Baking Cookies!

Janice whipping up another batch of yummy Christmas cookies !

More December update pictures

More December pictures...
Happy New Year !

December Update pictures

December update pictures, Christmas decorations...
Happy New Year to all !

Mike

November update pictures

Garage door insulation installation: http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/GarageDoorInsul.html

Living Room furniture and Morning Room furniture addition: http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/NovUpdate2011.html

Misc. summer updates

Just some update pictures from the past three months...

http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/July2011Update.html
http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/Aug2011update.html

http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/SeptUpdate2011.html

Clean windows

If you've seen my website, you can see that we got a lot of windows in the house.
Yesterday I cleaned every window in the house, inside and outside, all 57 of them, counting the windows in the doors of the walk-out basement and morning room. Not easy, but the results look great  :)

Pool installation

Happy Saturday everyone! The pool was installed yesterday (see link below for pics).
After the electrical work is done next Tuesday and final inspections, it's ready to go!

http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/Pool-installation.html

Happy Birthday to our Ryan Home!

So it was one year ago yesterday that we closed on our Waverly. Happy Birthday to our house! lol

Family Room motion sensor and high curtain rod

For anyone having a Guardian motion sensor put in the corner of the Family Room, where there is a corner of windows, here's a heads-up...
We did not realize at the time, that eventually we would put up curtains that are rather high on the wall. As it turns out, our curtain rod completely occluded the sensor, and it would no longer be able to work. Had to call Guardian to send a guy and move it up 5-6 inches, and now it's good. It was not an easy job, because he had to snake the wire up higher, and in that part of the F/R corner area, there's a big wooden header beam that makes it almost impossible to do after the drywall is up. So he had to make a channel in the drywall and we had to plaster and paint afterward. Would have been much easier to have it placed higher during the framing phase, had we known.

The sensor had to be moved up to clear the curtain rod

Now it's high enough to "see" again

Pool prep

More than I realized goes into getting a pool. Zoning permit, building permit, electrical estimates, and all sorts of stuff. Yesterday a guy came with a dump truck of sand (6 tons) and dropped that off in the back. Then later in the afternoon, a different guy came with a little earth mover that he can ride in, and tore up the grass and dirt where the pool will be installed, and leveled the land. I couldn't believe the pile of dirt and grass he left behind, over 10 tons! And they don't haul it away. It's our problem. I'll use some of it to fill in the various low points in the rear of the property (gotta get a wheel barrow), and see what we can do about the rest.

So now Tuesday they come to assemble the pool, and then I think Wednesday the electrical company will come to trench and run the power lines and stuff. It's going to be a problem because the electrical panels are in the finished basement in our house, so some sheetrock will need to be opened up. Wish I thought of that when they were building, and I could have requested some access panel to be put in. If I had thought this out ahead of time, that someday we might get something that needs to be wired into the panels, an access grating or plate would have have made this easier.

Lastly, we have to find a company to deliver water in a truck. It takes like 14,500 gallons to fill the thing!

Here are some pictures. Looks like we have a little runway in our backyard now -

 

 http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/EmeraldPoolPrep051311.html

 

 

 

May update - exterior photos

http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/May2011.html

Still planning out the swimming pool. Electrical estimates done. Have to get building permit next and then have the installers come to set up the pool. We changed the place it will go, setting it at an angle and making sure it won't block the view from the walkout basement door. This new position will require less trenching distance from where the pump will be located, to the electrical panels, and save some money.
Have to get the lawn cut. It's more clovers than grass. Not sure what we're going to do about the lawn. In time maybe we can save up to have sod put in, at least in the front of the house.
Need to have Guardian come out next week to move the family room motion detector, which was blocked by our high curtain installation. Just needs to be moved up around 3" so it can 'see' clearly again.
Put in a service call to see if the flooring people can do anything about our hardwood which is starting to creak a lot.

Useful Ryan Homes website: myryanhome.com

In case you all are not aware, Ryan has a useful website called http://myryanhome.com/ It contains info on warranty, home care tips, and one can also put in a service request using this site.

Family Room curtains

We finally got curtains for the Family Room, and so we picked our favorite out of two styles that my wife ordered from J.C. Penney. They're 95" long. Measuring and putting up the rods took me many hours, but it was worth it.
We're trying to get the house looking its best before our Easter company this Sunday :)

Here are the pictures...

http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/FR-curtains.html

More April photo updates

We did a little more decorating today, see the latest photos. Climbed up high to install the Pier 1 Imports metal design in the family room. Good to have a Werner ladder that can get up that high.

(updated 04/21 and made proper html links)

http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/Apr2011.html


http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/Easter2011.html

Getting ready for Easter family get together

Miscellaneous new decorations...

http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/Easter2011.html

April update

A few pictures of our latest updates and decorations...

http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/Apr2011.html

Swimming pool ordered

My wife's dream is to have our own swimming pool. Tonight we went to the pool store and ordered one. It's going to be a 30x15 oval, above-ground Oasis model. We have the room for sure since our property is 1.46 acres. Will post pictures when it's done...

10-mon drywall pictures

Some pictures of the work done that day... The two drywall guys spent over 12 hours here. I marked all the things I wanted done with little pieces of blue painter's tape. They were thorough and very careful, covering everything with plastic painter's dropcloths. They vacuumed up when they were done.
Since we chose to paint the house, I'll have to touch-up all the custom paint colors tomorrow. Where the paint was still "builder's white", like the ceilings, they did the painting.
There was another guy that came over and redid the moulding on the baseboard of the back staircase, and he also repaired a crack in the ceiling drywall on the 2nd floor, where I had misstepped while in the attic a couple of weeks ago, and I partially damaged the ceiling drywall by stepping down off the attic platform by mistake. That they didn't have to do, but did it anyway which was very nice.

http://ourwaverly.homestead.com/Mar2011.html

10-month drywall service today

Today Ryan's contractors are here to perform the 10-month drywall service and address any issues like nail pops, seams, etc.
So far so good.
Also having a guy install our ceiling fan this afternoon, up at the top of the 2-story family room. It's something like 18 feet high and takes a scaffold or really big ladder to work up there.
Will post pictures on the website when done...

http://ourwaverly.homestead.com

Mike

Final inspection

Now that the home is around 9 months old, our project manager arranged for several contractors to come to the house today, to correct some minor issues. Everything went pretty well. Had some insulation guys come in order to blow-in some insulation in the attic-like areas on each side of the master bath, which is above the 3-car garage and gets too cold. They opened the access panels in our two master closets, and blew in insulation. Also put R30 insulation on the backs of the access door panels.
The HVAC guy came and adjusted the 2nd floor air ducting such that it will favor the master bath and we should get a bit more heat in there. He also recommended setting the fan on 'On' instead of 'Auto'. Said it will cost maybe $1.50 a day to run the fan all the time, but it will help to distribute the air better and minimize how many times the upstairs furnace kicks on.
Several subfloor and staircase issues were addressed. Symptoms were some squeaking, and/or unevenness. The contractor pulled back the carpeting and screwed in the steps/flooring to the joists. Added construction cement to fill any depressions in the flooring. Two carpeting guys took care of reinstalling and kicking the carpeting afterwards.
Caulking was done throughout the house, wherever seams needed attention.
The patio door was adjusted to minimize any cold air entering in, especially by the lock assembly.
Two electrical multi-switches were adjusted to correct their orientation (i.e. the switch on the left would activate the lighting to the left, and the one on the right, the lighting on the right. Previously they were crossed, so using the switches was counter-intuitive.
Next week a garage guy will come to make adjustments to the garage tracks, in order to better seal out the cold. There is a gap between the garage door frame and the weatherstrip.
All in all the work was done well and we are pretty satisfied.
Next month will be the 10-month drywall repairs (nail pops, etc.).

Mike

10-month inspection

We're having our 10-month inspection this coming Wednesday. Will post how it goes...