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Bluffton Home Archives

February 4, 2006

Saturday, February 4

We checked out some subdivisions to see what area we liked best for building.

We also went back to Schumacher Homes to look again, just to be sure that's who we wanted to build our home. Signed a contract with them contingent on us finding land.

Lexington-ElevationA.jpg

Lexington brochure

February 21, 2006

Tuesday, February 21

Went to Schumacher Homes Dinner With The Builders tonight. Was able to get some more questions answered that had come up.

March 15, 2006

Wednesday, March 15

Purchased our land tonight. We were lucky enough to be able to get our first choice in lots we were considering.

March 18, 2006

Saturday, March 18

We spent the entire day looking at different options for our house at Schumacher's Design Center in Akron, OH.

March 23, 2006

Thursday, March 23

Meeting with Schumacher Homes for house revisions.

March 28, 2006

Tuesday, March 28

Picked out our flooring & color choices for our house today.

Wood in the dining room and entry way.
12" Tiles in the Kitchen, bathroom and laundry room
Vinyl tile in upstairs bathrooms
Carpet everywhere else.

Outside of house will be clay, with Heritage Brick on two areas of the front. Black roof, shutters and door.

Inside walls latte with white trim.

Inside doors are six panel doors, made of solid poplar with a cherry stain.

Cabinets are also cherry.

March 30, 2006

Thursday, March 30

Did our lot walk with Schumacher Homes today.


April 6, 2006

Thursday, April 6 - Today was our Pre-Con meeting. Everything is finalized now.

April 27, 2006

Thursday, April 27 - We closed on our construction loan today.

May 3, 2006

Wednesday, May 3

Had to go choose laminate for the laundry tub cabinet. We didn't realize we needed to do this & no one caught it before now.

We're thinking of adding more driveway space to accommadate parked cars without them being in front of the garage doors (thinking ahead about 9 years from now when Trey starts driving).


May 26, 2006

Friday, May 26 - Lot is staked out!!

May 27, 2006

Saturday, May 27

Went out to measure to make sure measurements are right
Met some of our new neighbors

May 30, 2006

Tuesday, May 30 - Excavation starts

Excavation started today around 8:30am!!!!

Basement dug out


Concrete footers may be put in today

This means the guaranteed move in date is 11/26/2006

June 1, 2006

Thursday, June 1

Came by & took pictures, lots of huge dirt piles in the yard
Large ruts in the yard from the cement truck
Footers & drainage in place


June 2, 2006

Friday, June 2

No new work done that is noticable except maybe a larger pile of gravel in the yard
Large ruts in the yard now have water in them (it's been raining a lot lately)

June 5, 2006

Monday, June 5

Concrete walls for basement have been poured with steel supports around the concrete.

Schumacher sign is in the yard

June 6, 2006

Tuesday, June 6

Steel supports around basement walls are down

Basement windows are in place

We still have a "lake" view - lots of standing water near our backyard, ducks love it

June 7, 2006

Wednesday, June 7 - A port-a-potty has arrived on location

June 8, 2006

Thursday, June 8

Basement being waterproofed & insulated
Plumber in to do the rough plumb in the basement

June 9, 2006

Friday, June 9

Basement is waterproofed & insulated

Rough plumb in basement looks to be finished

Several bundles of wood & other materials have arrived

Trey really enjoyed "exploring"

Dumpster has arrived on location

June 12, 2006

Monday, June 12

Concrete in basement has been poured

Gravel in "garage", ready for concrete

Alexa got to explore a little tonight

Time for our first "draw" on our construction loan

June 13, 2006

Tuesday, June 13

Concrete in garage is poured

Temporary electric box is in except for the meter

More lumber has been dropped off

Gravel is filled in by "front door" (what will be the "stoop")

Lots of dirt on the road

June 14, 2006

Wednesday, June 14

The floor above the basement is being put in

They have started framing the garage walls!!!! (@ 1pm)

They have actual garage walls up!!! (@ 5pm)

Electric meter is installed

June 15, 2006

Thursday, June 15

We have first floor interior wall framing!!!

Garage walls are up (except one window is framed, but not cut out yet????)

Obviously, the first floor sub-floor is in

Meter reads 5 KWH used

They've backfilled & rough graded

Piles of dirt are gone in front

One huge pile left in back

June 16, 2006

Friday, June 16

No new work done, but it was neat to be able to walk through the "skeleton" of the house since I didn't go yesterday (the boys went after Cub Scout Day Camp)

June 17, 2006

Saturday, June 17

They must have worked this morning!

The outside walls are up on the first floor!

Most of the windows are cut out

There are temporary stairs going up to the non-existant second floor!

9 KWH used on the electric meter

Lots of tiny baby frogs out by the meter, too

Now able to start visualizing how rooms are going to look (first floor flows really nice!)

June 19, 2006

Monday, June 19

I got to go down into the basement today. (Everyone else got to Saturday, but I didn't because of the kids.)

There's now a second floor! Perry & I went up the stairs to stand on it.

They've been working on the second floor outside walls, too as several are up there with windows cut out, just need to be put up. (It was very windy today, so that's probably why they weren't done today.)


June 20, 2006

Tuesday, June 20

It's starting to really look like a house now!!!!

The outside walls on the second floor are up!

The interior walls are framed in!!!! Perry & I spent about an hour just walking around upstairs checking out the layout. It's very exciting to finally see how it's going to look.

There's some Tyvek on, on the second floor.

Trusses are up, so we can see the roof lines now, too.

June 21, 2006

Wednesday, June 21

First day of Summer & the house is looking good! Drove by this afternoon (after Toddler Time at the library). They were working on putting OSB over the garage (roof).

June 22, 2006

Thursday, June 22

Most of the roof OSB is on now. Just a little left to do.

We had storms & some of the Tyvek has come off the back side, puddles on the first floor.

The exterior doors have arrived & are in the garage waiting to be put in.

The shower/tub for the kids' bathroom is also in the garage waiting for installation.

They've marked for the ductwork & some other things. Not sure what all of the colors mean (blue, green, yellow & orange).

They've taken down most of the wood support pieces for the walls & windows.

June 23, 2006

Friday, June 23

There's tar paper on the roof, with bundles of shingles stacked up there, too.

They framed in the attic accesses in both the garage and in my closet.

The fireplace area is boxed in, as is the hearth.

Some of the final trimwork is around some doorways (like the garage) and along the roofline.

They have more Tyvek on the house.

They framed in the walls around the first floor stairway.

They put in the basement stairway & framed the walls around it down there.

They've also put up a metal support post in the basement, with the others down there waiting to be put up.

Water puddles on the first floor are gone, but still puddles in the basement. It's rained nearly every day this week (usually a heavy rain in the afternoons).

They cleaned up the place, too.

Trey & Alexa had fun seeing their rooms for the first time. We walked them through the whole house & told them what each room was. I think everyone's excited about the new house!

Perry talked to Mike, our builder, and on Wednesday they both are going to meet at the house for an "inspection". Since Bluffton doesn't have any building inspectors, they are going to do their own to make sure everything's looking good. Also told Mike about the dryer vent needing to be on the right, instead of the left as currently marked, as per our pre-con discussion which he remembered us talking about. And had him note that there weren't any markings for the fan in the WC (in the master bath) when we walked through yesterday, but it's on the plan. Those were the only "problems" that needed to be addressed so far. Everything's looking good. Mike said they ordered our windows a bit late & they planned on putting those in this week, but they won't be here until the first of July. So, instead they're going to start putting in the mechanicals & do the windows when they arrive. Moving right along......

June 24, 2006

Saturday, June 24


June 26, 2006

Monday, June 26 - No new progress. Disappointing, but expected once in a while.


June 27, 2006

Tuesday, June 27 - They made up for no work yesterday.

The roof shingles are on.

Our furnace is in place in the basement.


They cut out the ducts in the floors & added most of the air flow tubes & metal air chases.


June 28, 2006

Wednesday, June 28 - Walk-through inspection

Today was our walk-through inspection with the builder (Jeff - Regional Manager), so we didn't go over this evening.

Had a chance to express some concerns & he answered some questions we had.

HVAC guys were there. They should be done tomorrow - except for the final touches - registers, etc.

The air conditioning unit was in place. When doing the inspection Jeff asked one of the HVAC guys if they were going to put the AC unit just to the south of the kitchen windows. He said yes, and then had us look out Trey's bedroom window, where we saw that it was already installed.

They were putting in gas lines for the dryer, range....

Windows should be here tomorrow!

Framers should be done tomorrow.

June 29, 2006

Thursday, June 29 - Windows are in!!!!

Windows are in!!!! (Except for one casement in the kitchen which we knew about.)

Exterior doors are also in!!! (Except for the large garage door & the door to the house from the garage.)

No locksets on yet, though - which is good, since we forgot to take our key with us.

2 windows need to be changed. The 2 side-by-side windows in the family room are vinyl on the inside, when all of the others are wood on the inside. Also, one of these two windows is a low-E and all of the others in the house are clear. Quite noticable right next to each other. (The window in the master bath is also low-E - supposed to be? OK either way as it's the only one in the room & we'll be putting something on it to make it a frosted look for privacy.)

The framers furred out a few walls that needed it.

The dryer vent is on (where it's supposed to be!).

All of the things we pointed out at the inspection yesterday have been taken care of & they cleaned up the first & second floors!!!

The only MAJOR concerns we saw - There was up to an inch of water covering the entire basement. It may have been due to the storm that went through yesterday & they just didn't pump it out? Maybe they've been pumping water out each time it rains & we just don't know about it? Also - it appears that someone was burning what appeared to be styrafoam & cardboard packing materials on the lot in front of the house. Could have been the window guys, but there's a dumpster right there? Perry called Mike & left a message (after hours) just to let him know about these issues & about the windows, so we'll find out more tomorrow.

All in all, we're very pleased with everything.

June 30, 2006

Friday, June 30 - One month ago today they started excavating.

Today we have an electrical walk-through to decide on what we want and where we want it.

Electrician was very helpful in trying to decide how many light fixtures were needed & he had some of the same ideas we did, so it went very well. Unfortunately, we DID forget a few things, so when they're there on Monday to do the rough electrical we need to stop by & let them know.

Tonight we went to Lowe's and bought our dimmer switches. The electrician said we could save about $10 per switch if we purchased them compared to him suppling them, since he's a third party.

July 1, 2006

Saturday, July 1

Since the electrician is coming to do the rough ins on Monday, (He said they'd be done in a day with it!) today Perry, his parents & I worked on running CAT5 (for ethernet & telephone) & cable (for tvs) through the house. (Mom & Dad watched the kids so they weren't running around getting hurt or getting bored.) We got a late start (after 2pm by the time we got all of the supplies & had lunch), but we got the 2nd floor run with wires & finished our day around 8pm.

July 2, 2006

Sunday, July 2 - More cable runs

Today was much the same as yesterday, only shorter hours. We ran cable on the 1st floor until we ran out. We'll have to finish up later this week, before the insulation & drywall get put in.

At Lowe's we purchased the pendant lights for over the island. They were on clearance for $40 (reg. $50) & I think they'll go perfectly with the other lights in the house.

July 3, 2006

Monday, July 3 - Electrical Rough

Electricians started the rough electrical today. They're done with the 2nd floor & are part way through the 1st floor.

July 4, 2006

Tuesday, July 4

Perry & his dad went to the house to put in the housings for the cables Perry's running. This way they're even with the outlets the electricians put in.

July 5, 2006

Wednesday, July 5 - The electricians finished up today.


July 6, 2006

Thursday, July 6 - Plumbers

The plumbers started rough plumbing today. Our sump pump is in and working.


July 7, 2006

Saturday, July 8

The plumbers are continuing their work. They put in insulation where the shower walls will be against the walls, in preparation for installing those.

We have an overhead garage door now.


We found a turtle next to the garage door, from our "swamp" out back. Perry picked it up to put it back in that area & it immediately started to pee. Trey thought that was hilarious! It was a decent size turtle with yellow stripes on its head & red stripes on its legs. At first it just looked like a clump of dirt because it was all hunkered down into its shell.


July 10, 2006

Monday, July 10

Plumbing is continuing.

The dryer gas line has been moved to a better location.

The fireplace surround and logs are in place! That was a nice surprise.

July 11, 2006

Tuesday, July 11

The tub in the kids' full bath is in!

The plumbers are starting to put in the copper lines.

Perry found more little frogs. Near the house this time.

July 14, 2006

Friday, July 14

More copper lines have been run.

We have a couple of outside door handles. (no deadlocks yet, and the front door handle isn't the right one)

We found what look like raccoon tracks in the mud in the backyard near the house.

July 15, 2006

Saturday, July 15

Perry, his dad & I went to the house to finish running the cables for telephone, ethernet & cable. We also ran speaker wires in the family room.

Today I noticed that the water line for the fridge is run, too.

In a way it feels like we've been building this house forever, & that it'll never be done. In reality it's only been about a month & a half (& a LOT has been done).

July 17, 2006

Monday, July 17

They asphalted our road in the subdivision. It's very nice.

We have our electric meter attached to the house now. No more temporary electric pole.

July 19, 2006

Wednesday, July 19

They've insulated the outside walls! It's starting to feel a bit more like a "house" now.

We now have a concrete front stoop, not just a form filled with gravel anymore!

The shower for the master bath has arrived and is waiting in the garage for installation!

They added some more flashing & shingles to prepare for siding!

They also put in the "vents" to prevent roof line ice dams.

July 21, 2006

Friday, July 21

They delivered drywall, but haven't put it up yet.

More copper water lines have been put in.

The port-a-potty was tipped over (probably due to the wind), so Perry set it back up.

July 24, 2006

Monday, July 24

The tub for the master bath has arrived and is sitting in the garage!

July 25, 2006

Tuesday, July 25

It looks like we have a sewer connection now.

The outside water nibs for the faucets are in.

They marked the layout for the driveway.

The main copper water pipe to bring water into the house is in, but no meter yet.

July 28, 2006

Friday, July 28

Nothing new on the house, but the street sign is now up.

August 1, 2006

Tuesday, August 1

The tub in the master bath is in with the tub surround.

The copper pipes for the master bath tub are also in.

The frame around the concrete front step is off.

August 5, 2006

Friday, August 4 - Bricks are delivered

The bricks for the front of the house have arrived & are sitting in the front yard.

August 7, 2006

Monday, August 7

They started drywall! Most of the ceiling is done. Our master bath has some walls done.

The long awaited windows have finally arrived & are waiting for installation! (The one missing in the kitchen, the one in the family room that wasn't wood & for some reason they ordered the large arched window above the front door to replace.)

Perry & I bought insulation to insulate the garage, since we didn't select that option, but figured we should have. Cheaper to do it ourselves anyway. We got a lot done tonight, but we're not finished yet.

August 8, 2006

Tuesday, August 8 - Garage insulation

We finished doing the garage insulation tonight. If I had a choice I would have finished tomorrow night, but Perry got on a roll and didn't want to come back again to face it. Looking back, I'm glad he made us finish, but it was hot, tiring work. Got home around 10pm.

Met some more of our neighbors. One at Trey's school & two tonight when they dropped off an invite to the neighborhood picnic on August 26th. Everyone we've met so far has been very friendly.

No more giant dirt hills in the yard! They finished grading. They had to haul away some dirt even after leveling out the backyard, which was pretty sloped.

You can really see where the driveway will be now. They "dug it out" so now it's just waiting for the concrete guys to finish it up.

August 9, 2006

Wednesday, August 9 - Final window install

They have the new windows all installed, so now they should be able to get a lot done. (They were waiting on the windows to finish drywalling & to start on the masonry & siding.)

Perry put up some plastic rafter panels in the garage to prevent ice dams. (Since again, we didn't pay to have these installed.)

August 11, 2006

Friday, August 11 - More Drywall

Drywall is now going up pretty fast. They have the foyer and about 99% of the upstairs done. They haven't done any taping or mudding yet, but at least it's on the walls. Hopefully, the downstairs will go up as quickly.

August 14, 2006

Monday, August 14

The garage is now drywalled as well as the laundry room.

They started mudding upstairs, mainly in our bedroom.

August 15, 2006

Tuesday, August 15 - appliance order

We ordered our appliances today.

We ordered everything via Sears Contract Sales and we stayed with the Kenmore Elite series

August 16, 2006

Wednesday, August 16 - Drywall is nearly done!

Only things left are the closet by the front door and the pantry.

They also got more mudding done upstairs and in the foyer.


August 17, 2006

Thursday, August 17

All of the mudding appears to have been done on what drywall is up.

August 18, 2006

Friday, August 18

The front closet and pantry now have drywall and have been mudded.


Monday, August 21 - Siding

Siding is going up! They have the back of the house and part of the garage side done already.

Drywallers are still finishing up.

August 22, 2006

Tuesday, August 22

Mike, our builder, called and said that the siding will most likely be done today. The drywallers will be done this week, and the painters will start on Monday! Things are moving right along.

The siding is almost done. They only have a little more to do on the front of the house.

August 23, 2006

Wednesday, August 23 - Siding Complete

So Cherie calls me up in a panic. They've put the attic vent in between the windows on the garage. Not up in the attic area, but down at ground level, and off center at that. She had swung by the house on her way to pick up Trey. Said she would go back and take a picture of it with here cell phone after she picked up Trey.

She called me back a few minutes later and relates that they had just tacked the vynal attic vent to the wall so that it wouldn't get lost and the mason would be able to find it.

Wednesday, August 23 - The siding is done. Soffits are up.

They also have the shutters on the house, but not the garage yet, since that will be brick.

Everything looks really good, so when I saw that the attic vent was placed on to the garage down low between the windows, and not even centered at that, I got a little freaked out. At first glance I thought that's where they installed it, but looking more closely I realized that it was just temporarily tacked in place so that the mason would be able to find it and put it on correctly. Gee, can you tell I've never had a house built before?

August 24, 2006

Thursday, August 24

I got a chance to see the completed siding tonight. It looks pretty good. I like the little touches like the louvered dryer vent, and the frames for the outlets.

Inside, they hooked up the incoming water line to the outside faucets and a location for the water softener. The outside faucets bypass the watersoftener. I think there is also a connection for a pre-softener line to the kitchen sink. (I couldn't follow the line to the fridge...that probably shouldn't be softened either.) Of course the way they hooked up the lines...it makes it hard to use the space in the basement. Where they put it has gone from possible future guest room to storage, to well still storage, but now we have to work around the lines.

August 25, 2006

Friday, August 25 - Texture

Today they put the Spanish lace texture on the ceilings. The painters will have a fun time because the walls received a fair amount of texture as well. We figure they were going to sand the walls before painting anyway.

August 28, 2006

Monday, August 28 - Bricks and more

Well this looks to be a very busy week. The painters primed the walls this morning. The brick mason began his work today.

Our interier trim and doors have been delivered.

It has also been raining for two days.

August 29, 2006

Tuesday, August 29

Well day three of rain and it is now too muddy to enter the house. Well, except for Cherie. She happened to have the simplest of shoes that would not mind the mud, so the kids and I waited outside while she went in and took pictures.

The brick mason finished the garage wall and has started on the front door area. It is starting to look real good.

They have hung up several of the doors and also installed the trim to go with them. Others are just staged throughout the house.

This would have been easier if the drive way had been poured.

August 30, 2006

Wednesday, August 30

So, I was the only one that could visit the house today. Only fair since Cherie was the only one to see the inside yesterday.


It is really neat to see all the doors, and trim going up. I've found in the garage the pieces for the stairs and fireplace mantel.

Brick masons have finsihed their work. The front of the house really looks great. We even have our left over bricks we ordered so that we can build a light column out near the driveway. We paid for the bricks, but not the labor.

September 1, 2006

Friday, September 1

Most of the interior doors are hung.

A lot of the trim is put up.

We now have nice treads on half of the stairs.

September 5, 2006

Tuesday, September 5

Treads on the stairs are done. They have started to put in the banister, starting with the newel posts.

The mantel is installed.

More doors and trim have been installed. We noticed that two of the doors have the wrong hinges, and one door was already marked as bad...it had a bad spot on the inside that we had missed. Mike must have caught this one.

September 7, 2006

Thursday, September 7

The painters are back. They begain with the trim.

The carpenters have also finished with the stairs and they look good.

They also installed steps from the garage to house.

September 8, 2006

Friday, September 8

The painters continued to work on the trim.

Yesterday we had found a box on the basement stairs with what looked like shelf peices. Very long shelf pieces. Well today we figured out what it was. Seems we didn't realize that there would be columns around the entry way. We found some of those "shelf" peices in the office out of the box.

I drew up a picture that might gives you an idea of what it will look like.

Okay, so it is pretty lame alterations, but you get the idea.

September 12, 2006

Tuesday, September 12


They're wanting the 4th draw on the construction loan! Only one more to go before it's ours!!!!

Today Schumacher let us know that closing will most likely be in early October!!! Only about a month to go! Perry and I are so excited!

The columns around the front door are up. It really gives the front of the house a very classic, traditional style. I love it! The best part is that it doesn't look like any of the other houses in the neighborhood (at least that we've seen so far).

The tile people were there until after 8:30pm working! So, we didn't get to look around inside. Hopefully we'll be able to tomorrow night.

However, since the garage door and the front door were both open, we were able to see that the cabinetry has arrived and is waiting for installation. (There were a lot of boxes in the garage.) And it looks like the stairway has been stained.

September 13, 2006

Wednesday, September 13

All of the hard flooring (wood, tile, laminate) has been put in. We peeked under the edge of the protective cardboard and it all looks great, especially the wood and tile (no grout yet). I'd almost forgotten what they looked like, since we picked them out back in March. (Wow, has it really been almost 6 months ago?!)

All of the interior doors have been stained and are waiting to be hung up again. These turned out beautiful! I think they're going to be one of my favorite things about the house. We're so glad we went with this choice.

The stairway is all stained and looks great.

They've sanded the edges of the OSB floors awaiting carpeting.

The cabinets are in the garage waiting for installation.

It's been raining nearly everyday this week and we have a "moat" in the front of the house, complete with a bridge of wood planks to help cross it.

We actually owe a little bit more money, as the dirt removal and running the water lines was more costly than expected. Oh, well. Much better to have had emergency money built in and pay a little more, than to not, and have several thousand to pay out of pocket.

Perry told Candy at Schumacher Homes about our website showing the house build. She loved it and printed out all 58 pages to show at their production meeting!

September 15, 2006

Friday, September 15

Perry found out today that they ARE running fiber (TV, telephone, internet) for our area. It should be up and running fall of this year. We had seen orange conduits here and there in the area and he wistfully wondered if they were fiber lines. So, he's all excited being the computer geek that he is.

Our dishwasher and microwave have arrived and are waiting in the garage for installation.

It looks like the painters have put on the final coat of paint on the trim.

The garage entrance door has been painted.

We dropped off the hall lights and the pendant lights for over the island, as well as the dimmer switches. (These were all added by us at the walk through with the electrician.) Now when the electrician comes back to install the lighting, he'll have everything.

September 18, 2006

Monday, September 18

This morning Perry showed me an e-mail he received from Schumacher Homes Graphic Designer. They all apparently loved our website and are interested in using the images and comments for their testimonial section of their website as well as in their advertising! Wow! That's quite a compliment!

September 20, 2006

Tuesday, September 19

No pictures tonight. Cherie took the kids to the parade and took the camera. I had to work late and stopped by the house after supper.

The painters have been busy. The front door is now painted black. The trim is done and I'd say 75% of the walls are painted. It is looking pretty good.

The tile people must have been back as well. I noticed that the floor tile was grouted, and the fireplace tile and bathroom tub tile was in place. Well except for about five tiles around the tub. Not sure what is going on there...they must have ran out. I did see an unopened box of tiles in the basement, but maybe they are different somehow.

They also hung the doors back up.

September 21, 2006

Thursday, September 21

I finally got a chance to go see the house this week. Things are looking really good.

The front door got another coat of paint and looks great.

The stairway is uncovered, except for the treads. The color is very nice.

They now have the cabinets installed! (Except for one of the island cabinets.)

The only problem is the outlets above and in the cabinets in the kitchen. They appear about a foot too high as if the electrician measured from the ceiling and not realized that they are 9 foot ceilings, not 8 foot. So, I think we're going to have to have them be moved, so that they're less noticeable. It just looks bad as is.

September 22, 2006

Friday, September 22

Perry talked to Mike and let him know about the outlets being too high. Mike said he'd have the electrician fix that. He also said he was aware of the missing cabinet and brass hinges. He also said to go ahead and have the rest of our appliances delivered on October 6th, which is when the house should be done, except for final walkthrough and any little things that need to be addressed.

No new work today. Just waiting on things to come in like lights, cabinet....

September 24, 2006

Sunday, September 24

We visited the house today with Perry's parents. They hadn't seen the progress for over a month, so they were curious to see how things had changed since they last saw it.

We figured out that the electrician put in the outlets per plan, but that the plan measurements for the cabinets were wrong.

September 25, 2006

Monday, September 25

Gutters and down spouts went on today.

Perry called Phyllis, our Sears rep for the appliances, and let her know to go ahead and deliver the rest of our appliances on October 6th.

September 29, 2006

Friday, September 29

We haven't been inside the house for a week. A few things have happened since then. Our missing island cabinet is there waiting for installation, our lights that were purchased with the house are sitting in the garage waiting for the electrians and the tile surround for the master tub is finished off. The garage was also cleaned up.

As we were leaving we met the FedEx truck with a delivery for us. It turns out that it was part of our cabinets. When Perry called Mike to let him know that there was a delivery, Mike said he was wondering why they had shipped it separately and was planning to call on Monday to find out where it was. Luckily, we happened to be there at just the right time. Mike also let us know that this next week there should be lots of activity going on. The concrete should be poured on Monday, the electricians will be back and the countertop guys will be in to measure.

October 2, 2006

Monday, October 2

Today was really rainy, so no concrete could be done.

October 3, 2006

Tuesday, October 3

Met with the concrete guy today. He wanted to make sure of the layout. It sounds like he has several crews busy right now, but he said he'll try to get ours poured either Wednesday or Thursday.

Nothing new going on inside.

October 4, 2006

Wednesday, October 4


A lot happened today. The driveway and sidewalk have been poured. They look really good and make it look more like a home and not just a house sitting in a lot. They put in some nice touches, too. The turn-around pad has a little lip on the back side, so no one will just drive right into the yard by accident, and there's a graceful curve where the sidewalk meets the driveway. We're really happy with how it looks. We also had them go ahead and pour the concrete for our light column out front, so we owe more for that.

The cabinet guys were in to finish up. We now have a completed island. The hardware is on and the kitchen cabinets have their crown molding.

The electricians were also there today. They have all of the outside lights up, doorbell installed, most of the inside lights are in place, as well as the switches and outlets (except for the ones that need to be moved).

Our doorknobs and lock sets are also there waiting for installation.

Perry had Sears hold off on delivering the appliances until next Friday, since everything was a bit delayed this week. That way they can actually install everything and not just set it in place. Mike was hopeful that most things would be done by then.

Lots of little things left to be done, but the end IS in sight!

OK, Perry said I HAD to tell the story, so here's a firsthand account of how we "saw" the house and noticed what had been done. We really aren't usually this unobservant, but we were quite overwhelmed with all of the new stuff to be seen - obviously.

We pull up to the house and notice how great the concrete looks. I quickly take a few pictures of the front of the house, before it gets too dark. We ooh and aah over how nice the driveway and sidewalk look and walk around the concrete just in case it's not quite dry yet. Since we're at the back of the house by now, Perry notices that the A/C unit is plugged in, so we know that the electricians have been in. Yeah! As he's getting ready to unlock the door by the garage, Perry happens to look up and says something to the effect of "How blind can we BE?!" I have no idea what he's talking about, the gutters have been on for quite some time now. Then I see them. "LIGHTS!", I shriek. When taking the pictures just a few minutes before I didn't notice the light by the front door, since I was concentrating on showing off the sidewalk.

As we step inside the garage we notice that the large pile of lighting fixtures has shrunk considerably. We take off our muddy boots and since I'm done before Perry, I wait patiently for him so that we can check things out together. Walking into the kitchen I first notice the hanging light fixture and quickly go into the dining room to see that one. Then I go back to the kitchen (where I notice that the cabinet hardware is on) and Perry is commenting how they got the island cabinet installed and he's looking at it intently. We also notice that all of the switches and outlet covers are on..... Upstairs is more of the same - lights are up, cabinet hardware on....

On the way home we are talking about what what work is left to be done and I wonder out loud if the crown molding is on the cabinets yet. I flip through the pictures on the camera to see and there it is. We hadn't seen it when we were there. Perry commented that he couldn't believe we missed it and I said that we were so enamored with all of the pretty lights and shiny silver knobs that we just didn't see it. And at that Perry looks at me and questions, "There's knobs on the cabinets?!" LOL!

October 5, 2006

Thursday, October 5


All of the lights are now up and we have electricity! Woo Hoo!!! No more forgetting flashlights and walking around in semi-darkness when we go over in the evening. I'm sure the neighbors thought we were crazy - turning lights on and off throughout the house. Alexa's closet light didn't work and the light in the foyer needs a new globe (it was sitting in the box with a notation that it was broken), but otherwise the lights are great, especially the undercabinet lighting in the kitchen.

The microwave was installed.

The concrete guys came back and put in relief cuts in the driveway.

It also looks like the electricians may have done some work with the light column out front. It was getting late, so we didn't get a chance to really see.

The only disappointment was that the electricians only moved the outlet for the microwave and not the other two above the kitchen cabinets that needed it, too. And there is only one outlet in the island instead of the two that we asked for during our electric walk through. At this point, we think we're just going to work around those issues. Even though it's not the ideal situation, it's doable. We really don't want to wait any longer than necessary to move in and it can always be fixed at a later date if it REALLY bothers us.

October 6, 2006

Friday, October 6


Tonight we had a chance to take a better look at things and noticed that we're missing 2 puck lights in the glass front kitchen cabinets that we had requested at the electrical walk through. We also found the reason that Alexa's closet light doesn't work. The bulb looks like it's cracked, so that's an easy fix.

The concrete crew ran a conduit into the concrete for the light column, as well as under the sidewalk.

All of the interior doors are hung, except Alexa's bedroom door which is waiting in her room. The doorknobs are on, there's quarter round trim on the baseboards and the missing spindle is in place on the stairway.



October 11, 2006

Wednesday, October 11

Sears called to confirm the delivery of our appliances for Friday. They had left a message that they are to deliver a stove and 2 refrigerators. So Perry called them back, and apparently the person who left the message was a bit confused and they're really delivering what we ordered (a stove, 1 refrigerator, and a washer and dryer).

Well, I thought I could live with the two upper kitchen outlets as they are, but after thinking about it for a couple days, and sleepless nights, I don't think I can. Everytime I'm in the kitchen, my eyes go right to them, probably because I KNOW that they're wrong. So, we're going to go ahead and have the electricians fix them the way we intended them to be.

October 12, 2006

Thursday, October 12

Perry talked to Mike today and let him know about the puck lights and upper cabinet outlets and to make sure that having the appliances delivered tomorrow was ok. He said it was.

Mike also said that the countertops are going to be delivered tomorrow! Monday will be busy, too. That's when the plumber is coming back and carpeting is scheduled to be installed! Perry called the gas company and they're also coming out Monday.

Sears will be delivering our appliances between 10:15am and 12:15pm tomorrow. That will work out really well, since I need to drop Trey off at school at 9 and then wait at the house so that they can get in.

October 13, 2006

Friday, October 13

What are the chances of ANY delivery being two hours EARLY?! Well, I'm gathering up some stuff to take with me to the house, so that I'll have something to do while I wait for the appliances, when Perry comes in saying that Sears just called and they are 15 minutes away! Since it takes us about 25 minutes to get to the house, Perry tells them that he'll be there in half an hour and flies out the door, cell phone in hand, still on his conference call. I take Trey to school and go to the house so that Perry can finish his call and I can deal with the delivery. By the time Perry got there they had everything already unloaded and when I arrived about 40 minutes later they were almost done.

It turns out that we DID need those 2 refrigerators. The delivery guys realized that ours was damaged on the inside before they installed it, so we have another one coming next Friday.

Even though I drive by the house everyday, We hadn't been inside since Tuesday. So, we were pleasantly surprised to see that all of the bathroom mirrors are put in place and all of the closets now have shelves and clothing rods.

Tonight we stopped by to see the countertops. They look great, especially the ones in the kitchen.

It's amazing how "homey" the house feels already, even with all of the dust and debris around and no furniture in sight.

October 17, 2006

Tuesday, October 17

NIPSCO was supposed to install the gas meter yesterday. I called them this morning and they said I was on the schedule for today. As we neared the end of the day I called again for status and they again tell me I'm on the schedule for today. At this time I'm not quite believing the customer service rep and press for them to verify, which they do. They inform me that they work on Central time between 8 and 5, which is 9 to 6 hear in Eastern time.

I head to the house around 5:40 just in case they decide to call at the last minute and then blame it on us not being there. I pull up at 5:55, see that no one is there and call again. They tell me that their installations do in fact go beyond 6:00, they just don't normally schedule them that late. Arrgghh.

When I get in, I am pleasantly surprised to find that the plumbers have been in and appear to be done. I call Cherie to tell her to stop by the house, she is with Trey.

The Garage door opener has also been installed.

I decide to wait around a bit and put in more of the data jacks. Around 8:00 I call back, this time they tell me that their guys were swamped with a large number of emergency calls for gas leaks. I rescheduled for tomorrow. Why couldn't they just tell me when I was calling before that their guys are swamped with emergency calls. I'd understand, and then I wouldn't have wasted so much time.

October 18, 2006

Wednesday, October 18

NIPSCO came today. The guy told me he was the only service man for Bluffton. I asked him about the emergencies, he stated that a lot of people turn off their gas in the summer, and then need it turned back on in the fall. The rest smell gas when they first fire up the furnace and NIPSCO has to investigate to make sure there isn't a gas leak.

I took a half day, today. One it's my birthday. Two, Cherie and I went furniture shopping. We ended back at Sofamart and purchased a Sofa, Love seat, Chair and Ottoman. All in Red.

October 20, 2006

Friday, October 20 - Refrigerator and Heat

Sears delivered the final appliance today.

The HVAC guys came in, turned on the gas, and fired up the furnace. They've installed the thermostat, and all the vents, except those that go in the floor where there is carpet.


October 24, 2006

Tuesday, October 24

We are so close. The carpet guys have been in and installed all the carpet. We are very happy that Mike called and asked us if we wanted the carpet installed as a runner or to run all the way to the wall on the stairs. We didn't think we had a choice on this, and love the fact that we have it installed as a runner.

Paint guys painted the patch from moving the electrical outlets above the kitchen cabinets down.

The cleaners have also been in. They've removed almost all of the cardboard on the floors, swept the floors, and cleaned up the rooms.

The HVAC guys have been in. They hooked up the fireplace. They also ran a line for the furnace to run the condensation from the furnace to the sump pump well. Unfortunately they ran the pipe across the basement floor. This just doesn't work for me. Their is a floor drain right in front of the furnace, but they didn't use that for some reason. Having this run across the floor is a safety hazard.

December 10, 2006

One Month Later

Well, we've now been in the house for one month. We've moved almost everything to the new house. There are still a few truck loads in Mom and Dad's barn, but they are outdoor things like lawn mower, bicycles, etc. We'll just leave those there until spring.

We like the house. It is home. We still need to do things, but of course this is the start of "still needing to do things" that will go on for 20 years or so until we decide to move again.

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