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.  :)

Offer Accepted!

Late last night we got another counter offer on our current house that we accepted!  If everything goes smoothly, we should have dual occupancy for about 3 weeks.  I'm relieved that we have some overlap; that allows us to remove everything from our current house at a good pace and gives me enough time to clean up for the new people. I plan on having my son ride the bus to the current house at least until we close, so I'll be at the house almost every day and I can do a little bit at a time. Of course, it's also a relief not to have two mortgages for any longer than necessary. 

We registered my younger son for kindergarten at the new school district last night, so we went to the house and the hardwood floors are going in.  The master bath tile still isn't in, but hopefully it will go in soon.  

New Tile Choice

Last night we drove up to Rite Rug to see our other tile choices.  I was less than impressed that Ryan still only allows us to chose from a small portion of tile that Rite Rug offers.  Even so far as to limit us on size, for example, one board had 4 different versions of the same tile.  A one inch square, a 5/8" square and two rectangle sizes.  However, we were only allowed to chose from two of those four sizes on that particular tile.  WTH?  We have to be extra careful with our choices because the main tile is already in, the cabinet is in and the granite counter top is installed.  This means that the tile that we pick has to match all three.  This right away removed some of our choices.  We were able to pick a tile that matched and that we are happy with, but boy, it sure would have been nice to know our first pick was unavailable before now.  

I made a quick stop back at the house before going to Rite Rug.  They have already stained the banister.  They have also installed the plumbing hardware. The tubs were filled with water to check for leaks.  And the correct brick has arrived.  

Cabinets are in!

I went by the house this week and I actually squealed when I saw the kitchen cabinets were in. 

Full picture of the kitchen

Kitchen

Wall that the fridge goes on

Banisters in, need to be stained

Guest bathroom vanity

Master bath vanity

Master shower

You can see in the master shower where there are some missing tiles. We go to Rite Rug tomorrow to look at the tile again. I asked the PM is we had to chose a 1" tall tile. He seemed confused by the question. I was afraid that since the original design was for that size tile we would have to stay with it. He said it would've be a problem. 

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!

Bathroom Tile on Backorder

Yesterday I received an email that the accent tile we chose for the master bathroom is on backorder and won't be available until the end of April.  They sent an email with what is supposed to be the same tile but upgraded because it's diamond shaped instead of rectangle.  

Above is the tile we chose.  

This is the tile they say is the same.  I'm sorry, but I don't think it is the same. I think this one is blue and green, whereas the one we chose is red.  Sigh.

So, I've made a call to the sales rep.  I think we need to go look at the tile to figure out what to do.  I definitely don't want another situation like we had with the brick.  

In other news, the house is completely primed and the cabinets have been delivered.  They were supposed to install some of the flooring Friday but I haven't been inside to see that yet.  Here's a few pictures from this week.  

Picture of the brick after they started taking it down.

Brick we ordered (left) and the brick they put on (right) Not very close.  

Cabinets delivered!

Cabinets and doors!

Kitchen, looking towards the Pantry.

Master bath, the shower is on the left, closet straight ahead. 

Upstairs hallway, looking towards the kids rooms, with a big closet between.  

Younger son's room.

My craft/studio

Hallway looking towards the Master bedroom. 

Master Bath

I am ridiculously excited about the master bath after having made our choices. First, we have opted to only have a shower in the master bath.  It will be a 5 foot shower with a seat.  A SEAT!  I will have a place to sit and shave my legs!  Woot woot!  With this upgraded feature, the shower is tiled in ceramic and we the floor will be tiled in a nearly identical ceramic.  The wall tiles are 9x12 and the floor tiles are 12x12.  

I believe the tile is more white than what it shows, at least in the bottom image.  We felt a white cabinet would look best with the ceramic, but did not think that the standard white marble would look very good - we felt it would be too much white.  So, we splurged a little and decided to do a granite counter in the master bath as well.  The small square that you see in the pictures is a sample of the granite.  It has flecks of red which will accent well with the red in the accent tile.  

The faucets are in oil rubbed bronze, here are some links with pictures of what everything will look like.  

Moen Eva ORB Sink Faucet

Moen Eva ORB Shower Fixtures

Moen Eva ORB Towel Rack

Moen Eva ORB Paper Holder

Progress Lighting Fixture