Weekly Lot Visit

Today was one of the most exciting lot visits because we finally have drywall!!! It was so nice seeing the rooms for the first time...it really looks like a house now.

When we arrived, there were at least 10 people in the house taping the drywall joints and mudding over them. They were not playing around! We did not venture into certain areas of the house which were 'heavily populated' because there was so much going on but we did manage to get pictures of most of the rooms.

View from street

View from front door to great room

View from great room to front door

Study

Dining room

Downstairs guest bedroom

Hallway from guest bedroom to kitchen and breakfast room

Hall to master bedroom (storage on left)

View of master bedroom after turning corner

Master bedroom with child lol

Entrance to master bathroom and closet

Great room

High ceilings in great room

Kitchen and breakfast room

View back towards hall to master bedroom from breakfast room

Pantry (left)

Secondary staircase

Storage space under secondary stair case

Game room upstairs - this was as close as we could get

 So, after the drywall has been installed and screwed into the studs as individual sheets, the joints have to have tape applied over them and then 'mud' to join the sheets for a lack of better terms.

There was a giant pile of sand in the front yard and a palette of 'scratch and brown coat' which are both used in stucco application. Though the construction manager did not mention beginning the stucco application process next week, it must be on the horizon. So perhaps they will be applying texture to the drywall and starting the stucco at the same time.

Just for Kicks

...and because I'm a little dorky, I figured I would post my horrible amateur video of one of the streets in my 'neighborhood.' As I said before, the entire community is called Riverstone, however every section has its own name. The section we will be moving too is a smaller section and I like that. Majority of the homes there are Mediterranean in style (stucco) with minimal floral landscaping. *Now, for the first part of the short video you will only see the SIDES of homes. lol  Towards the end you get to see a couple of homes and see how close they are to each other. AND before you get excited, both Partners in Building (PIB) and Toll Brothers build in this section and PIB homes look more grand.* Mine will not be so grand, but perfect for me!

Here's my video recorded by holding my Canon PowerShot out the driver's side window. What? Was I watching where I was driving? Of course I was!

Weekly Construction Update

As usual, the sales manager and construction manager gave us a call to update us on what will occur over the next week. They couldn't get us on the phone but they left a message. So...

• Inspection reports - all corrected
• Insulation went in fine and the construction manager checked it
• Sheetrock installer should be showing up tomorrow
• If sheetrock starts tomorrow then we are looking at texture being applied to walls next Wednesday  :-)

Most homes here in the Houston area have texture applied to the walls, including my current home. The first time I came across the texture I was wondering to myself, "What in the World is this stuff on the walls?" Turns out that texture helps to cut down on stains being picked up as well as hides imperfections in the dry wall. If you have never seen texture on a wall, here it is:

To those of you who are not familiar with drywall texture it probably looks weird, but I guess I've gotten used to it.

Video of house & insulation

During my walk through yesterday the construction manager suggested that we video all the rooms in the house so that in the future, contractors will know where certain beams, electrical, etc. are located. He said that in the past he has had home buyers contact him three years later asking if he had the plans for the house because they were making some changes and needed to know where certain things are. According to him, they do not keep the house plans that long. In fact, with Toll Brothers the buyers do not get a copy of the plans (for who knows what reason), so if you want to make changes later, contractors will have a hard time figuring out what's where behind the drywall.

I managed to video all the rooms of the house though the vendors installing the insulation were there with most of the insulation already done! So far the construction manager has been true to his word with when things should happen.

Here's a video of the laundry of the laundry room:

Insulation is placed on the exterior walls and attic. There will be a post coming soon sharing what I've learned about insulation.

Walk through

Today I met with the construction manager, who I have been told is very good and experienced at what he does, for the pre-drywall walk through. The purpose of this walk through was to make sure that all of the electrical, multimedia, and structural options were completed and to also to go over the inspection reports from all inspectors.

The construction manager showed me the inspection report from our inspector and showed me every single item they had addressed. He made it clear that the city inspector was the authority and that if the city inspector did not point something out, then they did not have to address it.  Nonetheless they did address some things that were suggested by our inspector.  Following the inspection concerns being addressed, we went through the entire house making sure that all recessed cans, additional electrical outlets, wall sconce hook ups and soffit lighting had been installed.

Several items that the inspector mentioned in his report had not been fixed but the construction manager reassured me that they would be done prior to the final inspection.  Those things were the foam seal missing at all penetrations (i.e. - windows and doors), flashing on the exterior doors, and duct work being in contact with each other.

1. Foam seal missing - will be done this week and construction manager encouraged us to visit the site again tomorrow or later in week
2. Flashing on the exterior doors - will be installed by stucco guy; he feels he does a better job; will be part of the final inspection
3. Duct work being in contact with each other - There is a lot of duct work in the attic and it is hung to avoid contacting each other. When the attic is insulated, installers with place insulation between the ducts to make sure they are not in direct contact - that would create condensation that is conducive to mold and mildew.

Overall, the walk through was very thorough and I felt that the construction manager was genuine about addressing the above mentioned items later. Believe me, I will make sure of that!

Weekly Lot Visit & Inspection Report

We went past the house quickly, mainly because my husband had just been there on Thursday to meet the inspector, and some of the issues had already been addressed by Toll Brothers. Since both the city and Toll Brother's independent inspectors had visited on Wednesday, it could be that they'd pointed out the deficiencies as well.

As expected, there were no major changes in the appearance of the house except for red stickers placed by our inspector where things needed to be addressed and spray painted messages on the floor by the city inspector.

My husband was present for part of our inspectors walk-through and the inspector commented that they were doing a good job and using good materials. He still found a handful of deficiencies for them to correct, one of which was a blatant code violation regarding insulation around every entry point (i.e. - windows and doors), so I wonder what other builders do.

I have a walk through in 2 days with the construction manager to make sure that all of the structural options we selected are actually in place prior to starting with insulation and drywall. We'll see how it goes!

Weekly Construction Update

Here's the update given to us today...

• Inspections: Tomorrow both the inspector for the City of Sugar Land & an independent inspector that Toll Brothers uses will conduct the Phase II inspection
• Phase II inspections are completed prior to insulation and drywall being started
• More inspections: OUR independent contractor will complete his own inspection and provide Toll Brothers with a report of any deficiencies or violations by this Friday
• Next week: Toll Brothers contractors will address any issues found during inspections then begin installing insulation and drywall

Until next time...

Weekly Lot Visit & Energy Ratings for Windows

Hey all!!  Instead of posting pictures of changes that are barely detectable with the human eye, I figured that in addition to updated pictures of the house, I would share information that I learn about the building process. I'm always down for a little edumacation. lol

HVAC may or may not be completed at this point. I'm no HVAC expert so unless the construction manager says so, I'm never certain that something has been completed. Electrical wiring has been started and we could see the outlets for our ceiling fixtures, wall sconces, etc.  The remaining windows have also been installed.

View from the street

View of attic from first floor

Master closet from the master bath

Master bedroom

Pantry

Husband walking through the dining room

My favorite - the laundry room!

Interpreting Energy Labels on new windows

As previously stated, Toll Brothers does not provide very much information regarding the energy efficiency of their homes. However, we live in Houston where temperatures reach above 100 degrees in the summer, so I'm very much interested! Guess I have to edumacate myself!

New windows are required to have a label, referred to as an NFRC label. NFRC stands for National Fenestration Rating Council. NFRC labels can be a valuable tool and their website likens their label to the miles-per-gallon sticker on a new car. NFRC testing protocols involve testing the entire window and involves independent testing so you can trust the information.  Below is a picture of the NFRC label taken from my home being built.

SAMPLE window label from nfrc.org

• U-Factor: ranges between 0.15 - 1.2; measures how well the window prevents heat from escaping a home. The lower the U-Factor, the better the product is at keeping heat inside the home - obviously less important where I live.
• Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC): ranges between 0 and 1; measures how much heat from the sun is blocked. The lower the SHGC, the more a product is blocking heat gain from the sun.
• Visible Transmittance: ranges between 0 and 1; measures how much light comes through a window. The higher the VT, the higher the potential for 'daylighting.'

Now, after interpreting the information on the windows for my new home, it appears that these are good windows. They will do a good job at keeping out heat from the sun and will not transmit a lot of sunlight. Are there probably better windows out there? Of course! Will these windows help keep my energy bills manageable? I sure hope so!

Weekly Construction Update

Straight to the point update was given today by the construction manager. HVAC installation will continue and the electrical installation started and will take several days to complete. Nothing too exciting.

I have yet to receive the requested order of steps, but my own research suggests that the next steps will involve HVAC, plumbing, electrical and framing inspection by the municipal building inspector and my independent inspector of course ;-)

Weekly Lot Visit & House wrap

I drove past the lot for a super fast visit and not expecting to see very much difference since the last construction update only discussed windows, HVAC and a fireplace. I went at dusk so the pictures are not very good, but you can see that the HVAC installation has begun, the fireplace is in (not the mantle), and most of the windows have been installed.

House/Building wrap
Builders apply building wrap to homes to serve as a barrier to water and air that walls need for water protection and energy efficiency. This material is an essential component of the 'water managed' walls and serve as the second layer of moisture protection. There are different levels of building wrap and according to the website it appears that the material used by Toll Brothers in my neighborhood is second best of 4 options offered by the manufacturer.

View from the street - notice majority of windows are in place

View of windows above front door - there is a 'plant ledge' there

Up close picture of house wrap

HVAC duct

Fireplace - I know not impressive at this point

Two-story great room with installed windows

View of front door from foyer - plant ledge seen above

More HVAC duct work

Breakfast view

Messy backyard

View of house from backyard

View of great room from catwalk

Game room - love the large window!

Foyer toward great room

Different view from street