A Completed Roof and a Journey to the Inside of "Florence"

Yesterday I called to setup a visit out to the house where I would be able to get on the inside and have a look around form the other view.  Bob was happy to oblige and even was open to meeting me before work, which would mean being on site at 6:30 AM.  I had to wake up a little early in order to make the trip out, but the travel was against rush hour traffic so it wasn't difficult to make it to the house by 6:30.    As I pulled up the block, Bob's truck was parked out front.  I recognized it from the last time I saw it at the pre-construction meeting.  I pulled past where he was parked and to the other side of where the driveway will ultimately reside.  I could see that the roofers had completed the shingles across the entire roof, which they completed on Monday. The roof completion could not have come soon enough as there is a forecast of three straight days of rain starting today and lasting until Thursday.  I exited my car to take a look at work on the roof completed yesterday.

Shingles On The Roof

They picked a grey shingle for the house, which looks to be pretty standard throughout all the houses.  At the peak of the main roof and the garage are the shingles raping over the top which allows for venting.  There is flashing which can be seen where the garage roof meets the main portion of the house.  The flashing can be seen below.

Roof Closeup and Flashing

Bob got out of his truck and came up to the end of the driveway area to meet me.  After a friendly hello and a handshake we started up to the house.  We entered the house through the garage, which had supplies on the floor, looked like some plastic pipes and ducts.  We took a step up from the garage into the house the future location of the laundry room.  The fire door was installed, but open already, not that it being closed would have server any purpose at this point.

Through the laundry we entered into the kitchen, there is a small wall separating it from the morning room, but other than that the whole back half of the house is open wide.  The wall will be where the breakfast bar will reside just above the sink.  In the picture below, just in front of the wall you can see the white pipe coming up which will be the drain line for the sink.

The morning room can be seen in the back of the picture above featuring the three windows, from which a great deal of light is able to enter.  The view out the morning room windows will be to a nice wooded back yard, even though I still retain the hope they will clear away at least the ground brush.  We moved from the kitchen area into the family room and looked back into the kitchen which can be seen in the picture below.

As we moved past the family room, for which I missed getting a picture of, i looked through the wall which will be at the base of the stairs separating the family room from the laundry room, which they had put in the washer hookup.  Additionally you can see the drain line from the washer and the upstairs hallway bathroom.  The door in the background is the fire door between the laundry room and garage.  In the bottom left of the following picture you can see the base of the stairs leading to the second floor.

Bob explained to me the additional pipe of slightly smaller gauge in the drain lines, being a vent to allow air to help push the water down and ensure better flow out to the sewer.  I am not sure if this is something new in design of drainage, but anything to help make the drains work well is a much welcomed addition.  We moved on from that area down the hall checked out the powder room and then onto the living room.

In the above picture you can see the double windows in the front of the house and the front door off to the left.  This will be the living room of the house, and the toughest to figure how to fill the space, except maybe during Christmas where the double window would be nice for a big Christmas tree, taking advantage of the tall ceilings.  My wife and I have discussed setting this room up as a sitting area, similar to what is found on Ryan Homes website and what we saw in the model home.

We moved on to the basement next, but we will continue the first journey through the inside in a subsequent post...stay tuned!

Framing Day Two

Yesterday was the second day of work by the framers, and they had completed almost all of their work the prior day, so I expected them to be able to complete it all.  I received a call from Bob in the morning, we usually talk later in the day, but this was perfect I had some time and was able to ask a few questions.  He first let me know that the framers would complete their work that day, as I had expected would be the case.  I was curious whether or not the framers would start the roof, or if the roofers would come to put the base wood on for the roof.  It was the framers, Bob let me know the roofers do the sheets on top of the wood and the shingles on top of that.  He did let me know that the roofers would most likely be dropping off the supplies before the end of the day.

As you have seen by the pictures the back of the house features a large number of trees, I asked if there would be some more clearing behind the house.  Bob said what is cleared is what will be cleared. This is one thing that is a little puzzling to me as it looks like the house next door was cleared at least an extra 25 feet back from where ours is cleared.  I think this one will require some follow up, other wise the back yard will be all ground brush.  I am not looking for tons of trees to be knocked down, but I think the ground should be cleared some as they are supposed to plant seed in the back yard as part of the contract.  That will not be possible over the top of what looks like dead brush and years of leaves.

Another question I asked was in regards to the waterproofing, as it didn't come all the way up the wall on the garage side and there was sprayed on waterproofing under the front door and in the inside of the garage.  He explained this is common practice, all wall with interior not under the garage have the waterproofing.

I was excited to go see how far the crew made. I knew my wife would be out of work early enough to go over before the sun set so I figured it would be best to get some other stuff done first and we could go over together.   We headed over to the house slightly after my wife had arrived home.  As we pulled up the block there was people working on the house next door.  The van out front had a painting company's information so it seems they are getting really close to being done.  

Front Left View (Pulling up Street to the House)

As you can see above the house was really far along, not only was the framing done, but the windows and front door were in as well.  Pretty crazy how fast its all coming together.  Here is a look from the front.

Front View

One additional view from the right side, in which you can see the finished roof framing over the garage as well as the shingles which were delivered and will probably be up on Monday.

Right Front View

The one additional thing I asked was when I could get inside to take a few pictures, for which Bob had informed me I could next week.  I will setup some time Tuesday morning to go through with Bob or one of the other Ryan Home employees working this site.

Looking over the pictures I came up with some new questions in regards to hose bibs, since there will be two I was hoping one to be closer to the front and one to be closer to the back, but I am not sure if that is possible with the slope being as it is unless it would come out of the foundation and not the wooded portion of the house.  I will let you know what the options are after talking to Bob on Monday.