2 week update

It has already been 2 weeks since we've moved in! All of that waiting and anticipation and now we still can't believe we're living here. We have settled in very nicely and we love the neighborhood. A couple neighbors have moved in and the house on the other side of us looks like it's close to being finished. 

One of my neighbors and I are friends on Facebook and she told me that she was told that Ryan Homes was going to cut down some trees behind their house so they can put a drainage pipe in. I contacted the PM and he called my husband. He said that there was a misunderstanding and that the trees were cut down before they moved in and the pipe is already there. Hopefully that means they won't be cutting any more trees down because they add some privacy and peacefulness. Plus we paid extra for those lots/trees. 

Guardian has been a pain in the butt! First, they didn't do something with the global source where you could listen to different music on different floors. A guy came back and "fixed" it, but all he did was put something on the wall. Then another guy came out and said the first guy didn't do any of the wiring he was supposed to. And some of the initial wiring wasn't done right in the first place. He had to come to our house twice and for several hours at a time. He also had to cut 3 holes in our basement ceiling. Talk about anxiety! But Ryan Homes came back and patched them up to make them look like new. Then a couple days later, we realized that one of the speakers doesn't play when it's playing the sound from the TV. But it's weird because both speakers play when music from our phones is playing. So they have to come out AGAIN. 

We've been putting blue tape on things that we see through the house that needs fixed/touched up. One of the slats to our kitchen flooring is raising a little bit, my OCD noticed that my master tub handles weren't installed evenly (one is higher than the other, hard to explain), paint defects, etc. Nothing big thankfully. 

Otherwise, everyone in the neighborhood seems great! They all wave with big smiles and are so welcoming. Ryan Homes has also started forming where the new street and houses will be. I wish I would've taken a picture because it looks pretty cool. They also started adding trees along the whole neighborhood. It looks very nice!

New year - new home

We're finally in our house!!! We officially moved in yesterday and we're so in love with it! Our refrigerator and our dryer were delivered yesterday. Closing was pushed back a couple of hours on Tuesday, so we had to cancel cable, which in turn, we had to cancel Guardian. Cable will be installed tomorrow, so Guardian will come after that. Another hiccup was that Best Buy didn't call to tell us that our washer wouldn't be delivered on time until the night before since it was on the recall list. They said it MIGHT Get delivered on 1/20, but that wasn't a definite date. I marched my butt up to the store and ended up getting the next level up washer for the same price as the original one and it'll get delivered on Friday. I'll take a couple days delay to save over 50% on it!

4 things that went wrong yesterday/this morning:
-When the fridge was delivered, the water line apparently wasn't included with it. The salesman never told us that, so make sure to ask if you have to order one. Also, I didn't check before the delivery guys left, but the doors and handles are crooked. One of the Ryan Homes workers told us how we could fix it, but we haven't done it yet. We're scared of breaking it. Lol
-The main floor thermostat wasn't working yesterday. It stayed at 65-ish degrees and it was freezing, especially with the movers keeping the door open to bring everything inside. We called our PM and he sent someone over right away to fix it. There was a part that went bad, so the worker had to drive somewhere in Kentucky to get it. Once he fixed it, the house warmed up immediately.
-There was a water leak in the powder room. Luckily we were still awake because it was around 9:30 pm. I was sweeping the kitchen and my husband was in the fridge when we heard a hissing sound. We could've easily been asleep by that time, which means it could've been a LOT worse if we didn't catch it right away. We turned the knob to stop the water flow. My husband said they just had to tighten something and it was fixed.
-This morning, the master shower stayed freezing cold and wouldn't warm up at all. The worker said that the plumber switched the hot and cold, so they just fixed that. (I don't know how that passed inspection?)

I don't want to upload pictures of most of the house or the personal things in our home, but just know that you'll need a lot of furniture to fill the Landon up! Our house looks so bare since we came from an apartment to here. And be ready to spend a small fortune on blinds/curtains! I wanted curtains that go to the floor, but we would have to of custom order them. We just don't have that kind of time because we wanted our windows covered right away. So before you move in, take measurements of the windows and pre-order the curtains if you want them to go to the floor.

For the family room, we got 4 panels at 84" long. I didn't pay attention to the width. They go from about 2 inches above the window sill to about 3 inches below the window sill. The curtain rod had to be at least 112" wide. Same with the morning room windows. For the morning room doors, we got the faux wood blinds. I was stuck between getting white or brown. We ended up getting brown and hope that it doesn't make too much brown in the kitchen (between those, the floor, and the cabinets). Those were 21 1/8" wide and 63" long. In the dining room, we got 4 panels - same length as the family and morning room. The curtain rods had to be somewhere around 45" and 50". I can't remember exactly.

We can't wait to see how our first year in the home goes. We are so happy this whole process is over and we can finally enjoy this place!

Now for the pics: (Ignore the bar stools - they're temporary).

Update

The railings have been repainted and the thermostat has been moved. Only 5 more days!!!

I don't have a new pic of the thermostat.

Final walk through

We finally went to our final walk through today and it went great! We walked around and went over every little thing and looked at every nook and cranny. The PM put blue tape on all problem areas and the crew was supposed to come in afterwards today to fix them. The cabinets were replaced that had chips in them and were straightened out. The planning desk drawers weren't straightened though, so he said thats an easy fix. He had even went through before we got there and put blue tape on stuff ahead of time. I'm happy my mom and her boyfriend went with us because they caught stuff we would've missed. Some things weren't fixed that I had asked for in the email, but he taped those things and said they'll for sure get fixed now. The biggest problem was the railings are the wrong color because the painter thought he read one color when it was actually another, so they're going to fix them. The tree was finally cut down in the backyard as well. They just have to go back and take the wood away. The thermostat wasn't moved, but it's still in the plans to be moved this week. They gave us 3 garage door openers as well. We move in ONE WEEK from today!! 😁 Something interesting we heard - Apparently there's one more street that's being added down the street from us, so there's going to be 28+ more homes in the near future.

Suggestions we have:

-Ask them to put the little stoppers (that they put inside cabinet doors to keep them from slamming) on the walls that some of the cabinets hit when they're opened. There's several places in the kitchen and in the laundry room that do that. 

-Double check the global source things (from Guardian) to make sure they installed them correctly. We paid extra to have them separate the basement from the main floor ones so we could play different music. They installed it the regular way so we wouldn't be able to do that. The PM is going to call them to have them fix it. 

-Don't be afraid to have them tape anything you don't like. If you don't have them do it there then who knows when they'll get to it. 

-Make sure they turn on the oven, burners, dishwasher, etc. 

-Check all outlets to make sure they all work. 

-Ask about the manufacturer warranties on the appliances, furnace, and hot water heater. Our PM wasn't sure off hand what the warranties were, so he was going to ask. 

-Buy a battery back up for the sump pump. From my understanding, it provides extra protection from the water backing up and going into the basement. 

-Get a dehumidifier right away. Preferably one that has a hose hook up so that the water can continuously drain into the floor drain instead of having to dump the bucket out every other day. FYI- they have a nifty gadget that shows you the humidity level of the basement. 

-Take a measuring tape and measure all of the windows yourself. Our PM said that each house can vary on window size (slightly). He said this should be a MUST if you wanted to order blinds to a specific size. The sales rep at the model home may give you a standard size, but that's not always accurate. 

-The PM highly recommended using a vinegar/water solution for cleaning the tub/shower/anything since the vinegar is non-abrasive. 

-I never would've thought about it, but he suggested Rain-X on the shower glass. Brilliant! You'll still want to squeegee the glass after every other use, but the Rain-X helps prevent build up too. 

-The last thing I can think of for now is that he suggested that we seal the tile grout (in the master bathroom) BEFORE our first time use of the tub/shower. He said the 411 brand of grout cleaner is really good. Also get a granite sealer/cleaner (2-in-1) so that every time you clean your granite, you're "resealing" it.


-Oh! I also highly suggest joining your Ryan Homes neighborhood's community Facebook page. (If they have one). On ours, neighbors talk and ask about anything and it seems to help join everyone a little closer together. For example, a package was delivered to the wrong house, so the owner got on there and asked who received it. The person responded and they met up. Or some parents get on there to help sell stuff for their kids' fundraiser, babysitting needs, complain about HOA stuff, general questions, etc.

Okay, now for a few pics I took:

Almost there

Nothing new to report. They're just in the final stages of cleaning. Next Wednesday is the walk through and I can't wait! That means there's only 2 weeks until we move in!! I've been slowly packing so that it won't be too bad our last weekend here.

Quick update

Our PM sent us pictures yesterday and today of our flooring. Yesterday they cleaned up the kitchen flooring and they put the carpet down today. They look great!

Q&A

We didn't go out to the house this weekend, but I did get answers to my questions that I sent to our PM.

-The kitchen cabinets are a beautiful color, but the quality of the work with installation was not good at all. Doors are uneven, there are chips in a few cabinets/doors, gaps in between the double cabinet doors (big enough to see into them), and the left drawers on the planning desk are uneven. We want all cabinets that have chips/defects in them replaced before the walk through, as we are paying a lot of money for them. And we want to make sure that none of the chips get colored in with some type of marker because we have heard of things like that happening. Please verify that these will be replaced and none will be colored in/covered up. The cabinets have not been adjusted, they will all be leveled and checked.  Anything with a scratch or dent will be replaced.

-We noticed the island must have “buckled” and split when the countertops were installed. I’m sure that is already in the works of being fixed, but still wanted to add that.  The Island is in two pieces, they will come out and buff it to blend the pieces.  However, you will be able to see a connection point.

-Will there be caulk added to where the planning desk counter meets the wall? Yep
 
-The thermostat on the main floor is in the worst spot it could possibly be. I planned to hang a mirror in the middle of that wall, but the thermostat is almost in the middle where I couldn’t hang anything. In the model, it is all the way to the left side. Please have the thermostat moved over to the same spot.  How far are you looking to get this moved, closer to the kitchen?  I have not been through the Landon Model, I will swing through there to see its location.

You are correct on the model, it does have larger steps.  Our lead walks and steps are 36”.

-There is also a chunk missing out of the concrete on the porch on the side next to the neighbor’s house.  This will be repaired. 

-The railing going to the upstairs is crooked.  The railings defiantly need some adjustment, this will be fixed.

-Call me picky, but the handle on the door coming in from the garage is a brown color when the rest of the door knobs in the house are chrome colored. Can we have that knob match the rest? This is by design, the satin nickel color will carode over time and turn green and black.  We use the Brooze door knobs to help/prevent the weathering.

-There is a scratch on the floor in front of where the stove will be. My father in law felt it and said it was raised and he could pretty much get a fingernail underneath it. Please make sure this is replaced.  Yes
 
-Some of the drywall was smooth and some of it was very rough as if the painters didn’t clean the walls and painted over the dust. Will the walls be smooth by the time we move in?  They Drywall touchup was in process, this should all be cleaned up.
 
-In the 3rd bedroom, there are gaps in the attic door where it looks like air can get through. Will these be fixed? Also, the right window in that room doesn’t close all the way. Will this be replaced or fixed?  Yes, this is part of the process for the attic blow.  The completed job will have the access tight to the trim with a piece of weather stripping in between. 
 
-Upstairs hall bathroom vent has a broken piece. Please replace. Yes

-When you walk into the Bonus Room and look up, there’s a bulge where the wall meets the ceiling. What will they have to do to fix that?  Yes
 
-Master bedroom door has a chip on the part of the door that closes. (Sorry, it’s hard to explain the location of it).  I could not find this, it may have been fixed prior to me looking though.  We will defiantly fix this though.
 
-When you get to the bottom of the steps in the basement and look at the ceiling, there is a small hole.  Will be touched up.
 
-Mark flipped one of the downstairs light switches off and when he tried to turn it back on, the light wouldn’t come back on. Maybe it tripped the circuit breaker?  Breaker needed replaced.
 
-We noticed a sink in the garage for, I believe, the laundry room. Is this something we’re getting or was that ordered by mistake? We didn’t see any other water hookup in the laundry room.  Wrong top was delivered.

-Mark said there will be someone out there to finish the driveway tomorrow. What is it that they’re going to finish? I’m curious because the driveway seems very rough to the point that if one of my kids fell off their bike on it, they would get scratched up VERY badly.   By design we “comb” the driveway which is what I think you are talking about on this.  Would like to talk to you more about this on site. This is by design, and the reason for this is safety when you driveway is wet, snowy, or icy.  Your car and people would slip around if it was smooth.
 
-Question about the cardboard on the flooring – shouldn’t all of the flooring be covered with those cardboard boxes? A lot of floor was showing, which leaves a lot of risk for more damage.  We try to cover as much as we can, but some areas get uncovered.  The house is being cleaned on Monday, all of it will be removed and cleaned.  We will walk the house and make sure there are no other repairs then in front of the range.
 

We know that a few of these things were probably already going to be addressed/fixed, but we wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page. If you could send your reply with your answers to each question in a different color next to the questions, that would be great. Everything else looks fantastic by the way!  I hope I answered your questions, like I said please call me if you have any further questions.