Best House Floor Plans

Maintaining a new or old home exceeds adding a new room or changing the schematics of the home plan. A myriad of small fixes do wonders for giving certain rooms of the home a space-lift. Best House Floor Plans compiled a short list  of design tips:

• Replace outdated or broken kitchen fixtures with new updated, eco-friendly appliances and products.

• When it comes to the floors, use the refresh, repair, or replace rule. Maintaining the floors on a regular basis alleviates the changes of making any major repairs or replacements. However, if there is any damage, taking care of it now will prevent investing in a replacement– later.

• Prior to making new furniture purchases, give the room a space-lift. There are five easy fast-fixes for renovating a room, without hiring a contractor:

• De-clutter – Discard unused, outdated or useless furnishing accents. Relocate any objects, which belong in another room.  Discard worn out items.

Home design tip: Remove each decorative accessory. Then, examine each piece to determine if all components concur with the rest of the design scheme.  Recycle or donate any hodgepodge decorative items.

• Dust baseboards and walls.

• Caulk any holes, gouges or dents in the wall.

• Paint any wall space needing a touch up or complete refreshing

• Reorganize and reset all decorative objects, creating a sense of symmetry among decorative items.

• Punctuate the exterior of the home with a decoratve mailbox that maintains the design scheme and the façade of your home  plan.

• Shuffle artwork. Instead of investing in a new collection of artwork, innovate new ways to showcase framed photography and masterpieces. For additional decorative ideas, visit House Plans and More, where there are more than 17,000 house plans and project ideas to put to work.

If you’re planning to have your home architected using green building processes, the proceeding questions and answers illustrate the basics for green building and provide a few detail about building a new house plan.  

What is LEED?

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating System used to be a commercial construction option.  Growing in popularity among homeowners, the green building construction process requires certification to meet various green building benchmarks.

Which organization has oversight over Leadership in Energy an Environmental Design?

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) oversees and helps set the  standards for building homes and buildings in accordance  LEED® building. The USGBC developed benchmarks, which are nationally accepted. LEED® ratings evaluate green building based on three rudimentary criteria: design, construction and the reduction of carbon emission via high-performance environmentally sound buildings.

Which types of home energy construction potentially qualify for LEED® construction?

Geothermal energy and solar energy projects are generally applicable for LEED. Both work to decrease fossil fuels consumption. Since, geothermal energy is a derivative of the earth, it is practically unlimited, requiring minimal energy.

On the other hand, solar energy is quite versatile. With numerous mounting options, roof, shingles, walls, ceilings, and windows, the multi-purposed systems heat water, warm and cool the home.

Are there specific grading systems for LEED?

Yes, the USGBC developed a Green Building Rating System for LEED®, which includes the following rating levels: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Certified. Rating levels are determined by certified contractors.

Aside from building a home that is better for the environment, what are the benefits of green building?

The other advantages and incentives for LEED green building  include the following:

• Architect a healthier place to live
• Conserve on water and energy
• Minimize carbon emissions, which are detrimental to the planet’s eco-system
• Take advantage of various zoning allowances and tax credits
• Lower operational costs, which increase the property’s asset value
• Decrease the amount of waste, which ends up in landfills

Click on LEED Green Building to read about putting your constructing your new house plan into action.

Modular homes are touted as the eco-friendly alternative to building a home of any proportion. When most landowners consider the modular house  floor plan, there tends to be a misconception that the module house floor plan is the same as the mobile home. Review some of the guideline and detailed pertaining to the the modular floor plan.

The construction of the modular house floor plan adheres to the same guidelines as stick-built homes.

Modular house floor plans are structures, which are manufactured off site in a factory and then transported in one or more sections. 

Modular homes must be architected, meeting the guidelines of the Federal Manufactured Construction and Safety Standards and  be labeled accordingly.

As long as the modular home construction is completed within 30 to 60 calendar days, the borrower may seek a lender, who can use a line of credit in conjunction with the FHA-insured home loan.

In order for the modular house floor plan to qualify for an FHA mortgage insurance, it must be in compliance with the proceeding regulations:

• Occupy a minimum of 400 square feet
• Follow the construction in conformance the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards.
• Be manufactured as a place of residence, built according to FHA codes and include a permanent foundation.

To read more about the requirements for building a modular home floor plan, review the Permanent Foundations Guide for Manufactured Housing (PFGMH), by cutting and pasting the following URL: www.huduser.org/publications/destech/permfound.html.

Also, House Plans and More includes a comprehensive library of  modular floor plans, builders, checklists, decorating ideas and more.

Resource: //www.nls.gov/offices/pih/ih/homeownership/184/processing/chap4.htm

Financing the cost to build a new house floor plan requires special financing, referred to as a construction loan. Far more stringent than the conventional home mortgage, the construction loan finances the labor, equipment and building materials to architect a house floor plan.  The proceeding shortlist includes rudimentary facts and requirements pertaining to the construction loan:

When it comes to building a new house floor plan, or customizing a building project, landowners and homeowners have two financing alternatives: the one-time closing loan and a construction-only loan.  The one time closing loan finances both the build and the home loan–whereas the construction loan is for architecting the house plan.

With the one-time closing loan or the “all-in-one construction loan,” it  eliminates the extra step  process of shopping around for a mortgage or home loan. Most borrowers opt for the one time construction loan to have one closing, ultimately reducing closing costs. Prior to opting for the one-time closing loan, make sure that the lender will not require interest payments while the home is under construction.

To calculate the cost of building a new house floor plan, House Plans and More.com has an easy to use House Design Estimating software, click on house plan estimation to calculate the cost of a construction loan and review the download details. 

Upon the house floor plan’s completion, the construction loan transitions into a long-term home loan.

In general, construction loans range in duration from six months to a year, requiring a “draw schedule.” The draw schedule acts as an outline of when specific tasks are to be completed, and the corroborating terms of releasing funds to the builder.

A construction-only loan is a two part financing process. The first closing begins with the construction. A second closing is necessary to refinance the construction loan, transitioning the mortgage into a permanent home loan.

Review other home buying tips.

Although the one-time closing loan saves on closing fees, it inhibits the borrower from shopping around for a home mortgage with a lower interest rate.

On the contrary, the construction loan tends to incur upfront costs, offering more flexibility and an opportunity to recuperate the savings over the mortgage loan.

Read more about obtaining a construction loan to build a new house plan.