Week 53: Slowly Chipping Away

Hello again!

We've skipped a couple of weeks from our last blog since nothing major was happening with respect to the builder punchlist, but things picked up last week with a few things completed on their part.

We've chosen not to move in immediately, but to overlap the month of January with the new home and the rental we're in. We're actively trying to organize the chaos of moving from one location to the other across 30 days. So far, so good.

Now that we officially own the new house, it was time to start playing general contractor with some tasks that we didn't want the builder to do because of timing and/or cost. First up is we decided to have the interior completely repainted (with color) since the builder would not do anything but white on the walls. Since Jan wanted gray tones, and I'm not doing it, we had a crew (finishing up as we speak) repaint the interior this week.

It has been amazing watching these guys work. They arrive promptly at 7:30a, and work until 5:30pm each day. They spent the first day taping and vinyling the entire house (floors, fixtures, door hardware, windows, etc), meticulously covering every square inch of the house. They then corrected and sanded everything, fixing a myriad of builder flaws. Kind of eerie being in a house where every window is covered by vinyl. Great guys, and a great job!

Next up, and concurrent to the interior painting, the builder decided to completely paint the exterior of the house a second time after I complained about a few touched up areas flashing. The second coat solved the problem.

We then had the Whole-House water softener and Reverse Osmosis system installed, which neutralizes the hard water found in Arizona. You can do without it, but it is so much better with a quality water softener system. It also ensures that your pipes stay clean of any corrosion or buildup, and showers feel a lot better.

We also tackled the task of assembling and installing eight (yes, count'em - eight!) room fans. These make a huge difference here, particularly in the summer moving cool air, and cost almost nothing to run continuously. Bigger is better!

Best Buy arrived this week and installed the washer and dryer set Jan had selected. I don't think we realized just how big they ended up being, and it is possible to lose one of us if we happen to fall in. We could do laundry for the Seventh Fleet with these babies, and it does require an advanced degree to operate them!

Our friendly patio guys came out to move the patio chairs, couch, tables, etc. from our rental to the new house. Two guys managed to pack it all in the truck, drive to the new house, and unload it in roughly one hour. I was exhausted just watching them work! The backyard finally looks like it is starting to come together now that the furniture is here (and I didn't have to move it!!).

Of course, we're still waiting for some additional pieces to fill in (pots, plants, additional furniture, pool stuff, etc) which should create a more completed look. 

As an aside, as I was looking at the fake grass today, it struck me that in the entire neighborhood of 71 homes, there isn't one blade of real grass anywhere! Pity the poor lawnmower salesman.

And, finishing up this week are the garage cabinets being installed over the next three days to complete the Manly Garage Look every guy needs here. Next week brings the installation of all the audio/video gear, and most importantly, the wine coolers! But, we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Until then, see y'all next week!