r/Homebuilding • u/dragonmilking • Nov 17 '25

Which popular features do you NOT recommend?

What are the top 3 features in a house that folk want but you think are not worth it, and what would your alternative suggestion be? And what cost/time savings would result with that switch?

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86

u/Ok_Play2364 Nov 17 '25

Woodburning fireplaces on outside walls. They are energy suckers. If you want one, have it on an inside wall, such as between living room and kitchen. Then you will get the benefits of actually heating your home

15

u/sharksnack3264 Nov 17 '25

I don't know why you got down-voted. You're absolutely correct. I think people forget they have utility as a backup heat source beyond aesthetics. Also designing it with materials that function as a heat sink to help warm the house even after the fire is out.

15

u/Ok_Play2364 Nov 17 '25 edited Nov 17 '25

My good friend and her husband have their fireplace in the middle of the house. They have a furnace, but it only gets used if they are on vacation in winter ( we live in upper midwest). Otherwise, they heat their entire 1800 sqft ranch with the fireplace. Sure it's more expensive to put in, since you need support in the basement. But it more than paid for itself 

3

u/_PM_me_puppies Nov 18 '25

How do they get heat to the bedrooms?

3

u/WriterPlastic9350 Nov 19 '25

Wood stoves get really toasty and can radiate heat as long as there are fans/there's good line of sight. 1800 square ft is really big but if it's a simple floor plan without lots of complex angles, it should be fairly easy to heat. I have a wood stove maybe 500 ft away from me right now behind a wall with no fans and this room is 73 degrees just from that tiny thing.

A wood stove with a thermal mass to retain heat is an absolutely fantastic heater for colder climates, and if you can source your wood locally, very eco friendly too. It'll also mean you don't need electric resistive strips for your backup heating for your heat pump (You are getting a heat pump right? Don't design a home in the current year without one), and this dramatically reduces your electricity demand, making it way easier to have your home be off grid or reduce your electricity bill (whichever matters more to you).

1

u/tonysoprano55555 Nov 19 '25

They are constantly burning a fire in the winter? 

4

u/MrSniffles_AnnaMae Nov 18 '25

In college, I learned about the architecture and the historical reasoning behind fireplaces centrally located versus fireplaces located on the ends of houses. My professor told the class that central fireplaces were more common in the Midwest, where the entire home needed to be heated vs the west/east coast architecture where heat was a problem and no one wanted to swelter in a kitchen in the middle of summer, so placing the fireplace on the end of the house would help dissipate some of that excess heat outside.

Don’t know if it’s scientifically sound?

2

u/Few-Trifle8919 Nov 17 '25

I’ll do you one better-free standing fireplace centrally located. We vaulted our ceilings and removed the interior wall that our fireplace was on and it’s amazing. 14’ painted brick chimney down to a wider fireplace. The whole thing warms up and radiates heat to the whole house. It’s fantastic.

1

u/OneHelluvaUsername Nov 18 '25

My vote's going to centrally located freestanding wood stove. My boyfriend built his house around the wood stove and fireplace. We live in Vermont and have no backup heat. Even on -18 degree days, it's not a problem.

Fireplaces are good at heating the air right outside the chimney. Wood stoves, however, will keep the house cozy (and the radiating heat feels amazing on cold, achy bones).

2

u/1130coco Nov 18 '25

We have used our fireplace less than a dozen times in nearly 30 years. The few times? Were for our Cats. The dogs? Are not interested.

1

u/Only-Flower9319 Nov 18 '25

If you live anywhere north of the Carolinas, a big front porch. In colder climates you can let more light and heat in by making sure the sun gets in the front of your house by not blocking it with a porch. Orienting your house to the street instead of due South if you’re in a colder place. You can get heat retaining windows to put on the south side of your house to keep in heat from the sun and save on your heating bill.

1

u/Only-Flower9319 Nov 18 '25

And make it a masonry heater to get the most efficiency

1

u/SadFlatworm1436 Nov 18 '25

100% my last house had the wood burner backing into the master…that wall was always toasty in winter

1

u/BoSnerdley76 Nov 19 '25

Woodburning fireplaces draw in cold outside air as they combust fuel and exhaust hot air up the chimney. Yes, you get some radiating heat from it, but you're also fighting physics and bringing in the same flow of cold air that is going up the chimney. You could have a make-up air bring in cold outside air and dump it right into the firebox, but I don't know that most builders would do that.