There are many things to consider when you decide to build your own home. For those with building experience many of these things are second nature, but for someone like myself who has never ventured into this territory before, the process can seem a bit daunting. My wife and I have just started toying with the idea of building our own home and it’s been fun searching through all the house plans out there on the web, getting lots of interior ideas from one of our favorite magazines, Renovation Style, and really just trying to get a handle on what it is we want in a home and what we can realistically afford. Make no mistake, there’s a lot of work to be done in this area in order to build a house, but I consider this the fun, superficial stuff.

The other aspect of homebuilding involves much of what you can’t see or what you don’t really think about on a regular basis. These are the structural components – the building materials, insulation, heating and cooling systems, plumbing, electrical and so on. Now it’s possible to turn over all decisions on these matters to the builder, and to be honest, a lot of people do for the simple reason that they don’t know about these things, don’t care to know, or don’t have time to find out. But the more research I do on homebuilding the more I’ve realized that it’s important to know about these things. Being an informed homebuilder could mean having a more energy efficient home that leads to reduced energy costs. It could also mean reducing the cost of materials or installation during the homebuilding process. And finally, it could mean you’ve taken the environmental impact of the materials and operation of the home into consideration.

So what does all this mean? It means I’m busy researching all these things and part of that research led me to the PATH Concept Home. For those not familiar, PATH is the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing. Their goal is to advance and support technology innovations for the home. The concept home itself is nothing fancy (though it does have authentic interior and exterior Craftsman trim) but it serves a purpose: “To enhance a home’s flexibility and make it more efficient to build and maintain.” Some of the materials and technology that went into this project I’d like to consider in the building of our Craftsman dream home. You can read the blog kept by the general contractor of the job to get a sense of what was involved with process of building this home that is in many ways ahead of its time.

Of all the building components going into the concept home the list below includes the ones I’m most interested in following up on. Several I’m quite familiar with such as the tankless water heater and PEX tubing, but others I know very little about, such as the grey water system. Over the next couple weeks I’ll be sharing with everyone what I find and making the decision of whether or not they’re worth including in our dream home.

• Grey water system
• Tankless water heater
• PEX tubing and plumbing system
• Foundation water proofing system
• HVAC system
• Drought resistant lawn seed
• Attic wrap
• Spray insulation
• Mold resistant drywall

I know this is probably pretty boring stuff for those coming to look for Craftsman or Colonial inspired homebuilding, but rest assured I’ll be mixing in some of the fun, superficial stuff in between the more structural and functional entries. I’ll even make the “boring” stuff fun by including lots of pictures like this. It’ll be cool – trust me.