Are you building a new home? Do you live in a part of the country that experiences cold winters? While one of the best parts of building a new home is choosing all of your custom features and design elements like flooring and kitchen finishes, you shouldn't ignore features that can make your home more convenient and comfortable, especially during the cold winter months. Here are four custom features than can make snow and ice more manageable and can help you get through the winter with as little stress as possible.
An insulated and heated garage. Garages can be huge drains on energy efficiency. They fill up with cold air and then that air sneaks into your home every time you enter and exit the home. Fortunately, it's not hard to change this during the construction process. Insulating your garage can go a long way towards improving energy efficiency. Also, give your garage its own duct work, heating vent, and thermostat. You don't have to keep the garage as warm as the rest of the house, but keeping it slightly warmer than the outdoor temperature will improve your overall efficiency.
Garage floor drains. If you live in an area that gets lots of snow, then you're probably very familiar with the mess snow can bring to garage floors. Your car accumulates snow and ice while you're at work. You then park the car in your garage where the snow melts. Then next morning, you have puddles of water all over your floor. If it gets cold enough, that water can freeze and then you have ice in your garage.
Ask your custom home builder to put some drains in your garage floor. You can then sweep the water towards the drains and quickly clean your garage floor.
Backup generator with cold temperature alarms. This is especially useful if you travel during the winter. If the power goes out, you could lose heat throughout your home. If you're not there to address the issue, you're pipes could eventually freeze, causing costly and damaging leaks.
You can prevent that problem by installing a backup generator to keep the heat flowing. You custom home builder may also be able to put a cold temperature alarm on the generator. When the temperature in your home drops below a certain point, the generator kicks on, powering your furnace and your home heating system.
Ask your custom home builder about other features to help manage cold temperatures. They can likely recommend a number of different options to make your new home comfortable and efficient.
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