Blank slate--how would you renovate a beach house?

Dad just bought a vacation home that was a foreclosure. The previous “owner” went in there prior to the foreclosure being complete and did some damage. We’re not sure how bad, but we know that there are no appliances, no kitchen cabinets, he took all the bricks from the back porch, and he may have taken the furnace along with the copper piping.

Now, most of this is bad, but none of it really bothers us. It may actually be a good thing. As long as he only took stuff and didn’t actually damage anything (cement down the toilets? Hopefully not!), most of it was past its prime anyways and most of it was going to be redone anyways. The one thing that we would be really peeved off at is the brick patio, but dad wanted to put in a screened in porch anyways, so he just did some demo for us free of charge!

So, now instead of a list of things to “get around to”, Dad has a list of things that needs to be done before we can move in. This is good. We’re starting with a blank slate, and mom doesn’t have to deal with anything that is really old and crappy.

So, that being said, do you guys have any thoughts about things that you would definitely put in in a beach house, or a regular house? Things that you have seen that you liked, hated, or wish you had? Keep in mind that keeping it wheelchair, or at least handicap accessible is a potential concern for the future, as well as keeping it child friendly.

Oh, and the GRM info: It has a two car attached garage, a ~2-4 car detached garage (we’ll be putting an apartment in it, it will after that have room for 2-4 cars/boats), and another shed that could fit a junker vehicle but will probably end up holding lawn implements and maybe a boat. So it has space! Yay!

Depends on how big and complicated the house is, but I may be tempted to gut the interior walls (at a minimum the inside of the exterior walls) and make sure it has good insulation and rewire if necessary. Be sure to update for computers, cable etc.

if it's walking distance to the beach, an outdoor shower, and not just a waist high one for your knees down, but a full stall complete shower. It's a must have when living at the beach.

Beach house just cries out for great big floor to ceiling windows facing the water. Sliding glass doors work too, try to get as much of the water view into the home as possible.

For mundane thinking, make sure to address humidity and moisture in the home. Musty rooms aren't much fun.

For any building these days: Cat6(a) in the walls all running to a utility room, electrical system ready for addition of on-site generation (solar will be too cheap not to have in the next few decades), on-demand water heater system including the heavy electrical connections those need (normally the biggest arguments against them are the electrical retrofit costs, and the lack of savings over an existing working system).

Other suggestions: Light tubes or other ways to get natural light indoors to reduce lighting power needs, rainwater collection running to a gray water system.

Not worried about the CAT6--we'll have wireless, and that will be enough internet up there. Additionally, we'll have 2 tv's max, and it is already routed for all of that.

Insulation should not be an issue based on when it was built, the quality it was built, and the location of it (Upper Peninsula). It will be looked at, but hopefully we will not have to do anything with that.

Outdoor shower is a great idea. I'll be passing that one along. Same with the skylights/light tubes. Rainwater collection is not a concern either.

Moisture/humidity in the home: We'll be sure to have dehumidifiers in there, and are planning on ripping out all of the carpet with the possible exception of the bedrooms.

My suggestion is move to the mountains.

Grizz wrote: My suggestion is move to the mountains.

There are decent ski hills within an hour drive of where we are.

My idea of mountains have too many trees for skiing.

Good mountains, like the Appalachians, not those young upstarts out west.

Make sure you incorporate storage for outside seating--you'll find yourself hauling chairs out at the beginning of every weekend and back in before you leave, so make sure it's convenient to where you want the chairs, dry and lockable.

Also, since you will be leaving it unoccupied a significant amount of time, easy water shutoff is super handy and cheap insurance against catastrophe.

No matter how many people the house will sleep, make sure you can feed lots more. So focus kitchen renovation on maximizing counter space that can serve as buffet service area, and on seating a crowd. Some sort of griddle cooktop would be super-cool, too, if your family is the hearty breakfasting type.

Depending how it will be used, again, you might want more linen space than you'd expect because you'll find you need lots of blankets and pillows for the family that seems to come in waves to sleep on couches and floors. Flexible sleeping is good, too--trundles, pull-out couches, that kind of thing.

Lots of rack space in bathrooms, and an easy way to "serve" towels to people. (At our cabin I keep a big basket full of rolled-up beach towels next to the patio door.)

Sounds fun!

Oh yeah, is this ocean beach or river beach or what?

Cause skeeters.

Grizz--great lakes, Green Bay specifically. It is big water, right on a private beach. We're able to moor our boat out in the water. We've vacationed at this general location for over 50 years, so we have a lot of these ideas already, but some of them are new since we couldn't change anything that "worked" when grandpa owned a place, and the others have always been rentals.

Margie, that was excellent. Many thanks. We'd already decided to keep the dining room in addition to the eat in kitchen since we have family that also vacations on the same beach, and at least one of the bedrooms is getting two bunk beds with a full on the bottom--Depending on what we decide to do with bedrooms/offices/bunk beds/etc., we'll have between 10 and 18 sleeping spots in the house, and an additional 2 in the garage. Most likely it will be 15 total. As for the kitchen, more good advice, especially with the buffet idea. Again with the indoor/outdoor seating storage.

I don't know what the mosquito situation would be there then.

Agnew wrote: I don't know what the mosquito situation would be there then.

Bad. Screens are necessary.

You need to post a floorplan. How many people will typically be there?

My take on cottages and beach houses is that they should be cleanable with a leaf blower. Lots of people making a mess who wont be around to clean up.

I know that people like to party in the kitchen, so to stay sane, do whatever you can to encourage people staying outdoors or on a veranda. Certainly the refreshment and snack center needs to be outside the main living area. The Italians had a good thing with their outdoor kitchens.

If you can have a bathroom facility that is accessed from the outside, that would also be a good idea.

The wash down station for those returning to the beach is mandatory. Make sure it is a raised surface so the sand washes out the bottom of the enclosure. Feet dryer would also be good to keep sand out of the house

I like spray-on insulation since it keeps things cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Another bonus is quiet inside. You want to have your wiring and plumbing committed before you do this.

In reply to mtn:

Ah ok, that's what I was wondering about. I knew a few people who bought places on or near the bay and got rid of the screens. And I laughed and laughed and laughed...

Agnew wrote: In reply to mtn: Ah ok, that's what I was wondering about. I knew a few people who bought places on or near the bay and got rid of the screens. And I laughed and laughed and laughed...

Wisconsin sign

Plenty of area to dry things, like hanging racks outside for towels and in bedrooms/bathrooms for bathing suits.

In the master bath at least, heated floor grid and multiple shower heads.

Build in stereo speaker wiring or speakers on the porch and main hang out areas.

LED lights on the path to the dock

Good ideas on the exterior speakers. That will be attempted.

As for keeping people outside, we are planning on an exterior cooler for drinks. Exterior toilets are known as "trees"

mtn wrote: Good ideas on the exterior speakers. That will be attempted. As for keeping people outside, we are planning on an exterior cooler for drinks. Exterior toilets are known as "trees"

That's fine for pointers. Setters prefer something porcelain. Make sure you include everyone in your plans

mtn wrote: Not worried about the CAT6--we'll have wireless, and that will be enough internet up there. Additionally, we'll have 2 tv's max, and it is already routed for all of that.

If you have the opportunity to put the cables in easily you should still do it - it's a very futureproof networking solution (and keep in mind, can also carry HDMI signals) and good for property values too. Like wireless? It's a lot easier to set up a multi-AP wireless network with those Cat6 cables.

GameboyRMH wrote:

mtn wrote: Not worried about the CAT6--we'll have wireless, and that will be enough internet up there. Additionally, we'll have 2 tv's max, and it is already routed for all of that.

If you have the opportunity to put the cables in easily you should still do it - it's a very futureproof networking solution (and keep in mind, can also carry HDMI signals) and good for property values too. Like wireless? It's a lot easier to set up a multi-AP wireless network with those Cat6 cables.

We'll look into it, and if we start tearing down/into walls I'll bring it up. Otherwise it just isn't important. We go up there to not be around the internet. One of the things I really like about my uncles house down that same beach is that you can only get internet in a few rooms. So if you have to do work, you can, but you can't check it just to check it without a conscious decision to go and do work.

Besides, who needs internet and tv when you can go fishing, golfing, sailing, boating, wave-running, beer-drinking, tubing, skiing, or playing with a bonfire? All of which are available literally right outside, or else a 5 minute walk to my uncles--golf is the exception at a five minute drive.

Unless your neighbors are far away, think twice about outside speakers - noise carries a long way over water. My parents had a lake cabin when I was a kid and I can remember having to listen to parties on the other side of the lake when I would have rather been sleeping.

If there's a lot of lawn to mow or landscaping to keep up consider letting some or all of it go back to nature, particularly if you plan on only going there on weekends. Too many people end up going to the cabin Friday night, spending all day Saturday mowing or doing other chores, and then they end up with only a couple hours on Sunday to relax before they have to head back home.

You'll find out which ones of your relatives and friends are freeloaders who love to visit, but don't chip in for food, leave wet towels laying around, and don't clean up the dried worms and dead bait left in the boat when they're done fishing.

stuart in mn wrote: Unless your neighbors are far away, think twice about outside speakers - noise carries a long way over water. My parents had a lake cabin when I was a kid and I can remember having to listen to parties on the other side of the lake when I would have rather been sleeping. If there's a lot of lawn to mow or landscaping to keep up consider letting some or all of it go back to nature, particularly if you plan on only going there on weekends. Too many people end up going to the cabin Friday night, spending all day Saturday mowing or doing other chores, and then they end up with only a couple hours on Sunday to relax before they have to head back home. You'll find out which ones of your relatives and friends are freeloaders who love to visit, but don't chip in for food, leave wet towels laying around, and don't clean up the dried worms and dead bait left in the boat when they're done fishing.

20 miles away across the bay. Otherwise the neighbors on either side aren't really a concern--the folks talking at the bonfire would be louder.

We'll pay to have the lawn mowed.

As for relatives, this is the vacation spot for my dads family. His brother owns a spot about a 5 minute walk on the same beach. His older brother owns a place 15 minutes away. The two remaining, well, one is battling pancreatic cancer. His family can use our place at any time. Same with my other uncles places. They're all neat. The last one is way cleaner than us, looking to buy a place on the beach, and there are about 4 different places they can rent as well.

We've been vacationing with my cousins and aunts and uncles my entire life, so we know what to expect from that. As for friends, we'll only be inviting a select few up for weekend trips.

How about a doorlock with a keypad so you can grant access to your GRM brethren....this place sounds awesome.

But seriously, might be a good idea for when people are out on the boat or someone arrives before the bearer of the key.

But more seriously....the GRM brethren.