Another gripe about the garage

I'm sure you all are sick of hearing me gripe about the fact that our truck won't fit in the garage. But... now it just keeps getting crazier! My husband moved some thing around so that he could park it in the double bay at a little bit of an angle and planned to park my SMALL Nissan Altima in the single bay. Well.... it won't go... can't make the turn without plowing through the grass to make the curve! Seriously????  What a joke! So, even if we bought a shorter truck, we still couldn't park both vehicles in the garage. Putting them both in the double bay would mean we'd only be able to get in on one side of each of the cars because it's so tight. Ridiculous!!

What I wish I had known.....

After moving in and living here for about a month now... I have few regrets.... but there are some things I wish I had known...

1. Upgrade the pad on the carpet. I can feel every little bump from the subfloor through the carpet.
2. Work with your PM and electrician if you can to move electrical outlets and light switches.  I really didn't think this was that big of a deal...and it's not huge... but I have a big china cabinet that lights up and the outlets are next to it instead of behind it. Light switches seem to be in odd places, especially in the basement. I have to go downstairs and around the corner to get to the light switch.
3. Check every single window after you move in and inspect things closely before your 30 day walkthrough. Luckily, it has taken about a week for them to fix things and we keep finding things to fix. We have a great PM, so he just keeps sending people over to fix everything.
4. Ask PM if you can either install toilet paper holders/towel bars yourself, or mark where you want them.  Our towel bar in the powder room is up really high and I don't want to deal with patching holes to move it right now.
5. Don't bother with a blower for the fireplace.  Ours heats the entire house without the blower.
6. If you bake or host holidays... splurge for the double oven. This is probably the only real regret I have.
7. If you have a handy husband, don't pay for kitchen/bathroom knobs. We were able to pick what we wanted from Menards and installed ourselves for much cheaper and could do pulls on drawers instead of all knobs.

Things I'm soooo glad we did....
1. The upgraded paint package. We did Pavilion Beige and with the 2 story entry, it looks great.  There is no way my husband was going to be able to paint that!
2. Builder built deck.  Yes, it's standard,  nothing fancy... but it's done. We grilled out our first night here.
3. splurged for the cabinets I wanted.  Love my kitchen, it's the best part of the house.
4. rough-in for water softener. We had our water softener installed within the first couple of weeks we were here and it makes such a huge difference not only showering, but cleaning too.
5. Upgraded fixtures and doorknobs.  We got the bronze upgrade. Love it! Looks so good.
6. Added windows in morning room and family room. We have a great view of the pond behind our house, and the windows brighten it up.  We decided not to add side windows to the living room and bedrooms since they just look at the neighbor's house.
7. When they actually lock you out.... typically, the windows aren't locked.... we found ways in anyway, and we checked on things DAILY and took TONS of pictures.

The house has been an ongoing organizational mess... now that we are at least mostly unpacked... I will post pictures tonight after I give it a good cleaning!
 
And as much as apartment living/temporary housing sucked.... yes, it was totally worth it! Hang in there!

Love the house, but the truck does NOT fit.

If you've been following us, you know that the fact that our truck would not fit in the garage was a big deal.  We met with the SR manager and his words were "trust us" we will make sure it fits. Yeah, well, it doesn't. Unfortunately, we didn't pull in and check until we had closed. I don't feel like I have much recourse now. We were very happy with PM and indicated that on our survey when we closed, but not happy about the garage. We indicated that on the survey, but I'm pretty sure that won't have any impact on anything at all. So, when they say "trust us"... yeah... don't.
On another note, we do LOVE the house. Very few issues, nothing major yet to be addressed on our 30 day. We don't have a working alarm system yet, so no beeps when we go in and out. I've emailed the rep from Guardian to see how we get things going there. I promise to post pictures soon. Things are just still such a mess!

We are in!

We moved in last weekend! Everything went well and looks great! Pics and update soon! We just got internet hooked up this morning!! Good luck to the rest of you still waiting!

Day 91 - walkthrough tomorrow and we're finally locked out

We've been lucky so far to have been able to get in and see everything along the way.  We went in last night and everything was pretty much done except for appliances, light fixture in the entry way, and crown molding on the kitchen cabinets.  My brother was able to get in and check it out today and said the appliances are in. So, I think it's DONE! We have our walkthrough tomorrow, but we don't close until Monday. I was soooooo hoping we'd get to move this weekend. We have to be out of the apartment by Wednesday so closing Monday means moving Monday night and Tuesday. Anything I need to know about the walkthrough? I'm planning on being super picky especially since they'll have 5 days to fix it!

Day 88 - Landscaping

They have gotten LOTS done this week... but still plenty to finish up this weekend.  The PM said the painter is coming in this weekend to touch things up so he let us go ahead and mark things with blue painters tape that we wanted fixed. He had already done a lot and we added plenty.  So... we now have grass, bushes, columns on the front porch. The door has been painted. All of the cabinets in the kitchen are in.  The bathroom mirrors are in.

This was Wednesday.

This was Friday. Originally the tree was planted in the side yard, which I thought was a waste. So, PM was able to move it for us. :)

 

 

This is where siding has been ripped off the back of the house. I'm not sure how this even happened? Maybe when they installed the gutters?? This is being fixed of course.

They moved the TP holder. :)

 

Finally have these installed in the basement.

 I didn't realize this would be done. I'm guessing it's a moisture barrier of some sort.

 

 

Deck is done.

Upgraded door handle is in.

 

 

We aren't happy with the gaps in siding. Anyone have info on this? PM says it will expand with the humidity over the next few months. It looks cheap and I'm concerned about moisture getting in there. PM says there is moisture barrier behind it to take care of that. I'm seeing issues down the road with this. :(

 

 

All of the rod iron bars are in! Love it

All of the cabinets are hung! Now to shop for hardware. That's A LOT of doors and drawers... any recommendations on where to shop besides Home Depot, Menards and Lowes?

Crown molding is up in the dining room.

Mirror in the master

 

Close up of porch.

Shutters are coming this weekend or by Monday. Cleaners are coming Monday. Walkthrough Wednesday. We drove by this morning and there were several cars there!

 

So...here's the list I can think of that needs to be done this weekend or at least by Wednesday's walkthrough:

 

Fix ripped siding.

Finish installing doorknobs on all doors, we are missing a couple.

Install all faucets

Install all toilets

Install pedestal sink in half bath

Fix the wiring to the island (they drilled the hole for the wire in the wrong place so no they have floored over the wire, thus no electricity on the island)

Install entry way light

Install light in half bath

Finish installing trim

LOTS of touch up paint

Install all appliances

Install shutters

 

We bought a light for my daughter's room this morning. We have our ceiling fans and our projector and receiver for the basement. We still need a light for the morning room.  It's getting really close!

 

 

Day 86 - grading and moved the TP holder!

We did get this list of things that will be happening over the next few days from our PM:

Final grade is happening today (this happened)

Gutters went on today (this happened)

Deck is being built today (this was started)

Trim carpenter did not make it back yesterday but will be there today or tomorrow (hopefully tomorrow, didn't come today)

Siding guy no showed last night but he is scheduled to be back today (this did not happen)

Granite will go in either today or tomorrow (this did not happen)

The plumber will be in tomorrow to wrap up his items

Electrician is scheduled for tomorrow to wrap up his loose ends

Seed and sod will go in on Monday

Painters will come back through on Friday.

Cleaners will be on Monday to give a good scrub down.

 

My husband noticed that for some reason above the morning room there were a couple strips of siding that appeared to have been broken off. Pretty long pieces.. not sure how it happened.

 

These are things we've noticed and we emailed PM about.  He's been great about addressing everything we've asked and hate to keep pointing out the bad things. But I'd rather tell him now to see if we can get some things fixed up front.

 

Here are the things we asked about after visiting the house tonight:

First, we've noticed there is no electrical outlet in the island. We noticed there was an electrical cord that came up out of the floor but it was between the island and the cabinet. It has since been floored over and the cord is sticking out where the dishwasher will go

.

Second, we noticed in the basement that we can feel the creases in the concrete through the carpet. I would hope those creases would be filled so that these aren't obvious.

 

Third, we noticed they started the deck.  We think the deck is supposed to be 16 x 14 with the longest part of the deck along the back of the house. It looks like they have put in the deck supports with the longer side extending from the house. It's hard to tell for sure since just the supports are in.

 

Fourth, we've noticed that the stain on the stairs has lighter parts, will there be more stain on the stairs?

 

Fifth, There are several gaps between siding strips even some places where you can see the silver wrap in between them. Will those be tightened up? I'm concerned about moisture getting in there.

 

Finally, we've noticed a lot of imperfections in the paint. The biggest concerns are the master bedroom north wall and the north wall going down to the basement. When the painter comes back, will he be sanding and fixing those kinds of things, or just touching up?

 

So not much happened on the inside of the house today... except they DID move that toilet paper holder! Thank goodness! :)

Day 85 - 3 days of no work

So... I know it was the holiday weekend...but no work today? And we have our pre-settlement walkthrough a week from tomorrow? PM says the next 3 days will be extremely busy. I sure hope he's right.  The bad thing about  no work getting done is every time we go to the house we keep noticing things that just aren't done right.  I'm sure they'll fix most of these things, but I'm tired of seeing imperfections.... tonight we noticed this one.

 

Will there be directions somewhere as to how you get a roll of toilet paper on this holder... and what's the point of it being so far away that you have to get up to get some? I hope they get a lot done tomorrow. :(

 

 

Still to be done:

Install Cabinets

Install remainder of cabinets in kitchen

Install remainder of siding

Install and paint pillars on the front porch

Install doorknobs on all doors

Install all faucets

Install all toilets

Install pedestal sink in half bath

Fix the wiring to the island (they drilled the hole for the wire in the wrong place so no they have floored over the wire, thus no electricity on the island)

Build Deck

Final Grade, Sod, and landscaping.

Install handrail to the basement

Install banister at the bottom of the stairs

Install entry way light

Install light in half bath

Finish installing trim

LOTS of touch up paint

Install all appliances

Install front door with upgraded handles

Install gutters

Install shutters

 

Those are the things I can think of off the top of my head... that seems like ALOT in a very short amount of time! 

Day 82 - carpet

It's Saturday! Saturday of Labor Day weekend... and.... they are working at the house! Laying carpet!!! They had all of the pad in when I stopped by this morning. Will go back tonight and try to get pictures. I was shocked... they weren't supposed to do carpet until Tuesday!

Day 81 - Hardwoods and LOTS more!

Our driveway, porch, and sidewalks were poured yesterday.  We drove by but didn't go in since they were working late last night. We could see the ladders in the entry way so we figured they were painting.  We did go in today and painting is done and looks great!  Towel bars, toilet paper holders, and shower door are all installed.  Shelving in the closets is in.  Carpet has been delivered and is in the garage. Oh... and of course... the hardwood is in! It looks great!!! 

The cabinet over the refrigerator seems really low.... hope our fridge fits!

waiting on venting for the microwave I guess?

This skinny cabinet goes above the microwave. It's not deep AT ALL... maybe good for spices if I can reach them?

Powder room

Peek at the floors!

Master closet! :)

Master closet again. Can you tell I'm excited about this?

Master bathroom shower door.

Master bath again.

 

Handrails are in... they are loose. Hope they tighten them up!

 

Kids' bathroom.

Linen closet

Kitchen Pantry!

Wiring is ready for the TV

carpet and pad waiting to be installed.

Another peek at the floor

Not crazy about the way the concrete and the curb meet. Cracks there.. hope they fix this.

 

So...what's left...

Install carpet, granite, toilets and pedestal sink, faucets, door knobs, porch pillars, sod and seed, deck, last row of siding, finish the island and a couple of cabinets, molding on the cabinets, finish installing the metal rods on the stair case, install the handrail and trim to the basement, install the rails at the bottom of the basement stairs,... .what am I forgetting? I think that's it. There will be plenty of touch up paint to be done, but overall it looks great! So very glad we chose a paint color instead of leaving it white. It already makes it feel cozy!

Day 79 - Lights are ON!

Lots happening again today and yesterday.  Still a couple of cabinets to hang and a couple of places of trim to finish.  They apparently ran out of material again. But... lots did get done... Trim and doors were all painted today.

 

 

 

lights are on in the basement and it is BRIGHT!

 

 

Getting ready to pour driveway and sidewalk this week!

Alarm system is in... smoke detectors beep nonstop.. I don't know how the workers listen to it beep all day long!

 

Motion detector is in too!

 

Cabinets almost done... still a few to hang. They did measure for granite today and it will be installed next Wednesday.

Light on in the dining room!

Stairwell is stained! Looks great!

Basement stairwell is stained...missing a piece to install it though. Trim guys are coming back next week to finish.

 

Prewire for the projector is in!

Speakers are in!

Lots of connections here... hope we can figure all of this out!

Speakers in the ceiling in the basement.

Handrail for the basement stairs.

Electrical box in, hooked up, and labeled.

So.. what's next? The final rows of siding that had to go in after the stone will be done this week. Driveway this week.  Hardwood goes in Friday and carpet next week! We are still missing a light in the half bath.. so we still have to ask about that.  We've seen some things that need fixed, but not major things.

Also, we did lock. We went with NVR. As we got closer to being within 30 days the LO was very good about running numbers for me and sending me rates. We locked at 4.75, put 15% down and are buying out PMI up front. Not the greatest rate, but to be honest I'm tired of worrying about it. 

The other Vic Falls down the street from us closed today and looks great!  Things are getting closer!!