Finally, Another Update

It's been a while since I've posted to this blog so I'll try to remember everything that has happened since August 1st.
We had a very successful house warming party. To everyone that was there I'd like to extend many thanks. I hope everyone had a good time.

Some things with the house: The magnet on the front door was installed so the security system is complete. The bottom of the door was adjusted so wind will not blow through during windy days. While Pella was there we had them look at some scratches on the windows next to the front door. The window cleaner had noticed them while he was cleaning them. They have scratches that go all the way from the top to the bottom of the window. There is also a big scrape in the window at the top of the door. Dave has worked with Pella and new windows have been ordered to replace these.
We purchased two trees for the front yard. I wish I could remember the names of the types of trees but, having slept since then, I don't. One is up by the house, just to the right of the front door and will have white buds for two weeks in the spring. It will stay relatively small.
The other one is down toward the street corner and will be a bit larger, about 30 feet full grown. I do know that it is a type of maple and I believe the leaves will turn red in the fall.

Things to do

It's been a while since I've updated everyone on what's going on with the house.
We have received the lights that were on back order and they've been installed. The knobs and pulls for the cabinets have been installed. In fact, most of what we've been waiting for has been completed. We have a new list started with things that we've slowly been finding. Both Dave and Tom have urged us to begin making a list of things that "aren't quite right" so that they can be fixed. So far the only things that we've found are little cosmetic things like paint next to a door frame that looks mis-colored.
There are a few bigger things that need to be taken care of that we've discovered now that we've moved in:
The magnet on the front door for the security system was installed in the construction door, and wasn't moved to the permanent door.
The front door, during heavy winds, lets air through the bottom. This apparently can be fixed by adjusting the bottom of the door, which Pella is going to come out and do for us.
The downstairs little window well filled up with water that last big storm we had, and then proceeded to leak water into the basement. This happened before the landscaping was completed. The window well was raised back up to it's proper height, the well was dug out a bit more to make it deeper and the ground was shaped to aid drainage away from this window.

Some fun news: I had to mow the yard for the first time this week. It took about an hour and 15 minutes. I wimped out and mowed the back yard on Tuesday (45 minutes) and mowed the front yard on Thursday (30 minutes). I've decided that I need a new lawn mower. The one that I have is pretty old, has a 21" blade and is barely self-propelled. I wonder how long it'll take me to wear Jill down to convincer her I need a new one.

Practically Done

Front 2008-07-04 2
Originally uploaded by lander_quill

The sod was put down July 2nd. Once the sod was down the sprinkler system guys came back and fixed the malfunctioning heads. Now we have the sprinkler system setup to run three times a day. 3am, Noon and 6pm. The heads are also adjusted to over-water. Once the sod takes, the sprinkler system guys will come back and turn down the heads so that we're not watering the street.
There are a couple of areas that were not covered with sod that will be covered with mulch once the sod takes. The area next to the porch that always seems to fill with water when it rains will be filled in with black dirt/topsoil. We plan on putting a small tree there. We also plan on putting a small tree on the right side of the front lawn.

Something exciting happened the day the sod was put in. We came home from running errands and discovered Al, the trimmer (and assistant to Dave and Tom), at our house. He had come over to assist the irrigation guys with the water access and discovered a small pool of water in our basement. Apparently one of the weld points on a water line to our master bath had broken. He cut a hole in our wall and got the plumber over to fix the leak. He also cleaned up the water in the basement. Basically all the excitement was over by the time we got back home. I'm just glad that the problem happened on the main floor, since the basement is not finished. Had it happened on the top floor we could have had a bunch of water damage to our ceiling and possibly floors before it was found.

Moved In

Moving day went great! We had lots of help. I had told everyone that donuts would be there at 8. They arrived at 8:10. As soon as people arrived we started emptying the first of two PODS. Everyone agreed that donuts would wait until the first POD was empty. I was really surprised how fast everything went. We were done unloading both PODS by 11am. At that time we ran to the store and purchased some pizzas and cooked them in the new ovens. They were delicious.
Now that we are moved in we are only waiting on a few things to be completed. The main one is sod. The graders were here again this evening and the sod is supposed to be here tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that it gets here before it starts raining, which it is supposed to do tomorrow.
While the grader was doing his thing he clipped our gas meter. He shut the gas off and called MUD who arrived about 20 minutes later. They got everything fixed and up and running by 10:30pm. I must be getting old because that seems really late to me now.

Mailbox Key

One thing that we need to do is get a key to the mailbox cluster. It is located across the street from our house, which is convenient.
I went online to the USPS web site and found the 800 number for their customer service. 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777). I worked through their menu system and found out the local branch that services my area. This was the only place that I could find the local phone number for that branch, by the way.
I contacted them and asked them how to get a key for new construction. First, she had to check to see if my mailbox was handled by a contractor, which it's not. Then she told me that all I needed to do was bring down a proof of purchase for the house and a photo ID.
I plan on doing this tomorrow after lunch.

While I was on the USPS web site I also changed my address so mail is forwarded from my old address to the new one. I had a temporary forwarding of my mail to my in-laws while we were "homeless".

Homeowners

Yea! We're new homeowners! That means we're living the American dream and are in debt up to our eyeballs.
There are still some things that need to be done by our builder as part of the construction process. It is continuing to rain so we're waiting for a few days of dry weather so that the yard can be re-graded and the sod can be put down. We're hoping that this happens next week.
There is another cleaning crew coming in today to do the final deep clean of the house. The guys were there today touching up paint and other miscellaneous things.
Yesterday our refrigerator, washer and dryer arrived and were hooked up.
The guys did a lot of the cleaning yesterday and the house looks great.
The PODS that we stored all of our stuff in arrive tomorrow and we start moving in on Saturday. Right now the forecast for Saturday is sunny and 81. Let's hope that this is accurate.

Closing Today

We close today at 4pm. Yea! I ran out over lunch to get the necessary cashier's checks for the down payment and the overages.
I went out to the house yesterday and saw little pieces of blue tape all over the place. All of those pieces of tape marked something that needed touched up. While I was there I walked through the house and could not find anything that they had overlooked. The nice thing is that we have a year to find things that need to be fixed.
Monday night the yard was graded in preparation for the sod. Tuesday morning the skies opened up and washed a bunch of the front yard over the sidewalk. It is supposed to be sunny today and I think rainy the rest of the week so I'm hoping we can get the sod down before the weekend.

2 Days to Close and Counting

Carpet 2008-06-20 3
Originally uploaded by lander_quill

The carpet was installed last week. It looks great. Apparently they were short in the amount of carpet that they delivered so the master closet was temporarily carpeted with a different type. Once the inspections are completed they will come back and replace it with the correct carpet.
Another coat of finish was applied to the wood floors on Friday. I was under the impression that this was going to be the last coat but apparently they are coming back today at 2pm to apply the final coat.
Today:
The sprinkler system is being installed today. I've never seen one installed. It's pretty cool how they bury the line for that.
The balusters for the front porch should be installed this afternoon.
The knobs for the kitchen cabinets should be installed today.
The pulls for the kitchen cabinets don't fit. We're going to have to return them and get something different.
The light in the kitchen that was back ordered arrived today and should be installed.
The quarter round was being installed today.
The final coat on the wood floor should be applied today.
Tomorrow:
The sod is supposed to be put in tomorrow.
The bathroom appliances, like towel rods, will be installed tomorrow.
The cleaners will be there on tomorrow.
Informal walk-through with builder will occur tomorrow afternoon.
Final inspection will occur tomorrow afternoon.
Wednesday:
The front door will be installed on Wednesday.
We should close on the house at 4pm on Wednesday.

Getting Close

Back 2008-06-13 1
Originally uploaded by lander_quill

The picture shown is of the lights on the back of the house. As I stated before, all the light fixtures are in (except the ones that are back-ordered). We actually have electricity to the house so we can turn on the lights and visit the house after dark. The outlets and covers have been installed as have the door knobs.
We've picked out a color of our front door, Sherwin-Williams sw6335, Fired Brick. The rest of the door is colored with a shoe-polish type product so it looks like wood (it's fiberglass). Our painter actually recommended that we paint the outside of the door because scuffs in paint are easily repaired, the other finish is not.
Our carpet is set to be installed this week and then the finish coat on the wood floors will be applied. There are a few more miscellaneous things that need to be completed as well.
We are working on a June 25th close date. Hopefully everything lines up to make this possible.

A Moment Of Silence

Last night a tornado swept through the Little Sioux Boy Scout Camp killing 4 scouts and injuring about 40 others. I was a Boy Scout. I like to think I still am a Boy Scout in many ways. I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank achievable in the Boy Scouts. I can't tell you how many times I camped at Little Sioux over the 6 years that I was a scout. It would be safe to say that I camped there more often than any other campground.
As I watched the news of the tragedy and they showed pictures of the camp, memories of camping trips flooded back. It's been about 18 years since I've been camping and some of my fondest memories were made at that camp.
I'd like to take this opportunity to offer my condolences to the families and friends of those boys who were killed last night. As a father I can, thankfully, only imagine what it would feel like to lose a child.
Here is a link to an Omaha World Herald article with details of each of the boys.
I hope that this tragedy does not in any way discourage someone from allowing their son to join the Boy Scouts. I know that it shaped my life in a positive way and I am thankful for both the moral guidance and life skills that I learned as a Boy Scout.

Weathered the Storm

Front 2008-06-10 1
Originally uploaded by lander_quill

There was quite a big storm that swept through Millard early Sunday morning. Fortunately for us our new house was pretty much unscathed. The only thing that happened was the port-a-potty was knocked over. Ew. Thank goodness we don't have to take care of that.
Link here for a story from the Omaha World Herald and pictures of the storm.
Our old neighborhood got bumped around a bit but nothing major happened. It is located on 132nd and Center and it looks like the tornado hopped right over it. We talked to some old neighbors who said that they had some damage to their detached garage from a fallen tree limb but the neighborhood overall fared pretty well.
Fortunately, there were no deaths attributed to this storm. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families affected by this storm.

Electric Fixtures

Kitchen 2008-06-09 1
Originally uploaded by lander_quill

The Electrician finished installing the appliances and electric fixtures today. The ones that had arrived, that is. We found out today that the pendants and breakfast nook light are back-ordered. Unfortunately, this is the first we heard about it. We were a little disappointed that United Electric didn't contact someone to notify them of this. We ordered these a few months ago, which we thought was plenty of time.
The painters are finished painting the exterior of the house. It looks great.
It looks like the lines have been run for Electrical, Natural Gas and Cable/Phone.

Wood Floor

Floor 2008-06-06 2
Originally uploaded by lander_quill

Everything but the final coat has been put on the wood floor. They started on Tuesday by sanding the floor and then putting a sealant putty down to fill in any seams or imperfections in the wood. Then that was sanded off. Wednesday and Thursday they put coats of the finish on it, allowing it to dry throughout the day. When everything else is finished and people are done tracking dirt through the house, they will come back, clean it, de-dust it and then put the final coat on it.
As you can see, we went with a natural clear-coat. This is to juxtapose the dark trim and cabinets.

Plumbing Fixtures

Kitchen 2008-06-06 2
Originally uploaded by lander_quill

The Plumbers and Electricians are on site today installing fixtures. They have the plumbing fixtures installed in most of the main floor and should be able to finish the upstairs this afternoon.
The Electricians are installing the outlets and wall switches as well as the ceiling fans that we've purchased up to this point. We still need to purchase 2 more fans, 1 for the Master Bedroom and 1 for the Hearth Room. The other light fixtures had not been delivered yet as of noon today.
Something that we learned through this process is that the plumbing fixtures are purchased "through" the plumber. They get special rates from the fixture stores and will guarantee the item and the work. If you were to purchase a plumbing fixture from a store and have a plumber install it, the install rate would be higher. The reason behind this, as it was explained to us, is the plumbing fixtures through the plumber are a higher quality fixture. The ones in the store have plastic insides instead of brass.
The situation used to be the same with the electrical fixtures. Nowadays, all fixtures are the same basic quality, although you get what you pay for. You don't have to buy these through the Electricians any more.

Well, Well, Well

Well 2008-06-06 3
Originally uploaded by lander_quill

The geothermal well diggers arrived on site Tuesday evening, about 3 days early. They had another job that apparently wasn't ready for them so they came over to our site first.
They are going to dig 5 wells and then test them to make sure that they are capable of handling the load. Each well is approximately the equivalent of 1 ton of cooling. The house is sized at about 5 tons. If the 5 wells are not enough, they'll drill a 6th before they pack up and leave.
They use water to drill the wells and each well is approximately 300ft.