Basement Bathroom & 10 Month Review

Today is our  10 month review.  We had sent a small list of things to our PM of our items.  I thought it was a relatively small list.

1) Various nail pops & cracked drywall - expected
2) Some cracked caulking around the sinks and master shower - expected
3) Venting problem with microwave.  This winter our microwave has been exceptionally cold.  Like 36 degrees cold this morning.  That's refrigerator cold. The PM pointed out that the vent is on the west side of the house - since the wind blows from that direction we are fighting a losing battle. I get it.  They did do something to the damper so that hopefully its a little better.
4) Cold air coming from fireplace.  I understand this is going to happen as well. They took a quick look at it and taped some spots where cold air was  coming in, so it should be better.
5) Driveway cracks.  They'll fix this when it warms up (it's -3 degrees here today). It sounds like they should be able to just replace sections of it rather than the whole driveway, which is preferable.  We'll see how that goes.  That's really the only major thing.  

Overall I've been really pleased.  Our PM has been great.  A few weeks ago we had my son's 10th birthday party, a sleepover.  Have Mercy.  The kids were playing ping pong in the unfinished part of the basement.  Someone got a bit wild and pulled some of the insulation off the wall.  It's held on by these nailed washer things.  My husband wasn't able to find them at the hardware store.  I asked the PM where we could buy them and he brought us half a dozen. Perfect. They probably cost Ryan homes, like .10 each,  so it was nice.

The PM was also impressed with our basement bathroom.  We finished it up right before the wild sleepover so the boys sleeping in the basement would have a bathroom to use.  My  husband did it all himself and I'm so proud of him.  It turned out great.  The PM even joked about Bob becoming a professional drywaller.  Bob emphatically replied 'No!'

I'm not sure what we spent on the bathroom, my husband says he has the receipts and plans on figuring that out.  We tried to choose cost effective options.  The tile was purchased at Lowe's for $5/square.  If you've looked at tile that's a great price.  I think  the vanity was less than $120.  We had replaced the bath fixtures in the master bathroom - we didn't like the way the installed ones sat in the granite.  Husband kept bumping his hands on the back of the sink, so we purchased two that had a longer neck for his big hands.  So, we  were able to repurpose one of those.  The other one was given to my sister in law who had a leaky faucet in her bathroom.  The towel rack, tp holder, and cup were purchased on clearance for $10 for the set from KMart.  I can't remember where the wood finish tile was purchased from.  My dad is a retired electrician, so he did all the wiring for us and had a fan for us to use. My husband did the plumbing - our neighbor had previously done their basement bathroom so he had all the necessary PEX tools for us to borrow; so that cost us a 12 pack of beer.  :)

Final Walk Through

Yesterday was a whirlwind of a day.  We had our final walk through on the new home and the inspection on our current home.  I thought I was going to have to reschedule the inspection.  We've had company in town for the Easter holidays and unfortunately we all came down with food poisoning. Ugh.  It was awful.  I didn't think I was going to get my house cleaned up in time, but by the grace of God we did.  To top it off, the inspector got to my house an hour early.  I was not prepared for that.  Fortunately, he was very kind and started on the outside, otherwise I would have had to turn him away.  

Our final walk through was successful.  We taped up the walls some more with drywall and paint touch ups.  We weren't able to test the fireplace as it wasn't quite working yet, but the PM sent us an email later saying it had been fixed.  It seems as though the kitchen vent may not be completely venting outside, so he has to look into that as well.  There were a few hard spots under the carpet.  I wonder if the carpet guy didn't fully clean the full before placing the pad and carpet down.  The PM thinks it may just be nails coming up.  The correct carpet is set to be installed today, so we marked the spots I thought were bad and hopefully they'll get them taken care of when they have the carpet pulled up.  

We are four days from closing. I am in full packing mode, and I plan to have as much as I can packed by the end of the weekend.  We'll be switching to paper plates pretty soon!  It's all a bit overwhelming, but it's coming along.  

My Lucky 13, Part 6

I went by the house today and was delighted to see the door was painted black and the shutters are up.  The concrete looks beautiful (well, as beautiful as concrete does.) I didn't go in the house as the cleaning crew was mopping the kitchen.  The energy star test was taking place at the front door.  I did talk to the PM and everything seems to be going along great. He wants us to walk through the house this weekend; kind of a pre walk through of our official walk through on Wednesday.  That way we can get him the list of anything we see that needs to be done and he can actually have it done by Wednesday. From other blogs I've read, this is not a normal thing, but I'm very happy for the request. I know that the PM is really trying to make sure that everything is just the way we want before closing. I've really been impressed with the way that he handles that sort of thing. Our plan is to walk through either tonight or Sunday, after the kids find their Easter eggs.  Which brings me to the next thing I'm looking forward to in the new house.

A Guest Room

We have family coming in from out of state.  It's been a while since I've seen them and I'm so glad that they are staying with us.  I *wish* our new house was done and closed on before they arrive though.  One person will be staying in my sons room while he bunks up on the floor in my other sons room. Another will be staying with her child on the couch in our living room. It will be a little cramped.  I'm am so grateful that we have an offer on our current house, so I don't have to be ready to show the house why they are here. 
Anyway, I'm excited to have an actual guest room. I want to have a private, cozy space for out of town guests which we have several times a year. I have a whole board on Pinterest for guest room ideas.  I can't wait.

Here's what the house looks like with the shutters.  So pretty! I couldn't get a real good angle; there were so many people working on the house I had to try and stay out of their way.

My Lucky 13, Part 5

Our PM called me today to give me the last bit of run down on the schedule for the next 11 days.  That's right.  We close on our house in 11 days! Things are coming nicely and I have no doubt that everything will be done by closing. At the end of our conversation he offered me a very sincere apology about the stress we've had here at the end with several things being ordered incorrectly. He really wants to make sure we have a good experience. I was honest with him and told him that while we kind of scratch our heads and wonder how so many (big) things could be ordered wrong, we are very pleased with the way he has handled everything. Everything has been corrected without negotiation and as quickly as possible.  I did ask him what Rite Rug was going to do with the wrong carpet after they take it out of the house.  I told him that if they were just going to throw it away, I'd really like them to leave us a large remnant.  This will allow us to finish the other section of the basement at some point in the future.  He checked with them and they have agreed to leave us enough for that part of the basement.  I'm glad we can put some of the waste to use. He said that if there's anything else we would like him to do before closing, that he would work on getting it done.  He specifically mentioned garage door openers.  We've already purchased some, and after talking to my husband, it would be really nice to have them installed before we move in. So, we're going to take him up on the offer to have his crew install our garage door openers for us.  I really appreciate how he's trying to go above and beyond to make us happy. While we're on the subject, that brings me to item number 5 that I'm really looking forward to in the new house. 

Three Car Garage

We make it a habit to park both of our cars in the garage.  Once we started accumulating more kids things, like bikes, we built a mini barn at our current house.  I don't think we are allowed to have one in the new house.  And, realistically, the kids never take their toys all the way to the mini barn and instead just leave them in the garage.  We'll have space for two cars plus the kids bikes! If my husband has any garage projects it will also allow for extra space for that kind of thing.  

I can't believe I'm posting this

Seriously, I'm shaking my head.  Astonished.  My sister in law and her fiance were visiting and wanted to see the house progress so far.  We got the key from the sales rep and walked around in the house.  Things look good on the inside so far.  The master bath tile is in and looks great.  The mantle is up on the fireplace.  The hardwood floor is complete.  In the family room, there are rolls of carpet which are supposed to be laid today.  So, I'm looking at all of them and they all say the same color; we had chosen a different color for the basement.  I'm wondering if it just wasn't delivered at the same time.  But, I look at the carpet and I don't think the color is right.  It's been quite a long time since we chose the color, so to be fair, I don't exactly remember what it looks like.  However, I did think there was some color variation in the carpet which this does not have.  We also remembered paying extra for the upgraded carpet pad, which does not seem to be what is there.  Little alarms start going off in my head. It's important to note that like the framing, the carpet appears to be delivered pre-cut by room.  Each roll has a size listed on it, which probably denotes which room it goes in.  I go home to check my flooring selection sheet.  What do you know?  It's wrong. So, the level 1 carpet that we ordered in the basement ONLY appears to have been ordered FOR THE ENTIRE HOUSE.  We had requested a different, nicer carpet to be installed in the rest of the house.  There was only one type of carpet pad throughout the house (not installed yet).  It doesn't have the plastic barrier that we remember the nicer carpet pad having.  I believe the carpet pad is wrong. That really makes me mad because if I hadn't been at the house during that time, I would never know that was wrong because I'd never see it again.  

My husband is in the construction industry. He understands mistakes are made and has told me the more important thing is how they respond to fix the mistake.  I've got to imagine even he thinks this is too much. To be fair, so far every mistake has been fixed without argument. This is the third major ordering mistake... that I know of.  I have to start thinking that way now.  Have they messed up anything else that I haven't caught??? I can't remember if I posted on the blog, but the wrong garage doors were ordered as well.  We are still waiting for the correct ones to be delivered. There is no way that Ryan homes is making any money on the sale of our house. The garage doors can maybe be resold or used in another project.  The carpet?  I don't know.  Would someone buy that as a remnant? Possibly. The brick?  That was a total EFF up.  All the labor wasted putting it up, taking it down, then it all had to be thrown away.  Astonishing. 

I emailed the PM last night and I'm sure he's handling it today.  We are set to close in 2 weeks.  How long does it take for carpet to be delivered?  Can we close if there's no carpet throughout the house?  Do I want to?  I wouldn't be able to move anything in.  I already have a moving company scheduled. GAH!!!! I feel my blood pressure rising.  It is my intent to call the SR this morning after she gets in, if the PM doesn't call me before then. 

Back to good news, for a minute. We met the other neighbors on the other side of our home. They are a bit older than us, with a daughter that is a senior in college. They have an adorable basset hound.  They seem very nice. 

And finally, here is a picture of my pretty house.  With the correct brick. It will look even prettier when the shutters go up and the door is painted.

Update: I spoke with the PM and SR.  Basically, I told them I needed someone to make me feel warm and fuzzy about keeping our closing date. (Hug me and tell me it's gonna be alright!) After making some calls the PM said that the carpet we chose is not an unusual carpet so they don't see any trouble getting it in.  It's been ordered but because it was just done they can't actually track it yet.  He told them they need it installed no later that the middle of next week. He also confirmed that the pad is correct. In the meantime, the crew is out installing the incorrect carpet today.  They are doing this as a precaution so that it does not delay inspection or closing. When the new carpet comes in, they will rip it out and replace it. My heart breaks a little bit for the wastefulness of this. He apologized for all the mistakes that have been made in the choices.  

The Tennis Match Begins

Our current home has been on the market for about 6 weeks.  Traffic through the house was slow after the first 2-3 weeks so we dropped the price a bit. Yesterday we had two showings at basically the same time.  Well, the first couple through made an offer.  Between their offer, their request for closing costs and a request for an appliance that wasn't in the offer, it came in a bit lower than we were hoping. So, we are going to counter offer and see what happens. 

In the news for our Ryan home, things are coming along nicely.  Brick laying began (again) Tuesday.  I drove by today and they were almost done. It truly looked like they may have had another hour of work or so left to do.  In addition, our fireplace was completed and it appears that most of the house has received its final coat of paint.  I was pretty hesitate about the flat Ryan white paint, but at first glance it looks much better than I expected.  It's not a bright white, but has some warmer undertones.  We realized driving through the other day that our house appears to be the only Ryan house that didn't get windows in the garage doors.  So, I emailed the PM about it; he said he was aware of it and they are working on it.  I guess it's one more thing that got ordered correctly.  Fortunately they have been superb in correcting the mistakes; I just really wish we didn't have this many.  I hope this is the last of them.  

Correct color brick!

Pretty stone fireplace!

The unfinished part of the basement has been insulated.  I didn't realize they do this, but it's probably required to meet the energy star criteria.  

Older son's room, freshly painted

Very basic stairs going up to the mudroom from the garage. 

We are 18 days from closing on this new house!  I just can't believe it. I probably sound like a broken record but I am so excited. Everything looks beautiful so far.  

Garage, Stone, Trim

The PM and SR called today to give me an update on the house.  The garage slab is being poured today.  Once that is in, they should be able to get the garage doors installed.  They are running the electrical trench to hook the house up to the meter. The trim work should be mostly complete by the end of the day.  It will be painted on Wednesday. Later this week the stone mason will be there to complete the fireplace. There was a wonky duct that ran under a joist in the unfinished ceiling of the basement.  This would have made it difficult to finish the ceiling of that part of the basement later.  That has been corrected. The correct brick should be delivered tomorrow.  I am still waiting to talk to the DG about the tile for the master bedroom.  Things seem to moving along great!  We close 4 weeks from today!

This week's progress

We went back to the house Saturday evening and they had already began to tear the brick down.  They only brick that was remaining was by the garage; I think they stopped there because the dumpster was full.  Sunday I went to get preliminary window measurements.  Afterwards I stopped by the sales office to talk to the SR.  After talking to her about what happened, she mentioned that gal who does the ordering is pregnant and has 'pregnancy brain'.  She thinks she probably just input the wrong code since we didn't make any deviations from the recommended color groupings.  I feel bad for the gal...I hope she doesn't get in too much trouble, but man, what a costly mistake.  

Now I am beginning the process of window coverings.  Holy cow, that is overwhelming.  When we bought our current house the previous owners left all the window coverings.  We've only had to replace a few and we've generally selected inexpensive options. I'm now trying to balance getting quality blinds that will last a long time vs. inexpensive blinds that I can get up quick.  I feel like I want to get the bedroom window coverings up pretty quick, but I want to make sure I either don't spend a lot in case I don't like them or make sure I get something that will go with however I choose to decorate down the line. We have 22 windows and sliding door to cover.  I am also overwhelmed by the potential cost of this. I think we are going to go with a cellular shade option for the bedrooms for now and get the rest of the windows as well as curtains later.  I stopped in JCPenney, they have a designer that will come out and help you with the process.  Of course, I can't get the designer out until we close on the house and then it takes a minimum of two weeks for the blinds to come in after they are ordered.  

I emailed the PM today to find out what our schedule is like for the week. They are hoping to begin to put the correct brick up this week as well as pour the garage slab if they weather is nice enough.  They will also be priming the walls and ceilings and putting the vinyl and ceramic flooring in.  Next week the trim and cabinets should go in.  

Major Disappointment

We understand that in construction projects mistakes get made. We were prepared and expected that they would come up at some point. 

Coming into the neighborhood we saw the back of the house first.  I thought "Wow!  They've got siding on the back!"  Then we drove to the house and saw that brick is nearly completely.  Unfortunately, it's bricked in the completely wrong color.  When we originally went through the color selections, we very quickly ruled out dark brick colors. The color that we chose is Sugar Creek.  It's a buff shade of brick.  

So, basically, they put our least favorite color of brick on the house.  When I spoke to the PM the other day, I had no idea they were starting to brick.  Had I known, I would have made a point to go check it out.  I probably would have been able to stop it before it got too far, but he only told me they were finishing up dry wall.  

We texted the PM, of course he first assumes that maybe it's a different shade of the correct brick.  I get that; I'm sure that happens a lot.  The brick color can change a bit because of materials, fire processes, whatever.  This brick is actually called Allendale.  To make matters worse, the houses on either side of us are red brick houses.  We believe there is something in the HOA that says you can't have similar brick side by side and this one might actually match the house to the West of us.  

In less than an hour, the PM advised that the brick was shipped wrong from the supplier, something that's never happened as long as he's worked with this supplier.  The right brick will be shipped and it will be corrected.  I'm happy about this; we really did not want the red brick.  That would have been a MAJOR problem.  I feel bad that the brick is so far complete and they are just going to tear it down.  It feels so wasteful.  I hope it doesn't slow them down at all.  I imagine it will a bit.  :(

In good news, the drywall is mostly complete.  They were out mudding the joints while we were there.  Again, I was surprised they were working on a Saturday.  

I didn't take a lot of pictures of the drywall.  The top picture is the kitchen pantry and the bottom is the dining room.  Cool stuff.  Glad this is coming along nicely.  

Closing Date!!!

Our PM just called me to let us know our pre settlement date and our closing date.  Our pre settlement date is April 23rd with closing set for April 28th! That makes closing less than 40 days from now! Holy Moly!  

Pre Drywall Walkthrough

On Friday we had our Pre Drywall meeting walk through.  The PM lead us through the house explaining various things such as light switches, where things were located, how the plumbing was ran, what they do for the energy star rating, etc.  We were pleasantly surprised that almost all the insulation has been put in.  It was extremely windy and so some of the insulation and attic vent things were actually being blown out by the wind.  

Here is the Porch.

This is the back of the mudroom closet looking towards the kitchen.

This is the wall the Fridge will go on.  You can see what the wind has done to the insulation.

The stove wall; that is the vent for the microwave.

My husband being helpful, putting the arch up.

Living room wall.  Need to be careful not to puncture those water lines!

Living Room wall looking into husbands office.  The TV will be on this wall.  Again; water lines.

Master Bedroom.  The bed will go between the windows.

Master Bath sinks.

Master bathroom looking into master closet.  Extra outlet put in for my towel warmer that will go outside the shower.  So excited!

This will be my oldest son's room.  It shares the wall with the boys bathroom, you can look through to the master, but not for long!

This will be my younger son's room.  It shares a wall with the laundry room.  You can look through to my studio, again, not for long!

Here is the panel and water heater in the basement.  

The PM had already fixed the closet issues.  He had originally planned on using the door from the laundry closet in the guest linen closet but it didn't size right, so he ordered a new door for that.  I think he said it was 18 or 20" so it will be a small door.  I don't mind the size, I just want to be able to have a place to store guest towels, a first aid kit and extra toilet paper.  It should do the job!  The nice thing is, he will leave us the extra door. With any luck it will work for the future basement bathroom. Speaking of the basement bathroom.  Really, the only thing that we found on the walk through involved the bathroom.  There is an outlet at the bottom of the stairs going into the basement.  It is also on the wall that the door to the future bathroom will go. They hung the outlet on the side of the stud where the door will go according to the plans.  Its an easy fix before the drywall goes out.  They simply have to remove the staples that hold the wires and stuff in place and move it to the other side of the stud.  They had also continued the 2x4 along the floor where there will be a door going into another section of the basement. Basically, I don't think the door would fit with a 2x4 on the ground and it would be a serious tripping hazard for my clumsy self.  They were aware of that and it was on their punch list.  

Today the city inspector will be in for the inspection.  The energy star inspector will also be in today.  They make sure that the house can qualify for the energy star rating.  If the house passes both of these inspections, drywall will start tomorrow.  Once drywall starts to go up, the PM will prepare a letter that goes to the mortgage company advising our completion date.  With that, we should know our closing date by the middle of the week!  We've only had a couple of showings on our current house, so we hope that once the weather starts to stay consistently nice that will start to move along a bit better.  

We are really pleased with the way things have gone with Ryan homes so far. We are getting really excited for the house to be complete and move in!

Guardian Walk Through

This morning we had our walk through with the Guardian Rep.  It was a pretty straightforward meeting.  It was technically our first time to walk through the house since being framed (but I went one day last week after the crew had left.)  It was however my husbands first time through.  Every other room he walked in, he would say "this house is so big!"  It's true, we are kinda building an obnoxiously big house. Anyway, our purpose today was to finalize the placement of our internet and cable wires as well as the securing system. Walking through we realized that some of our special requests had not yet been done.  They included removing the closet in the laundry room and placing a closet in the guest bath downstairs.  We also realized that the extra gas line had not been run to the backyard.  We weren't too concerned but wanted to let the PM know before our pre drywall meeting.  We figured the earlier he knew, the easier it would be for him to fix.  On his way out, my husband stopped at the model home, PM#2 was there and explained to him that sometimes the framers get tunnel vision and miss special requests on the plans.  He said they would be walking through this week to recheck everything, make sure things were level, etc.  He said it would be addressed then.  Awesome.  

It looks like our pre drywall meeting will probably happen on Friday and then they will be drywalling next week.  I took my camera with today, however, I did not take the camera batteries.  Yup, I'm a smart cookie sometimes. Shouldn't matter too much, we'll take plenty of pictures on Friday.  I want to be able to fully document whats going on under the drywall in case we have any questions in the years to come.  Everything looks great so far and we are super excited with the way everything is moving along.  

Windows! Doors! A Porch!

I am so thrilled how quickly things are moving along right now.  I've felt the need to drive by the house at least once a day so I can keep track of what's going on.  On Monday the crew was out wrapping the house.  Since Ryan is an Energy Star Builder, one of the things that they do is wrap the house in a silver material.  

Big 'ol roll of wrap. 

Today when I drove by they already had the windows and doors installed.  Oh! And I have a porch!  Boo-ya!  

It looks so pretty!  Although, it wasn't until I started writing this that I realized...  There's a window that is on the backside of the garage, facing the porch.  It's not supposed to be there. We asked them to delete and brick over that spot.  The reason being, it may be the only spot Bob has to put a work bench in the garage.  Looks like I'll be calling or emailing the PM about that. I imagine that's an easy fix though.  

We are supposed to have a high around 50 on Friday.  I think the next step might be shingling.  

Today my friend and Realtor is coming over for dinner so that we can get our house on the market.  I've got everything clean, now it's just a matter of keeping it that way. How do you do that with 2 kids???  Yikes.  

Roofed!

On Saturday we celebrated my son's 9th and 5th birthday together. We had friends and family in from out of town. The weather was nice and so after the party we decided to drive by the house.  Saturday was a lovely day, about 50 degrees.  However, we were forecasted to get snow starting Saturday night with 6"+.  With that in mind, my husband had called the PM on Friday to find out what they would do if it snowed, like, inside the house.  He advised us that they would probably shovel it out as there was no way they would have the roof done before the weekend.  Imagine our surprise when we drove by to see this:

Holy Smokes!  That's our house!  With a roof! I spoke to one of the crew and told him, how excited we were to see the roof today, and thanked him for the hard work they have put in on our house.  I know that this winter has slowed them down, and I know that's not their fault.  I probably sound like a broken record but it's so exciting to see how much they've accomplished.  We were a bit concerned about what the snow would do to the inside plywood and with what they got done on Saturday that concern has gone away.  

We were waiting until after this weekend, because of the birthday parties, but now it really feels like we need to get going on putting our current house on the market.  

Brrrr has turned into Grrrrrr

Earlier this week our PM emailed us and said that it might be warm enough by the end of the week to pour the foundation for the basement and garage. We were pretty stoked because we thought maybe they could start framing next week. I drove by today and nothing was going on, so I decided to stop in and check with the SR because I hadn't heard any updates. She called the PM and found out that they probed the ground yesterday and the ground is frozen 3-4" down.  They are trying to find a heater/tent doohickey to heat the ground up enough to pour.  It appears that we probably won't get foundation poured until the first of next week. It doesn't matter much anyway, because our lumber won't be delivered until a week from Monday. At this rate I can't imagine the house will be ready before mid May.  We really, really, really want to be moved in before Memorial Day. This seemed like no problem when our original completion date was April 4th. If we have any more delays, it's going to be really hard to do. I understand that the weather is out of anyone's control and it's been a very unusual winter, but it's hard not to start feeling disappointed at this point. I'm hopeful they'll be able to make some time up through the rest of the process. 

The lot is cleared!

The lot that we are building on was the lot that has been owned by Ryan homes.  As such, there was a concrete washout and a couple of trailers on it.  

I have no idea how old this photo is.  Pretty old, I'd guess.  There are a lot of empty lots in this picture (courtesy of Google Maps).  From this view currently, ours is the only empty lot.... and covered in about 5 inches of snow.  

When we drove by earlier this week, every thing is gone, except some new black tarpy stuff (the tarp keeps the dirt from washing into the street and into the back of the lot.  We are moving along!   

We meet with the PM on Monday and they are supposed to break ground on Wednesday.  I don't know if the above mentioned snow will stop any of this. My husband is a structural engineer, so he has quite a bit of experience with construction.  He isn't too worried about the cold weather for pouring the basement - since it's warmer below ground, freezing isn't as much of an issue. However, he has some concerns about pouring the garage slab this time of year.  One of the questions he'll be asking the PM is what their guidelines are for pouring this time of year, since this is arguably the worst couple of months to do it.  I imagine we'll have another update Monday or Wednesday.   Wish us luck!