Pre-Pre-Drywall Walkthrough

Another weekend, another trip out to the house.

We stopped by the model to announce our invasion of the house and just next door, our new neighbors were busily moving in (Congrats, Lot 141!).  Pretty soon we'll be dirtying up our clean floors too.  My daughter dropped off some cupcakes to our SR and while he was attending to customers, she checked out his fridge and asked me why they didn't have treats for Mr. B.  Good question, M, good question.

Last week, a particular employee of Guardian was (and still is) definitely not one of my favorite people and I shared my displeasure with the SR.  Apparently, he has worn out his welcome with my neighbors and with the SR as well with his not-so-stellar customer relations.  It's time for a change and my pen keyboard will be mightier than my sword pitchfork.  (Although, I would feel so much better if I could implement a behavior correction method a bit of wall-to-wall counseling.  Just sayin'.)

While I'm on the subject of Guardian, they still have some work left to do in the house including two hookups for motion sensors.  Fortunately, one of the locations sans detector is where they had planned to drill into the foundation.  I'm hoping they find an alternative because at this point, I'm ready to drop Guardian altogether.  I don't blame the crew--they seem nice enough.

~ * ~

There have been many changes since Wednesday morning.  I would have done them pictorially but I'm a little pressed for time so here they are in a numbered list, in no particular order:

1. Shingles!!!
2. Garage door
3. Electrical Panels (qty 2) in the garage
4. Water heater in the basement
5. More HVAC:  Furnace in the attic + ducts + returns + registers
6. Gas lines
7. Fire suppression/sprinkler system (still in progress)
8. Washer/Dryer hookups
9. Corner tub!!!
10. Tub for secondary bathroom
11. Sump pump
12. Probably more that I missed

~ * ~

I will say, the next time I need to inspect the house in great detail, it will be done sans child.  I've found I missed a lot of things and less distraction is preferred.  Good thing she'll be in school on Tuesday during the official pre-drywall meeting with the PM.  Below are some notes/thoughts from this weekend's walkthrough.

Roof/Porch

• The shingles are up and it looks as though the entire community has the same color, weathered wood.  The safety cables are still visible from the exterior.  Not sure if that means they're not done (started on Thursday morning) but I hope they're removed because the shingles are not laying flat.
• I can't really get a good look at the other ridge lines but at least the ridge cap over the garage needs to be repaired.
• There are a few holes in the roof until the vents are installed.  While the amount of water entering the house has been dramatically decreased by finally having a roof, it's still an entry point.  I'll feel much better when the openings are sealed.  They made a few cuts in the OSB where they mistakenly thought vent pipes would go so I can see patches of tar paper.  Minimal but noticeable.
• The porch is shingled but should be a metal roof.  Oops.

Attic/Bedrooms

• The attic crawl space above bedroom 4 has a keyless light and an access panel in the bedroom ceiling.  We had previously inquired if the access panels in bedrooms 3 and 4 would be removed now that we had access doors from the finished attic--the answer was yes to both.
• Bedroom 4 also has what appears to be a three-light switch, which I was not expecting at all.  I didn't get a chance to follow the wires to see where they terminated so that'll have to be done during the meeting.  It's quite possible that one goes to the ceiling (as expected), one to the attic (in question), and one to either the floodlight or wall receptacle. [Which reminds me that I need to check the switch location for the floodlight by the owner bedroom.]
• I can't remember and didn't take pictures of the ceiling in bedroom 3 but hopefully this one does not have an attic access panel in the ceiling since there should be an access door in the attic in this area.  There's no easy way from the attic crawl space by bedroom 3 to bedroom 2 because of the stairs leading to the attic.  The attic furnace consumes the furnace room so there's no way to get to the crawl space behind it, which leads me to wonder if we'll have another access door from the attic or if bedroom 2 will need an access panel.
• I would prefer all access to the attic crawl space be from the attic itself, particularly if the switches are in the bedrooms.  I know someone is going to forget about it and leave it in the ON position.

HVAC

• The positive side is that the ducts are insulated and wrapped.  The bad news is that one of them is full of water -- the strap has snapped and there's water leaking onto the upstairs hallway floor.  I'm not sure how the plastic was punctured but there are quite a few holes in it. 
• We had not seen the HVAC layouts and were surprised at the locations of two wall registers in the attic.  We're going to have to rework our furniture placement now.  :(   I keep reminding myself that the TV room is only temporary until the media room is completed (Yeah, we're extremely likely to NOT use Guardian) and then I'll have more flexibility with my office.
• Because of the rain, the drip pan for the furnace in the attic is partially filled.  There's spout for a hose connection but no hose yet and it's facing the the opposite direction of the sump pump.  I wonder how they'll route the pipe.  The furnace drip pan in the attic is also partially filled and has PVC running to the basement.  It comes out into the basement via the HVAC chase but currently is not connected to anything.  Let's hope the pan doesn't fill up in the meantime.

Laundry Room

• The electrical receptacle opposite the washer and dryer is a bit low and will be covered by the cabinets.  Need to move this up a bit.
• The dryer exhaust is vertical (and directly behind the dryer) so we're not going to have a dip and a turn (aka lint accumulation point) in the hose.
• As per the electrical plans, the washer is on the left and dryer on the right.

Foyer

• Much like the boxed off area on the second floor, the foyer also has a similar area.  I plan to use this space some day but need to come up with a creative way to work around the wires and light switch if it's open to the foyer.  If it opens into the study, then it's not much of a concern other than cutting through OSB.
• The floor is soft and has rotted out already in one spot.  The floor in the rest of the house so far seems solid but most of the boards are still saturated with water and starting to bow. 

Basement

• The puddle remains.  Wood is water-logged.  :(
• The Guardian panel is right where I wanted to put a future door for the under-the-stairs storage.  Phooey.  Looks like I will have to readjust.

Garage

• The hole into the basement is still present.  I want to make sure this is sealed properly before the steps go in (temporarily using a bucket) and not just covered up.
• The garage door was up so I couldn't see how it looked.  Whenever it needs replaced (hopefully not for a long time), I think we'll go with the carriage door style to dress up the front a bit.
• We have two electrical panels by the garage door.  This makes it convenient since the meters are located just on the other side of the wall.
• I didn't get a picture nor do I remember 100%, but we may or may not have a second light switch in the mudroom room (by the garage door) to turn on the light in the mudroom.  We do have a 3 way switch in the garage so maybe they'll put a switch in the mudroom to turn off the garage light?  (Not holding my breath but will be pleasantly surprised if it happens.)

Owner Bath

• The garden tub is in!  I preferred the standard but the hubby wanted jets so guess who is going to have to deal with getting the motor serviced?
• Speaking of servicing, I am not sure if there will be an access panel or not.  I didn't see one in the model home but then again, it did not have jets.  Another question for the PM.
• From the side window (inside the tub), I can see down to my neighbor's morning room door which means they can also see up into the bathroom.  I think I will have to place an order for some louvered half-height shutters for a bit of privacy.

~ *~

Tangent:  The floor layouts, electrical plans, and HVAC plans are all in the normal plan.  I'm surprised there aren't more mix-ups with this being a reverse plan.  Does RH not provide reverse plans to the subcontractors?

(related posts: Pre-Drywall Walkthrough and Photos)