Front Yard Landscape Wall

With temperatures finally starting to drop we got the bug to do some outdoor work.  First off I should state that we absolutely hate the landscaping that was installed.  Nothing we could really do about it as the landscapers are free to do what they want.  What we were given includes a small evergreen bush at the front corner; a bunch of hollies; a few low level bushes in a very large mulched area; a few unknown plants at the garage corners; and a nearly dead street tree.  We often scratch our heads thinking "who would do this" but have always just rested in our knowledge that we would redo it to fit our tastes.

First step - get rid of the steep sloping mulch bed area on the corner.  The bed sits about 4 feet above the low spot on the ground so we needed a wall - a fairly tall wall!

We purchased all of our materials at Menards.  They had the best selection and they let you drive back into the garden center to load your truck.  We ended up using:

- 115 retaining wall blocks
- 10 bags of crushed aggregate base (for the foundation)
- 16 bags of topsoil
- 2 tubes of construction adhesive

We also needed a bunch of crushed aggregate to use as backfill along the inside of the block and we found that on a nearby home site where some excess aggregate material was dumped. 

We started work at 8:30am and finished around 6pm.  There was a kid's flag football game smashed in there along with a second trip to Menards for more material but overall it took us about 7 hours to complete.  The most time consuming part is digging out the foundation, compacting the base material and making sure everything is level.  The bottom row needs to be perfect.

Final results:

Next step is to finish the gutter to drain to the ground.  We had lengths of black pipe to drain the water out into the yard but they're difficult to mow around.  Instead we're digging out some of the lawn and dumping river rock (on top of a landscape cloth) to a distance about 4 feet from the house.  It looks great and is certainly nicer than the black pipe.

Maybe we'll find time to straighten that darned evergreen!

Tiled Backsplash

*** 10/2/17 UPDATE***
The backsplash is finished.  Grouting went off without a hitch and then the entire backsplash was sealed with an enhancer/sealer.  It gives the tile a wetter look (but not obnoxiously wet) and seals out anything that might splash up against it.  Wife is happy so that makes the job a success.

One problem I had was that some of my tile cuts weren't perfect around the electric outlets so the plastic box extenders we purchased didn't work - they just pushed into the wall behind the tile.  We found these little fixers in the electric aisle at Lowes.  These are spacers that can be placed on the outlet mounting screw and push up against the nailed in electric box.  We had to stack about five of these together but they work like a charm.

Gardner-Bender Plastic Wall Plate Spacers

*** ORIGINAL POST***
One of the items on which we didn't want to spend money with Ryan Homes was the kitchen backsplash.  It's not that the cost was much different but it was the lack of selection in tiles.

We went through a lot of samples but finally decided on a tumbled stone mosaic type tile.  Thanks to the Tile Shop for the great selection and for putting up with our sample returns and multiple questions.

We're still in the process but here's what happened yesterday:

Before - planning desk

After - planning desk

Before - at the range

After - at the range

Next steps are to seal the tile, grout, then seal the tile and grout again.  I'll update this post with the final pics in a few weeks.

On another note, when doing your final walkthrough check behind the stove for dirt and debris.  We wonder why our house is so dusty and then we find things like this:

Cleaning the Abyss that is our basement

We've been in our house going on 3 months and we continue to get closer to the feeling like it's ours.  It takes time but we're still opening boxes and getting things how and where we want them.

I might have mentioned it before but our basement is a bit of a disaster.  During the build stormwater came into the basement through the walkout and carried in a bunch of dirt.  While Ryan did try to sweep the dirt out there was a tremendous amount that remained.  And it made a mess.  Kids playing in the basement had to throw away their socks because they wouldn't come close to clean.  Dust was continually dragged upstairs and around the house.

We should have asked to have it cleaned correctly before we closed.  Anyway, we've spent the past two weekends pressure washing the basement floor.  Why pressure wash?  Well, this dirt from hell is ground into the concrete so much so that spraying, mopping and scrubbing with a brush didn't touch it.  Pressure washing got rid of most of it but there is still some spots that we missed.

The funniest part of the whole thing is the number and location of low spots in the basement.  At least five low spots and the floor drain located near none of them.  We used a shop vac to pick up most of the water and then let the rest evaporate.

With that done we were also able to build and load up our basement shelves.  These are 11' wide and 4' deep - we have a ton of stuff!  Easy to build and solid enough to hold a bunch of bins.  Using the Menards 11% rebate helps.

Our New Concrete Patio

Finally, we're getting finished with the problem areas and moving forward to projects that we want to get done.  One of those is to get our patio installed under our deck.

The fine folks at RE Middleton Construction in Mason, Ohio were a great fit for us.  While not the cheapest they have a great reputation so I trusted them to do this easy job.  In the course of one day they hand dug the soil, placed the concrete, and backfilled with topsoil.  All this with very minimal tracking across my lawn.  Great job guys!

Finishing the Garage

Working on a better update for the interior but thought I'd share the job that we had done over the July 4th weekend.  As part of our build Ryan homes hangs drywall in the garage but only finishes the first mud coat.  This is supposed to be the coat that sets the tape in the drywall joints.  It's not pretty.  This weekend we hired a guy to come and finish the garage the rest of the way and to paint.  It wasn't cheap but he was there for at least 40 hours.  The final product is amazing and we can now start loading our garage with all of the stuff from storage.

Before

After

Ryan Homes Making a Comeback

It seems that our emails hit a nerve at Ryan Homes.  Our SR forwarded our email of displeasure to her bosses and within a few hours we have a meeting setup with the Production Manager and the head Project Manager.  Today we had that meeting - and our original PM was not invited.

The two managers had our list of items and we went through every one noting what would be done to make us happy.  We're VERY impressed with the effort that Ryan is putting into making us happy with our home.  We all decided on a plan of action and agreed on all the fixes.

On the exterior we had a ton of issues.  They agreed to plumb the column correctly and determined that the entire side of the porch would need to be reframed and straightened.  That was easier than trying to fix several column related issues.  We honestly didn't expect them to go that far but happy they're going to make it right.

Outside trim was a bit of a disaster.  Several areas of uneven trim and scuffs and scratches in the rest.  We all decided that filler would be used in some locations and boards entirely replaced in others.  Again, thank you guys.

Other outside issues were grading and cosmetic and Ryan is going to see what they can do to get everything fixed.

Inside they looked over our trim work extensively.  I just wanted a few places sanded smooth and repainted but they insisted that the entire board needed to be replaced.  Over and above guys; we like that.

The flooring we chose was another issue all together.  We chose the engineered hardwood and have been dealing with chips and splinters on a daily basis.  We find a few areas one day and then more pop up the next.  Ryan's guys had not seen this before and are now working with Rite Rug to see what the problem is and how it can be fixed.  Again, they set deadlines for answers from Rite Rug and we fully expect some resolution to the issues.

With all this we had people running in and out of the house all day.  Flooring guys to install hardwood transition strips.  Other flooring guys to work on glue spots in the carpet.  HVAC guys to replace a dented piece of the compressor unit.  Window guys to replace some scratched windows.  Flooring inspector as described above.  Foundation specialist to fill a crack in the basment wall.  LOTS of work and fixes done today.

We're getting back to our happy place today.  We're FINALLY seeing a plan to get these things fixed and we're thankful to Ryan for their effort.  Most of this was setup by the previous PM although we happen to think it was under the instruction of upper management.  Most of these issues were brought up nearly a month ago and could have been resolved then.  If you get a good PM you'll know it and make sure to thank them every step of the way.

On another note, we finally have our master closet up and running.  We painted and installed some closet organizers from Home Depot.  My wife spent almost all night putting clothes in the correct place although we don't know what happened to half of our hangars.

More updates soon!

Long Time Between Updates

So sorry for the long time between updates.  Life has been busy between moving, our kid's sports tournaments, and a vacation to Vegas!  So for most of the past two weeks we've actually been out of the house and living in hotels.  Now we're finally getting back to the daily grind and trying to finish moving in.

So, what has happened since our last post...

The water leak in our basement was due to a shrinkage crack and the sprinkler spraying directly on it.  The outside was sealed with epoxy and the inside will get a polyurethane injection to entirely seal the crack.

We had a front column that was not plumb and we were told it was fixed.  Ummmm, no.  The column is now plumb but now about a quarter of the column is hanging over the edge of our concrete porch.  Completely unacceptable.

We had our backyard surveyed and staked.  As we suspected Ryan didn't grade or seed to the back line - only about half-way there.  There is also a small stream that runs right through the middle of our property.  The stream eroded away our straw and low and behold - large rocks that we were assured were removed prior to seeding.  Firstly, I'm sick of the lies from our PM about what will be done versus what is actually done.  Secondly, why did I have to pay for a survey to show our PM that he didn't seed to the back line?  Thirdly, there is no reason to have a stream running through the middle of our back yard where we hope to someday build a pool.

Our list of fixes continues to grow by the day.  Nail holes in trim not filled or repainted.  Exterior trim that is scratched and pitted, unpainted, and overall poorly installed.  Flooring continues to chip and splinter even under normal use.  Downspouts are dented and vibrate in the wind.  Back yard is graded such that there is ponding water - a mosquito breeding ground.

Right now we're living in a house that was rushed to closing.  That's as simple as we can put it.  They put a big effort in to finish the job in the last week but the quality is lacking.  There was no coordination between subs to make sure fixes were done correctly and completely.  I'm certain that we'll be finding even more mistakes as the weeks go by.  For the most part we'll fix it ourselves if it's not large or costly.

To top it all off our SR wrote us an email explaining the customer survey and implying that we should give all 10's for our results.  Again, no.  We had a pretty good experience with the initial sale and NVR was the best experience we've had with Ryan.  Construction - completely opposite.  We'd really have a difficult time giving our PM a 3 even if all of our issues are addressed.  He is completely incompetent and hasn't spent any time reviewing the subcontractor's work.  No, Ryan, you will not be getting 10's and instead will be getting an earful from us in the coming weeks.

We're not at the point where we regret building with Ryan.  We love the house and it's location but we are fed-up with our PM.  We should have been more forceful at the beginning of construction and asked for a new PM when we started really seeing the lack of effort.  At this point we will not recommend to any of our friends to build with Ryan - and if they do we'll make sure they understand what they need to do to make sure it's done correctly and that they're happy when they finally move in.