Home Building Materials: How to Choose Materials for your Custom Home

Choosing building materials can be overwhelming when building a custom home. There is a lot to consider throughout the home building process, but if you are looking for some insight on what materials are available and what should be considered, check out this basic guide.

Remember that there are many options for building materials with a custom home—more than we can cover in this guide—but you don’t have to figure everything out yourself. Whitmire Custom Homes is based in Gainesville, Georgia and serves metro Atlanta and the North Georgia area. Whimtmire has a team of architects and home building experts that are happy to help you choose building materials based on your goals and expectations. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you, or schedule a free consultation today to get started!

What Do I Need to Consider?

Upfront Cost and Life Expectancy
If you are interested in building an affordable home, your first reaction may be to choose cheaper materials to build your home. While the more expensive options aren’t always the best fit, the cheaper materials do tend to require more frequent replacements. That’s what it’s important to consider life expectancy in addition to upfront material cost.

If material A costs $5 per unit, but material B costs $7 per unit and are both meet your stylistic expecations, you may be inclined to choose material A. But if material A will need to be replaced in 3 years, while material B will need to be replaced in 6 years, material A will actually be more expensive in the long run. These are important factors to consider if you plan to stay in your custom home for many years!

Energy Efficiency
Cheaper materials are often less energy efficient. Consider how much insulation is provided by the materials you choose for walls, windows, doors and roofing. Sometimes, choosing a more expensive material will offset the costs in future energy savings because you will use less electricity and gas to cool and heat your home.

Aesthetics
Which parts of the home do you want to emphasize? What types of materials are more aesthetically pleasing? Consider the natural and manmade environment surrounding your home. This, of course, is a matter of personal tastes. In selecting building materials, it is up to you to reach a balance between visual appeal, energy efficiency and cost.

Building Materials to Think About

Below is a list of material types you may consider during the building process:

House Framing Materials: Wood framing Concrete block framing Steel framing   Siding Materials: Hardie board siding Vinyl siding Cedar shake siding Wood siding Fiber cement board siding Brick siding Stone Veneer Windows and Glass Doors Exterior Door Materials & Hardware Interior Door Materials: Solid wood doors Composite doors Hollow doors

Roofing Materials: Asphalt shingles Wood shingles Metal roofing Cement tiles Rubber roofing   Drywall: Regular drywall Mold resistant drywall Moisture resistant drywall Fire resistant drywall   Floors: Hardwood oak floors Waterproof LVP Ceramic tile floors Stone tile floors Porcelain tile floors   Interior and Exterior Paint

Cabinetry: Shaker-style cabinets Ready-to-Assemble cabinets Stock cabinets Semi-Custom cabinets Custom cabinets   Shower Enclosure Materials: Full-framed shower doors Semi-frameless shower doors Frameless shower doors Glass materials   Deck Materials Pressure treated wood decks Composite decks Tropical wood decks   Driveway Materials Gravel Concrete Pavers Shell Asphalt Brick

 

This list serves as a starting point for the many options you have when custom building your home. Ready to sit down and talk about building your dream home? Schedule a free consultation with Whitmire today!

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