Max's New House

Before the Storm

2009-04-02T20:02:00.002-04:00

I'm trying to get this update posted quickly for two reasons. One, I haven't posted in a while, but some major updates have happened with the house and there are finally some good pictures to put up. Two, there's a big red and yellow blob on the radar headed this way and I want to shut the computer down before it gets here. We went out to the house today and found a few changes. The first thing we noticed was that the landscaping went in. We have a tree in our front yard as well as some shrubs along the porch. I can just see Max climbing up that tree this summer. Inside all of the carpet has been installed, as well as shelving and countertops. They also patched up the drywall in preparation for final painting. Our final walkthrough is two weeks from tomorrow!

Latest Walkthrough

2009-03-19T22:31:00.004-04:00

We went out to the house today after a two day break and found some noticeable changes. The water and electricity are on, and most of the items corresponding with those utilities are hooked up. There are gutters and downspouts on the outside of the house, and I guess that pretty much sums up this update. Here are some of today's pics.

One Month

2009-03-17T06:45:00.003-04:00

Our walkthrough to make sure everything checks out with the house is one month from today. Closing is a week later. This week they've been working on finishing up the heating and air conditioning system, and will finish up the electricity and plumbing.

The pics above show Max checking out his new place, the deck, the thermostat, one of the new vents, and the air conditioner.

Lots of Pictures

2009-03-14T19:33:00.004-04:00

They've been busy at the house the last two days, so here are some pictures to show what's been done. All of the doors have been put up, as well as all of the trim. The railings and handrails on the staircases are also up. Cabinets have been put in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Here is what you're looking at, starting from the top: Master bathroom sink, new handrail going down the basement steps, second floor railings, fireplace and mantel, kitchen cabinets, first floor railing, french doors into the library, and an external shot complete with porch posts.

Bad Housing Market?

2009-03-12T21:50:00.003-04:00

Don't listen to anyone who tells you the housing market is lousy, because we've now sold our house twice in the last month and a half. That being said, I'm not counting on anything until all the paperwork is signed. The last offer on the house that ended up falling through has taught me to not to get too optimistic yet.

I haven't posted many pictures lately, partly because of fewer trips out to the house, and partly because most of the changes lately have been drywall related which isn't that exciting. We had a mid-build walkthrough last weekend and found a few issues, the biggest of which was the incorrect texturing of the ceilings throughout the entire house. They fixed that within two days, and are now back on track. We made a trip out to the house today but were unable to go in because they have started to install the vinyl flooring. The garage is full of sinks and cabinets, and the great room is full of stair railings. The driveway and front porch were poured earlier this week.

The pictures above show the house complete with driveway and porch, the shutters around some of the front windows, and the siding on the back of the house. Hopefully I'll get some updated indoor pictures this weekend.

Quick Update

2009-03-04T06:26:00.002-05:00

I drove by the house last night to see what they've done in the past 2 days. It looks like they've mostly finished one project and moved on to a second. All of the ceilings look like they've been textured, but not painted yet. They've also started putting the siding on the house.

Life Goes On

2009-03-02T17:50:00.003-05:00

It's been quite a week. We were scheduled to close on this house last Thursday, and I got a call that morning letting me know things had fallen through. Long story short, the house is back on the market. We spent the weekend cancelling everything that was set up for our move over the weekend. On the plus side, we'll only be moving once now (we hope).

Not a lot of evident changes to the house over the last few days, but here are some recent pictures. From the top this is what you're looking at. Looking down the main first floor hallway toward the front door, the completed brick on the front of the house, the master bedroom, the great room, and looking from the entryway toward the back door. We're set to close at the end of April so there is an end in sight.

Bricks and Drywall

2009-02-23T20:47:00.002-05:00

It's been over a week since I've updated the blog, so here goes. It's such a beehive of activity around the house that I can really only wander around and take pictures on the weekends when no one is working. We were at the house yesterday, and it's amazing what they can get done in a day. Since yesterday they've done a lot of the bricking on the front of the house and put up the drywall throughout the entire interior. I was only able to snap a few quick pictures inside today (I think I was getting in the way). I didn't realize how dusty the drywall made things until I saw the pictures with the flash reflecting off all of the dust. The anticipated finish date is now early to mid-April.

We're also in the last week of residence at this house. We've got closing on Thursday, we get the apartment on Friday, and the movers show up Saturday morning. Should make for a busy weekend.

It's Been A While

2009-02-14T09:58:00.003-05:00

We've been out to the house a few times in the last week, but the changes haven't been easy to get pictures of. Most of the changes are indoors, and there has been a steady flow of workers in and out of the house. I walked inside yesterday and there were 3 electricians running wiring throughout the house. From talking to one of them it sounds like the builder pushes them to work pretty fast. The heating and cooling system is installed, all of the plumbing is done, and the bricks for the exterior have been delivered. Both garage doors have also been installed. According to Ryland inspections should be done mid next week and drywalling should start within 2 weeks. There are also two new houses going in on the street - one directly across from us, and the other two doors down.

We met one of our new neighbors last weekend. Turns out she graduated from Butler a year before I did and was in a class with one of our close college friends (who happened to be with us at the time). Small world.

The Muddy Pit

2009-02-07T16:47:00.003-05:00

I'm back. Thanks to Nancy for yesterday's entry. Today was our first venture inside the new house. All of the snow from the last few weeks is melting so there is an ample supply of mud to walk through on the way into the house. One of us went in at a time while the other stayed in the van with the sleeping Russian dude. I got some pictures of all three floors to include today. It was fairly dark in the basement, though you can't appreciate that in the pictures (what with the flash and all).

The roofers are installing shingles today, so while I was upstairs I was surrounded by the sound of nail guns. Fortunately, no nails shot straight through the roof while I was up there.

Windows and a front door

2009-02-06T20:00:00.004-05:00

It is muddy. The temperature is rising in Indy and all that snow is melting. These are the new shots as of Friday evening. I am sure there will be new pics this weekend as we get access to the interior of the home. They delivered the windows and doors on Wednesday and installed them on Thursday and Friday. The roof shingles are currently being laid and there is duct work in the garage. They will begin working on electrical and plumbing sometime next week.

We are packing up the house and getting ready for the big move at the end of the month. We are down to 20 days in the Bluebird home. We are sad to leave our first house, but excited about the new endeavors that await us.

The photos included are a shot from across the street(above), one of the door that you enter from the garage (it is currently covered in brown paper), and a shot down the front hallway to the steps that lead you upstairs.

It's Taller!

2009-02-03T21:11:00.006-05:00

Two days after the last set of pictures a second story showed up on the house. The stairs to get upstairs are in place, but I don't think we're allowed to go in quite yet (for liability reasons). So instead I tried to kill myself in front of the house by sliding on some ice today after taking the pictures. I'm glad to report that I never actually fell over, but it wasn't for lack of trying. I'm also hoping that this is one of the last times I see that much snow inside of that house.

We've also got an apartment lined up now. We're not locked into a lease yet (just in case), but we've got a deposit down to hold the apartment until we close on this house.

It's Starting to Look Like a House

2009-02-01T23:41:00.002-05:00

I did a drive by on Friday afternoon and they were working on the framing, but there wasn't anything extending above the ground floor at that point. Today the first floor is recognizable, and here are a few shots of it. No stairs to the basement yet, just an 8 foot drop. We aren't supposed to walk inside until all of the support beams have been removed, but one of the pictures shows a view looking into what will be the front door.

We've also narrowed down our apartment search, so that's one other hurdle that should be cleared fairly soon.

Lumber Delivered

2009-01-29T19:50:00.004-05:00

The 8+ inches of snow yesterday delayed the delivery of lumber and support beams, but they were there when I drove by today. We also narrowed down our apartment search to two places that offer short-term leases. We've set up a schedule to get the remaining things in the house packed up. In a month everything will either go into the apartment or into storage unit #2. Thanks again to the good people at Zionsville Storage.

You Only Move Twice

2009-01-27T21:41:00.005-05:00

Max and I are back from our weekend trip to Texas, and a few things have happened since then. We accepted an offer on our house yesterday, and barring any problems we'll be moving out of here in early March. That means that we'll be starting an apartment/storage hunt this weekend. Ryland doesn't seem to think that they can have the house finished in a month. I also drove by the new house today and got some updated pictures. There was an inch or two of snow in the basement this afternoon, and the way things are going there could be several more inches by tomorrow. We're in the midst of the first significant snowfall of the season, which could delay the start of framing by a few days. I talked to Dale (our Ryland salesman) today, and he said that with storms like this it not only hampers the building process but also delays delivery of things like I-beams and lumber. Despite the weather, he expects framing to start by the end of the week.

Short Update

2009-01-21T20:54:00.002-05:00

I went out to the site today and not much has changed. There was a small backhoe out there that had dug the hole for our basement egress window, otherwise it looked about the same. We got a call from the builder today saying that if everything stays on schedule they should be framing the house around the middle of next week.

Basement Walls Poured

2009-01-20T21:19:00.004-05:00

I made a trip out to our dirt today to see if the builder made good on his promise to have the basement walls poured this week. He didn't disappoint, and here's a picture to prove it. I've also included a picture of Max and Nancy in front of the hole from last week. Walking around the lot today it felt like the back yard will be small, but I think the large clumps of dirt lying around change the perspective a bit. Also, filling in the trench around the basement will make things seem bigger as well. The lot is actually the exact same size as our current lot, it's just a nice rectangle instead of whatever shape this one is.

Construction Meeting Today

2009-01-17T17:16:00.002-05:00

We had our construction orientation this morning. Nothing terribly exciting, mainly a review of the plans to be sure everything was correct and a timeline of the construction process. The subzero weather this week slowed things for a while, but they expect the basement walls to be poured this coming week. If all goes on schedule the framing should start within the next 2 weeks. The current move-in estimate is some time in April. I hope to be posting some pictures of the basement after it is poured.

It Begins!

2009-01-12T13:17:00.001-05:00

This is the first posting to the new blog Max's New House. It is being written so that all who wish to can get regular updates on how the new house is progressing. For those that don't know, here's a bit of backstory explaining our motivation to build a new home. After adopting Max from Russia we ultimately made the decision that we'd like to go back some day and adopt again. For those of you familiar with the Russian adoption process you know that pictures of the child's room must be submitted long before the adoption is finalized. This made it necessary to move into a bigger home before we could think about moving forward with another adoption.

I had started writing a few weeks ago, but never got around to posting anything. We had our first major pain associated with the home building/selling process during that time. Our realtor had a home inspection performed, and the inspector informed us that he had rocked our master bathroom toilet to make sure it was bolted down solid. It wasn't, and a few days later we noticed a water spot on the kitchen ceiling. It was small, so we didn't get too worked up about it. Between Christmas and New Years I took up the toilet and repaired the flange, then reinstalled the toilet. An hour or so later the tank shattered and flooded the bathroom floor. We caught it very quickly and mopped up, but water had run under the toilet and ultimately onto the kitchen ceiling again. This was a few hours before our first scheduled showing of the house. I ran out, bought a new toilet, and installed it. A plumber came out and reassured me that the new toilet had been installed correctly. A week later we painted the ceiling downstairs and now everything toilet related seems to be going well.

Last month I had taken a picture of our lot with my camera phone. I couldn't figure out how to get that picture onto the computer, so I drove up to the lot today with the regular camera to get a picture for the blog. As you can see, there won't be a picture of the empty lot on this page because things are officially moving!