Drywall Installation - Basement

The final post in the drywall installation series will focus on the basement.  The base model of the Florence does not include a finished basement, but for our neighborhood at the time we purchased there was a great incentive discount for the finished basement as long as we use NVR Mortgage, which is Ryan Homes affiliated mortgage company.  From what I have gathered in many blogs there is typically some incentive whether that be discounted finished basement in our case or in other a free finished basement or free granite counter upgrade in order to get you to use their mortgage company.

The basement there is a finished and 2 unfinished sections.  The finished section is at the bottom of the stairs and covers pretty much the full length of the house underneath the living room and family room.  

Finished Basement

The stairs descend down to large open area which houses the finished section of the basement shaped like a backwards "L".  The ceilings are high even where the duct work is run, no ducking required even for tall individuals.  The basement has lights standard as part of the finish option, but they are light fixture and not recessed lighting which would be an upgrade option.  We decided to stick with the standard fixtures, for our finished basement.

Finished Basement - View from back looking towards front

The front unfinished section can be seen in the right corner of the above picture, closed behind the wall and a door.  The doorway tot he larger unfinished section at the back of the house can be seen in the picture below. On the far wall in the picture you can see two outlets, one will be for the cable and one for an electric outlet.  We decided to place the TV connection there so that a TV could be seen from anywhere in the finished portion of the basement.  In the model they had it on the wall with the door, that you will see would be blocked from the angle in the picture below.

Finished Basement - View from front looking at back

In the space where I took the picture above we plan to someday setup a pool table which there is plenty of room, as the basement is quite large.

Unfinished Basement

The unfinished section of the basement is divided up in two sections, the first is a small are at the front of the house in the corner under the living room.  This is an area which an optional powder room can be added, we decided against this as it is a little pricey and we are already gaining an extra one and a half bathrooms over our current house.  If you get the powder room, the area under the stairs has an ejection pump installed in a well.  That area is closed off and accessible through a door, in our scenario there is just a closed off wall under the stairs. In the front unfinished section there is access to the sewer line and the water line intake.

Unfinished Basement - Front Section

The morning room addition not only comes with added floor space on the main floor but also a great bit of space added to the unfinished section at the back of the house.  This is the primary storage area for the house unless you upgrade the attic into a finished attic and the added space makes for plenty of room unless you are a collector.  The unfinished section of the basement is wrapped with a fire retardant material to keep any potential fire, as can be seen in both the picture above and below.  The picture below shows the area added with the morning room addition. 

Unfinished Basement - Under the Morning Room

In the back side of the unfinished basement situated under the kitchen and when applicable the morning room, is where the sump pump, hot water heater and furnace are all situated.  They are in a row across the front area of the section.  Just behind the hot water heater is the source of the Radon pipe we have seen in a number of pictures in past posts, which starts in the ground in the unfinished basement helping vent any radon before it builds up in the basement.  The furnace looks small in size for how big the house is, but the modern devices are much more efficient and do not need an over abundance of space.

Hot Water Heater

Furnace

The sump pump is hooked up, you cant see it but its there in the ground, and the crew has run a power cord down form the kitchen where they have already activated the power to get it supplied with power until the final electric is powered on in the basement.

Sump Pump

In the upcoming posts we will start to look at the different things as they get installed through out the the house.  In the next post the banister, cabinets, and some tile work is on deck.

Journey to the Inside of "Florence" Part 2

Yesterday we explored the inside of the first floor, but left out the trip down stairs and upstairs for sake of not running one post on too long.  So here is the first look at the inside of the basement and first floors.  

As one might expect the basement was quite dark, there is very limited windows in the design, just a small one, maybe one foot by three foot in size, that is situated at the back of the foundation wall just below the morning room.  I wish there was a few windows along the left side of the house to bring some natural light into the finished basement side, but that was not to be.  We never asked about adding some since we were already budget maxed with the other upgrades, but if your building a Florence it might not be a bad thing to ask about.

The frame for the finished basement walls are already up, and the drain plumbing was in but little else.  The hot water heater had been delivered and sat in a dark corner of the basement.  I tried to get my camera to take some pictures but couldn't pull enough light for it to work.  Bob was able to help out by using a flashlight app on his cell phone in order for me to catch just a couple.  The first is the area is where the hot water heater, furnace and sump pump will ultimate reside.  Sorry for the blurriness not my finest work!

Unfinished Portion of the Basement

The second picture is taken from the base of the stairs looking into the finished portion of the basement facing the front of the house.  You can see the wall for where the storage closet in the front of the basement will reside.  additionally you can see the reddish color in the upper right portion of the picture this is a steel beam support running across the house surrounded by wood so that the walls can be finished.

Finished Side, or soon to be finished

After checking out the basement we headed back up to the first floor and around to the back of the house into the family room.  From there we went up the stair case to the second floor.  At the top of the stairs off the the left, front right of the house when looking from outside, just above the garage is the loft area.  The model home has the fourth bedroom option so this area is all walled off in it, so we never saw exactly what it looks like, still can't fully see it but it looks giant in the pre-drywall state.

Loft

The area in back left of the picture will be the walk-in closet for the master bedroom.  I spun to the left taking another picture from the same location, but you can see through to the back of the house, it gives you a good look at the full size of the house before the walls are up.  Additionally you can see the tub has already been placed for the hallway bathroom and a good look at just how big the walk-in closet will be.  It is bigger in the layout with the loft over the four bedroom version, as they take away a portion of it for the closet in the fourth bedroom.  I think especially for us the loft was by and far the way to go!

Loft looking through walls at bathroom and master closet

We moved around the stairs and down the hall towards the master bedroom situated at the back of the house  and looking to the right we get another angle on the hallway bathroom.  Looking in from the door, rather than through walls.  You can see the tub and location of the drain for the toilet.

Hallway Bathroom

After looking in on the bathroom, I took the first look at the master bedroom.  Taking a look to the right from the doorway we can see the main area of the bedroom and the corner window. The corner window is one of the optional windows we chose, and I am happy we did it will bring much more light into the room.  Off to the right is the entrance to the walk-in closet we saw through the wall from the loft picture.

Master Bedroom

A look into that closet, wow that is big, much larger than the closet in our current house, they didn't use up much space for closets in older homes, but they sure do now.  Looks to be a return vent in the upper right of the picture.

Walk-In Closet in Master Bedroom

Next we took a look at the master bathroom, we chose the large shower stall and linen closet option.  The garden tube seemed unrealistic for us, as we imagined how little we would use it.  In speaking with Bob he mentioned that from what he has been seeing in Florence models this setup has become more of the normal scenario but with Milan models the garden tub still holds the lead.  It will be nice to have the linen closet in the bathroom itself, in our current home its in the hall, and it can be annoying.  This would be especially more annoying in this scenario as the other linen closet is in the hall between the first and second bedroom which would require you t go out down the hall to grab a towel.  You can see in the following picture the shower basin and closet.

Master Bathroom

The window for the bathroom will be on the wall just off to the left of this picture, and i am standing where the sink will be.  The final look is down the stairs from the landing outside the loft looking into the family room.  I missed taking pictures of the second and third bedrooms, I will get them next time.

Stairway

Wow what a long post, guess it should have been a three parts!