They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Thanks to Gina K. for the inspiration.

"On A Cold Ohio Morning, Everything Is Gray"...

..."And there you are, bringing back some sunshine".

Well in this case the sunshine is metaphorical, but it was a good feeling to see our house with all its exterior trappings in place.  Our "winter" landscaping grade is done, along with the driveway and walk that will have to do until spring.  Getting up that gravel and into the garage may be a bit of a challenge when the snow and ice come, but we will see.

Interior-wise everything is coming together.  For the past few days the drywallers have been there doing the rough finish in the garage, and all the places inside that needed attention.  The carpeting in our daughters room was pulled up to isolate a floor squeak and is back in place, but I think it needs secured a little better around the baseboards.

A plumber was there a couple days and had all the toilets up and it looked like all my drains were getting colonoscopies, since they had things running down them.  There must have been some sort of issue, as they had to cut the carpet in the basement to get to the drain pipe in the floor.  Have to find out what that was about.

The window they have to replace is in the garage, along with the cabinet door face, and drawer on the island that needed replaced.

The painters need to come back and do some touch-up work, and the one thing that needs done that is catching my eye is at the front door.  There is a piece of quarter-round where the wood laminate meets the door frame that has nails is it, but lifts right up. I also noticed light coming around the the door when its closed, with a nice little draft playing accompaniment.  I don't know if the remedy for that is insulating felt, or they adjust the frame...

All-in-all I am comfortable where we are in relation to our tentative close on Thursday.  Our PM says the cleaning crew will be in Monday, and then his workers will probably be there all day Tuesday catching  the last-minute stuff.  He said the final inspection is scheduled, which I assume is on Wednesday.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas if you choose to recognize the holiday.  But if you prefer another variation of the season, enjoy that too.

And Coming Down The Stretch It's...

So here we are 11 days before close, and things are almost finished.  It looks like its down to touch-ups, setting some appliances, getting utilities on, and inspections.

We got the key from the sales rep a few hours ago and went through taking pictures and making notes.  There are more pictures to share, but its time to head out for a family Christmas party so I will post these for juxtaposition.

October 4, 2011

December 18, 2011

The spray-painted spot on the front is where the address stone is going.  Somehow we still got the numbers on the side of the garage...thinking about keeping them.

I didn't ask for THIS upgrade!!

My wife stopped by during her lunch break today, and took this picture.  Obviously, the plumbers were in today.  Also the electricians, and the stone guys were back.  I stopped by after work and the stone guys were wrapping up, the electrician was gone, and the plumber was still there.

It looks like all the electric has been done, and they did unearth our hidden plug on our wall going into the family room.  From the looks of it, they misjudged their initial attempt, so some drywall repair is needed.  All the lights are in, up to and including the infamous "boobalier".  All the plugs and switches, and our outdoor plugs and lights.

The plumber had most of his work done, except for two toilets, and the actual hooking up of the lines.

The garbage disposal was in, and our over-the-range microwave was installed.  The stove and dishwasher were still in boxes in the morning room.  This is probably a stupid question, but does the laminate flooring get put in before they set those, or will they go before the flooring?

We ordered an address stone, but that wasn't put in nor was there a place left out for it on the front of the house.  I assume when it comes they will have to use some sort of stone cutting apparatus to cut out a place for it?  Any input here would be appreciated also.

The window treatment measure will take place tomorrow, so I am looking forward to seeing what will happen.  Better pictures tomorrow, the one above was a cell phone pic.

I did get a call from our loan officer tonight, and we talked about VA appraisals.  I guess they can't be ordered until the home is 95% complete, and then there is about a 7-10 day wait for it to be done.  So basically the call was to see if need be, could we close the first week in January.  He said that he has never had one cause a closing delay, but there are 4 VA loans closing from his office at the end of the month, and he was told by his boss to call everyone and let them know what might happen.  The only real problem a weeks delay would cause is with our refrigerator delivery, which can be rescheduled if need be. 

So we will see.

Another Lost Weekend

Well, not really I guess...we did finish our Christmas shopping.

House-wise, wasn't as much action as I would have hoped.

I know there are only so many "nice" days left here in Northeast Ohio, and I hate to see one go by when there is stuff that could be accomplished on our exterior, and that needs done.  Our shake siding has yet to arrive on-site, so I guess that part can't be helped.

A stone guy prepped on Friday(afternoon), and on Saturday they got in front of the garage done, the side of the garage on the porch, and about 1/4th of the way on the house front itself.  Today there was nothing done.  I see as of right now there is only one day of rain on the forecast for Thursday, so maybe I am overreacting, but with closing coming up fast and a good portion of interior work to be done, also the aforementioned Christmas coming...

We have gotten all the doors painted and re-hung, the sills and baseboards filled and sanded and ceiling/wall painting done.  I guess I should check to see if there will be more coats applied or just touch-ups if needed.  Any input here would be appreciated.  The hardware was put on the doors, along with the springy door stops...got tired of that "sproing" noise real fast as my daughter went though the house.  I checked each door to make sure it closed and there were only two that didn't, but the hinge pins were not all the way in, so maybe that was the cause.  Also our coat closet door in the foyer, and master bath door have brass hinges, while all the others are nickel.

We did go to Lowe's last night to set up an appointment to get our windows measured for blinds, and a panel-track shade for the slider.  Apparently the installer will call me to set up the appt and then send the measurements to the store once he takes them and they will get with me for our choices.  I think a step or two could be eliminated there for efficiency's sake.

Until next time here are some various and sundry pictures.

"Empty-Garage" Syndrome

My wife got an email from our PM this morning that had a picture of our fireplace in it.  Apparently it was finished last night.  Here it is.

Since I could see some trim and railing and spindles in the shot, I thought that today might be the day that the carpentry people might be in.  I went there right after I picked our daughter up from school, and I got there just as a crew of 7 guys were getting ready to leave.

I took a quick tour to see what was done, and boy was it a lot!!  All the doors and their framing in the basement, first and second floor.  All cabinets in the powder room, bathrooms, and the kitchen.  The counter tops in the kitchen, and the sink.  Window sills, all the baseboards, and the stair railing.  And our porch column, and step from the garage.

I wanted to take more pictures, but didn't want to keep them any longer so I only took pictures of the stair railing for now, but more will come soon.

The only things I saw left in the garage were our lighting fixtures(at least the boxes said lights), our mailbox was there, and a few other things I couldn't determine.

Our shake has yet to arrive, and our stone needs put on the front so those "big ticket" things still need done, but I can see how this is all starting to come together.

Siding - Check!!

I went to our house this morning, and our siding guy was there finishing up the siding portion of our house.  I chatted with him a couple minutes and he told me that the shake siding hadn't arrived yet, but should be in this week, and he would be back to put that on.

From the conversation my wife had with our PM, next week things will start to happen quickly, but he suggested not coming by so often and we would see more progress when we did stop by.  I think he was a little concerned that we were perceiving little to no progress with drywall week going on, and he wasn't implying to stay away, but if each of us are stopping by daily and 4 hours apart it would look like nothing was getting done.  Sound advice, but since this is the only house I will ever have built, I am coming by alot!

Our drywallers have finished what they can, and are ready to go onto the next step.  I think the stone guys will start on Monday(fireplace and front), and I think painting will begin too. There was more but I can't recall it right now.  I will have drywall pics soon, but for now here are some siding ones.