Day 44 - Drywall Started

Our drywall was started today!  We are so excited.  It makes the house more than a shell of bones!  I've just randomly taken some pictures.  It appears that all of the ceilings are done.  As well as most of the upstairs.  I'm excited to see the finished drywall.

I hope they insulate inside the closet... it is touching the "outside"!!

basement

kitchen ceiling

family room ceiling

more family room

loft

bedrooms

bedroom 1

bedroom 2

theres that tiny window again

master bedroom

Pre-Drywall Meeting

Today was our Pre-Drywall meeting!  It took approximately 1 hour and boy was it hot and stuff in there!  Equally - this will be a long post, sorry! LOL.

First stop - The Garage.  Due to the lot grading our garage had to be dropped below the house, which makes the inside bigger than it looks on the outside and adds additional steps.  I'm positive that this is going to mean an extra cost on my garage door installation but gives slightly more storage area up high for those pesky once a year holiday decorations.  All the switches and outlets seemed to be in their rightful places.  This is a good start.

We have all our drywall supplies ready to go!

Here's a good angle to show the extra space

Next stop - Mud Room.  Nothing too extensive here.  We have one set of our two washer and dryer hookups.  Everything seems on the up and up here.

Washer on the left?  Mine has always been on the right, hrm

Next stop - The Kitchen.  I was unhappy with the recessed lighting settings (set as per plan) but PM agreed to move a set slightly to make it flow a little better.  We're missing a Guardian cable jack in here.  I'll have to reach out to them for them to remedy.

The recessed is too crammed to the left I think

The missing jack should be to the left corner.  The shiny thing is the vent

This pantry is exciting and it has its own light

Next stop - Morning Room.  It's so windowy!  I love it!  Oops, we forgot the light. My PM is very helpful though!

No privacy here! LOL.

Next stop - Family Room.  We opted not to get a fireplace, although gorgeous, we really didn't need it and couldn't justify the price. :(  Everything looked to be in place, however Guardian sucks at picking locations for jacks.

I don't like any of the places that Guardian decided to put the jacks

Next stop - Hall Closet & Powder Room.  Not much to discuss here really.  All the power seems to be in order and the extra pieces are marked to be removed.

Black wire in the middle is the temperature control location

Next stop - Formal Living Room.  Again, I just hate the Guardian jack locations.  Everything seems to be in order in here.  The outlets are good and we have switches for just about everything.

Notice there's no insulation between rooms

Next stop - The basement.  I'm unhappy about a few things here.

1. First, the electrical panel is in the finished part of the basement in a space I indicated that I wanted to add a kitchenette in the near future.  I very clearly stated I wanted to do this during pre-construction and asked that we try to put it somewhere else, but apparently there were NO alternatives.  What an eyesore and a disappointment.  
2. Guardian, again puts the jacks in some stupid places. 
3. The closet will be adjusted a bit for more use of the unused space under the stairs.
4. The second washer and dryer hookup is in the space that I noted during the pre-construction meeting that I would be finishing.  I was hoping they could have put it closer to the sump pump like I asked, but apparently not.  Again, another disappointment.  It's now in the location I planned on putting a closet.  I feel like no one listened or cared enough to accommodate my requests.

Fans to blow the basement dry.

I wish I could use ALL that space under the stairs

Love the egress - HATE the well - and HATE the trash the contractors have thrown in it

We have my friend Brittany's (lot 56) water heater!  Oops.

I found out that the black trash bag is holding insulation around the venting system - neat

Next stop - The loft.  Nothing special here.  Everything seems to be in there as it should be.  Guardian can't hit center if it had a bullseye on it though :)

I just liked this view :)  Look at all the sheetrock!

Next stop - The bedrooms.  Everything seemed to be in place at first in these rooms.  No insulation between the rooms.  My kids loved walking "through walls" LOL!  I found a problem in the owners closet.  I asked during the pre-construction meeting that the attic access either be moved or moved over to allow for a closet in the future if the loft was converted to a bedroom.  That didn't happen.  PM has agreed to move it to another location.  We will have NO useable space up there - it's just for spray insulation.

I would have liked to keep it in a closet but apparently it can't be

The house seems so much smaller than the model

Next stop - Owner's bathroom.  Nothing special here.  My window failed since it's not tempered but I'm told it's going to be replaced to pass inspection.

It was an itsy bitty teeny weeney square window *humming pokadot bikini*

And finally - The Outside.  Oh the punches keep coming.  I asked that the hose bibs be on the right side of the house near the front and on the left side of near the back.  I got neither.  Apparently there is a design issue that prevents the hose from being on the right side of the house?  Uh.  Eyes rolling.  Another thing I can do nothing about.  Yet again, we must change the plans for our home.  Sigh.  I'm disgusted.

This hose height is ridiculous.  I chuckled when I walked over to "test" it.  Seriously?  Careful, don't bump your head.

This one isn't as bad and liveable I guess.

Here's a close up of the brick.  I can't wait to see it on the house.  I think it's growing on me, very slowly.  It looks different in different lights and it seems that the frosty stuff has come off. :(

None of the house I've seen with the sugar creek look the same from one to the next, so it's hard to judge what it will look like

On a positive note - they fixed the water rushing back into the house - yay!  Now if they could just fix the waterproofing.  It's torn all around the back of the house too!

No more huge puddle sitting on the torn waterproofing

Days 39 & 40 - Insulation, Brick Delivered, & Pre-Drywall Scheduled

Days 37 and 38 seems to have been insulation and other touches to the house.  I believe these touches were more electric, plumbing, etc.  Here's the county's website results and I'm not sure what it exactly means.

Personally, I do not think that the insulation included is sufficient.  I don't like that there is no option to add additional at an additional cost on our massive option lists.  I have a duplex now and I can hear every single peep from one room to the next, even when the doors are closed.  Considering my kids are on summer vacation right now and I still have to go to bed early for work - it's been horrible.  I'd prefer to have some kind of sound barrier insulation between every wall.  I understand that this will have no effect on the energy or temperature efficiency but I can't help but think it would help with sound.  In the non-insulated walls all you have are 2 thin layers of drywall separating one room from the next. If I have an opportunity to make suggestions to Ryan Homes it will be at the top of the list.

Our brick (Boral Brick - Sugar Creek) was delivered.  I'm not sure I like it!  Ug.  I hope it looks different on the house.

 

We've also scheduled our pre-drywall meeting for Wednesday!  It's getting closer now!

The outside of the house hasn't changed much so I haven't taken any more photos.  I don't go in the house while people are working, so no more photos of the inside yet!  I don't want to be in the way and I certainly don't want to slow down any progress!  Maybe I can snap some more after/during the pre-drywall meeting.

Days 34, 35, and 36 Rough Ins!

Collectively, the last 3 days were pretty rough... lol  It was our electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and Guardian rough-ins.

First, it appears that the waterproofing had a run-in with some large equipment which I pointed out to the PM.  They look like they attempted a fix but I still see holes, is this a problem?

I think as it's stormed the dirt weight has pulled it down and torn it

There's still holes around the white holders, is this a problem?

I've nicknamed the following the monster:

Most important room in the house:

Not the way I would setup the recess lighting.  Going to see if they can be moved

1 of the 2 Washer/Dryer hookups :)

What's up with the black trash bags? LOL

There also seems to be some serious erosion issues with our lot

Day 32 - Roof and Supplies

Today we got shingles!  Well, some of them anyway.  We have felt on the entire roof and part of the highest peaks shingled.  I had to bring a 3 step stepstoll to get into the house.  It's so high off the ground and they haven't put in any steps yet.  I never wanted so many steps to get in.  Frustrating.

My apologies for some of the poor quality basement pictures.  It was dark and like a sauna down there!

I'm glad they have safety harnesses - even if it's just a rope

I hope they do a good job, I want my roof to last

There's a gap in the peaks, I hope it doesn't cause problems

Morning Room - not a great view but lots of light

Our future kitchen!  SO excited about this room

Goodies for HVAC and stuffs

Formal Living Room, Bathroom

Loft window

Front bedroom

Looking into the Owners and hall bathroom

Middle bedroom and owners bath

Basement Egress window - I HATE the well

Utility/Storage area of basement

Under Morning Room

Basement Closet

I asked to have the closet moved further under stairs

Other basement window