Microwave, Flooring, and Drywall Repairs

This could also be entitled "10 Month Review Part III". (See Part 1 and Part 2.)

I've been on spring break from work this week so along with a multitude of other things on my to-do list I also scheduled contractors to come out and complete various repairs that had been noted at the 10 month review.

Microwave
Our microwave had been making an intermittent buzzing for several months. (Didn't happen very often and there didn't seem to be any pattern when it did occur.) After the 10 month review I submitted a repair request through GE's website and then had to follow up with the repair place that it had been submitted to when they never called me to schedule it. (They claimed they never received it.) A few weeks ago a technician came out. The microwave wouldn't make the noise of course but I showed him the video on my phone that I took the last time it happened. According to him GE had a bad batch of parts when our microwave was built and he's replaced a lot of them recently. It was three possible parts that could be the cause so he went ahead and put in to replace all of them. Because the issue is so common the parts were back ordered so it took until this week to get the repair done,

Two other things I'll note on this:
-The tech mentioned to me something Jenny and I didn't realize. On the bottom of the microwave above the stove there are two grease filters that need to be cleaned periodically. Ours were dirty and apparently this can affect the operation of the appliance. He said to just toss them in the dishwasher once a month and that will be enough to keep them clean.

-The warranties on the included appliances (stove, microwave, and dishwasher) are only one year. This seems rather short to me and I feel like Ryan should guarantee them for two years like they do the other major systems on the house. The dryer at our house broke one time and getting it repaired cost almost half as much as replacing it. (Which in retrospect is what we should have done.)


Floor Repair
Last summer the project manager had a crew out to fix a soft spot in the floor in front of Bedroom #3. They filled it with a putty compound to level it out but within a few months it had gotten soft again. (My father-in-law is a flooring contractor by trade and told me at the time that the way they fixed it wouldn't last.) At the ten month review it was determined the floor needed to be cut out and replaced to permanently fix it and that was what was done this week.

Soft spot with putty prior to being cut out.

Section of the subfloor cut out and removed.

This screw gun was so awesome looking I had to get a photo of it. I wonder how I could justify adding one of these to my collection of power tools?

Subfloor replaced.

Drywall Repair

The last item this week was the one year drywall repair. This is a one time fix for any nail pops and cracks that occur during the first year. In the days leading up to this we had to go around the house marking any spots we found with pieces of blue painters tape. They can be difficult to spot and we went through the house multiple times at different times of day trying to spot everything. On the day before the repair appointment I finally started walking around the house with a roll of tape in my pocket so I could mark spots as I found them. Along with the nail pops we had a number of hairline cracks in the corners and where the walls met the ceiling along with cracks coming off the corners of windows and in some of the trim. We also had a few spots in the ceiling where the seam between sections of drywall was visible. All of this was totally expected with a new house and didn't seem to be any more or less than what is normally seen.

How the foyer looked with all the spots marked.

I forgot to get good before shot but this was a settlement crack coming off the corner of the door in the master bedroom closet. We also had small cracks like this in the corners of several of the windows.

Stairway midway through the repair prior to painting.

Seam in the dining room after it had been patched and primed.

The whole process took two days. On the first day the drywall contractors patched and primed all of the spots we had marked. On the second day they came back, sanded everything down, and painted. Overall we were very happy with the work that was done. The repaired areas looked as good as they did when we moved in almost a year ago. The guys doing the work also spotted additional spots we hadn't and on top of that also repaired a few areas where the dopier of our two cats had dug his claws into the walls around the windows. On the downside I've already spotted a few small spots that we missed. I've also been told that we'll continue to see additional spots for another six months to a year but from what I saw they're not very difficult to fix.

What do you do when you have a lazy Pug that refuses to move? Cover him up and keep working. (I eventually moved him upstairs and he responded by pooping on the floor.)

Drywall and Primer

I've been a little behind on updates on here. The day after my last post on Week 6 progress we had the dreaded stomach virus make it's miserable way through our house starting with our youngest son. It delayed the drywall walkthrough as the day I was originally supposed to meet with the project manager I was feeling half dead and had to postpone it with him a few days.

When I finally met with last week not only was the drywall up but the first coat of primer had been put on the walls as well. He explained to me that painting is a multistep process done over the course of a week or so with primer, patching, paint, more patching, and another layer of paint added before it's finished. The kitchen and bathroom cabinetry had also been added with everything covered in plastic to keep it protected from stray paint.

On the outside the driveway was in the final stages of paving when I arrived for the walkthrough. Gutters had also been installed. With a lack of trees in our yard leaves won't be much of an issue but at some point I plan to get some sort of cover installed on those. Getting up on a ladder to clean the gutters on my existing one story house has been difficult enough and I definitely won't be climbing high enough to reach the second story on this one.

The project manager asked me not to include a picture of it but he was also going to be tearing up the sidewalk and getting it re-poured for the third time. I mention this because I've really appreciated his attention to detail and it seems like everything Jenny and I have noted as potential issues during construction he's already seen and made note of. The previous two pours of the sidewalk looked fine to us and we never would have thought to ask about it. But clearly he saw a problem both times warranting redoing it. I've also really appreciated his constant communication throughout the build. He's called at least once if not twice a week and always been willing to meet me for a walkthrough. As I've noted before Jenny and I have read through numerous other Ryan Homes building blogs and at least some of them have noted a lack of communication from the project manager but this has certainly not been an issue for us. 

On to photos:

Paved driveway.

Rear of house. Note the safety railing covering the sliding door. After we move in my brother-in-law is going to add a simple set of steps for us until we can build a deck. We opted not to one built during initial construction as our sales rep told us that their cost was around twice as much as what we could have it added for later. We're also probably going to add a patio of some sort too.

More photos behind the cut here.

Week 6 Progress

The house is coming right along. From the outside at least the major things completed this week have been the siding, shutters, trim, and garage door.

The project manager called me this afternoon to give me an overall progress update. In addition to what I noted above several other things have been completed as well. The big thing inside is that drywall has been hung. And just this afternoon the water, sewer, and gas lines were finished, inspected, approved, and buried. He also told me that the sidewalk had been pulled up and re-poured because he wasn't pleased with the finish on the original one. I've arranged to meet him Monday afternoon to do another walkthrough to see the progress on the inside and take pictures. 

Pre-Drywall Meeting and Closing Scheduled

I met this afternoon with the project manager to do the pre-drywall walkthrough of the house. Similar to the walkthrough we did last Wednesday it was another chance to see everything done so far and prior to the hanging of drywall and ask questions. Similar to the pre-construction meeting Jenny and I read through numerous other Ryan Homes blogs to find out what to expect and questions to ask.

The major things were to double check to make sure that things such as cable and phone jacks, ceiling fan rough-ins, and similar things were installed and placed where we wanted them. Most everything else were things we went over in the walkthrough last week or even in the pre-construction meeting or subsequent phone calls with the project manager.

One thing I noticed today that I was especially impressed by was how thorough they seem to be with the energy efficiency thing. Everywhere you look there's either yellow or pink expanding insulation foam that has been used to seal every possible area where air could leak into the house. Even the electrical outlets and ceiling fan rough-ins have been sealed in this way.

Based on suggestions I received from several coworkers one thing I did today during the walkthrough was take photos of each wall to have a record of where the wires and plumbing are before they're covered up by drywall. This way if we ever want to hang a picture or something else that requires putting a nail into the wall we have a rough idea of where things are. (Along with using a stud/wire finder of course.)

Over the weekend we also received a letter in the mail with the schedule for our new home orientation meeting and closing. The former is scheduled for Tuesday April 22 and the latter for April 24. It sounds like this is pretty much set in stone at this point although after talking with my realtor the closing date might change slightly since we're using an outside law firm for settlement.

Breaker box in the garage.

Main air intake and wastewater lines.

Laundry room hook ups and plumbing for washing machine and dryer.

Upstairs central ductwork.

Upstairs bathroom plumbing.

Bedroom wiring.