LAST POST WITH PICS!

Today we're moving out of our townhouse and in with my mom until the house is finished.  We'll be making posts from our phones, but from what I can tell, we can't upload pics. 

We stopped by the house Tuesday with our rep in tow.  This was the first time she's been inside the house so she was excited.  Just before we left the Energy Star inspector arrived.  I'm assuming everything was fine, but due to the move we haven't followed up.  I'm going to take my mom and Godmother to the house tomorrow since neither have been inside either, so I'll ask then. 

So according to our PM this week they were to have the Energy Star inspection (check), install the insulation (check except for the attic as of Tuesday), hang drywall pending passing of the Energy Star inspection, and possibly start on the siding.  The excavator told our PM that if they can get the siding guys out earlier than planned to do it since everything is going so smooth.  Yay.  We also go to see our neighbor's house that should be closing soon.  We didn't go upstairs and we took our shoes off since the flooring was down.  It's a Dunkirk.  India, your appliances were way better :-).  The only pics that we took were of the chandelier (even though we have a second row of lights on ours) and the fireplace (they got the same one as ours).

So enjoy the pics.  I am sad that ya'll won't see the interior of the house as it transforms, but can you imagine how many pics are going to be in the post after we close and have everything set up?  I'm just warning ya'll now, lol. 

Oh and I will be starting the 30 day countdown April 6.  Maybe I should get that countdown clock like India...Hmm. 



I'm glad that the insulation is green



Daniel being silly



I agree with my Dad.  Six panel doors are nicer





I like looking at the steel brackets.  Is that what they're called?



This is the best pic that we've taken so far of the steps.  I love of the sunlight is hitting them. 



Isn't it beautiful?



We nor our rep has any idea what this means, but we thought it was be cool to take a pic.  It's on our seat in the shower.

Can't wait to see our tray ceiling in it's full form.  Come to think of it, we didn't take a pic of the one in the dining room.

The finished product of what our fireplace will look like

You think this looks bad now, imagine it with another row of lights, lol

Oh speaking of lights, all of the light bulbs, except for those in the candelabra and I think if you got recessed lights in the bathrooms, are energy efficient/CFLs.

Okay, back to packing and moving. 

PROBLEMS RESPONDING TO POSTS

Does anyone respond to other posts from their phone? I have an Android network phone. This whole week I haven't been able to respond to anyone's post on my phone. We're in the process of moving to my mom's until the house is built, so after I make another post with pictures, every other post will just be words. I want to be able to respond to your post and I don't know what's wrong.

Help!

PRE-DRYWALL INSPECTION!

WARNING THIS IS A LONG POST...

Our pre-drywall inspection was yesterday.  My parents came up from VA and my dad asked all sorts of great questions that he would only know from being in the business and building.  We learned a lot.  It was like 40 degrees so my mom couldn't take it anymore and ran to the car to keep warm, lol.  Funny, it was 70 degrees a week ago.  All of our electrical and Guardian orders were in place and we got to see the basement for the first time.  The basement was the warmest place in the house, lol.  I will confirm this with our PM during our Monday "meeting," but if I remember correctly the Energy Star test is Tuesday and they will start insulating and drywalling next week.  He also confirmed our presettlement date of May 4th with closing May 6th.  Now we just have to nail down a home inspector.  Believe it or not, we didn't take any pictures.  The house looked the same to us, with the exception that the brick to grade is complete. 

After the inspection we did what we thought was window shopping and ended up buying a treadmill. 

It's a Livestrong LS8.0T.  We got it from Dick's Sporting Goods.  It retails for $1499, but the store we went to had them on sale for $649.  However, to make it even better they had one that was open box that was just returned a couple days ago.  So they sold it to us for half off.  It also had every single part that comes with it and it works fine, Daniel ran on it.  I was concerned with the size of the track since Daniel is 6'5" and the track is 55", but he ran on it at a little higher than his normal top speed and was fine.  Although we haven't heard of this brand before, we're new to the treadmill world, we did some checking online and everyone said that they're great machines and are underpriced for their value.  However, marketing sucks so no one really knows about them.  Also with each purchase of Livestrong products, contributions are made to Lance Armstrong's cancer foundation.  Sweet.  Just wanted to give some details just in case you were looking for a treadmill yourself. 

We also went to Costco to look at TVs.  Turns out they will mount them for you at a MUCH more reasonable price than Best Buy.  Best Buy charges you $250 per TV to mount, Costco charges $90 per TV.  Costco will mount the TV as long as you buy the TV from them, you can have your own mount.  I can't remember, but I think you need to buy everything from Best Buy too.  I don't know if Sam's is comparable to Costco, but its worth asking.  Costco is definitely an option for us. 

Lastly furniture shopping.  We finally found a bedroom set that we liked, but it was discontinued and they only had what was in the store.  Sold out throughout the company.  So we're still searching for that.  I think we settled on our dining room table. 




We wouldn't get the cloth covered arm chairs.  Daniel says they remind him of Chairy from Pee-Wee Herman, lol




Once we get our "must purchase" items in the house, I will be coming back for this.  This will be perfect for the morning room.  These chairs are super comfy too. 

 Last thing is a little hiccup.  When we met with our Guardian rep he asked if we would be getting Direct TV with the DVR because we will need the double coax (India also mentioned this on her blog too).  We said we're looking at Direct TV, but we've never used a DVR and don't plan on using it in the future.  I started calling Direct TV because we can take advantage of deals directly through Direct TV, Costco, my job, or AAA.  During this time we found out in order to have the HD DVR receiver, you need to have the double coax even if you didn't plan on using the DVR.  If we don't get the HD DVR, because that's the special, we only get one free upgrade, meaning the regular HD box, and have to pay for the other boxes.  So Daniel meet with our Guardian rep while he was chalking the locations of everything and our rep said he'll see what he can do.  We later found out that he couldn't add it and he didn't think that Ryan would let us do a change order so late in the game.  I immediately contacted our Rep.  She was out of the office until Thursday, but emailed me Wednesday saying she got my email and she's on it when she returns.  I totally forgot to follow up with her Thursday.  When I spoke with our PM to confirm our pre-drywall he brought it up and said it's not going to be a problem.  All we're waiting on is the forms from Guardian to come in and we'll sign them for the change order.  What a relief because I did not what to see how much Direct TV would have charged us if they had to do something.  Thumbs up to Ryan Homes.

PS
Does anyone know what happened to Sienna, Thanks Ryan's blog?  He didn't give us an update on his meeting and now the link doesn't work. 

MORE UPDATES & DISCUSSION CORNER

I had my weekly "conference call" with our PM yesterday.  He said the permanent roof went on over the weekend (great because it's supposed to snow on Friday and yes I did say snow), the plumber was scheduled for yesterday and today electrical.  Daniel stopped by yesterday and I stopped by today.  What a difference a day makes.



Picture on the left is from yesterday.  Pay attention to the left side.  The pic on the right is from today.  Notice a difference?  If you guessed more of the brick to grade was done you would be correct.  Most of the house has the brick to grade on it now.



Love the roof.  Bring it on snow.



 Left is from yesterday, right is from today.  Yeap the garage doors are now in.  I'm glad we got basic doors.  We're not fans of the ones with the windows at the top.  The four windows in the garage will provide enough natural light.



I can't wait to fire this thing up in the winter. 



We didn't get a pic of the patio door until now.  We like it, don't you?  LOL



Have you figured out what this is yet?...It's our waterhose knozzle.  I thought is deserved the spotlight




Okay so this pic was taken from our egress window.  First time we've seen the basement. 

[You are now entering discussion corner]  Does anyone wonder if everything is moving too fast?  My parents have built twice since 2004 and their builds have taken about 6-9 months.  Everytime I talk to my stepmom she says this is the fastest built house she's ever seen.  Granted we all have a 10 year structural warranty and numerous inspections before the 1st year is over, but is it too fast?  What are your thoughts?  [You are now exiting discussion corner]

Pre-drywall inspection is Friday.  Then we have to finish packing up to move in with my mom until the house is built.  We'll be in the basement so we don't have to worry about being in my old room. 

Goodnite everyone!

ELECTRICIAN MEETING, A PURCHASE, & A SURPRISE!

We had our meeting with our electrician today.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.  We're so glad we were able to do the electrical the old way, meaning dealing with the electrician directly instead of just with our sales rep.  Granted our sales rep is great, but I felt we asked detailed questions and it was helpful to get a response on the spot.  We pretty much stuck with what we were initially thinking:

Ceiling fan rough ins for all bedrooms
Lighting rough in for the morning room
Extra outlet above the fireplace, bottom of the staircase, garage, in the vanity in owner's bath, and in the tray ceiling (for rope lighting)
Dedicated circuit in the basement for a future freezer chest or fridge and on the side of the house (same side as electrical panel for a generator)
Flood lamp on the outside of the morning room (so there will be more than just the patio light when we put in a deck)
Extra light fixture on the garage (we get two, but since we have a 3 car it just looked better)
Additional switches in the owners suite and 2nd full bath to control lighting
Under cabinet lighting ( forgot to add this during original post)

We didn't have to add recessed lights in the bathrooms, they come standard, and no dedicated circuit in the kitchen.  He said we get one anyway because it's code with the range hood.  We talked about adding a surge protector on the electrical box.  He gave us a price, but said that could be done later.  Lastly we talked about should we do something now in the event that we want a jetted tub in the owner's suite.  He said it would be better to do it now by adding a dedicated circuit, but we decided against it. 

Below are some of the pics from yesterday and today...





From yesterday.  I didn't know the door was on already.  The rest of the pics are from today




Oh yeah, morning room




Fireplace




Attic stairs




So glad we got the 6' tub.  Can't wait to soak in this bad boy


We finally bought my dream vacuum today.  I've been obsessed with this company for the past year, but maybe for the past few months I've longed for a canister vacuum.  I can't wait to use it in the house.

Finally we locked in our rate today...4.5% baby.  Super pumped.

THE ROOF, THE ROOF, THE ROOF IS GOING ON!

Daniel stopped by the house on his way to work today and sent me these pics from his camera phone.  



Gotta love the shingles




What are they doing to our fireplace?


He has more on the camera, but I won't be able to upload them until tomorrow.  The weather has been so good to us.  Our PM said that the roof will be done tomorrow.  Also he said that he's confident that we'll be closing May 6th.  He could do it at the end of April, but we don't want to close until May so we have a July payment.  You know what that means?  Yeap you guessed it, time to lock in our rate.  I called our loan officer, but he didn't call back yet.  Understandable since I called him around 4:30 pm.  I'm working on pulling docs to update our commitment letter now.  I've been looking at bank statements all day at work and now I'm doing it with my own loan.  IRONY!

I also reached out to our realtor about the electrical upgrades.  She said that she's never had lighting or an outlet make or break a sale.  So add what we want and keep it moving.  So that means lamp light for the living and family room since there were the areas that we weren't sure about. 

Pics tomorrow are going to be awesome because that will be our first time inside the house.  (insert fist bump here_____)

WINDOWS & CONCRETE & STAIRS...OH MY!

All of our windows have been installed and the concrete has been poured in our garage.  I'm assuming the basement has been poured also, but we'll have to wait until Friday to confirm during our meeting with the electrician. 






CONCRETE...CONCRETE!




Our stairs.  My peep hole, see next photo, has been covered.  So until Friday, the garage is my only viewpoint into the house.  We can't wait to see the stairs up close and personal. 




My former peep hole.  :-)




First time we've gotten a shot of a worker on our lot since we broke ground




Did you really think I wasn't going to take a pic of the morning room?  Plus here's another shot of our dedicated worker.




When knew our house was on the larger side, our rep today confirmed that it's just under 2700 sq feet (like 2698).  However, this shot really shows the massive size of it.  Who wants to help clean it?  Any volunteers?

As previously stated we're having our meeting with the electrician on Friday.  We know we want to do the following:

Ceiling fan rough ins in all bedrooms

Recessed lights above the tub and shower in both full bathrooms

Under cabinet lighting

Dedicated circuit above stove (we need this to put in the microwave after we close)

Basic outlet above fireplace for TV

I think we do have outlets on both sides of the island, but if we don't we'll add one

I have to also look at the electrical prints regarding outlets at the top and bottom of the stairs.  If there aren't any, we will add them

Things we're on the fence about:

Should we get a ceiling fan rough in for the morning room or just a basic light rough in?  I'm thinking basic light because I don't think I would ever want a fan in there. 

Lighting for the family room.  We already have recessed lights in the kitchen, but we have not clue what to do for the family room.  Neither of us are a fan of the recessed lights above the fireplace.  I would like suggestions from a resale perspective.  We've been operating with lamps for so long, over head lighting isn't a big deal to us. 

Our PM said if we install an outlet in the dining room tray ceiling, they would have the drop it a little bit and we could put rope lighting up there.  Your thoughts?

Should we put a light rough in for the living room?  Again thinking about it from a resale perspective.

Anything else that you can think of that we should add (from a resale perspective)?

Thanks





WE HAVE A SECOND FLOOR...

I love Monday's.  I always find out from our PM what the weeks activities are.  Today he told me that they were working on the second floor (Stephanie we have 12 framers :-D), the crane will be there tomorrow, and the roof shingler is scheduled for Wednesday.  Our walk through appointment with the electrician is on Friday and next Friday is pre-drywall.  I'm so glad the weather is better.  Once the permanent roof goes up, no worries.




Super pumped that some of the windows are installed





The window spacing and sizing looks odd to me.  Ah well.





MORNING ROOM...MORNING ROOM!  Can you tell I'm excited about the morning room?


Also I just started shopping around for satellite and phone.  We don't like Comcast and the picture can go out with them too, so I rather pay way less for satellite.  Both Dish and Direct TV seem around the same prices point, but the Direct TV reps seem way more excited than Dish.  Feel free to way in if you have experiences with either one.

MORE FRAMING PICS

I'm a little sad that we don't have a second floor on yet, but I can definitely tell there has been a lot more work done.  At first it looked the same to me, but then I forgot that our garage wasn't framed on Thursday.  The more I looked at it the more I was amazed at the changes.  I just remember how our neighbors house went from just a foundation to two stories in four days. 

So here are the pics...


I keep forgetting that we'll have four windows on the garage instead of three



Looking at the kitchen from our fireplace



I think the powder room is on the left, but the extended laundry is definitely on the right



Garage

Looks like we'll have a second floor early next week

FRAMING HAS STARTED!

We stopped by the lot on Tuesday and this is what we saw...

And now we almost have a first floor...



Wish I could have zoomed in more, but I only had my phone with me



Can you tell I was still in the car?  It was raining cats and dogs yesterday.



I guess this is our second floor



I couldn't resist taking a picture of this.  I love the middle window for the morning room

We can't wait to see what it will look like on Saturday.  By the way, I'm excited that we got Amish framers.  Everyone says they're the best.