​Light Gauge Steel Frame

In the same way as using studs, plates, joists, and rafters in wood frame construction, light gauge steel construction uses studs, plates, beams, and rafters. The material used is lightweight gauge steel rather than wood, as the title suggests. Although s-shaped cross-sections are available, most steel members have a c-shaped cross-section.

Structural parts' composition is of a heavier material than non-load-bearing members. A galvanized coating protects the materials. Light gauge steel building, like wood construction, provides for easy transport of materials and cutting and erecting on the spot.

​Author Bio: Chris Jackson is an experienced Business Development Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the construction industry. He is currently employed by Best Access Doors, an access door supplier in the US and Canada, and has been working for the company for more than 12 years now. His area of expertise is on Negotiation, Roofers, Sales, Project Estimation, and Facility Management (FM)

​Author Bio: Chris Jackson is an experienced Business Development Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the construction industry. He is currently employed by Best Access Doors, an access door supplier in the US and Canada, and has been working for the company for more than 12 years now. His area of expertise is on Negotiation, Roofers, Sales, Project Estimation, and Facility Management (FM)

Author Bio: Chris Jackson is an experienced Business Development Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the construction industry. He is currently employed by Best Access Doors, an access door supplier in the US and Canada, and has been working for the company for more than 12 years now. His area of expertise is on Negotiation, Roofers, Sales, Project Estimation, and Facility Management (FM)

​Paul Netscher has written 2 easy to read books 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volumes 1 and 2'. An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 1 deals with Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home.  and Designing your ideal home Volume 2 deals with Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home. 
​("Great for those that DIY. Very helpful in home renovations!" said a Reader on Amazon.com 5*****)
These books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores in paper and ebook.

It’s good practice to inform your neighbours of what construction work will be taking place on your property, when it will start, the expected duration and how the building work will impact them. This can be done in a letter drop, or by visiting them. Try and allay any concerns they may have about the building and renovation work. Be honest – don’t tell them there won’t be noise when there always is with construction. It’s useful to provide them with your contact details so they can talk to you if they have any concerns during the construction process.

Always notify neighbours ahead of time when access to their homes may be disrupted. Neighbours forewarned are often more understanding.
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Always try and resolve conflicts involving the construction work with your neighbours as soon as possible. Never let problems escalate where people could start digging their heals in because they feel their concerns and grievances aren’t being heard. Unfortunately minor annoyances can turn into major problems.

​Make sure that your contractors consider your neighbours. This includes that:

• They only work within normal hours as permitted by the local authorities.
• They don’t make unnecessary noise, especially when people could still be in bed.
• Their workers don’t swear or shout.
• They don’t damage neighbour’s property.
• They are considerate where they park, which includes not blocking neighbour’s driveways and garage entrances, not parking on the neighbour’s sidewalk and not blocking roadways.
• They don’t litter in the street.
• They keep the construction site tidy, regularly removing rubbish.
• They take steps to reduce dust from the work.
• They provide notice ahead of when roads may be blocked by delivery vehicles or cranes.

This could be discussed at Kick-off meeting with your building contractors
which we discussed in our previous article.

You will probably have to live next to your neighbours long after your home renovation project, or your new home is, is completed. Don't let your building works irritate your neighbour, or damage your relationship.

A little extra care by your building contractors will ensure that problems are kept to a minimum. Good communication between you and your neighbours, and your contractors and your neighbours can smooth over many of the issues. Most neighbours are understanding - especially when you communicate with them. Always put yourself in their shoes. Understand how you would feel in their place with the building works. Are you being fair to your neighbour?

​You need to manage your building contractors to minimise annoying and inconveniencing your neighbours.

​This is an extract from the author's book 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses: Volume 1 Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home'.
​© 2021 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author.

​Paul Netscher has written 2 easy to read books 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volumes 1 and 2'. An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 1 deals with Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home.  and Designing your ideal home Volume 2 deals with Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home. 
​("Great for those that DIY. Very helpful in home renovations!" said a Reader on Amazon.com 5*****)
These books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores in paper and ebook.

Before your contractor starts work on your home building or home renovation project it's good practice to ensure everything is in place for your project.

Important questions to ask were discussed in our article Questions to ask before starting a home renovation, or building a new house. Then we said to check your insurance Before starting your home building project check your insurance. Another important topic was locating and protecting utility lines Locating and protecting utility lines while building or renovating your house. Of course always make sure this is the right time to start construction When to start your home build and renovation project. Is now the right time? We also noted how important it was to ensure all planning permissions were in place Why you shouldn't start work without all the planning permissions in place.

Right so you've done all that. You've ​Checking Your Contractor's Price (Quotation). Finally you've awarded the contract to a contractor. Can you let them simply start work?

Well it's good practice to have kick-off or start-up meeting with the contractor and their supervisors and project manager before they start working on your new home or renovation project.

​This meeting is useful to:

• Know who the responsible people for the project are.
• Exchange contact details.
• Discuss the planned construction methods and what the first tasks will be.
• Understand if there’re any problems or potential problems.
• Set up communication channels and protocols.
• Ensure that the required access to work areas will be provided on time.
• Check that the contractor has sufficient construction information to start work on the project.
• Ensure that all construction permits and permissions have been received.
• Ensure that everyone knows what has to be done.
• Understand the contractor’s requirements for laydown areas (place for materials and equipment).
• Ensure that everything is in place from all parties so that building work can proceed unhindered.
• Check that the contractor is aware of any hazards on the project site.
• Confirm that the contractor is aware of project specific rules - like working hours, parking, protecting certain areas, areas off-limits, security, etc.
• Check that the contractor has a safety plan and has procedures in place in case of an accident.
• Check that the contractor will provide toilets for their workers and that the project site will be suitably barricaded.
• Confirm the process for instituting changes and submitting variations and invoices.

To make this meeting go smoother and ensure you cover everything prepare a checklist of everything that needs to be discussed. You can even print out a copy of this list to handout at the meeting.

Don't forget to take down the details of attendees, and importantly their contact details.

Make notes of things you committed to attend to at the meeting, then ensure you follow through.

You may even want to keep notes of the things discussed at the meeting for future reference. Even consider circulating a record of the discussion to all attendees.

It's important to set the right tone for the building project, ensuring that everyone knows what to do, understands project rules and hazards, and knows what is expected from them. You certainly don't want things going wrong with your home building project - especially problems which should have been avoided with good communication.

Of course now that you've had your kick-off meeting and the contractor is good to go that does not mean that you can sit back and relax, returning only when the contractor has finished your new home. In our article When inspecting your new home build and renovation project you should check we examined that you should regularly check your contractors.

​This is an extract from the author's book 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses: Volume 1 Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home'.
​© 2021 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author.

​Paul Netscher has written 2 easy to read books 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volumes 1 and 2'. An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 1 deals with Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home.  and Designing your ideal home Volume 2 deals with Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home. 
​("Great for those that DIY. Very helpful in home renovations!" said a Reader on Amazon.com 5*****)
These books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores in paper and ebook.

We discussed Purchasing Building Materials For Your Home Building Project in a previous article. In that article we said that you must ensure you understand how the material will be off-loaded when it arrives on your project, whether that's a new build home, or a renovation of an existing home.

In this article we look at planning building material deliveries, what to check before you offload the materials, then protecting your building materials

You probably have limited space to stack and store materials when you are building or renovating a home so you need to plan deliveries so items arrive just before they’re required for construction.

In many cases you may have to offload the trucks, and this has to be done safely and in a limited time. Accident offloading reinforcing steel. For instance, trucks delivering concrete come in six cubic metre (six cubic yards) loads (sometimes four, five or eight). Smaller loads get charged at a higher rate. But concrete goes off usually within four hours so the truck needs to be offloaded and the concrete placed in this time. But, concrete suppliers also charge extra if their trucks aren’t offloaded within a specified period (often fifteen to thirty minutes) and these charges can quickly mount up. Worse still, some suppliers may refuse to wait long periods while you organise to offload their vehicles or finish other tasks. Of course with concrete trucks you don’t want to be waiting for the second truck of concrete while the concrete that’s already been placed sets, which could result in a ‘cold joint’ in the concrete which impacts the structure’s integrity. So concrete suppliers must be aware of the gap you want between the trucks. See Understanding Concrete - Why Builders Need to Know More

Deliveries have to be carefully planned and timed. You should:

• Know where you’re going to place the material – this area should be ready.
• Know how you’re going to offload the items.
• Have the correct means to offload the items – which could include cranes and lifting slings.
• Be ready to receive the material.
• Not be standing waiting for the building material.
• Know the sizes, quantities and weights of the construction materials. Having a crane that is too small to lift the materials will mean the items can’t be offloaded, or in the worst case even result in an accident.
• Preferably place the materials close to where they’re required.

Before building materials are offloaded the delivery documents should be checked to see that the materials are in fact for your project (you won’t be the first project to offload materials which weren’t intended for them) and that the materials are correct. You definitely don’t want to be placing concrete in your house that’s of a lower strength than what’s specified.
​
Check that the construction materials are of the right quality. Defective and broken materials should be reported on the delivery document and the supplier should be notified immediately in writing. Preferably the defective and broken materials should be returned to the supplier on the same vehicle.

Building materials should be stacked so they’re accessible and in a manner that they won’t topple over (even in a strong wind) damaging the items and even injuring someone. Materials shouldn’t be offloaded where they’ll block access to work areas, or block, or restrict, public walkways and roads.

Some construction materials must be protected from the sun or rain. They should be kept under shelter or covered by tarpaulins. Tarpaulins must be securely tied down after items are removed from the stack. Handle materials carefully so they aren’t damaged.
​
Light items, such as roof sheets and boards should be tied down so unexpected winds don’t blow them into the air, which is dangerous and damages the materials and the items they come in contact with.
​
Expensive items that can easily be stolen should be locked in sheds or chained on the property. Theft of building materials is costly and results in delays.

Building materials are expensive so you don't want them damaged, stolen, or wasted. You also don't want to be paying for damaged materials received from the supplier, or for materials which you did not receive. Delivery trucks which are kept waiting to be offloaded could cost you extra money, or possibly the truck could go back to the depot before you've offloaded your materials and you may have to wait a few days before the materials are delivered to your project again - which will cause delays and result in additional costs.

​This is an extract from the author's book 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses: Volume 1 Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home'.
​© 2021 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author.

​​Paul Netscher has written 2 easy to read books 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volumes 1 and 2'. An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 1 deals with Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home.  and Designing your ideal home Volume 2 deals with Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home. 
​("Great for those that DIY. Very helpful in home renovations!" said a Reader on Amazon.com 5*****)
These books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores in paper and ebook.

In our last 2 articles we have looked at designing and planning the layout of your new home. In Designing the layout of your new home we looked at things that could influence the layout and design of your new home. In our second article Designing the layout of your new home part 2  we discussed how many rooms and their functions, then imagining living in your new home.

In this article we consider the size of the rooms. What is the right size bedroom, the right size bathroom, the right size kitchen, and the right size living room? Is there an optimum size?

​Once the house is complete it's too late to find the rooms are too small, or too big. It's usually far to expensive to change, so you usually have to live with the rooms as they are. So it's essential to carefully decide the size of the rooms and the home layout before construction starts.

​It’s hard to assess the best size of rooms. The larger the rooms the more the house will cost. Larger rooms also require more energy to heat and cool. Overly large rooms can appear empty, almost soulless. However, small rooms often appear crowded and pokey. It’s best to visit different houses and look at individual rooms to decide the best size for you.

The size of room is also influenced by the type of furniture you have, or intend to purchase. Big bulky furniture needs more space.

​Large families also require larger family areas. The size of family areas could also be dictated by the amount of entertaining and the number of friends that visit. Obviously if you regularly have large family gatherings you require sufficient seating for everyone.

To judge the scale of rooms you can draw and cut out some items of furniture to scale, then draw various size rooms to the same scale and try and fit the furniture into the rooms. But, remember to take account of the position of doors and windows. You usually don’t want furniture in front of windows, and doorways always take up space, both for the doors to open and also for people to walk through.

Where there’s a separate dining room ensure there’s sufficient space to fit a dining table suitable for the family as well as a number of guests. The room must be wide enough and long enough to fit the table, plus have people seated at the table, while still allowing space behind those that are seated for others to comfortably pass without knocking pictures off the wall. Allowing place for a side table is useful as it provides space to put dishes of food before and after serving.

Fortunately many designers now use software which can show the rooms in 3-dimensions, and with virtual reality systems it’s possible to ‘walk through’ the room and see it fully furnished. You can also purchase apps to view rooms in 3-D.

The size of room could also depend on the amount of storage you require for clothes, hobbies, kitchenware, etc.

The size of rooms should also take into account what future buyers might be looking for. So for instance, you may have very little need for a kitchen, or only a very small kitchen, yet the majority of future buyers will almost certainly be looking for a family kitchen if you’re building a three bedroom home.
​
When considering future buyers it’s pertinent to consider the price range that you may be aiming for. Generally buyers looking at more expensive properties in more affluent areas would expect extra generously sized rooms, particularly for the master bedroom and bathroom. Clever use of space can make small rooms appear bigger.

Your home does not have to be the biggest house. Rather it must be the house that best suits your family's needs, while fitting your budget, and of course fitting your block of land. A secondary consideration is your resale market, because inevitably you will want to, or have to, sell your home when circumstances change.

It is important to give careful thought to the number and size of rooms, and their layout relative to each other. All these decisions to be made before construction starts. Remember that during construction rooms can look smaller than they are and there's often the temptation to make major changes to the house during construction. This is expensive. Sure check that the rooms are a suitable size, but don't leap to rash decisions based on your observations only.

​This is an extract from the author's book  'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses: Volume 2 - Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home' 
​© 2021 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author.

​Paul Netscher has written 2 easy to read books 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volumes 1 and 2'. An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 1 deals with Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home.  and Designing your ideal home Volume 2 deals with Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home. 
​("Great for those that DIY. Very helpful in home renovations!" said a Reader on Amazon.com 5*****)
These books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores in paper and ebook.

In our previous article Designing the layout of your new home we mentioned that some houses are poorly designed, rooms too small, too large, narrow rooms, bathrooms separated from the bedrooms by the living areas. Indeed I visited one house where you had to go through the kitchen to get to the only toilet in the house. In fact there wasn't even a washbasin or sink by the toilet, and after using the toilet you had to wash your hands in the kitchen, or in the bathroom on the other side of the kitchen - not a very hygienic situation at all.

​So where do you start with designing your new home and planning the layout? Below are some suggestions on where to start with your design.

Take ideas from houses you lived in. Know what worked well and what arrangements didn’t work for you and your family.

Visit homes for sale and display houses and consider which layouts work for you. Look at various layouts. You’ll soon develop a feel for where you want the front door and how the house will flow from there. Where would you like the bedrooms to be relative to the living areas, and do you want your main bedroom separated from the other bedrooms?

​In your head imagine walking through the house following your normal daily routine.

• Are things where you expect them to be?
• Imagine greeting visitors at the front door. What will they see first? Walk them through to the living room. What do they walk past? What do they see when they get to the living room?
• Now imagine the children are at home. Where will they be and what will they be doing? Where will they do their schoolwork? Where will they play?
• You want to watch the television. Will it be alone or with the family? Will you be able to see the television during the day, or will there be reflections from the windows on the screen?
• Where will you go for some peace and quiet? Where will you go to do your taxes and other paperwork.
• Imagine getting up in the morning. Will the bathroom be free? Who else will be up at the same time? (Adding an extra toilet room can ease congestion in the mornings and make for a more congenial start to the day.) Will people be getting in each other’s way?
• Where will you enjoy family meals? Is this convenient to the kitchen?
• Now imagine arriving home with a load of grocery shopping. What’s the route to get the shopping inside and where will you put it?
• What if it’s raining and a visitor arrives at the front door? Will they get wet while they’re waiting for you to open the door? Where will they put their wet umbrella and coat?
• What if it’s raining and the children can’t go outside?
• What do you like doing on hot summers days?
• Where will you be in winter?
• If the children are playing loud music in their bedrooms how will it impact the rest of the house? If the television is on loud can you escape it?
• What view will you see from your bedroom when you get up in the morning? What view do you see from the kitchen? What will you see from your living room? Will the views be different in summer and winter?
• What will the neighbours see?
• Imagine living in your house on workdays, holidays and at night.
• Where will the sun be in the morning and where will it be in the afternoon? Will daylight reach all the rooms, or will you need the lights on inside during the day?
• What defines the different spaces in your home? What connects them?
• How does the outside tie with the inside?
• What will the house look like from the outside?
• When you live in the house how will you respond to it and how will it respond to you?
• What impression will visitors have of your house?
• Will it be a home?
• Is it a comfortable place that you and your family will enjoy living in?

​Houses with a rectangular layout are often cheaper to construct and the roof is simpler to design and build. But rectangular might not suit all your requirements and the outside could be boring. For more complex external shapes consider what the roof will look like and how the roof will accommodate the external walls of the house.

The number and type of rooms is usually dictated by your budget, the size (or intended size) of your family and extended family (which could include elderly parents who live with you) visitors that stayover (especially distant family), the age of your children (with teenagers possibly wanting a separate entertainment area where they won’t bother the rest of the family), hobbies, your lifestyle and the amount of entertaining you do at home. But it’s also wise to consider what future buyers may be looking for. You may be happy to have a two bedroom home and one garage and bathroom, but this could be restrictive for future buyers. The majority of buyers are probably families, which as a minimum could be looking for three bedrooms, two bathrooms and two garages.
​
You might not be looking for a third bedroom, but it might be wise to have a study, office or workroom which has electrical points, doors, windows and cupboards in the right places so that a future buyer can just as easily use it as a third bedroom.

​There are many things to consider when designing and planning a new house. Many of the decisions you make are very difficult and expensive to undo once construction has started. So be sure to think through everything carefully and discuss the layout with your partner so you are both in agreement.

Employing a good architect will help you avoid some of the mistakes. But it is your house, you will live in the house, so you want a house that suits you, your partner, your family, and your lifestyles. Remember your architect is not the one going to be living in the house when it is finished. They may have some good ideas and layouts, but be sure that these are what you want, layouts that will suit you. So architects can often help you avoid basic errors when planning your home, but they need guidance from you as to what you are looking for, the type of house that you want to live in.

​Be sure to study plans your architect produces, understand the layouts and imagine living in the house, imagine moving between the rooms.

​In our next article we discuss the size of rooms.

​This is an extract from the author's book  'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses: Volume 2 - Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home' 
​© 2021 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author.

​Paul Netscher has written 2 easy to read books 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volumes 1 and 2'. An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 1 deals with Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home.  and Designing your ideal home Volume 2 deals with Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home. 
​("Great for those that DIY. Very helpful in home renovations!" said a Reader on Amazon.com 5*****)
These books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores in paper and ebook.

Many houses are poorly laid out. They could even appear like a crazy patchwork quilt, with rooms fitted together with little thought on their connectedness, or the association between adjoining rooms.

The layout of your house depends to a large extent on your life-style.

Many owners prefer an open plan living, dining, family and kitchen area where these rooms are combined into one large common area. This allows for easy flow, it avoids doors and passageways which creates more living space, it lets more light into the spaces, and it allows for the family to interact more freely.

The disadvantages of an open plan system are that in summer the whole area has to be cooled and in winter the whole area has to be heated, even areas which aren’t being used. This results in increased energy bills. It also makes it difficult to separate family areas from where guests are being entertained, and if you’re someone that doesn’t like your visitors to see a mess it means that the whole area has to be tidied and the rest of the family may have to be banished to their bedrooms before visitors arrive. It also means that when there’s a noise in the kitchen, those watching television might not be able to hear their favourite program, while that program could be annoying to others who want to talk.
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Some families design their houses so parents and children live in separate wings, or even levels, possibly providing separate entrances to these areas. This living arrangement can be particularly well suited for older children.

​The layout of your house could also be influenced by:

• The shape and size of your property. Small properties may require the house to go upwards with two or more floors. Narrow properties, or irregular shaped properties could dictate the design of your home.
• The orientation of the property.
• The direction of views. In some cases you may elect to have the living areas on the second level to make the most of the views (sometimes called an upside-down layout) with the bedrooms downstairs.
• Access to your property, which dictates the location of garages and the front door.
• The topography of the property. Sloping properties may require the floor levels inside the house to be stepped.
• The size of your rooms.
• The architecture and style of the home.
• The location of structures on neighbouring properties which could impact privacy.
• Existing features on the property which you want to retain, such as trees.
• The location of sewer pipe (wastewater) connections which could impact the location of bathrooms, kitchens and laundries. Sewer pipes connect from the bathrooms, kitchen and laundry to the town system. These pipes have to flow at a constant slope to the town connection. If the height difference between the outlets of the house and the town system is small then the house waste pipes may have to exit at a point closer to the town connection to reduce the length of pipe, thus increasing the fall or slope of the pipe. See later.
• Noise sources. You may want to place bedrooms away from external noise sources such as busy roads.
• The flow. When visitors enter your house what do they see and where do their eyes go? How do the different parts of the house connect together?
• Privacy. You probably don’t want visitors walking past the kitchen to get to entertainment areas.
• Functionality is important, so kitchens should be close to eating areas. Bathrooms near bedrooms so occupants don’t have to walk past visitors to go from their bedrooms to the bathroom. Living areas should be next to the outdoor living areas.
• You want as little wasted space for passages (corridors) as possible. Anyway long passages can be dark, uninviting and make the house seem like a hotel.
• The relationship of the different sizes of rooms. Ultimately they all have to mesh together without wasted space between them, or awkward nooks and hidden corners in rooms.
• What rooms you want in the front of the house and what you want at the back of the house.
• On multistorey houses, the layout of upstairs areas is influenced to a certain extent by the layout below, as well as the location of the stairs.

In our next article we delve more into planning and designing the layout of your new home. We suggest how you should begin with this important task.

​This is an extract from the author's book  'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses: Volume 2 - Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home' 
​© 2021 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author.

Choosing the right hot water system for your new home is important. Not only are they expensive to install, but they can be costly to run. It’s also frustrating if you frequently can’t get hot water for your shower or bath, so the hot water system in your home must be efficient, effective and suitable for the number of occupants in the house.

​There are various types of home hot water systems which include:

• Electric storage, which uses a heating element inside a tank to heat the water, similar to an electric kettle. These are the most expensive to operate since they keep the whole tank of water at constant temperature, even when hot water isn’t being used.
• Heat pumps are efficient water heaters that extract heat from the air to heat water. They can use less than one third the electricity of electric storage water heaters. Heat pumps can operate effectively in temperatures as low as -10C (14F).
• Continuous flow gas water heaters heat water only when it’s needed. Gas may be piped from an external utility supplier or from refillable bottles.

When selecting your system some important factors to consider include:

• Household size. Remember to consider your family’s size in the future – you don’t want to be installing a bigger system in 10 years’ time because there’re more people living in the house.
• The cost. Consider not only the price of the system and installation, but also the operating costs over the life of the system, which will be far in excess of the original purchase price.
• Planning or building controls that limit solar panels being placed on roofs.
• Your local climate, or shading from neighbouring trees or buildings, may limit solar access to your roof.
• The available energy sources. Natural gas may not be available in your area.
• When tank storage systems are used, then note that they’re bulky. This impacts where they’re installed and when they’re installed in the building process. If large tanks are placed in the roof space they may need to be installed before the roof or ceiling are completed. Full tanks often weigh several hundred kilograms so the roof must be able to support the tanks.
• Gas heaters should be installed outside, or they must have a flue to to vent excess gas

It's important to select the right hot water system for your new home, or when renovating and remodelling your home. Systems which are too small for your household will be frustrating and inconvenient. Some systems may have cheaper installation costs, but there running costs may be higher which in the long run may make them more expensive.

There are many factors to consider, and what is the right solution for one family, one house, or in a different location, may not be the best choice for your circumstances now.
​
Always take into account future changes - future changes to your household, changes in technology, and of course changes in the type of available energy sources and the cost of energy in the future.
​
Consult experts and don't be swayed by salespersons to go for a system they are pushing.

Other useful articles
​Bathroom Design Essentials - What You Should Consider When Designing, Building and Renovating Your Ultimate Bathroom - Part 1
Choosing lights for your new home
How to make your home green and environmentally friendly and save money
Other Resources
​Build and Renovate your Home

​This is an extract from the author's book  'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses: Volume 2 - Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home' 
​© 2021 This article is not to be reproduced for commercial purposes without written permission from the author.

​Paul Netscher has written 2 easy to read books 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volumes 1 and 2'. An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 1 deals with Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home.  and Designing your ideal home Volume 2 deals with Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home. 
​("Great for those that DIY. Very helpful in home renovations!" said a Reader on Amazon.com 5*****)
These books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores in paper and ebook.