FINAL-LY (11-24-15)

As the build of the house drew to a close, we kept hearing about going for “Final”.  The electrician had to finish the outlets, so we could Go for Final.  The plumber had to finish the shower fixture, so we could “Go For Final”.  However, the painters didn’t have to finish painting, because we didn’t need that done in order to Go For Final.  It slowly dawned on me that, in my head, I was thinking went we Got Final, we would be finished and ready to move in, and that’s not so.  “Final” is final inspection for the city, certifying that the house is livable.

 Only the basic necessities have to be finished, so in the last week we have put off anything that wasn’t needed for Final Inspection.

Then I found out that even though we were Going For Final on Thursday of last week- Wes didn’t really expect to pass it- he uses the first go-around as his punch list for what else needs to get done.  Luckily there were very few items on the list, and we were able to pass Final Inspection last Friday. Hooray!

One of the major last minute items we had to do was final grading of the lot.  In order to pass inspection, the lot has to drain away from the house and towards the street.





  When the excavating company was here to do the final grading, they agreed to bring and spread all the gravel we need to cover the yard.  That was a huge help!

They even let Paul help with the grading…

Just kidding- they left the equipment sitting idle and we took advantage for a photo opportunity.






We have taken the time to get and install a mailbox, so we can get packages delivered, and the washer, dryer and refrigerator have been delivered and are fully functional- Yay!.






Once we passed inspection, the race was on to finish the house enough so that our household goods could be delivered on Tuesday.  There have been 3 major glitches in the last few days:

The movers showed up early, which was nice, but the painters were still painting the trim at the front of the house, so they had to wait to move things in the house.

 

As I mentioned previously, they weren’t able to fit all of our stuff on one truck (because we were the third household loaded onto the truck) so we had no idea what was coming.  We have since found out that they couldn’t fit the remainder of our stuff on the second truck either- so there will actually be three trucks delivering our stuff- but only one of them made it before Thanksgiving.



Our intent was to pile most of our stuff in the garage, and work from there, but ran into a problem.  When they painted the garage floor with epoxy, they hadn’t waited long enough after the acid wash, and the floor has a mottled look to it.  The decision was made to clear coat the floor, which was fine, but now it wasn’t dry enough to put anything on it.  Fortunately, sort of, they ran out of the clear coat before they finished, so one small section of the floor didn’t get done.  That’s where we piled our stuff.

Once we are done moving everything around, they will come back and finish clear coating.

The biggest, and most serious issue is the HVAC system.  We paid to have an Energy Star rated home, and there are a bunch of tests that are done, by an independent company, to make sure the house is energy efficient.

  In the picture he is testing the air coming through the vent, checking for temperature and force.  Unfortunately, the HVAC company decided that the original system that was supposed to go in the house was too small, and they upgraded it and put in a 5 ton AC system instead of a 4 ton one. In reality our house only needs a 3 ton system.  The larger system will short cycle, coming on and off much too frequently, and the blower is too strong for the house.

The energy company won’t certify the house as Energy Star until the issue is resolved, which will most likely involve cutting a huge hole in the garage ceiling to remove the existing system.

It will be annoying, but not the worst thing that could happen.

Craziness (11-18-15)

Amidst all the craziness of the final weeks of the house build, our friends came to visit.  We took time out to have some fun, and even managed a day trip up to Oatman for the 6 of us.

Oatman is an old mining town that is known for the burros that roam the streets. The babies all have stickers on their foreheads letting visitors know that they are too young to be fed.

Both Mike and Dave play the guitar, and this is the first time I’ve ever heard either of them play!  I hope they get the guitars out more often because it sure is fun for us listeners!











It wasn’t all fun and games for our friends while visiting us though. We put them to work helping us move appliances into the house…









…and while they were here, Paul had to fly to Michigan to oversee the loading of our household goods, and since our yard was being graded, we had to put the camper on the truck and get it off the property.  I parked it at the Elks Lodge, where our friends were staying, and they got the dubious honor of being my Uber drivers while Paul was gone.
Sure was nice to have them around!!







Paul’s trip to Michigan was not without issues.  The truck that the movers sent was 2/3 full already and did not have enough room for our stuff.  They had to send a second truck, which made it a long day for Paul.  The second truck is for local moves only, so they will have to transfer our stuff to yet another truck before it gets delivered.  We aren’t too happy about that.  To top it all off, a storm front came through when he was trying to fly out, and his flight was delayed enough that they had to re-book him on a later flight.  He was exhausted by the time he got home!

House Update

So much has happened at the house since my last post that I am going to split it up into two posts. 

Outside, the color coat has been put on the house….

And the roof is finished….

The travertine for the pool is in process. They did the bull nose trim around the pool and spa first. Once that is done they lay the sand that the travertine will sit on. These guys are very hard workers! Everything has to be “just so” so that water will flow away from both the pool and the house, and into the drain they installed.

Once the sand is laid they start laying the stone.

This is what it looked like at sunrise this morning, from the dining area window.

Inside the house, we now have lights and ceiling fans…

The plumbing is finished…..

And the carpet has been installed…

All the little details like towel bars, medicine cabinets and mirrors are being finished up now.  It won’t be long!

House Update-mostly (11-08-15)

Not much is going on in our lives other than the house and pool, so that’s what this post will be mostly about. 


There is one adventure we’ve had in the last week or so.  The weather has cooled off enough to take the Jeep off-roading.

It’s part of the reason we wanted a Jeep, to be able to explore the desert, without the need for roads.  Since it was our first time, we tried not to test the capabilities of the Jeep (although I thought we tested it pretty thoroughly).  Paul was happy with the performance, for sure. 

We stopped along the way to have lunch, and climbed up an outcropping of rocks, but we hightailed it back to the Jeep when we discovered that we had disturbed a bee hive.


So, as for the house, there has been a ton of action going on!  Starting with the inside:

the granite has been installed…

There is an enormous amount of granite in the kitchen…its hard to see the true color in the pictures but the picture above shows the coloring the best.  The granite is called Blue Pearl and has gray and blue with some brown and black in there too.







When we were hammering out the contract for the house, we elected not to put granite in the laundry room and told the builder that we would supply a piece of laminate for the counter top.


When the time came to buy the laminate, we drove around town looking at all the places that sell granite, and found a remnant piece for just $120, about the same price the laminate would have cost.  Paul prepped the cabinet, and cut the granite to the right size in the bed of the truck.

….and it worked out perfectly!

After the granite was finished, the back splash was next…

I really like the way it looks with the granite! We also, as you can see by this picture, have a microwave/convection oven now.  It’s the only appliance that has been installed, so far.

Little things have been getting done inside as well, such as the installation of the baseboard, the door hardware and all the closet hardware.

On the outside there is also plenty going on, and that’s what has been keeping us the busiest.  We are putting up the fence ourselves.

This fence is “temporary” and will allow us to put up the full fence at a later date, once the house has passed all its inspections and the landscaping has been done.

Instead of setting the fence in cement, we are sleeving the wrought iron post over a temporary post that we have pounded into the ground.  Paul calls the post pounder the “whammer jammer”.

Once we had the spacing correct, we actually had to take back down the sections that are close to the house.  We left the posts up so it should be easy to re-install the sections. This week they are spraying the finish coat of stucco on the house and it makes a mess.

We had other things to do in the yard as well.  The power company let us keep the old power poles and we will use them for erosion control and landscaping. Final grading of the lot will be done next week, while Paul is in Michigan, so we have to clear the lot of all our stuff, so nothing will be in the way.




The outside stonework is finished now as well.  By the end of this week, the exterior of the house will change completely.  Not only will the stucco be the right color, but the roof will be finished as well. 

The pool is also coming along nicely.  The tile should be finished today, and then the travertine deck will be next.

 

While wandering around in the pool I realized that I was going to have an issue. The bench seating near the spa sits quite low, making it quite a big step to get in and out of the pool from there. We talked to the pool contractor and he is going to add a step at one end of the bench seat, which will help a lot.

Over the next couple of days Paul and I will be taking some time off, in between the projects that have to get done by next week. We have good friends rolling into town today and tomorrow. 

We spent last Thanksgiving with these two couples in Terlingua Texas, and we’re looking forward to seeing them again!