7 Plumbing Planning Tips for a New Home Build

In 2020, contractors built around 912,000 new homes. When someone builds a new home, the contractor or homeowner designs the house.

Are you planning to build a new house? If so, you’ll get the opportunity to design the entire home, including the plumbing system.

You might wonder what plans you need to make for the plumbing system, and that’s a great question. Of course, your builder can help you plan for this, but you might want to do some research yourself.

As you research plumbing planning, here are seven tips you might want to incorporate into your new construction.

1. Learn How To Keep the Costs Down

When building a new home, you might want to find ways to keep the costs down. One way is by designing your plumbing system in a way that costs less to install. How do you do this, though?

Consider a plumbing system for a moment. Each fixture requires two lines running to it; one is for the freshwater supply, and the other for the wastewater.

If you keep your plumbing fixtures closer together, the plumber will not need as much piping to plumb the system. Therefore, as you plan your house, you might want to keep the bathrooms and kitchen close to each other.

If you have one bathroom on one side of the home and another on the other side, you’ll need more pipe. As a result, you’ll spend more money on the plumbing system.

2. Consider Where To Place the Plumbing Systems

Another step in the plumbing design is creating the space you need for the plumbing systems. Your plumbing system needs several components, including a water pump and water heater. You might need other parts, too.

As you prepare for a new home build, you’ll have to choose an area in the home for these systems.

If you have a basement, you can place them there to avoid using space on the main floor. If you don’t have a basement, you can design a room or closet for the plumbing fixtures.

Many people place them in their laundry rooms, but you can determine where to put them as you design your home.

3. Get a Water Test

When planning for new home plumbing, it might be wise to get a water test as soon as you can. The purpose of this is to determine the water quality at the home site.

When you get a water test, you can find out if the water is hard. You can also find out what it contains.

The purpose of learning this is to determine if you should include a water treatment system in the home, such as a water softener.

If you need a treatment system, you must make sure you have space for it by your water heater.

4. Determine What Type of Water Heater To Get

When building a house from scratch, you can decide what types of systems to use in the home. One of the primary parts of a plumbing system is a water heater, but water heaters come in many types.

If your home has electricity and no gas, you must use an electric water heater. If your home has gas and electricity, you can decide if you prefer a gas water heater or an electric one.

You might want to compare these two options before deciding. You can also look at other options, such as on-demand water heaters.

As you compare them, you should consider the upfront costs and operating costs. You might also want to consider how much hot water they supply and how quickly they make hot water.

5. The Types of Fixtures and Appliances You Want

Next, you get the opportunity to choose your plumbing fixtures. Again, you might want to think about this before designing your home plans to ensure that they fit.

For example, do you want bathtubs, showers, walk-in showers, or other fixtures for your bathrooms? If you want a bathtub, what type do you want – a standard one or a jetted type?

You can look at a home improvement showroom or check out professional wholesale plumbing distributors for ideas.

The same is true for your sinks and faucets, and you’ll also have to determine what appliances you want in the home.

If you want a dishwasher, you’ll need plumbing for it. If your refrigerator has an ice maker, it needs a water line running.

6. Consider Add-Ons

You may also want to think about any special add-ons you’d like to include in the house.

For example, would you like to set up a coffee station somewhere in your kitchen?

If so, you might want the plumber to run a fresh water line to this area. With a water line there, you can connect the coffee station to the plumbing system, making it easier to operate this coffee station.

You can add water anywhere in a home, but it’s easier to add if you plan for it from the start.

7. Think Carefully About Your Outdoor Plumbing Needs

The final part of planning a plumbing system for a new house is considering your outdoor needs. A plumbing system generally offers limited outdoor plumbing, but this part of the system is vital.

With the outdoor system, you can place fixtures on the house to use for outdoor water access. Where do you want these? How many do you want?

Additionally, will you add an irrigation system to the yard for watering your grass or garden? If so, let your Best Plumber know that you want this with your home plumbing system.

Plumbing Planning Is a Vital Step When Building a House

As you plan for your new home, you’ll need to choose the house’s blueprints, design, and materials. You’ll also have to handle the plumbing planning and many other things.

A contractor can help you prepare for the building process, or you can handle all the planning yourself.

If you enjoyed this article, you might enjoy other ones on our blog!