Pre-Drywall - Check!

Over the past week, the "guts" of the house (HVAC, plumbing, electric, Guardian) were installed.  I have to admit, I found it much more interesting than I anticipated.  Over the weekend, the hubs, my dad and I did a thorough walk-thru in preparation for the pre-drywall meeting.  We came up with a short list of things to bring to PM's attention:  missing recessed lights and extra island outlet, switch "half hot" outlet in MR to side wall, and fix a crooked & splintered stud in hallway leading to foyer.  Nothing major.  We also saw a few spots where water was getting inside from our outdoor electrical receptacles.  The insulation was still wet during our meeting with PM.  He removed the insulation and had his handyman re-sealing these areas before we even left!

Water! Eeek!  Fortunately, PM is already on top of it!

One concerning thing we noticed over the weekend was that the four windows on the back wall of the MR were uneven.  The middle two windows appeared to sit about 1/4" lower than the ones on the side.  We assume this is due to the fact that this back wall was not fabricated in the factory, but re-framed on-site because of an error in the lumber order.  I was sick to my stomach over this.  Even though it is only a slight difference, it's one of those things that once you notice, it is the ONLY thing you see.  My worst nightmare is standing at my kitchen sink everyday and staring at the uneven windows - It would drive me nuts!  We showed PM and after a quick measurement he agreed that they weren't right.  We hope to see them corrected on our next visit.

If you look at the locks, you can see that the right is slightly higher than the left. 
Would be much more noticeable if the photo was taken strait - rookie move.

It felt like we were off to a rocky start when we experienced an error in the placement of our foundation window and the botched morning room framing debacle (x2!).  But, after getting to know our PM and experiencing his responsiveness to any questions or issues we presented to him, I am confident that his intention is to build our home as if it were his own.  He's made us feel like we're his only customers (there are 9 other homes under construction!) and spending time with him during our pre-drywall has especially eased much of my anxiety.  It's time to sit back and enjoy the ride!

I was so consumed with documenting what is going to be behind the walls that I didn't get very many "whole room" photos.  Here are a few worth sharing:

Family Room

Kitchen

Master BR

Master BR Sitting Area

Master Bath

The only exterior change this week - the garage door.  I like it!

On the agenda for this week:  drywall & brick (yay!)!

We're definitely closing on June 1st, so next week we can lock in our interest rate.  Keep your fingers crossed that rates stay near 4.0 (or even lower)!

Making Progress!

We made a lot of progress over the past week!  First of all, our morning room framing has finally been corrected.  They re-framed it on Tuesday - incorrectly!!  I was beyond irritated.  By Friday, they got it right.  Third time's the charm I guess. . .

Tuesday:  Sliding Door = Wrong Side Wall
As a matter of fact, we don't even have a sliding door.  It is suppose to be a patio door! Ugh!



Beautiful!  Love those 4 windows on the back wall of the MR!

The morning room framing was the most drastic progress we saw on the exterior.  The front door was installed and the roof now has tar paper.  We should be getting shingles any day now :-)

On the inside, the framing has been completed and the garage and basement floor have been poured.  Both the HVAC and plumbing have been started and we had a walk-thru with guardian to determine the placement of cable/internet and security selections.  Our fireplace has been installed as well!

We are still waiting for the concrete company to cut in our third foundation window, which should happen early this week.  According to PM, this week's schedule includes completion of HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and Guardian.  Our roof will get shingles and our brick will be ordered.  Our pre-drywall meeting should be early next week sometime! 

I promise to have more photos for my next post.  I was so busy inspecting every piece of lumber for flaws and looking over my coveted morning room with a fine tooth comb that I totally forgot to document the progress on the inside!  Next time, friends, I promise!!  Until then, here she is:

Framing Progress

In the time since my last post, our home has been framed and most of the windows have been installed.  The additional foundation window and rear wall of the morning room have not been corrected yet, but we hope to see both of these things taken care of tomorrow.  Otherwise, everything looks as expected.  Here are a few pics of the progression:

Thursday



Our friends from South of the Border Worked hard on Friday from 7:00am to 6:30pm to nearly complete the framing.  It was dark by the time they left, so I got these shots on Sunday.

Monday (Windows!)

The agenda for the rest of the week:  completion of framing including the installation of the additional foundation window and correcting the morning room framing, pour garage and basement floor and begin HVAC.  We have a call into our Guardian rep to plan a time to meet and review the placement of those selections at some point soon as well.  We can't wait to get inside!

On a side note, my husband and I enjoyed a little getaway this weekend to Pine Lakes Lodge with a few friends.  It's a great B&B near Cambridge, Ohio.  If you live in the PA, WV or OH region check it out sometime.  The lodge was comfortable and beautifully decorated and the grounds were lovely as well.

Pine Lakes Lodge

Another Mistake!

We were so excited to see our first level framed on our drive-by after work today!  It looks great but.....




Front




Rear



Right Side

Left Side

Unfortunately, we also saw a VERY big mistake.  The back wall of our morning room was framed with a sliding door walkout and two windows.  We are suppose to have four windows on the back wall with a patio door on the side wall.  We immediately placed a phone call to PM who said he was aware of this error.  Apparently our lmber had been ordered incorrectly.  Why was our lumber ordered incorrectly you ask?  Oh, just another error made by our sales rep who forgot to note on our paperwork that we have a front load garage.  (Our lot can only accomodate a home with a front entry garage as opposed to a rear entry which is per standard plan).  Luckily, this can be corrected and according to PM an order for the correct lumber has already been placed.  That's mistake #4 for SR - The extra money he is costing his company is adding up quickly.

My dad is going to make a trip over to our house tomorrow to check out the progress.  I may even swing past over my lunch as well.  I hate to be a pain, but we're really starting off on the wrong foot and I would much prefer things to be done right the first time around so none of us have to endure this aggravation.

Special Delivery!

It looks like the drains were completed, and the left side of the foundation was backfilled today.  There was a man filling the front stoop during our drive-by.  We also saw the I-beams, two large piles of lumber and a stack of windows and doors!! 

The weather forecast looks great for the rest of the week so we should have a house by Friday or Saturday!  We. Can't. Wait!  In the meantime, I'll be dreaming about one of my favorite spaces in our new home:

The Kitchen and Morning Room

Window Issue Resolved

My husband spoke with our PM this morning regarding the misplaced window.  The PM agreed to add one to the location we wanted.  The misplaced window will stay, so we'll have three windows as planned we when we signed our contract.  We're happy the PM worked with us to get it resolved.

They worked on the drainage system and waterproofing today.  Tomorrow we expect our lumber delivery!

Flubbed Foundation

Our foundation was poured yesterday!

Rear view

And today the forms were removed!

Side view

View from the neighbor's front stoop (across the street)

Unfortunately, we noticed that one of our foundation windows is not in the location we requested.  To top things off, the foundation windows were already a point of contention because we were expecting to have three foundation windows.  According to our SR during the sales/contract process, one foundation window was included with the home.  We were required per code to have an egress window (which we had to pay for) and we added two additional foundation windows.  Well, at our pre-start meeting we were informed that there are no foundation windows included in the base cost and it was too late to add another.  We are disappointed because we plan to finish our basement and wanted to have as much natural light as possible on that level.  So anyways, to make a long story short, we're only getting two windows and one of them is misplaced.  We sent an email to our PM and hope to hear that he can take care of it.

Opening on the left is the garage

Besides the foundation window snafu, DH and I had a great day.  We grabbed breakfast at one of our favorite diners (Pamela's) and then went to the Home and Garden Show at the Convention Center.  We snagged a ton of business cards for interior painting, garage door installation, and low maintenance decks.  We can't wait to make our house a home!  On the way home, we stopped for groceries and as I was stuffing our goodies into the tiny cupboard we use to store dry goods, I could not stop dreaming of this:



Our Future Pantry!



Maybe I will start enjoying the weekly trip to the supermarket once I have more space for groceries!


The tentative schedule for next week is as follows:
Monday - waterproofing and inspection
Tuesday - lumber delivery
Wednesday - framing begins

Hopefully I will have some good news to share about the windows once we hear back from PM on Monday!

Forming the Foundation!

Until today, there had not been much action on our lot since the footer was poured last Wednesday.  One of the PMs informed us that the concrete company was running a few days behind schedule so we weren't expecting to see this until next week:



View from the back of our lot


They began placing the forms for our foundation today!  We hope the walls are poured tomorrow so we can spend some time admiring them this weekend.  Our lumber is scheduled to arrive on March 6th or 7th.  Can't wait to see the house framed!

I've noticed a handful new bloggers out there - Welcome to all of you!  I've enjoyed reading about your selections and look forward to following your progress!  It's so much fun to share ideas and ask for suggestions and opinions of others who are going through the same process!

And to everyone who has broken ground within the last week or two - Congrats!  It's going to be an exciting 90 days for all of us!