New House

[Mac66]

One suggestion - get the garage floor painted. It makes cleaning the floor easier and looks nice. Get it done before you move in, it smells for a few days.

great idea. I painted the cement patio on our house a few years ago and it makes a big difference.

May not get to it till spring however. Probably won't take possession until the first week of December. Since we aren't selling our current house we really don't have any furniture. Probably won't be furnishing it until spring. We do have some old furniture from the cabin that we can use in the time being if need be.

I probably will be going up there all winter providing I can get back in there with the snow. It usually gets pretty deep. I have my old ATV in the shop getting fixed. It had a plow on it back in the day. If I can find all the brackets and pieces for it I might be able to use it to plow the long driveway..

[bdcochran]

Just a personal observation. My life would be a whole simpler if I had a second structure quasi tilt-up building with ventilation, industrial shelving and clothes racks. It would not have to be a basement, have a toilet or a sink. I would pass on heating as well. It would be wonderful to keep stuff sorted, clean and packed away neatly. I am constantly having to sort through things, repackage, etc. and the garage is not big enough and it is dedicated to storage.

If a person wants free and widely preapproved plans for underground storage, simply pull the plans for the federal recommended home bomb shelter from the 1960s. Given my age, I would have to add a sloping driveway type entry way.

[Mac66]

I plan to build a storage building/pole barn to house my toys, tractor, work shop etc. It will also be big enough to store my 30' travel trailer in as well. Thinking about something like a 30x40' building.

[bdcochran]

https://youtu.be/u-IHInOCulk

[Mac66]

Still up at the property hunting. The dry wall is done. The propane was delivered this week and the furnace is on. I did notice that the AC unit hasn't been installed yet. Called the builder, he said he'd get right on it. WTF? How long will that take?

The finish crew is scheduled for Mon & Tues next week. The inspection the week after due to the short week. However, we are driving to Florida on Sunday to check on The Villages house that week. Will be back the week after. Hope to be in the new house before Christmas but maybe not

Edited to add...I'll be back up tomorrow to check on the progress and do some more hunting.

Lesson's learned so far...

-Dealing with "up north" people is frustrating. It always takes longer to get things done. Not to mention the distances the contractors have to drive to get to our build sight and to pick up supplies. And they don't always show up. The dry wall guy on the first day said it would take him 4 days. He was there Thurs and Friday the week before last. He didn't show up 2 days last week and didn't finish until Friday of last week. His 4 days took him 7. Which delayed the finish crew from getting in by 3 days. The propane delivery was a week late. What should have been a 4 month process in now 6 months. It's an agonizingly slow process.

-We lost at least 6 weeks due to Covid 19. The house factory was shut down for weeks in the spring, financing took longer than usual due to their haphazard setup online application which their agents didn't know how to use.

-Having said that, going through one contractor is still a lot easier than pulling together everybody. It took me three years of trying to find contractors. I finally found this builder who pulled everything together. I'd not been able to get it done by myself

-You need to be onsite most of the time to oversee construction. I was surprised how many things were overlooked until I pointed it out. Things like a missed carriage light on the garage, steps from the garage into the house. Doors that don't close all the way. Crooked chimneys. Having said that watching a house being built is like watching sausage being made. It's not a pretty process and sometimes it's best not to know what goes into it.

Does that look straight to you?

[Mac66]

The house is done*, got the word on Wednesday Dec 9 that the occupancy permit was issued. I actually went up and stayed in the house this weekend and did some hunting. Now to furnish it!!!

*except for a punch list of stuff to fix, address. Mostly minor stuff they forgot to do or stuff the needs tweaking i.e, missed paint, door adjustments etc.

[David]

Congrats! Now enjoy

[Mac66]

Was just at the new house on Sunday. Still snow (8") on the ground.



And the sunset off the porch



And the old cabin

[bdcochran]

Wonderful!

[Mac66]

BTW, the old cabin was 12x20' i.e, 240 sq feet. Pretty small for 4-5 of us during deer season. The new house is 1470 sq/ft plus a garage and covered porch. It's like a mansion compared to the cabin. The cabin will be turned into my man cave, reloading shack as it is right next to my range.