Saturday, February 12, 2011

how it went...

Our pre-drywall meeting was yesterday and although I wasn't able to attend, my fiance, my mom, and my dad were all there with three sets of eyes checking everything out.  I was totally bummed I wasn't able to be there because I really wanted to make sure that I heard everything my dad had to say.  But oh well! I got a pretty thorough update from all three parties when I got home after work.  For the most part, everything seemed to be good.  My dad did find a few things that needed to be attended to but really nothing major.  Here are few of the things that he noticed:

  • The subfloor upstairs in our master closet and the second bathroom is cracked and will cause problems with the flooring if it is not replaced. PM said they would cut out the section that is damaged and replace it. 
  • We had a window replaced on the first floor in the front of the house because there was a crack in the corner of it.  The new window that they put it also has a crack in a different location.  They are now 0 for 2.  PM said they would replace it again. 
  • In the living room, the part of the wall that holds all of the heating ducts was not squared up and my dad said that you could see that it was slightly bowed.  It needs to be fixed if we want a straight wall when they come to drywall.  PM again said that they would fix this. 
  • The molding they had put up around the garage door was completely cracked through and hanging off (I'm assuming due to the cold).  That will also be replaced. 
  • My dad had noticed that none of the piping coming in and out of the house had been caulked and insulated and that needs to be done in order to assure we don't get any drafts.  PM said the insulation guys will caulk all the piping.  
  • There was a joist upstairs in the master bath on the outside wall that had "bowed" written on it but they never put a sister stud nailed next to it to fix it.  PM said they would make sure they did this. 
There were a couple of surprises both good and bad that I asked my fiance about afterwards.  We noticed that instead of a hanging light fixture over our dinette area we would be getting a recessed light.  While at first, I was wanting a hanging light fixture, after thinking about it and some prodding from my fiance, I realized that it is much better for the flow of the kitchen to the living room.  We are going to put the TV on the side wall facing the kitchen so if you were ever watching TV from the kitchen the hanging light fixture would get in the way.  So I guess I have to digress and agree with my fiance.  This is his version of the double sink argument :).
Another thing that I noticed from the 100 pictures that my mom took...was that there is only one outlet on the wall where we will put our bed in the master bedroom!! And I made sure to look in the model at where the outlets were in the master bedroom exactly for this reason.  Now, here is my reasoning behind it.  My fiance and I both have a nightstand with a lamp on it.  And we also both plug in our cell phones there at night to charge them.  Now, I know...we could also use a powerstrip but I WOULD HAVE ADDED AN OUTLET HAD I KNOWN THERE WAS ONLY ONE!! I might ask our PM if there is anyway at all that we can add another one on that back wall.

But otherwise, that was basically it.  My dad had a question about a drain in front of our basement window and if it could be moved because we would be concerned with it somehow leaking and getting in the basement.  Next week, it looks like they will make the repairs and then start with insulation and drywall.  Since I was able to be at the meeting, our PM said that he would give me a personal walkthrough during our mid-winter break in two weeks.  I will be so happy to see the drywall and really get a feeling for the size of the rooms! I will post some of the 100 pictures that my mom took at the walkthrough tomorrow once I get them uploaded. :) 

4 comments:

  1. CR...Thank you so much for this post...this is probably the most important inspection that you do along the way. This is your one last chance to fix things that aren't quite right before they get covered up by insulation and drywall. Thanks to your Dad for lending his eyes and helping you through this step...Dad's do that kind of thing for their daughters :)

    And thanks for posting the problems that you found. We are accumulating a list of things that others have found to use for our walkthru...who would have thought to look for squared up walls or cracked subfloor...thats what these blogs are all about and in the end we will all have better houses. How did your Dad even notice the wall wasn't squared up...or was it so bad that it was obvious.

    Regarding the electrical outlet in your bedroom...call your PM immediately...once they get the drywall up it is too late and you will wish you had another one. If the model home had 2 on that wall there is a good chance that there is supposed to be 2 there. It might not even be to code...when you walk in the room there is supposed to be an outlet within 6 feet of the door on both sides...then as you make your way around the room there is supposed to be an outlet every 12 feet...in other words, no matter where you are along the wall there should be an outlet within 6 feet of you. They may have missed one. We did a walk thru of a completed Avalon and were surprised to find that there was not an outlet on the foyer hallway wall against the stairs. We plan on having a table there with two little lights and need an outlet there. We went back and looked at the electrical prints in the office and sure enough, there is supposed to be an outlet on that wall...they either missed putting it in, or drywalled right over it.

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  2. Forgot to mention regarding electrical. If you have switched outlets in the bedrooms, make sure they are switching the outlets that you would want switched. Sometimes they are to the outlet that is closest to the door which for a master bedroom that is usually not where the bed would be.

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  3. I missed ours, too. It is so nice that your parents were able to help out with it. I'm glad that you were able to catch those mistakes and I'm glad they're fixing them for you. Good eyes!

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  4. Thanks for posting this....this makes me feel better knowing that we are getting ours inspected next week...

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