The Nitty Gritty of it all......

Now this isn't a major thing, believe me every morning/night when I watch the news and see what is going on in the world, my issue is nothing but thought it was worth mentioning.

Background: moved into this house two years ago.  Brand new house, never lived in before.  Pretty reputable builder, building maybe 60 homes a year.  Finishes a notch up from the regular new home builder.  So all in all good.

To save us money we decided to finish of the majority of the basement ourselves.  For various reasons we did not catch these issues when we did our walk through before we moved in.

1.  Problem: basement window frames sticking out further than the drywall. Remedy: saw and sand off excess and re-attach original window trim.  (on a side note the frames are made of MDF, do you know how much mess that makes when sanding it?)

2. Problem; a/c making a horrendous noise on the weekend.

Remedy: to figure out what was going on, we needed to take off the panel from the front off the furnace.  Do you see the black and copper pipes in the furnace?  The lazy technicians put them going through the front panel making it almost impossible to take the front panel off???  It is working now as dh tightened all screws and no more noise.  We don't think we have solved the problem, but until something else happens it's fine.

3. Problem: Hardwood floor squeaking in the dining room.  The installers did not put the "nails" correctly so they squeak against the beam below.

Remedy: Dh installed shims on the beam to put a barrier between the beam and the nails.  Builder's remedy, jump up and down on the fall, to see if it will stop squeaking..........

4. Problem: Trim around doors cut too short, so gap filled with DAP.  This is so sloppy what they did.

Remedy: Well to remedy this problem means taking all the trim off and putting new trim up.  Not sure what we will do.  If I knew this was our forever home I would replace it all, but it isn't so will have to think about this.

5. Problem: driveway stones (interlock stones) loose due to water coming down the downspout onto the side of the driveway.  Builder been told about this and has done nothing to remedy the situation.

Remedy: Redirect the downspout.  Relay the stones and everything would be good.  With being in a "Condo situation," we are not supposed to touch anything outside but something has to be done?

In the scheme of things none of these issues are major, but getting down to the nitty gritty of it all, if the workmen had done a correct job in the first place none of these things should have happened (other than the furnace.)  They were taking short cuts and didn't care about the finished products.  

Anyway, just thought I'd mention this and warn other's, just because you buy a brand new home, doesn't mean it won't have it's problems.

All moved in...............

It's been a long hard week so far.  The move went by okay but it was so hot and humid.  We finally got something to eat around 7 pm.  Came home and had a shower and was in bed by 9 pm.  

For people who are my friends on Facebook, this will be a repeat of information.  We have had two major minor issues, one was dealt with right away and the other is an ongoing problem.  Someone turned off the gas to the house, so after having a VERY cold shower on Tuesday morning I tracked down the site supervisor to come and figure out the situation.  Dh told him he thought the gas had been turned off and he was right.

The other more major issue is Bell Canada.  When we booked to have their services transferred to the new house I asked and was told we could keep our old telephone number.  On Tuesday when we got everything hooked up, we discovered that we have been assigned a new number.  THREE one hour telephone conversations too the call centre in the Philippines and I am "hoping" to have our old number back by this coming Monday.  I am NOT happy and this isn't finished with yet.

There are all sorts of niggling things happening and "stuff" you just have to get used to with a new house.  Overall though we love it.  It's been strange getting used to having neighbours right on your doorstep again.  Other than a couple of VERY nosy neighbours everything has been and is super friendly.

We are living on a building site and they are busy doing the finishing touches with stonework and landscaping outside.  The dust is just awful and it gets everywhere.  We have had a couple of days out of the house busy doing other things, so we got a break from the noise and the dust.

I am hoping to be unpacked by Christmas!!  On Friday we are going to hang drapery rods and draperies in our bedroom, as at the moment I have sheets and a blanket hanging over our windows.  I will post photos as we progress with everything.

I have taken a few quick photos just to show you some things, I will take more better photos when I have more time.

This is the breakfast area.  We bought the table and chairs from Leons and of course one of the seats was torn so had to take that back, but they replaced it without a problem, so that was good.  The light fixture is too sort out and the table is to centre underneath it.  The flowers were a gift from my mam and step-father, they arrived on Monday; which was a lovely surprise.  I need to hunt out a tablecloth that actually fits, that one was the first one I laid my hands on.

 One view of the kitchen, I need a degree on how to use the appliances!!

 Looking from front hall to living room.  All the shears/nets were from our house two houses ago I had kept them.  I may or may not change them eventually, but they will do just fine for the moment.  We get the sun in this room late afternoon to evening.  As the back wall faces north and the two side windows face west.

 This is the front of the house, they have been busy putting in the flower planter this week.

 Back of the house.  The deck has been built and all interlocked underneath it and behind it.  The rest of the shrubbery is to put in and the grass and trees.  It should be quite private once it's all done.......we hope!

 Side of the house. 

 Houses opposite us.  They all have walk out basements and they back onto a golf green and are up a height.  The one that is a two storey has been customized to the hilts so I was told, so it will be interesting to see who moves in.  There are two more houses to the left of that two storey house, both have people living in them.  On our little bit I think there are only five houses occupied, with more people moving in over the summer.

I will write more when I have more time.  I am hoping things will settle down over the next week or two.

Things are awfully quiet and pretty boring around here.......

I know it must be the calm before the storm, so am taking advantage of the slower pace of things.

One of the things I wanted to upgrade in the new house was the vanity counter tops in the ensuite bathroom and the powder room. They come with laminate counter tops and I would like granite with under counter sinks.  They finally got back to me with the upgrade cost.  Over $1,600 + taxes for the ensuite and over $1,400 + taxes for the powder room.  The granite I picked was exactly the same as we got in the kitchen, so a standard quality, nothing fancy.

We of course said no thanks and I will source it out myself, as I am quite sure you can get it for a whole lot cheaper?  Any ideas or places in the Barrie, Orangeville, Newmarket area?  I was thinking I could maybe get an off cut piece, as we don't need much?

We still have a pile of snow, but it is a little warmer than it has been.  We had a lovely sunset so I thought I'd share some photos with you.

New House plans

Now that we have sold our house I feel a bit more comfortable talking about our new house.  Below is a photo what it will look like, except ours will have a double garage.  If you click on this link it will take you to a tour of the model home.  That home has now sold; our home will be similar, but there are a few changes.

 

Below are the plans to the home, I hope you can see them.  When we first looked at the house, all the walls were up, although not bricked yet, the windows were in and the roof was shingled.  The builder had made some changes that we can't undo.  So the fireplace is where the window to the left of the fireplace and he moved the window to where the fireplace was.  Basically there is a window either side of the fireplace.  Also there are no doors or the wall facing the living room where the second bedroom/den is.  That will now be a dining room.

We are only getting a bedroom, the bathroom and a linen closet finished in the basement, we are going to do the rest ourselves to save a lot of money.  They charge $55,000 to finish the basement which is just ridiculous.

We have a corner lot on the bottom of the hill, and the back will be very private.  The back faces north and the living room windows on the side face west.  Although we neither have a golf course view or a walkout basement we are pretty happy with what we have got.

We have an appointment on Sunday to firm up the deal and give them another cheque.  I have also requested a tour of the house to see how they are getting on as we haven't been up in a couple of weeks.  So I'll take more photos then.

Like a kid in a candy store.......

That is what I will be like this afternoon, as we are going to the new builders to pick out our fixtures and fittings for our new home.  I will say the whole process is a bit different as we haven't firmed up on the purchases of this house, but as the kitchen takes 90 days to order and if we want to close on June 16th, I guess they want us to get on with it.  

Now my goal is to spend as little as possible in upgrades.  We have already spent $1,100 on a jetted tub/bath in the ensuite, but to my mind that is a must with my back issues.  Dh said he may even have a bath and I know dd will have a bath when she comes over, as she loves the bath with jets in.

I do know I want a pots and pan set of drawers in the kitchen, so that will be an upgrade.  We are getting granite counter tops already as part of the deal.  I am not sure what else I will end up getting other than maybe more tiles in the bathroom around the tub???

I am trying to think back to the last new house we bought and what we had to upgrade then.  We spent close to $30,000 then but we did a lot of structural things that no one could really see, plus we had to pay for hardwood floors and we upgraded the tiles.  I am hoping to come in under $5,000 this time.  What upgrades would you choose in a house?

I am lucky as dh is very handy so we will do a lot of stuff ourselves after we move in; for example the back splash in the kitchen.

No news from the people buying our house, but don't expect to hear anything until next week.

I have posted a couple of book reviews on my Book Review Blog if anyone is interested?  You can read about them here: http://thatbritishwomansbookreviewblog.blogspot.ca/