This is the 4th of a 7-part series. Enjoy!
4. A “Good” house thinks about what it will look like in ten years.
Through the thoughtful use of the right materials and integration with the site, “Good” houses wear well. The critical feature of a home’s durability is its roof. The shape of your home’s roof can either protect it or be ignorant of its environment. Dozens of folds, changing pitches or internal drainage almost guarantee roof leaks, rot, and frequent re-roofing. If predetermined by a “style,” roofs often work less well over time than those designed to fit into their natural environment and look better as the natural world grows around them. A “Bad” house lives for the twenty-two seconds in which homeowners typically make their decision to buy or not buy a home after leaving their car and walking toward the “For Sale” sign. Those shallow judgments can carry a lifetime of regret as weather and use prematurely age your most expensive possession.
Interior detailing and materials can evidence cheap now/expensive later judgments. A hardwood stair may cost twenty percent more than the carpeted version, but after you’ve changed the traffic destroyed carpet a couple of times, you are deficit spending in the “out years.”
