The beauty of building your own modular home is that you can design it to suit your lifestyle, tastes and needs. And while there is much talk around getting the floor plan and style of the house right, an equally important factor to consider is how easy your home will be to care for.
These days, we’re all pressed for time, so any design features that can reduce or minimise the cleaning and maintenance of your new home is a huge plus. So in this article we’ll share 7 top tips to help you choose the right materials, appliances and fittings to minimise the maintenance of your new modular home.
Vinyl plank flooring
When it comes to low maintenance flooring options, it’s hard to go past vinyl planks. They are hard-wearing, easy to clean and look great. Vinyl planks are also available in a range of stylish colours and grains to match your interior finishes. They closely resemble timber flooring, allowing you to achieve the warmth and natural beauty of timber without the expense.
Vinyl plank flooring from the standard range is a standard inclusion for the kitchen, meals, dining and living zones, or you can opt to upgrade to a premium vinyl plank flooring of your choice.
Pyrolytic ovens and induction cooktops
It’s fair to say that there are certain jobs in the house that nobody looks forward to doing – and it’s likely that cleaning your oven would be high on the list! It’s no wonder then that pyrolytic ovens are growing in popularity. They are self-cleaning, which means no more scrubbing with harsh chemicals by hand. Induction cooktops offer another way to save time and elbow grease in the kitchen. Because they only heat the area in use, you won’t have to deal with food spills that have been burnt onto the surface. In addition, they are highly efficient energy users which is another plus.
You can opt to upgrade your kitchen to a pyrolytic oven and/ or an induction stovetop during the design phase.
Larger tiles, less grout
By choosing larger tiles for your floors, wet areas and splashbacks, you’ll minimise the amount of grout. This can save you a lot of time and effort on cleaning the grout, which is generally hard and unpleasant work. Another benefit of larger tiles is that they can make your space appear bigger. This is shown to great effect in the stunning bathroom of our Buxton project.
There are a range of tile options available as part of our standard inclusions, or you can opt to upgrade to the tiles of your choice.
Walk-in showers
Not only do walk-in showers give your bathroom a modern and luxurious look and feel, they are also much easier to clean. Win-win! A tiled shower base and single glass screen means less nooks and crannies to get in and clean, which speeds up the job significantly. A beautiful example of a walk-in shower design can be seen in our stunning Daylesford project.
Tiled shower bases are available in our homes as an optional upgrade.
Durable cladding
With the right choice of materials, the exterior of your home can be basically maintenance free. This is particularly true when it comes to cladding. When you opt for hard-wearing options such as Colorbond or Weathertex, they will withstand the elements and look great for many years without the need for oiling or staining. Our Eden project showcases this, with Weathertex cladding giving the home a modern and maintenance-free exterior that blends well with its surrounds. In contrast, if you opt for timber cladding, you’ll need to be prepared to put some time and effort into keeping it looking good.
There’s a great selection of stylish and durable cladding options available as a standard inclusion, or you can upgrade to the cladding of your choice.
LED Lighting
There’s plenty to like about LED lighting – so it’s no wonder that it is one of our more popular upgrade options. It brings a bright and modern look to your home, uses minimal energy and each LED globe can last up to 25,000 hours. This saves you the time, effort and expense of changing light bulbs regularly. Our Suburban display home is a great example of how LED lighting can add a bright and spacious feel to even a compact living zone.
LED lighting is available as an upgrade on all our homes.
Low-maintenance heating
Your choice of heating makes a difference too. Gas ducted heating or a split-system wall unit is basically maintenance free, aside from the need to organise a service once a year. On the other hand, wood fires require a lot of work to maintain and run. From sourcing and chopping the wood, to carrying it inside, stacking the fire and cleaning it after you’ve finished, there’s a lot involved. However, for some, the ambience of a real wood fire is worth the effort.
Various heating units are available as an optional upgrade on any of our designs.
Bonus Tips
You want to spend your weekends enjoying the great outdoors in your yard and garden – not being a slave to it! Here’s a couple of bonus tips to reduce the workload and give you more time to relax:
Decking: We all love the look and feel of a natural timber deck, however, it will require regular staining to keep it looking its best. To minimise maintenance you could choose composite decking instead, which is pre-coloured and resistant to moisture, termites, warping, cracking and splintering.
Fencing: A timber fence will require painting when installed and will need a touch up every 2–3 years to keep it looking good. This equates to a lot of weekend hours with a paint brush in hand! If you’d like something that requires far less hard yakka, a Colorbond fence is an attractive and durable option that takes care of itself.
Garden: When you build a new home, chances are that you’ll also be able to create your garden from scratch. This gives you the ideal opportunity to design a low-maintenance outdoor space which could include features like drought-tolerant plants, mulch, paving and a watering system.
Don’t be a slave to your new home
When designing your new home, be sure to consider how you can reduce the maintenance and cleaning. From the choice of materials such as flooring and cladding, to selecting the right appliances and fittings, getting this area of design right can really enhance the enjoyment of your home in both the short and longer term.
Over to you
Do you have some additional comments or ideas for low maintenance features to add? Or a question about including them in your own design? We’d love to hear from you! Simply post a comment below or get in touch with our friendly team on 03 5145 7110.
