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Old 07-02-2007, 09:55 PM   #11
Jeff Lebowski
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why?
Most dimmer switches use a rheostat. As they lower the voltage to dim the light, the excess energy is converted to heat. This occurs in a box behind the switch plate.
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Old 07-02-2007, 10:06 PM   #12
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Most dimmer switches use a rheostat. As they lower the voltage to dim the light, the excess energy is converted to heat. This occurs in a box behind the switch plate.

Yep. That particular location I probably need to pull the 600W dimmer and put in a 1000W. It's connected to a bunch of cans so may be pushing the envelope. The 1000W ones just have a bigger heat sink / box for disspating the heat.
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Old 07-02-2007, 10:18 PM   #13
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First things I liked
1. I wasn't a fan of the hardwood floor selection. It's sort of like splitting the difference between new and antique, and it doesn't work for me.
I don't disagree with you on this one. Distressed hardwood is all the rage right now and Mrs. FM had her heart set on it. But I'm not in love with it. I don't hate it by any means but it's not my favorite feature.

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2. carpet selection. I would have chosen a smooth plush tight-weave, not shag. This would help with the upstairs especially.
The carpet is actually called a frieze. And the upstairs is a much lower grade than downstairs. We figured the kids would trash the carpet anyway so why put a lot of money into it.

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3. Slide on the pool is an eyesore. I would have gone with terraced waterfall. More upscale.
Form follows function I suppose. The slide is much more FUN than a waterfall. In general, the entire pool is bigger than I had envisioned, including the grotto/waterfall/slide area. I think it would look better if the whole thing were 10-20% smaller. It was tough to visualize before the dug it though.

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5. I understand the argument of not wasting unused space by making the master bedroom pretty small. But I think you're in the minority, and most potential buyers will be expecting a bigger room. It's out of scale.
Agreed. We debated long and hard on this one but at the end of the day we just decided we were building the house for us. And as you noted, it's highly programmed to our lifestyle. I realize this could be a liability upon resale. You could argue that the entire home automation / server room thing falls under the same category. And the RV Garage. If a potential buyer wants that stuff, it will sell the house. But it would likely turn away a lot of people too.

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6. The light switch with three switches in the upstairs common area was burning hot. Like uncomfortable to touch. I'm not sure if this is a wiring or load issue, related to the breakers that were blowing or not.
You are the 2nd person that pointed this out. I was not even aware of it. I suspect it was a load issue along with the breaker since we had pretty much every light on the house on. But I'll pull it and put in a bigger capacity dimmer anyway. May have the electrician split out another circuit too.

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7. Did you have many ceiling fans installed? Can't remember. While ceiling fans are kind of ugly at times, they can really cut down on the utility bill.
There are fans in every bedroom, the gameroom, the office, 2 in the family/great room, and one on the back porch. So I think we're covered there.

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8. Hard to get out of your driveway. The tire tracks in the mud, are mine. A little more concrete for turning around would be nice.
You must be a crappy driver. I back my motorhome down that driveway with no problems.

I think this was probably a funciton of how many cars were there that night. Usually it's not an issue. In fact there is that little parking spot by the front of the house in addition to all the space between the shop and house where you parked.

We had originally planned a circle drive in front but that was casualty of how far back we set the house so we could have the nice view. As it was the flatwork was way more than we budgeted.


Anyway thanks for the feedback. Looking back through this it almost looks like a point by point rebuttal, which was not my intention. Just some of the rationale on a few of the things you pointed out.
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Old 07-02-2007, 10:21 PM   #14
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I can imagine if I ever have new house built for me, your list of critiques will be much longer and more on point.
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