Drywall

We went to the house at lunchtime today and were surprised to see how many people were at the house. They had two guys outside pouring the garage floor and about 6-8 others doing the drywall. By noon they had about half the house dry walled. When we came back at 5 the whole house had drywall. It's starting to get really exciting seeing it all come together.

It's starting to look like a house.

Last week they finished the second floor and put the roof on. They also ran the plumbing and duct work. It's actually starting to look like a house now. We went up on Friday and the project manager was in the house with the level making sure everything looked correct. He said he goes through and checks stuff for a couple hours every now and then. When we came back later that day it looked like he had marked up many things for the framers to come back and fix. He caught way more stuff then I would have. Nothing major but many bowed boards and spots where the floor needed to be glued. The PM also told us we can lock into an interest rate now but unfortunately they were lower about 2 weeks ago. We are going to hold out for a bit and hope they get better. Does anyone know if they insulate the ceiling in the garage that is above the bedrooms? We were hoping so for two reasons the first being to keep the rooms warm and because the plumbing for the laundry room runs there and I would think they want to insulate the pipes. We are planning on asking our PM this on his next call. 

We have a First Floor!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today they completed the first level of our house. It is amazing how fast they really move. We are excited to see how much progress they make tomorrow!!

We have basement walls.

Haven't posted any pics in a couple days. They poured our walls last Friday, took off the forms on Monday, and did the waterproofing yesterday. Hasn't been a huge week but they have to wait around a week for the walls to dry completely before they can do anything major. I am excited for the framing to start but from what I hear it goes very fast because the frames are already build. The project manager called us yesterday to ask if we would mind closing a week or so later if need be because there are a few others closing around the same time. We said we wouldn't mind waiting an extra week because there is no hurry on our end. As of now they expect to finish the house around Dec 28th, but may wait until Jan 10th or so to close.

Cabinet Upgrades!!

Today my husband and I walked through a Sienna that was being built. It really made us thankful that we decided to upgrade our cabinets. The house we walked through had the standard oak cabinets that are included. The oak still looks nice, but the actual door panels are very thin. Also, the top shelves in the bottom cabinets  are not the full size of the cabinets. We chose to upgrade to the Cherry cabinets and now we are very pleased with our choice. The upgraded cabinets will be a lot sturdier and also have the pull out shelves. So, if anyone is not sure about spending the extra money on the cabinets, I would highly recommend it. It will be worth it in the long run!!!

Breaking Ground Day 1

This is my first time blogging but my wife and I figured we would share our building experience. We are building the Sienna Model with Ryan Homes. We did a few upgrades such as cherry cabinets, garage floor drain, a peak to the left of the garage, and upgraded the appliances. We had our final construction meeting on Monday and they began breaking ground today. I took these pictures at lunch time today. Our construction manager called me and said they will be pouring the walls on Friday.