Our new home

[kaneboats]

Those are some great tips. (If everybody gave tips like you I'd go be a waiter.)

[mmandley]

mike,
noticed the fascia trim at the peak of the garage door, and on the side of the house, but not on the second peak over the garage and over the bay window? builder forget? I noticed the same thing when looking at it after the pics were taken. I have to go out there again today to put in some nail stops by my wiring and im going to look into that.

noticed they haven't poured the driveway yet. if you can, get it done dead last. some sub will park on it and drip oil. never fails. Yes the Driveway goes in almost dead last. Then its also blocked from any vehicles.
don't have them seal the concrete on the back patio if you have the option. then go get yourself some coffee concrete stain and some sealant. looks pimp. I would do stamped/colored entryway and 2 2ft bands down the driveway if you can. colored concrete mixed is expensive. if you get it plain and unsealed, you can stain it yourself for less than $200.We have them doing the bands on the driveway, its aggregate i think its called. The rest is a broom finish so its not to slippery in all the rain we get. I will have to look into the concrete stain.
check ebay for inwall volumes and speakers. usually $29 for impedance matching controls and under $50 for a decent set of inwalls(i used phoenix gold in the last house. not the same as the automotive company in quality, but they work nice). if you buy the speakers now, you can bring them for the painters to colormatch, otherwise get some of the wall color loaded into a spray can. We get plenty of extra paint to match the interiors but i doubt i have any speakers or volume controls till after we move in. Claudia is starting to manic im spending to much on upgrades already so everything gets blank wall plates till we move in then i can spend a little more. I plan to use what would be the first mortgage payment to buy most of the stereo stuff.

make sure your landscaper knows the fence layout so they can plan around it. personally, i'm a curbing guy around the entire house 2-3.5ft out. keeping grass away from the actual foundation really helps with potential water in the crawlspace down the road, and much easier to mow. make sure when they pour the driveway/entry, you remember(measure and write it down) or mark where the sleeve is under the driveway and under the front walkway if you have a planter bed. you won't be sorry later. a small scratch in the side of the driveway does it when the concrete is fresh.I agree i like the 2 foot boarder we have them on the current house and we plan to add it to the new one. We have the front yard pre-landscaped as part of the deal but the back i didnt want to add to the house price so ill be doing that. I need to figure out where and how to buy sod.

spray texture or hand scraped?

I dont follow you on this one?

Wow lot of stuff there Sandm lol.

Kane, its a Lap siding and it overlaps from the bottom so its installed top down. In those pics they hadn't finished it all but yesterday i was there and its all done. I assume they left the man door undone because the proper door wasn't installed. Now the correct door is in place and the siding is complete.

[sandm]

just wondering if the interior texture on the walls is spray(typical of a tract home) or if it's hand-textured. might ask. if it's not too much, do the common areas(not bedrooms/laundry) in hand. it looks 100% better imo and will differentiate the house at resale time.

look into the concrete stain. head to a concrete supply house when you have some time off. they will fill you in. looks amazing and is easy to put up. only prob is if your concrete guy uses a sealer over the grey concrete, the stain won't take. needs to be unsealed. stain the bands on the driveway and front walk.

my .02 on inwall's and volumes. don't go nuts on prices. ebay is your friend. most of the time, that music is simply background. don't need a real expensive one. I used phoenix gold 8" 2-way's(ebay for under $60/pr) for most of them. your plant shelves in the living room would be an excellent way to get them in and out of the way. hidden sound is golden when you have peeps over

[mmandley]

Ahh ok yes i follow you on the wall texture, you know i don't know if that's as option i get to use. Ill look into it and see. I agree on the hand texture walls. I know the models had spray in but they only put a few options in the models. Most of the model options were no cost upgrades, we have some of the no cost upgrades but we have spent about 30K in physical upgrades but most wouldn't see it as we have carpet, linoleum floors and Formica counters. We opted to take standard feature on this stuff so we have more time to shop and choose what we want. Plus i know enough guys who do those professionally i can have them help me for a little liquid compensation.

I will for sure look into the stained concrete. I ran that by Claudia this morning and she gave me the deer in the headlight look until i said we can make the porch blend in with the house better and then you could see the light bulb go off LOL

[sandm]

be careful on the upgrades that you have the builder do. often times you get into a position where you have too much invested into a house that won't bring the value at selling time. things like upgraded trim, crown, kohler vs moen fixtures won't bring extra cash at resale in the market you are probably going to be in.

[ptcbtchr]

Watching your house go up brings back memories of my our first house. i too had a boat (my first major purchase out of college, even before a car) And I remember like yesterday walking our house during each phase of construction. I have enjoyed watching your photo's being added. There is nothing quite like the satisfaction of opening the door on your own house after closing!!! Wishing you and your wife and puppy nothing but the best of luck. As to your nosey neighbor, we all have at least one, no matter where you live and I hope your stereo on your boat really annoys her lol.

Mark

[mmandley]

Latest updates we went to the house on Sunday and the new fire sprinkler system is installed, all electrical inspections are passed and I expect tomorrow when i go out that it will have insulation and drywall. Heres what it looks like right now.

Sprinkler system main valve and pressure control. In the garage.



Couple shots of it in the ceiling in the different rooms.

[mmandley]

This is the house, shes all sided and waiting for paint The greay section on the front of the garage is where the rock will be placed.

[zabooda]

House is looking good. Question, is the fire sprinkler system code or was that an option?

[mmandley]

House is looking good. Question, is the fire sprinkler system code or was that an option?

Its an option, since we are rual and the only fire department is volunteer only we felt it was better to have an automatic system. It really helps the home insurance but mostly it gives us both peace of mind.

We weighed the option of insurance covers fire but it also covered damage by water from the system is there was a fire. So eighter way we are covered but with the system installed our rate is much lower, so much so they this system will pay for its self in less then three years from the insurance savgins.