Pre-drywall Meeting

We had our pre-drywall meeting on Friday. We met with our PM (who--by the way--is pretty cool) and walked through the house. He explained to us all the work that had been completed.  There were a couple of items that we noticed during the walk-through that needed to be fixed before drywall. Our PM agreed to add the exhaust fan in the master bedroom and agreed to changes with the staircase railing. There was also a wall that was not framed in the basement. The framing/wall exists on our floor plan, but because we have other plans for this particular room we asked our PM to not worry about it.

 

Our PM confirmed again that we will not have railing on our front porch. I am disappointed that this is not a possibility because it looks like just about everyone in the neighborhood has railings, including other Milan models. One was just recently built in the neighborhood that has the railings (and this model has no basement) and one was recently built that has railings and the egress window (which was on our initial floor plan but we were later told that we wouldn't get) in the basement that I was told that Milan's don't have....hmph!! It doesn't add up to me, but I will move on!  We would really like to have the railings because it would add aesthetically to the exterior look of the home and fit in with the neighborhood---and safety.  Anyway, here's a few pics from the walk-through:

 

Pics of the morning room and kitchen - insulation installed. 

 

 

Layered for soundproofing.

 

 

Garage and unfinished portion of the basement.

 

 

 

 

Exit out of the basement. I love how wide it is....

 

 

Morgan first time in her new room.  She was able to explore. She loved her new view.

 

 

 

 

They will start the drywall and exterior siding this week. There are still areas that need insulation, so I'm sure they'll finish that tomorrow. Our PM said that the drywall process is normally a couple of weeks.  Afterwards, flooring and cabinetry.  Our closing date is around the end of May.  Feels like things are moving fast....

 

 

Get outta my fireplace picture

We had our wiring meeting today with Chris from Structured Cable.  He's always detailed and very helpful. We walked through each room and decided where we wanted our cable and other jacks. We also decided where the televisions would be mounted for the family room and basement. The meeting took about 45 minutes and then we stayed around for a bit to take some pictures.  Oh, looks like we are having our pre-drywall meeting on Friday....things are zipping right along!

 

On the outside of the house they've started to put the shingles on the roof. They'll start adding other exterior finishes in the next week or so. 

 

This is looking into the living and dining room. 

 

 

This is looking into the Family Room. I wish Dwight would get outta of my fireplace picture!  Geez, he can ruin a pic--)  I guess I could have posted a different one--but oh well! :)

 

 

 

 

Here's the future kitchen and morning room.  I'm excited about the vaulted ceilings in the morning room. It'll really open the space up in this area. 

 

 

 

 

The mudroom and half-bath off of the garage.

 

 

Speaking of garage....looks like they'll be pouring the concrete soon.

 

 

Pictures of the huge master bedroom, my soaking tub, and the hall bath. I think it's interesting that they've already installed the tubs.  Hopefully it won't be scratched in the process.

 

 

 

 

Downstairs to the basement. This will be the main entertainment/social area in the basement.

 

 

Here's another room in the basement that will ultimately become our home office.

 

 

Another room in the basement that'll become the exercise/zen room! I'm looking forward to transforming this space. A closet will also be added so down the line if we ever want/need to sale then it can be another bedroom.

 

Basement bath. I don't know who will be able to fit in that small tub....maybe i'll use it to store beer?!?

 

Storage space in basement that also house the HVAC.  You'd think that by now this equipment would be much smaller....

 

 

 

That's it for now!  Friday is pre-drywall.........

 

 

In a matter of hours....

We went by the house this morning and it looked like this:

By this afternoon we had this:

We can't believe how fast things are moving!! 

Things just got real....

We went by the house today and couldn't believe our eyes. Things are getting real.  The framing has started and is moving along fast. It appears that they have most of the main floor completed and has started on the top level. We went by the house on Sunday and it was bare, so to stop in today and see that in only 3 days they have gotten this far is AMAZING.

 

Here are some views from the front of the home :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some views from the side and back of the home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of the garage area

 

 

The windows and doors have arrived. We are suppose to have STC windows on the front and side of the home. I sent a message to my PM to make sure that these are correct, so we'll see what he says.

 

 

 

 

At the pace work is getting done, I can imagine that framing will be done in a couple of days.  Well, until next time....

Gravel, Gas, and Neighbors....Oh My!!!

We went by the house today to check out the progress. We've had a pretty busy week and did not have the opportunity to get out to the house in a few days. Between all of the rain and our work schedules it seemed impossible to get out there to explore. But, we finally made it!! I anticipated a mud pit so I wore my tennis shoes that I could easily toss in the washer when I get home. To my surprise it was not as bad as we thought!

 

It was fairly warm today so the mud had a little time to dry. They'd also spread gravel around the lot, so we were able to get some traction in the mud. Hopefully it'll stay this way....Having said that, there was not a lot of progress to report. Perhaps not as much progress as I anticipated, but still there were some things that had been done...which is a good thing I assume!?! The brick had been laid around the foundation and concrete poured for the basement. You could also see the framing for the welled exit and exterior front stairs.

 

So, funny thing happen. While we were exploring the lot a car passed us by. We figured that it is one of our neighbors, and sure enough a guy exits and starts to head down to our home. He comes up and asks, "hey guys, do you happen to know who owns the equipment here?" He was pointing to a small tractor and truck bed that was laying partially in our front yard and the other part in the shared cul-de-sac. Dwight and I obviously had no clue who left it nor how to contact the owners, so we of course said "no." We then introduce ourselves as his soon-to-be neighbors and explained that we do not know the crew who is "working" on the home. He said that he tried to contact the HOA, builders, and others to have the items removed because he was having a birthday party today for his daughter and he felt that the items were an eye sore.  Anyway, after he realized who we were, he introduced himself and invited us to his 4 year old daughter's birthday party. It was a nice gesture, but we were not able to take him up on it....however, I think he'll be a good neighbor!!  

 

Another interesting run-in.....as we were leaving the lot, we saw a county utility vehicle heading into our cul-de-sac. We decided to turn around to see if the truck was going to our house. Sure enough it was!! Dwight got out and talk to the guy.  He was from the utility company.  He shared that he was out, on a Sunday, to mark the gas lines.  Apparently, all of the gas construction will be taken care of tomorrow....so more progress to come!!

 

Pics Below:

 

This is a view of the house from the front yard. The front yard is going to be huge!!

 

 

Side of the home and a close up of the brick that surrounds the foundation. I really like the color that we chose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exercise room (located in the basement) is at the top right of this picture.

 

 

Pictures of what will be the finished basement bath and unfinished storage room that will be behind the bath.

 

 

 

The top will be the finished area of the basement. I kept circling this area because it looks smaller than what I anticipated. But we'll see when it is finished.

 

 

 

 

 

This is where the media room will be (in basement).

 

The welled exit from the media room

 

 

Pictures of/from the backyard, which is huge!!!

 

 

 

Our backyard backs to a conservation. They will not be able to build behind us, which is awesome. It is a small wooded area...so nothing major....but we like the idea that our lot is private.

 

 

The future garage!!

 

 

 

 

Random pics of Dwight walking/standing in the front yard.

 

 

 

Another view of the house/lot from the front.

 

 

Until next time........:)