Lots of great ideas here. Had to add our experience with the bath jets. We recently redid our main bathroom and H’s only request was that we add a rain shower and body jets. The saleswoman at the bath store was very skeptical - our bathroom isn’t that big. She confirmed with us a few times that we actually wanted all these.
We love them! I use the rain shower only while washing my hair, but H uses it daily. Very light feeling. The hand held shower and the body jets - much higher pressure and they feel wonderful. Taking a shower there is a joy!
Good to hear on your shower set up! The shower is my splurge. Glad to hear it is working for you. If comfortable taking a picture ( or see something similar online) id be interested in the set up that is working for you.
Also, if anyone has a brand of shower/sink faucets and hardware hardware they would like to recommend , I’m taking notes. We have Moen and that brand has served us well. We have replaced several fixtures in the almost 14 years we have lived hear and always great customer service. Since we are the original owners, the replacements were complimentary. It was very easy and I am glad the builder put this brand in. I will probably go with them again in the new build for this reason unless I find something I like in another brand better and someone else has had similar good luck with another brand…like Delta? Anyone?
Moen and Grohe would be my preferences. Relatively easy to replace failing valves in our experience. For toilets, we love Toto brand. Replaced two behemoths in this house with Totos. Kohler is good for sinks and tubs. All IMO!
When we built our house, everything was ordered through a bathroom and kitchen place. We have all Kohler fixtures, and our faucets were all Moen. The kitchen one was very expensive…a pull out white one…very popular in 1995 when we built this house. That first one lasted for a long time…maybe over 10 years…with a gasket replaced by DH once or twice…no big deal.
Then it finally just failed. We went to HD and bought what looked like the very same Moen white faucet. Luckily it came with a one year warranty…as it failed just about a year after purchase and could not be fixed. HD gave us a new one…same model. Same guarantee. It lasted about a year. Piece of junk. They gave me a second replacement. Well…when that one failed, they refused to replace it…and I wasn’t going to spend the money for another one.
Went to Costco of all places, and got a fabulous Hansgrohe faucet that I absolutely love for my kitchen sink. It came highly recommended on some faucet thread here in the Parents Cafe…and it was a real deal at Costco. The plumber who installed it raved about it because all the parts were metal and not plastic. The only reason a plumber did it was because we had new granite installed and that was part of the deal.
Anyway…the HD Moen clearly wasn’t the same quality as the one from the bathroom place. When I asked the plumber, he rolled his eyes. Said…it’s worth getting the better quality ones at the supply places.
So the same Moen warranty doesn’t apply if purchased at Home Depot? I don’t know where our builder purchased the faucets but when I had a problem with one, our handyman suggested I call Moen about the warranty and they replaced it.
My friend’s husband is a contractor - he said the same thing as thumper1 about the different quality (lesser) through HD even though the same brand on plumbing fixtures. Also, I had nothing but headaches dealing w/HD on a house rehab when I purchased flooring from them. Computer issues, couldnt process my credit card over the phone (had to drive an hour to the store for them to run card), employees seemed untrained, etc.
I’d also throw out there that if I had any concerns with folks tracking in dirt/sand and would be reluctant to ask them to remove shoes (I have always been reluctant to ask guests that too!) I would do luxury vinyl floor or something easily cleanable rather than carpet.
In any future house I buy/build I will avoid carpet at all costs. Just never seems to get clean the way other surfaces do.
If you think tracking sand inside will be an issue, would it be worth an outdoor shower or rinse station of some sort? I know those are mostly done for beach houses.
I’m not a wall-to-wall carpet fan. It’s a personal preference but I would consider area rugs. Also, there are great vinyl products out now that closely mimic the look of hardwood but are much more durable (and not having carpet would take care of the awkwardness of asking guests to remove their shoes).
We are shoe removers too and I have “house shoes” that I wear inside. I find that most people will ask about removing shoes (especially if they see a pile of discarded shoes when they come in) but there are those who are just uncomfortable having to do it, or they may have issues with their feet that require wearing shoes for support. Barring a pair of mud-laden boots, I don’t require guests to take their shoes off if they don’t offer to do so (but I also don’t have carpet).
Our primary home is walking distance to the beach. Our outside hose is our feet washing station. You don’t need a full shower just somewhere where people can rinse off their feet. We then enter the house through our sunporch where we have a drop zone for shoes and such and has vinyl tiles. At some point we will upgrade the sunporch to ceramic tile.
Maybe not as fancy as outdoor shower since we will probably only have 3 or 4 months of beach weather, but maybe a strategically placed hose near the basement entrance. We can look into the cost. I’ll see if H is open to carpet alternatives or is set on carpet. I prefer putting down rugs.
If winters are cold enough for pipes to freeze and rupture, I recommend adding a shutoff valve inside the house for outdoor faucets. Turn the valve off, open the faucet to drain the water, and done.
My husband wishes we had a way to shut off the water to house but still run the sprinklers, for extended summer trips. If we don’t shut off the water, he does turn off the water for washer (upstairs) and dishwasher too I think.
Per flooring, I do see some advantage to hard surfaces. I don’t think I’d ever splurge for real hardwood and cover most of it with a big area rug, though I see it done a lot. In bedroom we do like the cushioning of carpet/pad, but usually my shoes are off upstairs.
Comment about area rugs and throw rugs - think about trip hazard. My aunt once had small area rugs and throw rugs in her foyer, I think on top of carpet. A consultant for the elderly had toured the house and encouraged her to get rid of them, but she liked the look. One day we went to visit her as arranged and wondered why it took her so very long to answer the door. It turns out she had tripped on one of the rugs, and it was very difficult to get up. At that point she admitted it was time to get rid of them.
