Saturday, July 28, 2012

Hardwoods, Carpet, & Mistakes

I already broke my challenge of not visiting until the final walk-through. I only lasted two days! My mom really wanted to see the house because she hasn't been there since only the first floor was framed. Who am I to deny her a visit? :) Part of me wishes I wouldn't have gone. There were a few mistakes that I noticed that just pissed me off a little bit. I'm sure they will be fixed but I'm still annoyed. It's a Saturday so I can't call anyone about it. Also, our PM is on vacation all next week. Great timing. All of the gashes and nicks in the walls are also starting to get to me. I know these will be taken care of but they are caused by people not being careful in the first place.

I'll start with the positives. The hardwoods were installed yesterday. From what I can see, which isn't much, they look beautiful! The floor in the powder room wasn't covered up so I got to see a big section of it in there. Ever since the selection stage of this process, I've been worried about how our hardwoods would look with our cabinets. Well, the verdict is in and I'm so happy that I love the combination! That has been my number one stress point since the beginning. Seriously. I think about it almost every day.  Also, the carpet installers were there doing their thing.

Now the negatives. We upgraded the master bath and this upgrade was supposed to include a swinging shower door instead of a sliding one. Well guess what was installed? A freaking sliding door. I hate any type of sliding door so much! We were wavering on whether or not to get the 4' extension in our family room. Our SR told us that if we didn't get the extension, we would have a sliding glass door in our morning room. If we did get the extension, it would be a single 15-light door. That's probably what pushed me into getting the extension. Sure, having 4' more in the basement and family room is nice, but I really did not want that damn sliding door! My hatred runs that deep! No offense to anyone who has one. I'm just not personally a fan. But I digress. This is one mistake that better get fixed. How can they even tear out the door they put in without causing damage? Now I get to stress about this. Here's a picture:


This thing has got to go.

Another negative. We put in a change order a while back to "delete" the shelf in the laundry room. We plan on installing cabinets after closing and we didn't want to deal with having to tear out the shelf, especially since they use drywall anchors to secure it. Guess what got installed? You guessed it! The laundry shelf! Part of my knew this would happen. Our SR even warned that it might. It will get taken care of, but I'm still annoyed. We also requested to not have our toilet paper holders installed. I don't like the ones that come with the house. I want the kind that you can just slide the roll on or off without having to pull the middle part off. This type only has one anchor screwed in the wall where the RH ones have two. We didn't want to have to patch the walls in all four of our bathrooms. Our PM said this would not be a problem. Well, guess what got installed? They only put them in two of the bathrooms so far but I'm sure the other two will get installed before someone catches the mistake. The one in the master bathroom was installed out of reach, which is totally ridiculous. I hope they don't install the one in the basement on the side of the vanity. Then I could never change it and I will be so freakin' pissed!
Laundry shelf that isn't supposed to be there.
Also, I'm not very happy with the lighting in here. This room is dark.

This is in the master "water closet."It looks even farther away in person. I could never reach that.
It wasn't even supposed to be installed in the first place!
Hall bath. Also not supposed to be here. They also jacked up the wall. Was it their first time installing one of these?

This is the kind of TP holder I want.



Van with our carpet and padding in it. I'm glad I saw this because I've read blogs where people didn't get the padding they paid for. It's hard to verify once installed!

Love the hardwoods! The color is Saddle. This is the 1st floor powder room. Only part not covered up.

Crown molding is still missing in the study. This light fixture is just ok but I don't think it's fancy enough to be installed in a tray ceiling. It will be getting replaced.
Vented Microwave was installed! It's HUGE!



A peek of the floors up against the cabinets. I hope that's not paint on the floor!

Yes, my cooktop will sit just below the microwave. Not against code in Ohio!

Double wall ovens on the right, cooktop and dishwasher on the left!


The door leading from the garage to the house is jacked up. It won't close all the way and my husband had to yank hard to get it to open. The wood is also split. 

Food pantry. Looks bigger with the shelves installed.


Chandelier in the foyer!

Linen closet in the upstairs hallway

Carpet about to get installed in the formal dining room.
I really wish the carpet installers didn't wear shoes. Seriously.....

Love the french doors to the study!


This is also one of my annoyances. The light to our basement stairs is installed on the WALL not the ceiling! This wasn't a mistake either. That's where it's supposed to be. It looks ridiculous! It doesn't help that the fixture is fugly. Couldn't they have at least installed a wall sconce?

Air conditioner. 

My husband set up our utilities and trash service two days ago. They are all scheduled for the week we move in. They already delivered our trashcan. That was fast! Trash day isn't even until Monday!

I didn't even notice until looking at this picture that they installed the rest of our outdoor lights! I'll have to remember to a get close-up next time.



14 comments:

  1. ...yea. They need to fix that garage door. But, otherwise it's looking quite beautiful, and begging you to call it home. Plus, it must be super exciting to be so close to closing/move-in. Sept. 7 seems so far away for us.

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  2. Wow-seems they have overlooked several things. I don't blame you for being peeved at any of those things-you have asked them to do some things specifically, your PM could have kept an eye on when installers would be putting things up (like the shelf and TP holders, etc). The house looks-amazing! I can't say it enough for yours-I l ove that BIG foyer window-your study french doors make me so excited for ours! I can't wait to see your wall ovens in, as we have the same setup.

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  3. The house looks gorgeous, and thanks for the heads up on the TP holders. We might have to try to NOT get the standards installed!!

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  4. They should be ashamed of themselves for installing that ceiling light on the side of your wall! LOL I hope they plan on fixing that. The kitchen cabinet and flooring combination look great!

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    1. That's the worst part, they didn't mess up. It's supposed to be on the wall instead of the ceiling. It still looks ridiculous and I have already found a wall sconce to replace it with!

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  5. It amazes me how different things can be even within the same state. Our TP holders are the ones that you slide the TP on, just as you pictured for the ones that you want. As for the basement light, we thought it was a bit strange to be on the wall too, but we really appreciated it during the move. No worries about hitting the light while carrying furniture down the steps. We had to have our entire tub removed (which involved removing the tile surround) and to look at it today, you'd never know. They are very good at fixing things. It would be nice if they would do things right the first time, but they will make it as good as new. Hope all of your issues are resolved quickly!

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    1. I just can't believe they install a freaking mushroom light on the wall! A wall sconce would have been more appropriate! I already went shopping and found one! I'm also glad to see I'm not the only one that got a wall light instead of ceiling light in my basement stairwell!

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  6. I requested that all the TP holders be left off for the reasons that you mentioned with the distance to the TP and wanting to get the kind that is a hook rather than a spring rod. I did also speak with the installer (was measuring while I was there one day) and he suggested that I also write on a piece of tape saying do not install so that they do not mistakenly do it.

    I got a shroom light for my basement stairs too. It is livable for now but that will be an upgrade for the cold months for sure!

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  7. After reading your post. I'm going to definitely ask my PM which type of TP holders they are going to install.

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  8. WARNING: Those TP holders have industrial wall anchors not some little plastic things or wings, you will make a large hole in your drywall if you try to remove them, so have the compound ready. I had one of mine moved to an opposite wall and even the contractor had to break the wall to get it out.

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    1. Oh I'm not removing them. RH is totally removing them. I asked my PM a long time ago to leave them off. Then when I got a new PM, I told him on the first day of meeting him that I didn't want them installed. This is their mistake and they will be fixing it. Same with my laundry shelf.

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  9. LOVE the hardwood! That's similar to what we are going to do after closing. We almost did Saddle with RH but decided to save the costs and do it ourselves....I hate our floor choice now but I just have to remind myself it was to save more in the long run. I swear we are made from the same thread. I snuck into the house early the other morning (we got locked out until the walk through...but I found a way) because I was losing sleep over the carpeting. I kept wondering if we got the upgraded padding. So...I found it. The carpet in the closets pulled up pretty easily without damaging anything and I saw what I paid for. Whoo hoo!

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  10. Do you have condensation in the basement now that your a/c is on? We have a ton in our basement now and I'm not sure if that's normal to happen when it's first installed.

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    1. I haven't checked but I will when I go tomorrow. The last time I visited was the first time the AC was on. The lights weren't working in the basement. I think the breaker was turned off. I still haven't gotten to see my basement that well at all since they just installed the lights last week!

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