I missed it,

Our 1 Month Anniversary was the 12th  since taking possession, and yesterday for actually living there and I completely forgot. 

Plenty of things have been done since the move in and last post. We have finished the floor in the workout area in the basement. Basically filled the place with foam interlocking floor mats, so is nice and squishy. It is great to stretch on, and fit nicely. The workout room is all set up , I just have to run cable to the treadmill.

The Grass is doing great, especially since our week of rain. It will need cutting very soon but there are some patches that are "sinky". I stepped on the grass near the edge of the house and my foot almost vanished. I guess all the rain made it mud underneath the sod in places where it was draining. 

We still haven't set up our office areas. Desks are up and Computers working, but we need shelving.  I tried to put all our books on the 5 bookshelves to go in the loft,  got 4 of the shelves full and still have 1/3 of the books to go somewhere. 

We have a couple pictures up, but the walls are still pretty barren all round. Some mirrors are up in the hallways and the bedroom but that is about it. 

The Guest bedroom had a bed and bedding  and a couple new end tables. The room looks great, almost like we could have company over for a while!

I have some temporary stick on blinds up for now on the main floor. I was getting tired of being wide open to the world.  The heat coming into the living room in the morning  gets bad, the shades filter it and make it much more comfortable. 

We have to fill out our 1 Month warranty form now. Not much so far to go on it.  The haven't fixed the roofing over the porch, as far as we know it has never been looked at after the possession day.  The coat closet is an issue, we will most likely end up fixing ourselves as I forsee them ignoring it completely.  The rails in the closet are too close to the doors, so when you hand coats in it, they don't fit.  The water meter makes a pinging sound when a lot of water is used, like watering the lawn or taking a shower. We probably have to have the city come in to fix that though.  The only other issue is the fan on the furnace.  No idea how to have just the fan on.

When I get home I will have to take some photos and post em.

We Have Grass!!

Well I guess I should say, "We have a Lawn", or every pothead in the neighborhood will be in for a visit.
As you can see, I found my camera. The lawn looks a bit patchy at the moment of course, but anything is better than the dirt yard we had before. I don't know if the sod layers were still half asleep when they did our lawn but some areas have at least a 2 inch gap between the pieces. So I have been praying for rain now every day, but alas the FSM isn't listening to me and just sends dark clouds overhead to taunt me, the bastard. So it is a waterin I go. The backyard is easy, but down the sides of the house I have to manually do it with the hose and gun. I have been developing a system where I set up the sprinkler in the back, and do the sides and front manually. I just have to work on my technique a little I think. I have no freakin clue how long or how much to water. The instructions they left us are of course vague as all hell "use a sprinkler" gee thanks. O well, we shall see if the lawn goes green or yellow :)

Well that wasn't fun.

I Hate moving, I really really do. I think that is why we lived in our apartment for so long, we just didn't want to move. Well that is all over, now it is time to unpack and Uglify our new house with our old furniture. Yes I now have the home network hooked up and working, the Cable guy was in Saturday and hooked up all the externals, cable and Phone and I worked on the Ethernet wall jacks in, and hooking up the router in the basement. I just have to put up a shelf to hold everything.
One of the "issues" we had last week was with the appliances. They were delivered, and out of 6 appliances 1 didn't show up (microwave), 2 were damaged (Stove and Dryer), and 3 weren't hooked up (Dishwasher, Fridge, and Dryer). I guess due to some miscommunication somewhere along the road, someone decided we didn't need the plumbing for the dishwasher at all. Apparently they thought we were going to get some new fandangled pipless washer that only needed electricity run to it. The drain and waterline were split from under the sink but no lines were run. Why would you need lines for the dishwasher anyways? It is much more fun to have it sitting in the middle of the Kitchen. They did replace the stove and dryer, but when they replaced the dryer, they also replaced the washing machine. I guess they come as a set and don't like to be split up. Maybe when they are given a home, they have to be together for behavioral problems, so they don't become crazed maniac appliances later on in life because they were split from their sibling when they were so young. I dunno, just a guess. The Microwave did show up eventually, I think they beamed it in or something. Well last night we had a plumber show up and install everything, so all is out of the way and working now. We even have ice! The miracles of modern technology!
So right now we are still moving stuff round to see where it all fits, and what we need where. It is amazing how we are able to fill up this house with stuff from a 2 bedroom apartment. Well we did take a couple of donations, but we got RID of stuff as well, weird. I think the furniture is breeding or something.
Hopefully I can find my camera and take some photos of the mess and post them. I was going to make a video walkthough, but right now it would be a video of dodging boxes and piles of "stuff". Once we get everything set up I think I will give it a try.

It's Ours!!

YAY, the day finally came, the house is ours. I don't have any photos to post since I left the camera at the house, hopefully tomorrow. They finished the exterior paint, and small repairs. The Deck is going to be finished tomorrow I believe. We have a driveway, sort of. They put down a big layer of asphalt, and next year finish it with a second layer after the first has settled.

Wow, what a day of ups and downs, elation and despair. First we woke up, and find out we have MORE paperwork to sign, yay everyone's favorite thing to do. We also found out that the banking kiosk had Gabbi's drivers license still from yesterday, OOPS?
We showed up for the inspection at 1pm , and saw the appliances were there, yay! O wait a tic, the Dishwasher isn't installed, and there is no microwave, hmmm. When we went to do the final walkthrough we were told that they damaged the dryer delivering it, so it needs to be replaced, and someone screwed up on running the lines for the dishwasher. When we purchased the units, we were told Joe would take care of it all because he works with Reid's all the time on this stuff, and deals with Simon (the site supervisor) constantly. Well the plumbing isn't there, and it isn't apparently on the Re ids work sheet. So the dishwasher is sitting in the middle of the kitchen while someone figures out who screwed up where. The microwave is just a no show, no idea where it is or why it isn't there. They said they would take care of it for us, so hopefully not next year. I don't know if they dropped the dryer, but the top panel is bent and dented. The Deck posts were put in yesterday, so we figured they would be working on it this week, yay. They got the structure in today, and the framework done, now just the decking and the railings to do. At about 1:30 we got a call that we could come pick up the keys at the lawyers office, of course we also had so sign said paperwork as well. We decided to eat in a pub in the same building as the Lawyers and plan out where to go what to do. First off to the banking kiosk to get Gabbi's drivers license, which they couldn't find and looked like they lost. Gladly they found it after a lengthy search so all was well there. After that we decided to head to Home Depot and pick up a couple of things like a Recycle bin, a garbage can and look around at pricing on ceiling fans etc. Our next stop was the Liquor store for some wine. We wanted to have some family over to have a glass of wine in the new house while they looked it over.

Here is where the Despair sets in, and I feel like a complete fool about this but I am not going to hide the fact. As we walked out the the Liquor store, all elated at the new house , thinking about getting new stuff for it etc, a white truck pulls up with 2 guys in it. They ask if we know anyone that would like to buy a home theatre system on the cheap. Oh MY GOD, our receiver JUST died, we JUST got a new house and were looking at new systems, and along comes these guys with a system in the truck. Well , it turns out that there was a mix up at the shipping place, and they have an extra system in their truck. Now last time this happened their Boss took the system and sold it himself for full profit. They would take anything we could get , anything would be money in their pocket. So he says it is a Genesis speaker system, and I think WOW, this guy is selling a Genesis speaker system out of the back of his truck, this IS our lucky day. Well he grabs the big box out of the truck, puts it in the car, says a thank you and tears off. Hmm now alarm bells start going off in our heads. To make a Long story short, they are a major scam that is going around here. I have to say it is very well done as a scam. They have everything down pat, fake magazines to show you advertisements in them about the product, fake shipping bills, a story that is so damn crazy it MUST be true, and people with completely no conscience to pull it off. All of the names they use are made so close to, or spelled slightly different than real high quality audio equipment so even if you somewhat know about audio stuff it sounds good. Once you look at the box, and open it up you know immediately you got ripped off. I am going to thank the FSM (Flying Spaghetti Monster for those that don't know) that PC Banking has a limit on our daily withdrawals and we had spent a bunch of money already today on House stuff. Even though we just got taken for a couple hundred bucks, it still feels like complete shit when you get taken.

This must be what crack addicts feel like. Super high at one point, just getting better and better, nothing can go wrong and CRASH, reality hits you in the face with a 5 lb sledge hammer. Is there a term called insta-migraine? If not I just invented it, and had one. O well , another of lifes lessons from the shitter. Quote me on this one, "It is bad enough when you trust the kids in Future Shop or Best Buy when it comes to electronics, if you EVER trust someone selling stuff out of the back of a truck, punch yourself hard in the face." I like it, I think I will have bumper stickers made. .........................................................................................................................................

Finally an update

First up, lets get the pic out of the way:

We have our pillars and railings on the front, the pillars need paint, aside from that they are done.

So yesterday was a big day for us, we had our second to final inspection, and got to do all our Lawyerin'.
The inspection was pretty in depth, I kind of knew what to expect from others telling us, but wow. Gary knows his stuff, and does it very well and is very thorough. Every little nail not filled in got marked for repair, every little smudge in the paint got marked, every scratch no matter how small or hidden from view was marked. As we went through for the inspection, he went over the maintenance for all the hardware, and how to use it all. Where they leave the instructions etc. There were a lot of minor things, mostly a lot of repainting to be done because of people coming in after the paint was initially put on to do their work. I guess the carpet guys bump into walls and trim a bunch while laying the carpet. Basically it looks like they are coming in to repaint pretty much all the walls and trim, but I am sure it will be touch ups. One biggie that was overlooked, and had Gary perplexed was they forgot to add a dryer vent for some reason. Time to get out a rather big hole saw I guess. There are enough vents on that side of the house between the Heat Exchanger, Furnace and Hot Water Heater, who will notice another one anyways?

A couple of cool things we found out that we didn't know before. All the leftover paint is left in the house. This is great when we need touch ups etc. I guess we just have to remember what paint goes where, or we may end up with striped walls. All the extra flooring is left, this includes carpet and vinyl flooring. There are a bunch of rolls of carpet and vinyl floor under the stairs, it looks like a bunch. I guess just in case we have one hell of a major spill of Hot Chocolate and Bailey's and left it for a couple years, we could just repair it ourselves! Another net thing, and something I have never actually seen is 2 stage toilets. Basically if going #1, you flush normally and it uses about half the water (or less) in the tank to flush. If you have a big job on your hands, you hold the lever down a couple seconds, and it uses the full tank. I was pretty happy seeing these, damn neat idea. I am sure they have been around for years, but this is the first time I have seen one, well 3 of them, and I was pretty amazed for some reason. Although when we have company over we will probably have to leave instructions or something. Another thing is they left a dehumidifier in the basement for us to keep. It drains directly into the sump pump tank, so we don't have to empty it all the time. He informed us that in new houses, because there is a ton of concrete and wood that are going to give off moisture, especially within the first year as everything "dries out" , they left it to keep the humidity down. Double bonus is because it drains into the sump well, it will make sure there is moisture down there to keep the seals wet on the pump in case of a long dry spell.

Aside from still waiting on the Deck, and not being able to get a concrete date on when it will be complete that was about it for the inspection. Our final is on ethe day we take possession. We go through the house again looking at stuff that needs to be done if there is anything left, and fill out a warranty form to send to the warranty company. This lets Tarion (the warranty company) know if Reid's (oops I guess CachetReid's now) is staying on top of things. After 30 days there is another form to send to Tarion that you list issues ret resolved if there are any.
Of course we still need Grass, but that will come once they have enough houses done and ready to sod all at once.

Next up, Lawyerin' time. Sue is awesome to us, and I cannot IMAGINE going through the amount of paperwork that she does as a job. I know people knock Lawyers (so do I lol), but DAMN , after seeing the stack of papers, all of course worded in legalese so mortals can't understand a word, I have new respect for Lawyers that do Real Estate Of course bizarre things crop up while doing paperwork, like being told by one person (the mortgage broker) that we could use the online print out for account information with the mortgage company, and the mortgage company saying no. Now after all this , we may not GET the damn house because we believe one guy without checking into it ourselves.

Quick Update

I haven't updated in a while, there really isn't any big changes to be seen outside or inside. I believe everything is complete inside now, I saw that they have installed the mirrors in the bathrooms etc, and the doors are on the closets. Outside the only thing that has changed really is that they have painted the door. Oh and they poured the sidewalk, We didn't find out till it was dry so we couldn't put our initials in it.
Really , again , the Pillars on the porch, Grass and landscaping, and the Deck are the only things outside to be completed. Inside I believe is done except for cleaning, and the appliances installed.

Flooring = Done

Well I wouldn't say all the flooring is completely done, but the Hardwood and Carpet are now installed.
Here is the dirty carpet. I took my shoes off so I could walk on it barefoot. Nice and comfy to walk on. I actually felt bad wearing shoes on it even though the place is under construction, and I can see dusty boot prints on the carpet.

Here is the almost finished Kitchen. Hardwood is complete, plumbing is all in, electrical outlets and lights are all installed. The Doorbell is actually already in and working as well. You can kind of see the Range Hood is in , and to the right the water line for the fridge is there.

This is just a closeup of the backsplash. I guess it would be called semi-custom? The large tiles come in sheets, but have tiles with designs on them every once in a while. They took the random swirly designs off, and added the subway line of multiple colour tiles 1 row up from the counter top.

All the bathrooms are complete except for a mirror on the wall or medicine cabinet. Come to think of it, I don't know if they install those or not, I guess I should ask.

Here's the main washroom, again everything is complete except a mirror. All the towel racks and rings are already in , as well as toilet paper holders. I think there is just trim and paint touchups to do otherwise. The En suite is where they threw all the pails of carpet trimmings and underpad pieces so it was a mess in there. I did see the shower is now together , and complete to the same point as the other washrooms.

Just a shot of the Loft with the carpet in. Good thing we aren't paying the power bill, all the lights were on when I went in. As I went around the house I turned them all back off. No idea why they would be left on, seems wasteful to me.

One issue though that is kind of scary, WATER IN THE BASEMENT!! We noticed a pool in the basement the last time we were inside, but it looked form the water marks on the floor that someone left a basement window open and it came in. Unless someone keeps leaving windows open during rain, we may have a leak to be looked at. I can't imagine how a brand new foundation , waterproofed properly could get water in it. The only thing I could see is that it was pooling at the bottom of the stairs near the wall. I hope when they put the basement stairs in they didn't somehow crack through to the outside membrane. We are dealing with the exact situation at work where water is coming through cracks created by installers drilling a bit too far. I guess this would be why they have new home warranties.

Garage Door

We have a garage door, yay I guess. It is getting harder to notice the updates from outside because we can only see so much by looking through REAL dirty windows. They have started to install the hardwood flooring, I really like it, I don't know about Gabbi though since it looks darker than she remembers. The sinks and taps have been out in , at least in the kitchen and powder room. They look great, well from looking through a filthy window they do. It looks like the electricians are finished, all the outlets on the main floor are in, and all the lights installed.

T minus 28 Days

Well under a month to go, getting close. The Eaves Troughs were put in yesterday, but we noticed an issue.
If you look where the Eaves meet the roof bottom left in the photo, you can see the capping and eaves don't meet properly to the roof. You can see wood poking up. I don't know if the cap is on incorrect, or the shingles, but an issue that needs fixing for sure. As you can also see in the picture, the light fixtures are up. Outside there are 3, either side of the Garage, and outside the door.
There is a close up of the outdoor fixtures. Yes CFL bulbs too.

I don't know if they installed all the fixtures inside , but from the windows I could see the Dining Room fixture was up, and the Powder Room was in as well.
The Air conditioner is installed and running, pretty quiet it seems. I guess it is a mid line Lennox Model. Energy Star certified, fairly efficient, and quiet.
The hardwood flooring has been delivered as well. Boxes are piled up in the livingroom area. I tried looking online for it , but it seems the "model" we chose doesn't exist on their website or the pamphlet. I can see that it IS the correct stuff, LM Flooring, Gevaldo Plank, White Oak stained Walnut, says it on the box. I just can't find any reference online to it. Could be a builder only model?

I have been asked to post the photos of the Loft I took on the weekend to see the railings and the paint, so here goes.
The railing on the floor goes at the bottom of the stairs, probably much easier to move around without it on the wall.
And the other side. Hopefully it looks even better with carpet installed.

Lots of Pics.

Well the trim is complete, the only outside stuff remaining are the eves, Garage door, and the posts for the porch. The paint inside is complete, aside from touch ups. The Kitchen Cabinets, and all bathroom cabinets are all in.

I took a ton of photos on this walk through, but I think I will only post the interesting stuff.

The Kitchen in , well , some of its glory. Dusty as heck right now but you can see the colours.

Just a close up of the Maple cabinet (with mocha glaze no less!) and counter top.

The Island and counter top.

Powder room cabinet.

Ensuite cabinet. No ide what flooring is supposed to be in here, the roll on the cabinet, or what is already on the floor. I am being too lazy to look it up at the moment.

And the main washroom cabinet. I forsee this becoming Gabbis bathroom as the cabinet is bigger. She already measured the closets in the bedroom, and says one is a couple inches bigger. Guess who gets that one?

From left to right, the Furnace, Air to Air heat exchanger, and Water Heater. We would have liked to go tankless, but wow, are those ever expensive. The Laundry Room is on the other side of these 3.

This is just a shot of the stairway going up to the Loft. The railings look great, if a little dusty.

I grabbed a shot of the thermostat, below is the control for the heat exchanger. I haven't seen the manual yet so I couldn't tell you how to work it all properly but the knob on the right is humidity levels, then a fan speed switch, and the other is to switch from fresh air to interior. No clue if that is correct or not.

This is just a shot of the master bedroom, I decided I would probably get yelled at from someone if I didn't show the wall colour.

Getting really close now. Today is the 1 Month away date from getting the keys yay!

Power Pipe

I noticed that the Power Pipe link wasn't working on my list, so did a search. I guess they moved their website. While checking out the new site, I noticed you can now buy a Power Pipe at Home Depot and Sears! Well at least in Canada you can. They are certainly not cheap, but with rising Gas prices I wonder how long it would actually take to pay itself off. Ordering directly offers more options, but I like to see good technology like this get more exposed.

Home Depot - Power Pipe

Vinyl, Vinyl, Everywhere

Well the siding is getting real close to being complete, the back of the house has to be done, the soffit and trim on the first floor need to be completed and a couple small spots on the front.

For some reason I am pretty damn proud of how it looks. I know I had nothing to do with building it, and picking the colour scheme was a team project, but DAMN. One thing I love though, is how it is very different than every house in the area. Well there are a bunch of the same model, but no one has the brick at all, and I think only 1 other house had the same siding and trim colour combination. I have started to call it the "gingerbread house" because of all the brown.

The other Vinyl item added is the flooring in the entrance way. I peeked in the doorway today when I saw boxes through the windows. The Cabinets are all there wrapped in plastic, waiting to be installed, but noticed the vinyl floor had been laid, so I nabbed a photo.

You can see the wall colour as well. The sun was directly at my back, so it was beaming into the doorway making bright spots. At the very top you can see where the line splitting between the Vinyl entranceway and the Hardwood will be for the rest of the main floor.

I also noticed they have done the staining on the railings going up stairs.

I was pleasantly surprised that the spindles and the base rail were also stained. Gabbi and I both figured they would just be painted, but I like the all wood look.

Trim and Siding...

...has started at least. The Window trim is done on the second story of the front of the house, and there is about 4 rows of siding on the one side of the House. I couldn't really get a good shot of the siding since there was workers where I needed to be, and I didn't want to walk into a construction zone in Birkenstocks.

Paint!

We took a walk on Canada Day to the House to see what we could see. Of course nothing new on the exterior, but peeping in the windows, they have painted! At least the first floor has an initial coating on it. According to the paperwork it is Benjamin Moore cc-304 Sisal, I call it dark beige.

That is my home made colour chip, you get the idea. After having white walls for the past 9 years (yikes 9 years in a white apartment) this is a serious addition of colour. We were discussing the other day our lack of pictures on our walls, we barely put any up because we were always going to be moving soon. I am already going through all my photos to print some out and have framed. I don't think we will have such an excuse this time round.

Unexpected Issues

Well our first large issue has cropped up. We got a call to tell us that apparently the siding we chose, Vytech Prestige in CanyonRidge is apparently all gone. There is none available in Canada at all. Since they started to put the siding on the House next to us, we figured everything was all set, and we would be done siding next week or so. I guess now we have to make an appointment and figure out what our options are. It really sucks when you pick something, and 4 months later find out you can't have it. Especially since we really wanted to go with something different than what is on almost every house in the neighborhood, withing reason of course. So far I am just going by the phone message left, so I have no clue how this could have happened, or how it can be resolved. We shall see......

****UPDATE****
So we were going to meet with Pat Saturday morning at the house, she was going to bring a bunch of samples from other companies that they deal with to see if we could find a replacement for the Canyon Ridge siding. I guess they decided that it was less of an issue to go to the USA and get the siding than they thought initially because someone is going down south to pick up siding for us. So YAY we get the siding we wanted after all!! Gabbi and I were kind of angry that we were being rushed into this siding decision. It seemed real late to find out about the shortage of what we chose in February. It makes me very happy that Reids is going to the lengths they are to keep us happy customers.

Lots and Lots of Pictures

On Saturday the 14th of June we decided to break in, err borrow the keys to the house and have a look inside. They had done the first layer of taping and compound on the drywall. This past Sunday (22nd of June) We again went inside to see how far along they are. They are all done the drywall, now they are on to the trim and doors inside. One grpe is the door to the downstairs is on backwards, this after discussing it a couple of weeks ago as to which way we would like to to open.
There are boards over the Garage because they are storing windows inside. So we now have a front walkway paved, and a front step. I think that is about it for outside differences.

This is the Livingroom window looking out to the backyard.

This is the Dining Room window and back door to the yard. Some of the trim is done here, and the floor where I am standing has a workbench etc for cutting etc.

This will eventually become the Kitchen. The sink will be under the Window, Fridge to the right. If you look back to the older pictures for the layout , you will get an idea of what it should look like.

This is the back half of the living room, The door there that is closed it to the downstairs. Right now it opens toward the front door, we want it to open the opposite, so if multiple people (bringing bikes etc ) need to go downstairs, they don't need to all go into the living room first.

Just a quick shot of the basement. The insulation on the walls is just roughed in, well the whole thing is just roughed in I guess. The box contains the water heater. The basement will be unfinished, so we get to live with pink walls.

This is the Laundry area, well it will be at least. Shannon trying to figure out what the big tubes are for. They are the Air to Air heat exchanger Exhaust and fresh air vents.

Our Power Pipe yay! Their website seems to be down at the moment, I hope they are still around, the product is just awesome.

The upstairs main bathroom. No the tub is not blue, it is covered in blue plastic for protection.

Bedroom #1, the Parents Room as Gabbi calls it. This will be our spare bedroom.
Same bedroom, looking away from the Window, at the closet. The door to the left will be Gabbi's Office, you can sort of see the Bathroom door to the right of that.


These are two shots of the second Bedroom, Gabbi's Office.

The Master Bedroom, looking out the Windows to the Front of the House.

The Master Bedroom His and Her's closets. We will see if I actually get to use any of the closet space or not.
The En suite Shower. I couldn't get a good Photo, too many tools etc in the way.

Heading upstairs to the Loft. They have finished installing the Oak railing and spindles up here.

The loft facing South.
The Loft facing North, towards the stairs.

Well that about sums up the second adventure inside the house. It seems everything is rocketing along right now.

I did grab a couple of photos Friday while walking to the House.
Just as I was going to enter "The Forest", the pathway that shortcuts almost behind the house, this guy poped out of a Bush and decided to pose for a couple of pictures.

This is what the pathway looks like in the forested area. You can see the cedar chip path leading away. It is really nice in there. The foliage is really dense, in the evenings with sunglasses on it looks really dark. During the winter and spring when there were no leaves on the trees it looks completely different of course.