A Long Overdue Update - 2 years (almost) in our new home

Hello readers! I have been totally MIA for a loooong time. Since this is a house building blog, and our house is done, I didn't have much to write about. I still get questions though so I figured I'd do an update versus responding to all individual comments (since I don't think people get notified when I reply anyways).

Basic information

Model: Palermo - Elevation E
Colors: Sandy tan siding and pebble clay shake
Year built: 2014

Overall

Overall, the house is holding up really well. We definitely don't have any major complaints. No (real) leaks, no cracks, siding is in good shape, heating and cooling is great, and house is well insulated everywhere.

Small problems

We have noticed some small problems here and there, but nothing too major.

Standard carpeting (lowest level) 

This carpet is garbage. There really is no other way to put it. We are SO happy we upgraded for our main floor. We got the low level upstairs and in our basement. Upstairs is pretty okay as it's pretty low traffic other than just the two of us going to and from our bedroom (we don't have kids). The basement which has a lot of traffic (our dogs love to run around down there at full speed), and the carpet is coming up at one of the seems. We're not really sure what to do to fix it and it gets worse by the day. We're at the point that we need to address it or it's going to get really bad and start peeling up completely. This carpet also stains VERY easily, and is not as easy to clean. We've had a puppy in the new house so accidents were inevitable. Even with a rug cleaner there are some stains we can't remove. We will definitely need to replace both carpets in the near future, but right now we don't care enough to spend the money (and we're saving up for a wedding), especially since no one really sees either of these areas.

Condensation in cabinets

Recently, we noticed some condensation in our cabinets above our microwave. We really never noticed it before, but it caused some of the paint to peel off. It is REALLY hot out where we are and our AC is on a low temp, so that may be what caused it, but it's still pretty annoying. Not sure how this could be addressed, but for now we just try and dry it or leave the doors open sometimes.

Leaking in Morning room

I was hesitant to mention this, because honestly, it was a fluke, but still worth mentioning. We had a freak snowstorm last year with a LOT of wind. This wind allowed the snow to get under a flap that it wouldn't normally get under (I know, I know, I have NO idea what the real words are to describe this, so I apologize!). This caused some leaking in our roof. We had someone look at it and they said it's not a roof leak but because of the snow getting under that flap (again, no idea what the word is called), and it shouldn't continue. We spoke to Ryan Homes about it, and they won't fix it because it's classified under "extreme weather" which is not in their warranty, so just be aware of that. We painted and it looks fine now, and we haven't had any further problems even with some pouring rains.

Loose Hose-bib

Our hose-bib on the right side of our house came loose pretty quickly. It wasn't leaking or anything, but still cause for concern. I'm pretty sure Ryan Homes came out to fix it and it hasn't been a problem since.

Things we're glad we splurged on

Upgraded cabinets - We love our cabinets. They're solid and just look really nice. We also realize that cabinets would be a total pain in the butt to replace later. Expensive upgrade, but to us, it was worth it.

Upgraded carpet on main floor - SO much better than the crappy standard carpet. If you want carpet, do yourself a favor and upgrade now.

Gas- I wouldn't really call this a "splurge" because I don't believe the upgrade was THAT expensive in the grand scheme of things, but it was definitely worth it. We save money monthly, and I just love cooking on a gas stove.

Upgraded appliances - We upgraded our appliance to better models (and to stainless). I think this was worth it because we have had ZERO problems with them. Dishwasher works great. Oven works great. Microwave works great. I've heard a few people have issues with the standard appliances so for us, it was worth upgrading (despite it being way over priced) to avoid the possibility that one of the appliances doesn't work well/might have to be replaced. The stainless upgrade was worth it to me just because I think it looks better.

Morning Room - Seriously, just get it. Most importantly, it ADDS value to your home because of the square footage. Your little upgrades like floors and granite and stuff really do not add much to your home's value. We had friends who put in a GORGEOUS  and EXPENSIVE patio with a built in grill in addition to an extension to their home, and then got their house re-appraised. The only thing that added value to their house (according to the appraisal people) was the extension. The Pinterest or Houzz worthy patio wasn't worth anything according to them. Something to think about. Plus, I think it makes the first floor feel so much more open. I don't even know where we would put a kitchen table if we didn't have that room.

Surround sound rough-ins - Obviously, this isn't for everyone, but we're glad we just had the rough-in's put in. It made our lives SO much easier (and probably cheaper) than having wiring done later when we bought our speakers. If you think you'll definitely get speakers and some point (and with my fiancé, I knew this WOULD happen), then get the rough-ins and save yourself a headache.

Fence - This is not something provided by Ryan Homes, but it was seriously the BEST money we spent on our house since we have dogs. If you have dogs, and you think a fence will be nice, but not sure if it's worth it, get it. Seriously. It was painful writing that check, but SO worth it.

Ceiling fans - Is it annoying that you have to pay over $100 or $200 for a stupid rough-in? Yes. Is it worth it in the end? Yes. It would cost a lot more to put them in later. Plus, the rough-in doesn't HAVE to be for a ceiling fan. We used the rough-in in our morning room to put a chandelier in there. Remember, some of the rooms don't come with any lighting, so those rooms are DARK with no lights. Our great room is a good example of this. If we didn't have a ceiling fan in there with a light, it would be really annoyingly dark. We would have to rely on table lamps alone.

Fireplace - I looove our fireplace. I love putting it on to get really warm in the winter. I love having it to decorate for Christmas. I love the look of it. Totally worth it to me. Makes the great room a lot more homey in my opinion.

Our deck - We absolutely love our deck, and we're so glad we got it right away. We got ours through Ryan Homes because we got a Trex (not their normal knock-off brand) deck for basically 50% off since they kept messing everything up (see previous posts for more details on that). If we didn't get a discount that large, we maybe would have gone through another company after building, but it was easy going through them, and it's well constructed. Only thing that kinda annoys me is that they didn't really ask us our opinion on some changes. For example, we were told we would need 5-6 steps so we chose to have the steps go straight back into the yard. It ended up being more like 12 steps. Since there are so many steps it jets pretty far back into our yard, and, in my opinion, looks kinda stupid. If they would have kept us updated we probably would have chose to change the steps to be parallel to the deck instead. I feel like Ryan Homes were just throwing it up to check it off their to do list while a different company would have kept communication with us throughout, but it is what it is.

Things we maybe would have changed...

 Upgraded flooring - If you've read my other posts, you know I put in my own laminate flooring after we moved in. You may also know that we ended up buying tainted flooring from Lumber Liquidators and now have to worry about whether or not it's toxic (They won their lawsuit by the way and don't have to do a recall even though there is proof these floors are illegal and not safe in accordance to the laws in the United States .. yea... avoid them at all costs). If we could go back in time, I think we would have just done the flooring when we built the house and included the dining room (Carpet in the dining room is weird). It would have saved us a lot of headaches. To be clear though, we would not have gotten the first level of hardwood, but probably would have gone up to C or D. Our friends have level A and it's started looking worn the first year, and they only have a little pug (no crazy long dog nails), and their kids are old enough that they aren't wreaking havoc on the floor.

No carpet - Part of me wishes we just didn't get any carpet on the first floor, and maybe got some area rugs. I don't think I ever really realized just how much dirt is in a carpet and how they hold odor (we have three dogs so we're constantly battling this). Keeping things clean and fresh is possible but it does take a lot of extra work.

Kitchen island - I don't HATE our kitchen island but it is a weird shape, in my opinion. Part of me wishes we would have gotten a better one later or asked if they had a classic shaped one, but oh well. I know a lot of their houses now are offering regular islands so that's good!

Random Tips

Seal your garage floor - We sealed our garage floor with this paint/sealer we got from Sherwin Williams. It's one of those things you should do as soon as you can, since concrete is really porous and gets stained very easily. It's just easier to clean and prevents cracking. It was a fairly easy day project and worth the $50-$100 we spent on it (we painted it on the floor ourselves).


Paint your garage - Now, this isn't for everyone and not absolutely necessary, but my fiancé is so glad he did it, because the ugly walls with the white streaks drove him crazy. We paid someone to do it, and it does look a lot nicer. Mostly, it doesn't look dirty now that it's finished and painted. Good thing to do early so you don't have to pay to have them to clean the walls before they finish them and the paint them. Note: Even though the garage has drywall, it is NOT finished (unless you paid extra), and can't be painted until it's finished.


Seal your driveway - It's fairly cheap and your driveway will last longer (it helps keep it from cracking or crumbling with age).

In the end, we're really happy with the vast majority of our decisions. The house has held up well, and my fiancé wants to live there forever. Definitely, an overall great purchase!

 

10 Month Inspection

It's been a LOOOONG time since I've written on here, but I figured I'd update readers on the 10 month inspection part of building a home.


10 Month Inspection


We got our paperwork for our 10 month inspection around July. On the paperwork it had our scheduled date and instructions. We had to fill out the paperwork and confirm if the date we were assigned was good for us or not. On the paperwork you'll try and list everything that needs fixing. Things we included were:

• Squeaky flooring by morning in Great Room
• Drywall issues (nail pops and other problems)
• Calking needs to be re-done
• Some bedroom doors wouldn't close due to house settling
• Kitchen cabinet doors need to be re-aligned
• Garbage disposal acting funny

Our scheduled date was in early August. It only took about an hour. We had two guys show up, one guy telling us what the next steps would be and went over paperwork with us. In the meantime, the second guy went around the house and checked all the doors and other little things he could fix up for us.


During this initial inspection (at least for us) they didn't fix anything with drywall or flooring. I think this is dependent on your area, because I have seen some people get their flooring fixed on this visit, but our guys have a specific team that needs to come out for that. We also were given what we need to schedule the drywall visit.


Everything with them went smoothly and they were both very polite and easy to work with.


Soon after we sent the paperwork in to get our drywall fixed. We didn't get a call for WEEKS, so my boyfriend ended up calling them, and they told us we couldn't get an appointment until November 10th. I don't know about you guys, but I think that's a little ridiculous. We talked to them in August and November was the earliest they could do?? Oh well, it is what it is, and now I'm forced to wait for paint even longer than I thought originally!


Crown molding, quarter round, and paint


We finally found our painters annnnnd we're also getting crown molding! I'm pretty excited about it, and cannot wait!


Next week we will have a guy come in to do crown molding in every room of the first floor AND he'll be putting the quarter round down for our floor. After the whole Lumber Liquidator's scandal (you can read my post about that here), I just couldn't get myself to finish a floor that I know I'll probably have to rip up eventually.


We decided we're just going to wait out the class action lawsuit they have against them (which is why we're having someone finish it with the quarter round) to see if anything happens/if we can get our money back. Once that settles we'll invest in a whole new floor and definitely get one in there before kids are a thought. We're mostly afraid that if we rip it up we'll eliminate any rights we have to getting refunded. We feel that they are mostly safe for now, as the chemicals are mostly in the glue and not on the exposed surface of the wood (Lumber Liquidators is arguing it's safe because it's contained IN the wood - kind of like asbestos is fine unless you tamper with it), so as of right now it's not worth the risk or investment.


Once we get our drywall fixed (finally) we will be getting the entire 1st floor painted and the stairway and hallway upstairs painted.


Hope everyone else is doing well, and I'll try and keep things more up to date and not just completely disappear!

New Projects and New Blog

Hi everyone! I have been terrible at keeping this thing updated but I've been pretty busy! I've been working full time, going to Grad school, and most exciting of all putting together my new blog!

I'm in the process of preparing to launch a new blog at www.womangladiator.com. On this I'm going to feature a lot of DIY projects that take away some of that cookie cutter effect (de-Ryanize). I'll also be featuring tips on a healthy life style (better outlook on things, women empowerment, clean eating, etc) while I take the journey to a healthier overall lifestyle myself!

If you are interested please click the link above and you can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest OR sign up for my Newsletter (or you can do both!) so you can stay updated on everything!

Now, on to some projects I've completed.

The Garden Update

So ever since we've moved in my boyfriend has discovered he has a green thumb. You know that neighbor who you see obsessing over his lawn, and you see him/her seeding, watering, pulling weeds constantly and you're like wow .. they must really care about their yard ... Well that's now my boyfriend. Since we are now the people obsessed with our yard we decided to spice up the garden a little and add some more curb appeal. It also makes our front yard look different than all the others in the neighborhood which is nice!

We were able to complete it in a few hours (sod is seriously heavy people!), so you could easily take a day and complete this project.

What you'll need:

• Spray Paint (optional)
• A shovel
• A wheelbarrel (or something else you can dump all the dirt you dig up in)
• Top Soil
• Plants
• Mulch

Step 1:

Mark the area you want the garden to go. This acts as a great guideline and makes it easier to create the shape you want when you're digging.

Step 2:

Dig up and remove all grass/sod in that area (we dug a little deeper so we could put down more topsoil because the soil at our house is practically clay)

Step 3:

Dig holes for plants and put them in the holes (follow the guides that should come along with your plant that tell you how deep and wide the hole should be - we also threw some topsoil in the hole so our plants roots could grab onto good soil)

Step 4:

Throw down top soil and pack it around the plants. Use the top soil to make an even surface in your garden.

Step 5:

Throw some mulch down and you're done!

This is what it looked like before (Focus on the walkway area)

And this is after!

 

If it were completely up to me I would have made it a little more dramatic by bringing it out farther but the boyfriend didn't share my vision. I still love it though! We also got some lights to put along the walkway which look beautiful at night! I'll post a picture of that once I'm home!

 

 

Old Drawer to Herb Garden

 

My next project which will hopefully get done tomorrow is this herb garden. I gto an old drawer for $10 at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. I got some pre-made legs at Lowes(about $7 each). This drawer will be turned into an awesome raised spice garden! Stay tuned for the update!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope everyone else is having an awesome time decorating and/or building their homes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Laminate Floor is Killing Me (Lumber Liquidators WARNING)

Update: Lumber Liquidators somehow won their lawsuit. They don't even have to do a recall of their obviously dangerous floor because of the BS excuse that it's better left undisturbed .. Sounds kinda like Asbestos, doesn't it? They didn't even get fined for putting people in harms way. I don't really have any words to explain how I feel about this, but it sounds like the typical BS where companies are typically protected more than citizens. The only change is that they are now required to make their flooring in the US, but I still would NEVER trust this company. Buyer beware!


Hi all!

I haven't posted in way too long, because I'm a huge slacker!

I'm still working on getting a brand new blog on Wordpress set up but, like a said before, I'm a slacker. Stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, I really wanted to warn you all about Lumber Liquidators, especially because this site is probably attracting new home buyers, DIYers, or renovators. Here is the episode of "60 Minutes" that made us aware of the problem.

As some of you may have seen, 60 Minutes did a story on them and how a good amount of their flooring is tainted with a very high level of formaldehyde that violated safety limits set by the California Air Resource Board (CARB). Formaldehyde is used in the glue used to put together laminate flooring. If the levels fall within the safety limits the flooring should be safe, but the flooring from Lumber Liquidators (sourced from China) surpassed the limit on almost every single test 60 Minutes adminstered. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen and can cause health problems as serious as cancer. It is especially harmful to children.

This article by CBS does a good job at discussing the issue. In the article (and on the 60 minutes episode) they say "In test commissioned by '60 Minutes,' 30 of 31 boxes of the product labeled compliant were not, with some emitting as much as 13 times the Carb 2 limit."

The video also shows Managers of the manufacturing plant in China admitting the products made for Lumber Liquidators are not CARB 2 compliant despite what the boxes say. They also say how it is about 10-15% cheaper to buy products with this level of formaldehyde, and they COULD make it CARB 2 compliant, but this would be more expensive. AKA Lumber Liquidators is a money hungry, greedy, low-life company that cares more about profits than the health of it's customers (Of course, that's just my opinion...).

The company is defending their product and is STILL selling this flooring, but they are now offering customers an air testing kit that will measure the amount of formaldehyde in the air of your home. In my opinion, this is ridiculous. This test does nothing to test the actual flooring, and they could easily argue that something else in your house could be contributing to the levels in the air. The company says, IF the levels are higher than normal they will CONSIDER replacing your floor at no cost.

As some of you know, my boyfriend and I put our own flooring in after our home was built in order to save money. Guess where we bought our laminate flooring... Lumber Liquidators. Guess where our floor is sourced from... China. Guess what our floor looks like... The floor the Manager in China was pointing to when he was say it was definitely not CARB 2 compliant.

Awesome, right?!?!

As of now, we're not sure what our immediate move is. Our flooring costed us  around $2000 and countless hours of installation (I was sore in places I didn't know I had and my knees and hands we red, cracked, and aged about 10 years). I'm also really concerned about the health affects of cutting all of that wood. As you may know, I installed this flooring myself. I was surrounded in saw dust from this product for DAYS, and so was my dad, mom, boyfriend, and dogs. I would imagine sawing open this flooring would release whatever chemicals are hiding within, and a very large portion of their customers do the floor install themself. Also, what about the companies they work with for installation? Those workers are around this stuff ALL day EVERY day.

Deep down, I know we can't live with this floor. I feel like I'm breathing in poison. With all the testing done by labs (you can see them all in the 60 Minutes video), I have a hard time believing they aren't dangerous to have in the house. We absolutely need to replace them before kids become a reality. We'll probably reach out to the company, but I have a feeling this will lead nowhere. They're sticking to their "our floor is perfectly fine" story, and I think a lawsuit will be the only way to make them give people a refund or replace their flooring.

Anyways .. I really just wanted to get the word out, because I think you deserve to know this if you are thinking of buying flooring from them. I know I would have liked to know before I made the decision to do business with them. I will never do business with them again, even to buy their un-tainted, formaldehyde free flooring. I can never support a company that clearly cares more about money than the health of their employees and their customers.

If anyone knows of any good, affordable flooring places in the Pennsylvania/Delaware area, please let me know! It looks like we'll be replacing flooring instead of going on a vacation this year...

Quick Update

I have been MIA for a really really long time! I don't have pics for you (Sorry!) but I figured I'd just check in about stuff.


The Good Stuff

• We truly love our home. I love our elevation, our upgrades, everything really.
• Love the lay out. It's so nice having an open floor plan when we have people over.
• I'm really glad we chose to put the TV on the wall separating our office and great room. This allows us to see the TV from the kitchen which makes cooking much more enjoyable, and I don't feel as left out when a game is on and I'm making food.
• Big shower! No regrets about getting the Roman Shower versus a tub and smaller shower. We NEVER take baths so it wasn't worth it to us and it was a great decision. I love having two shower heads!
• Cabinets - Really glad we upgraded these to the color we wanted and to the higher quality. Definitely worth it.
• Quality - so far the overall quality seems very good! We've had barely any problems and we credit that a lot to our PM and his team. They clearly care about their work and it shows. I think your home all depends on the construction team and doesn't have as much to do with Ryan Homes
• Upgrade carpets/carpet pad - This was a really good decision for us. I know some people HATE carpet but I really don't mind it and the level C carpet we got is so soft on my feet!

The Not So Good Stuff

There's not too much to tell here but we already have some things we need fixed at our 10 month check in.

• Nails pops - This isn't really a "bad" thing since it's completely normal but we have definitely noticed some. I think the number we have seen is below average though.
• The molding on the stairs is separating from the wall. It looks like they REALLY filled it in with caulk to compensate for the gap. Definitely will be asking about this.
• Our breaker switches kept flipping. A few times a week a random room/area would lose power and we'd have to go to the garage and flip the switch. It was just really annoying. We had someone come out and look at it with Ryan Homes and it hasn't done it since (apparently it was a really simple fix).
• Toilets - Our basement toilet is terrible at flushing and the downstairs toilet isn't much better. We had our PM look at this at our 1 month inspection and he basically just told us we need to hold down the handle for a few seconds rather than just pushing it down. I think that's a stupid solution but whatever. They say it's because they're the water saving toilets but my parents have one and they definitely work a lot better than ours. Oh well.
• There aren't enough places to hang towels in the upstairs bathrooms. The places you could put an extra towel rack are kind of awkward and far from the tub and the one they installed in the secondary bath is over the toilet which is also kind of weird. Not a big deal but kind of frustrating!
• The Paint they use is seriously horrible! This isn't a huge deal because we plan to paint anyway but everything marks up the walls. Everything. Plus, once there's a mark, it isn't going anywhere, and they're impossible to scrub off. I wish it was at least a little better because we were only planning on doing the first floor with paint at first so now we either need to shell out extra money to get decent paint on the walls upstairs or just live with the crappy paint for awhile.

All in all, not bad! We are really happy with everything and to be honest, I really thought we'd run into more problems by now (knock on wood).

Hope everything is going well with everyone else!

Christmas Decorations!

We are still here! I know I've been MIA for awhile but I've just been really busy. I decided to start a new blog so that's been taking up some time as well. It's going to be based on all of my DIY projects with a lot more detail on the how-to and the overall process, so stay tuned for that!

Our projects have slowed a little bit, but I did get some decorations done for Christmas which was fun! Here are some pictures of those:

 

We also had a dog escape incodent. You see the innocent looking dog laying peacefully by our fireplace? He's also an escape artist. This is what happens when you have smart dogs! One morning he just wasn't in our yard (Thankfully this happened to my boyfriend and not me because I would have completely freaked out). We originally thought he jumped the fence but yesterday we saw him trying to squeeze through a small gap between the bottom of our fence's gate and the ground. So, this is another project. We just have to figure out how to fill in the gap (It's about 8 inches) so it's dog proof! Huskies are great dogs but they are way too smart!

I hope everything is going great with everyone else!

Pics Galore!

I finally took pictures of most of the downstairs in our home! I left out the dining/living room because it's a mess and currently has a naked Christmas tree in the middle of the floor. The office and bathroom look the same so no need for pictures there either. I left out upstairs because it's nowhere near finished!

Here are some pictures of the downstairs though! It still needs some work but I'm so happy with it for now! We'll start at the front, shall we?

Our home! The tree on the right side of the picture is a newly planted tree (Props to my mom and amazing boyfriend for this present and the labor required for planting it). It's a Weeping Cherry! I'm not sure what kind of tree they gave us (on the left). I guess time will tell!

Our guard frog by our front door! He's rusting already but I kind of like it ... I know, I know, we artists are weird.

Walking in the front. Check out that floor - whoever installed that floor is mad skilled ;)

Front door/Entry - The door color is Sherwin Williams "Watery." I love the pop of color (especially since we can't paint!)

Mudroom freshly floored

Before / After : Rug from West Elm

Hallway and basement door

Glimpse of Hallway, basement door, pantry door (also Sherwin Williams "Watery") and our beautiful fridge

Before / After

Kitchen! Freshly floored and cleaned. I'm also going to paint the basement door the same color as the pantry and then paint the top central panel on that door in chalkboard paint for notes/grocery lists/etc. The trashcan was going to be a dog food container but ended up being, you guessed it, a trash can! I got it for around $15-$20 at Home Depot and just spray painted it.

Doggy fuel station

Before / After

Morning room and my sexy table and new chairs!

Great Room - These pictures are kind of dark so my apologies! My phone doesn't have the best quality!

Love my Fireplace and big clock!

Close up!

I love my Teal Couch and funky pillows!

Back yard - left side. See those holes? We had to move our Ryan Homes trees to the other side of our fence because our dogs were digging them up. When looking into dog breeds we heard huskies were diggers .. Those sources were right. We had them trained for apartment living but home living is a little bit different .. They test our patience frequently. They are so darn cute though!

Right side of the yard - Love having a fence! We also got some solar fence caps for the corner and middle fence caps that light up at night! Love them!

Now that Christmas is less than a month away (Umm what?? When did that happen???), we started talking about Christmas present ideas. My boyfriend had a great idea about presents, and we decided to split a large cost for the house and then just get each other something small. We pretty much settled on getting backsplash for the kitchen. We talked about a grill or nice pots and pans (Calphalon has these dishwasher safe pans now .. What I would do for those bad boys ...), but ultimately we decided those things could wait and backsplash is a fun purchase! We went and looked around yesterday. We either want something simple shaped with a touch of color or  just something with a nice texture/shape (or maybe a little bit of both??).

This is called a "windchime" pattern. I liked it because some of the glass is frosted and some isn't which gives it some extra visual interest. 

I really like this shape and the color. It's hard to tell by the picture but it's about 4 inches wide. It has a tint of grayish teal (I may or may not have just made up that color..)

This is the same shape as the one above but smaller and in a marble. I really like it, but it was pricier than the others .. we'll see. We're going to look at places like Lowes and Home Depot too for similar stuff just because of price.

I hope everyone is loving their home! I feel like everyone has disappeared, but I'm sure everyone is crazy busy! I know we were for over a month (and we still kind of area).

I'll be decorating for Christmas all day today. I'll try and do a Christmas decor update!