Starting to look like a house!

The siding is up and a couple of interior pictures. I'm told the granite and carpet were installed today.  I think they are just down to the finishing touches like the appliances, porch columns and metal roof over the porch. 

Final walk through, closing date, and selling our current house

The building process is nearing the end!  Our final walk through is set for the 31st and we close on 4/2. It is hard to believe that in less than 3 weeks we will see the finished product. 

We did receive great news that an offer has been made (and accepted) on our current home. Assuming all goes well, we will be turning the keys to our great house over to the new owners the first   week in June. 

It has been VERY cold here in NE Ohio so they had not installed the siding as of last weekend but I am  going to drive by the house tomorrow to see if they have made any progress. 

If I can, I will take some pictures. 

The fireplace and kitchen cabinets are in

Stopped by the house today and the fireplace and kitchen cabinets are installed and they are finishing up the trim work.  They also stained the stair rail and hardwood steps.  Still a work in progress but things are looking good.

Progress pictures - drywall is up and some flooring is installed

Great room - still waiting on the stone for the fireplace

Morning room

Kitchen

Kitchen

Hallway leading into my kid's bedroom

2nd floor guest bathroom

Master bathroom - the other side is a closet

Master bathroom shower

Hard to see, but this is the hardwood that is on the first floor

Pre-Drywall Meeting

Our pre-drywall meeting was this last Friday and everything went well.  Below are some pictures I took (terrible lighting) and notes from our home inspector.  Oh, here is a tip for anyone building a RH in cold weather - when you go to the pre-drywall meeting, it will most likely be really cold in the house.  Not sure why this didn't occur to us but the house was freezing inside and since they didn't have the insulation up yet, it makes sense.  Live and learn.

The meeting lasted about an hour and our PM took us through the house and explained the work they have done so far.  We also verified that Guardian placed our cable connections in the right places.  During the walk-through I noticed that one of the archways was slightly askew and our PM agreed and said it would get fixed (they use a metal arch and then drywall over it - see pic below).

Our home inspector then arrived and he went through the house.  He pointed out some things he really liked and then sent us a report of what he thought RH's should correct.  Most of what he found were things that the builders simply did not get to yet.  For example, the holes in the foundation where the service lines enter the house had not yet been sealed.  His two biggest suggestions were:

1.  The shingles were installed without a drip edge.  I was told that RH simply does not do this and the shingle manufacturer does not require one during installation.  

2.  The subfloor should be secured with screws to lessen the chance of having squeeky floors.  RH apparantly secures the subfloors with nails and glue and they will not use screws.

There were a few other "problems" he found that our PM is looking into (one of the water lines is touching duct work and a couple of 2x4's were cut short in the basement).  Overall there were not too many issues found during the inspection so we feel good about the build to this point.

Here are some pictures - sorry about the lighting.

A view from the master into the hallway.  If you look closely, you can see how the metal archway is off just a little bit.

Looking out from the master bathroom into the bedroom.

The great room.  The fireplace is already installed as well.

The morning room and the framing of the kitchen island.

Master bathroom shower.

Small but I suppose important detail - instead of using the hard PVC pipe for the water lines, they now use a flexible tube that is supposed to be more durable.  Our home inspector was happy to see this.

Pre-drywall meeting set and another change order

We broke ground on December 23rd and the pre-drywall meeting is set for February 13th. That's 52 days so I think they are right on schedule. I will post several pictures of the walk-through.

We did have one last minor change to the house - the kitchen backsplash.  For those building a RH, we found out that they usually install a 4" granite backsplash on your kitchen countertops but you can request they do not add this. We decided we'd rather install a full backsplash down the road. 

Everything else seems to be moving along as planned. They poured the basement floor and installed the HVAC and I think electrical is next, then insulation. 

Progress pictures

They finished framing the house last week and this week they are working on the roof and HVAC