Bonus Room Summer Update Part Deux!

Just a quick follow-up from my last summer update.  We had the HVAC contractor come back for some assessment / adjustments and in the process marked the existing positions of dampers and vents prior to adjustment.  That way when winter comes rolling around we can just change the settings back to what seemed to work after our first go-around without any fiddling around or trouble.  After some adjustments to the main dampers I'm proud to say that our summer second floor heat wave seems to have been mitigated.  Granted the HVAC unit runs a little longer since the first floor takes a bit longer to cool, but now everything seems consistent, which is what we wanted all along.

Hopefully this is a sign that things are finally settling out in the right direction!

Bonus Room Summer Update

Hi everyone!

Just a quick update on the Bonus Room and the temperature deltas up there.  It's still close to "in spec" for the summer, however everything on the second floor is hot hot hot!  If you crank the HVAC cooling to 72 on the first floor you get to roughly 76 on the second floor and 78-81 in the bonus room.  The ceiling fan makes it comfortable up there and is a must get for this room.  I honestly think their "conditioning" of the unfinished basement space and no blower to force air up the center stack of the house in the one zone configuration are the two main reasons for the discrepancy.  Not really sure where to go with this, since everything is barely within specs but still not happy with the situation.

We got our topcoat done a while back, like everything else they just showed up unannounced and did their work.  Too bad they didn't cover the whole width of the driveway and now the topcoat is cracking on the back curve.

I also re-did all of the mulch beds with proper mulch since the scattered "natural wood" they gave us for our winter close showed more dirt and weeds than cover.

Settling is coming in full force, we have the one bedroom where we can't close the door because of frame settlement.  Master bedroom second door and the back patio door are also suffering settlement issues.  Drywall is cracking in interesting ways, they better plan for a week to fix it all at the 10 month.

Other than that, still like the location, and we're still working on getting everything how we want it.

Bonus Room Fix Assessment

Now that the seasons are changing, I think it's time to report on how the sealant fix went on the bonus room.  On average it improved the ~4 height temperature to within 3 degrees of the thermostat, and the floor improved by about 5 degrees.  It was still colder in the winter, but that's in part to the unconditioned garage space underneath it.  I'm not sure if more insulation would have helped further, but since it is improved (for now) we'll have to see if the sealant holds up through the seasons, or if settling breaks all of that open again.

We also fired up the A/C for the first time, so far so good.  I need to get a garden hose (or 2 or 3...) to hook up to the external faucets to verify they actually work.

As for the drywall, settling cracks are coming into their own.  Our bonus bath has a few, as well as a couple of the other bedrooms.  It's to be expected, however I'm wondering how large they need to be to warrant a separate call out vs. the 10 month "we'll fix the settlement drywall issues" call.

With the warm weather we're also finding a few of the doors now stick, which with a winter closing and how materials expand in the heat, makes a lot of sense.

 

House Rebalanced, Bonus Room Fix Attempt 2 Inbound

So a bit of informational backstory as to all of the different parties involved in our Bonus Room cold issue.  Ryan Homes is the builder.  They had an engineer design the HVAC system based on the design of the house, which as part of that design has certain expected CFM values per vent to make it work as designed.  This is then installed by the HVAC subcontractor upon build (Sobieski in our instance), and verified by a third party Energy Star inspection company (PEG Environmental).  As part of our service request, since this is a continuing issue Ryan wanted to bring out PEG to inspect everything again before having the HVAC contractor try some more dark magic to fix the problem.

Fast forward to yesterday when the fine folks at PEG Environmental (actually an independent subcontractor hired by them, who in turn was hired by Ryan) came out and did a re-balancing of our vents in the house.  Most of them checked out AOK and some had a few tweaks.  I then showed my wonderful makeshift two sensor thermometer in the Bonus room reading 6 degrees colder than the thermostat at about 4-5ft and a whopping 14 degrees colder at the floor.  The PEG guy had an idea about why it was cold, and set up a blower test. 

The blower test actually creates a negative air pressure inside of your house, which makes it easy to feel where the drafts are entering your home.  Thankfully he offered to do this, because it showed that the cold air was blowing in along the bottom of the walls under the baseboard.  Since those walls are kneewalls, and there is space behind them to allow the airflow for the roof to work correctly this makes sense.  The kneewalls itself were insulated but there was no sealant for the interface between the kneewall and the floor.  The HVAC system was fighting a losing battle between the hot air it was pushing into the room from the top vs. the cold air drafting in from three sides on the floor. 

The gentleman then reported back to my service rep at Ryan what he found, and they're going to try and foam seal along that frame, which involves pulling up the carpet and removing the baseboard to get in there.  Hopefully this will alleviate the problem, and I'll be sure to add another follow up when its completed.

Bonus Room Update

After having RH adjust vents all over the place, not good:

Thermostat downstairs (we only have 1 with the 1 zone system), was set to 73 degrees.  I really want to see their Energy Star certification testing documents, I'm getting the impression that it was rubber-stamped and they didn't actually test anything.

Time to submit another ticket...

Morning Room Ceiling Fan

 I promised a separate post for the morning room ceiling fan install, so here it goes.  We had the ceiling fan prewire done in this room (highly recommended, only marginally more expensive than standard light rough-in) since it would have been a royal PITA to do it after the fact.  In the first picture you can see what a ceiling fan rough-in looks like.  Note the can isn't open in the middle, as it's around a beam in the center.  All of our ceiling fan rough-ins are like this, I'm presuming to use the beam as additional structural integrity for the forces of the fan.

 The ceiling in the Victoria Falls is great however we wanted the fan (that will be over a table) closer to the ceiling height of the kitchen for lighting purposes.  We used a 36" drop pole to make this happen, it's perfectly in line with the ceiling in the kitchen, so it's high enough to not do anything stupid with your hands in the blade (not that you would!) but low enough to make the light adequate for the table.  The fan install is a bit hard to do by yourself for one reason:  trying to hang the fan and drop pole by yourself with the Hunter kit is awkward on a ladder due to the fact you have to "hook" the drop plate onto the mounting bracket by tilting the whole assembly sideways.  It's much easier if you have an extra set of hands hold the base up on the side while you hook this into place.

 If I didn't have to stop for that extra assistance, the fan install would have taken me less than an hour.  So far everything has been great with the fan, and I'd buy a Hunter fan again.

Week 13: Closed. And We Survived.

Well we made it to the other side.  I think.  We closed on the 14th (pretty schedule accurate, only a day off the original target date!), moved a bunch of things over that weekend and now we're the proud owners of two homes!

I've been tackling a bunch of items that need to get done right away (blinds (deserves its own post), morning room ceiling fan and office light (again, own post), sealing tile, and unpacking.  As for moving, did you know you can rent a 26 foot Penske Truck on your regular ol' drivers license?  I had to ask three times to make sure, and yes you can!  Now I know whenever I see one on the highway to give plenty of space, because it's probably a first time driver like myself!

We got our appliances all delivered and hooked up, Verizon came in and hooked up our FIOS Triple Play.  Not sure why they gave us a lower DVR with our multi-room DVR package so I need to give them a call to see if I can get that fixed.

As for the finished product, some things are great, and some need some work.  You can tell which subcontractors take pride in their work and others just get it done to get it done.  Nothing that can't be resolved in the 30 day and 10 month appointments, but definitely some head shakers in there.

The big issue is the bonus bedroom.  It's cold.  I mean COLD.  For those of you with Victoria Falls builds w/ the bonus room this is a heads up, make sure there's a conversation between you and your PM.  We're doing some normal fixes with the HVAC / PM now that we're in there to see if that helps, but variances of over 10 degrees between that and the rest of the house doesn't cut it (and should have failed the Energy Star certification).

As for our backyard, it's been a treasure trove of wildlife. Two separate sightings of deer (group of 5 and a group of 3), birds, and a fox.

I plan on posting all of these "post-closing" items for reference as well as some extra upcoming things in store.

Week 12: The Penultimate Week

Well  the home stretch is here.  Week 12 was the week to finish everything up.  Appliances, the deck, time for HVAC inspections, Energy Star inspection, etc.  and that was including some staff off for hunting season.  The one thing that our PM has made sure of was that everything was on schedule.  The entire time our closing date has only fluctuated by 1 day in either direction.  Impressive!   As for the neighborhood, they sold a few lots across the street, and now only have 3 lots left.  The one I'm not sure you could even fit a house on it, but there must be one specific layout that thy can squeeze on there.

As for the movers, we're going the Penske route and hiring loading / unloading help for the pieces that I have no idea how to get down and into the truck.  Definitely better than straight movers, but I'm not sure that the moving truck will be able to back into the driveway where we live now.  I'm sure with some creative angles we'll make it work.

Next week is closing (December 14th).  The only thing the PM has on the schedule is our pre-settlement demonstration and some final inspections and touch up work.  Then settlement on Friday.  NVR asked for our latest paystubs so I think that's the last from them.  I'll leave everyone with an outside shot with the sod in place.  Next post the house will be ours, and I'll try my best to fill up my allotted storage! ; )



Week 11: On the Turn for Home...

Week 11 is another week where we couldn't get out to the job site.  Trying to handle life's logistical challenges is making visiting our future home difficult, but we're in the home stretch so hopefully things will start to sort themselves out.  Inside we had the stone fireplace completed, the finish electrical complete and the finish plumbing work started.  As for the outside, the deck construction began (finally!).  Since it was also the opening of deer hunting season, some natural staffing delays were to be expected, but it was figured into our project plan anyway. 

We're trying to figure out how we're moving our belongings to the new home as it's not a "local move", however the furniture only quotes we've received so far seem pretty pricey.  If it wasn't for a few large items on the second floor I would attempt it myself entirely, but unfortunately I'm not sure of another way to get those items moved.

We're also into the final re-checks for our finances with NVR, and have begun to set up the transfer of ownership in utilities into our name.  December 14th is coming up fast!

Locked In and Appliance Time Part 1

Well we finally locked in our rate.  In our area for some reason their rate options never actually had one where we had 0 points.  Either we got a 1/2 point credit to take the higher of the two rates, or pay a 1/2 point for the lower rate.  In our instance the break even point was about 7 years between the two options.  If we stay more than 7 years paying the 1/2 point would be more economical but if we stay / not refi less than 7 years, taking the 1/2 point credit is the way to go.  All in all with the rates so low over 30 years it ends up being less than 2% of the principal, so we took the 1/2 point credit.  I'm not one for paying for points in general, so that also affected our outcome.  I just wanted to get those details out there for anyone else about ready to hit the lock-in phase.

As for appliances, we ended up buying our washer / dryer on a Cyber Monday deal at Home Depot.  We got a LG Steam washer and dryer for about 25% off each, and scheduled delivery right on the web for the Monday after closing.  As for the refrigerator after looking at all of the options out there, we settled on a new Whirlpool french door refrigerator that was on sale, but for only 14% off or so at Lowes.  Since the sale wasn't the best we decided to hold off until the moving coupon I signed up for shows up in my inbox.  That leads me into my quick tip:

There are moving coupons you can pick up at your local post office to help you get settled into your new neighborhood.  Just stop in and pick one up.  These deals include coupons for Lowes and Home Depot.  These retailers also have an e-sign up for basically these same coupons (Lowes has 10% off!).  Just do a google search for the retailer and moving coupon and it should be at the top of the results.

My next post I plan on talking about movers / moving options.  Needless to say so far I'm surprised at what's been cheaper than other options, but I have more research to do.

Week 10: Finish Electrical and inside pics!

Well Week 10 we got a chance to go inside and take some pictures of the progress.  We stopped in on the way to family across the state, so definitely some logistics involved but we got there.  Finish electrical is the big item this week, so on to the pictures!

Sidewalk is done!

 

Porch still waiting for columns...

 

Lamp post and garage lights done

 

All graded before the deck construction starts

 

Those porch columns and other supplies

Family room moving right along

The stone work should start this week

 

Kitchen just needs appliances!

 

Santa Cecelia making its entrance

 

Just a shot with the granite, cabinets, and tile selection together.  Gas stove where are you?

 

Morning room looking good

View of the patio door and more morning room

Dining room almost there (ran out of trim!)

Living room

Master bath shower  Soap dish blends in (no white!) 

The rest of the master bath.  Hopefully no cracks under that debris

Master bedroom.  FYI if you have a king bed it can only really fit on the right wall, not centered in between the windows.

Our attic access hatch in the 4th bedroom (office)

Office / BD4 window.  Only really odd window placement in the house, and it's due to the morning room roof sloping in on the left of that opening.

Bedroom 3 in the front of the house

Bedroom 2 in the back corner of the house

Hall bathtub

The bonus room.  It's BIG.

I told you it's big.

Entry into bonus room from loft

 

2nd story foyer, loft on the left.

Looking down from the 2nd story

 

 

 Like I said, a lot of progress, and more finish work to come.  Guardian has to compete their connectivity work, plumbers have finish plumbing, appliances need to come in, flooring (carpet / hardwood) needs to be installed, as well as the power company hooking up the meter so the HVAC testing / tuning can be completed and everything checked out.  Should be a busy final few weeks before close!

Week 9: More inside work and a new toy

Well like I thought Week 9 has no pictures.  I was at a conference all week and couldn't get over to the house at the end of the week.  What did happen was the concrete sidewalks, step, and porch were poured, and the asphalt driveway first coat was laid down outside.  Inside, the second painting was done (just a hint of neutral color throughout, a RH district thing), cabinets and countertops are complete, and the tile work is all done.

Honestly I was a little surprised about the asphalt because I never got a call from my PM about where our pipe chase under the driveway was supposed to be, and of course it didn't get done.  The only thing I had in mind was the invisible dog fence, but I think we may be going the wrought iron look in the backyard anyway.  The more important pvc special work (pipe chase) got done inside, so no big worries unless anyone has an idea that I forgot.

In other news, at the conference I won a Microsoft Surface RT Tablet with Touch Cover at a vendor booth.  I'm actually typing up this post from it, and so far so good.  The keyboard spacing takes a bit more to get used to than changing laptops due to no large bumps on the cover, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Week 10 we will actually be able to go inside and take a look around.  Finish electrical is on the list as well as some touch up trim work and possibly some final plumbing, porch work, and other flooring.

Week 8: Siding Complete, Drywall Paint, and Tile

Week 8 had some outside activity but most of it was under lock and key inside as the drywall got some mud and a first coat of paint inside, tile work began in the kitchen and the bathrooms, cabinets started to be installed and the beginning of trim and railing work started.  Outside, the siding was completed, and forms were put down for our concrete sidewalks.  Only outside pictures this week courtesy of our SR.

You can see the forms outside, as well as the trim siding work on the front.  Also our port-a-john wanted a more prominent role in the blog, so you can see his big entrance on the right!

 

The siding is all done, and you can see the outdoor components of the HVAC on the far left.

 

Week 9 will be a short post, I'll be out of town on work all week, and with not much on the outside there might not be any photos.  I'll try, but no promises!



Week 7: Drywall, Sandy, Garage Doors, Masonry and Siding!

Week 7 was hectic to say the least.  Sandy came rolling through Monday through Tuesday and there was a lot of conversation between our PM and us pre and post storm.  They had been able to get all of the drywall hung over the weekend for Monday which was great, however when talking with my PM it was looking like the garage doors would not be installed pre-storm.  Later we found out they were able to get the doors installed before the storm hit, fantastic!  The only Sandy damage we had was that some of the house wrap on the left hand side of the house had broken loose and had to be re-done.
The basement was bone dry, no wet drywall, no wet insulation, no big issues.  Needless to say I'm happy that the house weathered the storm pretty well considering we were without power until Friday night at our current place!

The rest of the week had the drywall inspection by the township completed and approved, starting to sand / mud the drywall in preparation for painting next week, finishing of the masonry work on the front of the house and the beginning of siding on the rest of our house. Needless to say they need to fix the wrap before they get to the left side of the house for siding, but it looks to be a pretty quick repair job to get it done.

Masonry work done!

You can see they left their little supply perch in place in the bonus room window

Siding time!

Week 6: Pre-Drywall Inspection, Masonry, and Insulation

Week 6 things kept on chugging, with the HVAC / electrical / low voltage wiring pre-drywall work completed, our pre-drywall inspection, and then insulation and masonry work.  We met with our PM mid-week to review everything in the inspection.  I took a lot of pictures and got heckled by the Mrs. for it.  We don't get the as-built blueprints so it's the last time you can document where any of the wires were ran, why not take a ton of digital pictures, they're cheap!

We also dropped off the pvc for our spare wire chase from the basement to the attic.  Thankfully the Guardian panel is in the basement and not the garage where our electrical panel is.  Unfortunately I completely forgot to ask to put a change in for a sub-panel in the basement before it was too late, so whenever we finish the basement some of that drywall in the garage is going to get cut.  As for the wiring, the Guardian installer must have misinterpreted our changed instructions as he only ran the Cable in the master bedroom to the new spot, and not the phone / data line.  Our PM said it should be a quick fix and that it wouldn't hold up anything.

Later on in the week we had insulation installed and the drywall was ready to be hung into place.

They actually got all of the drywall done between the end of the week and the beginning of Week 7. The big thing was that we finally started getting masonry work outside!

Definitely a busy Week 6!  Week 7 (Sandy Week) had some drama, but we weathered it well.  More details in our Week 7 post!

Week 6 Post Delayed... Yay Sandy

So the good news is we're all safe and sound.  Bad news is no power possibly through the weekend.  As for the build, the wiring, pre-drywall inspection, insulation, and drywall were all done by Monday morning before Sandy hit, and I'll detail a bit more on that later.  Unfortunately these three things weren't completed:  a)  masonry work on the front of the house,  b) GARAGE DOORS, c)Sump Pump power.  Our PM secured the job site, however could do nothing about the big garage opening we had to the elements and the subsequent drywall / insulation just installed inside.  I'm almost expecting that there is some drywall / insulation water damage, but am waiting for the PM to give me a post-storm assessment.  The same goes for our previously dry basement w/ sump pump.  Since there was no electricity to the house, I'm presuming that the basement took on water, but to what extent I have no idea at this point.  Again, waiting for the assessment.  I'm not concerned if there is damage, I just want whatever is water-logged replaced.  Last thing anyone wants is mold in their new house.

Hope everyone else fared OK, and I'll keep everyone posted.

Week 5: Roof, Wrap, Door, and Wiring

Week 5's update is a little light after the barrage of pictures that Week 4 entailed.  The big thing is that the roofing has been completed, the last of the interior framing should be completed, and that the trades are doing their thing up until our pre-drywall inspection in Week 6.  The lone shot I have for you is our front door is installed!  I know what you're thinking, is that sod for your yard?  Sorry, not mine.  It's for two homes that are about a month or so ahead of ours.  It's still a big "if" depending on the climate if we will get our sod installed before closing or have to wait until spring, but we'll get there when we get there.

On another note, we confirmed with Guardian about our wiring, and with the help of our PM and SR got wall length measurements for our master bedroom.  Needless to say I'm glad we did otherwise our furniture layout wouldn't let us walk to the bathroom from the entry to the bedroom!  So we got everything switched around and we should be in good shape.  Not as dramatic of an entrance to the room, but everything now fits in the space comfortably which is more important.

On to Week 6!

Week 4 Part 3: Windows!

Since our region works on Saturdays as well, we had an added suprise in week 4:  windows!

 The master bedroom / bathroom, and now our fireplace framing is complete!

The garage and bonus room:

Master bath, bedroom 4, family room and morning room patio door: 

The rear of the house all wrapped and ready with windows and a decent amount of shingles done: 

 Bedroom 2, the dining room, and the board covering the egress window:

The patio door frame: 

The entry door and the garage fire door are the last two left:

The stairs to the basement.  Anyone else's stairs have the particle board risers on it like here?  I would think that on an exposed stairs (our basement is unfinished for now) that it would have been solid boards for both. 

The morning room with patio door:

The garage windows: 

The loft / entry windows:

A closer look at the patio door:

All in all one busy busy week!  Week 5 should be the finishing of the roof, as well as all of the trades get in there and get the rough wiring, low voltage wiring, and hvac in place for Week 6 and the all important pre-drywall inspection!