but they are very thick with a 2" foam insulation inside them. Something like an R45 insulating value. Got them at Menards for around $2200. Excellent value IMHO, especially for the looks.

Like I said, I have no heating in my garage and my temps can be almost a full 50 degrees warmer than the outside. It was -10 outside the other night, my garage was 44 when I left for work in the morning, and that was after my wife had already left and let some cold air in from her exit. If it's in the 20 degree range, my garage is more like 55 degrees.
 
Of coarse it would cost more up front, but you may want to consider a separate heat pump for the basement. This is the way we built ours, and over the years it has really paid off! Keep the main one, and with 3, or 4 LESS vents to push air though it won't have to work as hard, perhaps last longer. Wife could have had any counter top she wanted, but in the end, she choose Formica 😕. Said it had to do with durability, and maintenance.
 
1) Rough it in and see what happens. Worse case scenario is that you don't put one in, but the next home owner does, and most of the hard work is already done.
2) Go witn Anderson windows if it's a coin flip.
3) Go with the variable speed fan. Also, if you haven't looked into this yet, look at getting a whole house humidifier.
4) Quartz
 
I would save the money in the garage if it was me

Andersen windows IMO have better casements

Yes on the 96%

Quartz is worth the money if you plan on that being your longtime house

All my opinion anyway 😉
 
For the garage heat, why do you need a natural gas heater? Can you just add a zone onto your existing system? If you have radiant heat they make these heaters that are basically like forced air but the element is heated with water. You could leave it off most of the time and switch that zone on whenever you need to.

For what it's worth, I have a relatively new home ( < 5 years) and a large 3 car garage. It does have radiant floor heat in the slab but it rarely turns on because I keep the garage thermostat at about 50. The heat loss from the home as well as the furnace being in the garage keep it warm most of the time.

I live in Alaska, BTW. -20 hits frequently and the garage zone still rarely comes on.

One thing I would recommend though: make sure your boiler is using outside air for combustion. You want a vent bringing it into your boiler. This way you are not using the air that you have heated and instead you are burning the colder outside air. Just a suggestion and it really doesn't add cost to the construction of your home.
 
The variable speed fan is worth it in my opinion. Makes it more comfortable when the heater first kicks on as you don't get that sudden blast of cold air clearing the ductwork.
 
Anyone have a particular reason for the 96&#37; furnace? You'll never pay it off. People at the HVAC supply houses have waned me against using the variable speed blowers. $200-$400 for a motor and they don't stock them. So not only do you pay 4-6X the price for parts vs a regular blower, but you have to wait for them to order it. I imagine prices and availability will improve over time.
 
drnickriviera said:
Anyone have a particular reason for the 96% furnace? You'll never pay it off. People at the HVAC supply houses have waned me against using the variable speed blowers. $200-$400 for a motor and they don't stock them. So not only do you pay 4-6X the price for parts vs a regular blower, but you have to wait for them to order it. I imagine prices and availability will improve over time.
Click to expand...

I stated it in the post right above yours, it's purely a comfort thing.

My wife and I had our single speed heater replaced about 10 years ago, and could not be happier. The fan runs at low speed as the heat builds up so that you don't get a big blast of cold air coming out of the vents when the heater first kicks on.
 
1. Find out how much electric baseboard heater ++ install, because you don't need much heat in garage. IMHO you don't need gas heater in garage.

2. Don't know

3. Variable speed fan is better than single speed for control & noise level, and $700 is a bit steep if only the blower is the different (should be a couple of hundred bux different). If furnace with variable speed fan have multi stage burner instead of single stage burner & single speed fan furnace then it is definitely worth the different in price.

4. Don't know
 
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1. For your use you don't need the heater. I would see what the cost to bring the gas line to the garage is in case you want it in the future.

2. Don't know

3. The higher efficiency furnace will never pay for itself. It is probably worth it from a comfort standpoint though.

4. Granite
 
Drako said:
The variable speed fan is worth it in my opinion. Makes it more comfortable when the heater first kicks on as you don't get that sudden blast of cold air clearing the ductwork.
Click to expand...
Not only that variable speed fan tend to be 3 speeds, low/med/high for noise control.

Single speed fan tend to fail more often than dual speed or 3 speed fan if the filter aren't taken care of or return air blockage, because it make the fan vibrate ++ high resistant on the motor due to incapable of step down in speed.

Furnace with variable speed fans are easier to control than singe speed for balancing as well as sizing.
 
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the DRIZZLE said:
1. For your use you don't need the heater. I would see what the cost to bring the gas line to the garage is in case you want it in the future.

2. Don't know

3. The higher efficiency furnace will never pay for itself. It is probably worth it from a comfort standpoint though.

4. Granite
Click to expand...
Don't let the manufacture number fool you in efficiency rating when compare between single & multiple stage burners furnace.

If everything created equally in an ideal situation a single stage burner & multiple stage burner efficiency are pretty much the same.

However in real world scenario a single stage burner would cycle more often than a multi stage because temperature range/heat lost rarely in the ideal threshold. Hence, single stage burner become less efficient.
 
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thanks for all the info guys.

FWIW the furnace models are Amana AMH95 vs AMV9 the AMV is the nicer one with variable speed.

I'm going to pass on heating the garage, roughing in a gas line will cost like $100, so I might do that.
 
Sluggo said:
Honeywell has a programmable thermostat that well run the HVAC fan occasionally even when the furnace/AC units aren't running to circulate the air a bit. Only runs about $125 or so, may give you a similar effect of a two speed fan for a lot less money.

http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-TH83...ata/B000WTG03A
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Most homeowner do not like circulation mode because it feels cold due to rushing air at the registers. And, full speed blower at on & off will exacerbate the problem.
 
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