- By Hanover Plumbing
- In Gas, Plumbing, Tapware, Tips
- Tags Kitchen, Natural Gas, NZ Homes, Tapware
Future Proofing Ideas For Building Your New Home
When you build a house, you tend to focus on the here and now. You know what you need and how you want to improve upon your current dwelling. You may not be thinking 5-10 years ahead at this point though. Here are some ideas that you may want to consider before you finalise your building plans.
Ideas to Future-Proof Your New Home
Additional Power Points
You may find the use of a room changes quite a bit over time – especially when it’s new. Having extra power points allows you to be flexible in how the room is used and with the layout.
Gas Piping to Kitchen
Even if you aren’t installing a gas stove initially, you may want to upgrade in the future. Having the piping in place already makes it a simple change later.
Piping for Outdoor Gas Appliances
A gas BBQ connection ensures that you never run out of fuel mid-meal! You may want to add an outdoor gas heater, or an outdoor fireplace too. Again, having the gas ready to connect makes for a smooth process when you want to add to your outdoor living area.
Harvesting Rainwater
Does your local council have water meters? If not, you may want to future proof your water supply to save money if meters become standard. You can supplement your council supply with tanks that collect rainwater. Talk to us about options for using rainwater for your toilet water or for washing your clothes. You might leave installing tanks for later but we can ensure that the pipes are there for future plans.
Flexible Mobility
Depending on your age, and how long you plan to live in the new home, you may want to also include wider doorways to allow for easier mobility. In addition, you may wish to add grab rails in the bathroom at a later date. Making sure there are extra fixings in the wall framing means you can add these easily down the track.
Height of Faucets
Again, if you are aging and want to prevent extensive changes should you need a walking frame or wheelchair at some stage, you can consider lowering the height of your tapware. Or you can allow space for adjustments in the future or have piping placed to give you options at a later date.
Some future-proofing can be done easily when you know what you’re looking ahead to so keep these things in mind when building your new home. We are happy to help you with any of your plumbing, drainage and gasfitting plans along the way! For lots of other ideas to future proof the building of your new home, visit Future Proof Building, who specialise in this area.
