Promptus Pre Drywall

A very busy time in the building process resulted in this delayed update. We must start with a shout out for our PM for doing a great job and addressing our concerns to the best of his abilities. Sometimes the man is nothing short of a miracle worker, especially considering how many homes Ryan has him building. 

I have to say that everybody who commented on the previous post gets an A+++ for reading. I honestly expected many people to be flipping through blog posts and looking at pictures, but it seems everyone who read passed my little reading test. Ha! How about that!

I reached out to our PM after the last post and setup a meeting at the house to go over a few things. We met for a couple of hours in the morning and went over all concerns and marked several spots with the deadly duo of mighty black marker and spectacular green spray paint. Our communication issue was simply the result of our preference to use email to leave no room for misunderstanding, and his dependence on phone calls as the preferred communication method. He has a Blackberry and with over a hundred phone calls a day, emails  get pushed way down so he doesn't see them until much later when using a computer. So if we need something, call, very simple and straight forward..

As for the Radon concerns we received a call from our SR's manager who basically said that Ryan Homes doesn't offer any Radon mitigation options as they don't want to be liable for it or its maintenance or success or failure to address any Radon that maybe present in a home. Thus, the general blanket disclosure that RH is not responsible for any naturally occurring substances, gases, or materials. The manager said that providing such options would imply assuming responsibility for its presence or consequences, and of a particular concern are possible health issues...

We understand that this makes sense for RH from a business and liability perspective, but as a personal concern we don't accept that they don't allow us to install a pipe in the gravel before the basement floor is poured just in case.. It doesn't have to be called a Radon mitigation pipe, it's just a pipe the owner wanted for whatever reason.. But that ship has sailed on.. At least we have the internal PVC chase we paid for in the dead space. The chase can be  used for Radon mitigation if needed. We hope we never need it..

We are also keeping an eye on water on the basement floor possibly entering from rear wall of the family room where water has pooled due to a spectacular amount of rain.. Our PM said that the water is the result of the GFI tripping and sump pump stopping which resulted in water overflowing into the floor. But he said we can keep an eye for the next couple of weeks to see if there is any more water, which he is confident will not happen.

Plumbing and Electrical are done. Basement has a concrete floor now and so does the garage. Insulation is done. Savvy readers familiar with the process may realize an "Aha! Moment" here.  Drywall is stocked in the house and ready to be installed perhaps 7/9. Siding was finished on 7/8 and it looks great. The brick for the front of the house has been in progress for over a week but only the garage and bonus bedroom are done.. the rain is not helping much. When I asked the brick layers if they'll finish today, he gave me an exhausted you-must-be-crazy-look and said, "My friend. It's a big house! Maybe next week."

Finally... the reason for this post is to say we had a posthaste predrywall meeting on 7/3. It came out of the blue as we were expecting much later. We spent about two hours going over the house and pointed out a few minor things. Mr. PM is very good and that's the truth, most of what we pointed was stuff that the trades missed even though it was clearly communicated to them.. But should be addressed before drywall.

Another reason for the lack of posts was waiting for something major to to post.. Perhaps that brick front, which will in a few minutes be on day 9 now. We selected Cagles Mill - Queen, but by God it looks dark velvet red, like red red wine.. Much redder than we expected. We will like it whatever it is, but this just goes to confirm the common knowledge that what you see in the RH design center is never identical to what you end up getting. We shall see in a couple days.. or more, "My friend, it's a big house."