Hello Everyone! Any Advice?

Hello everyone! I hope you are all staying warm during this crazy cold winter. The house is.... coming along. I wanted to get some feedback from you all regarding some issues before I call RH. I have an entire list of things for them to fix, but I wanted to your thoughts on these items.

Do any of you have hot and cold extremes in your homes? My living room and downstairs library are both very cold, and so are my master bedroom and FROG. If I put my thermostat on 72-73, the kids bedrooms becoming really hot, but the other rooms on the other side of the house are flat out cold. I know some people say you can adjust the dampers, but we were told ours are automatic, and I have no idea where they are. RH came to check this out once but they said it wasn't an issue. I live here every day, all day. It is definitely an issue. It was also a problem in the summer. I'm thinking I will need to hire a company to get to the bottom of this. We have two heating units and this is still an issue. Thoughts? Advice? Anyone? :-) My thermostats keep blanking out also. Have you all experienced this? RH also came to check this out before, but were unable to find a problem.

Another issue is a crazy loud vibrating noise when its windy. It is LOUD. I am not sure if the gutters are loose or what, but anyone else have this problem? It literally wakes up my entire house. The vent outside of the kitchen microwave is really loud and annoying too. If anyone has this issue, have you found any solution? If so, please share.

Other than that, we have a few large settlement cracks, several nail pops, caulk pulling away from the walls, a gutter that feel off, and some places with questionable workmanship (paint mainly).. but overall, nothing too terrible. I plan to go online and try to get some issues resolved, but I'm wondering if anyone else has any ideas for fixing my problems first. We have installed light fixtures and blinds throughout the house. I am looking at ideas to make the house look a little less. ..ryanish.... and a little more me. I'll post pictures once I find some thing. I'm thinking a set of barn doors would be gorgeous! Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you all. Take care!

Update Time!

Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. Things have been going up quickly in the neighborhood. We are moved on to a new phase of this whole process. After the thirty day fixes, you dont really hear from the PM you built with. A new guy comes in to deal with issues. That has been fine for us. There are surveys that are given at various times. Be honest on them. RH pays attention to them. Anyhow, I'm just checking in with a few updates.

Things are going well on the home front for the most part. I never thought much about the noise before moving here. The trucks idling and riding through the neighborhood at 6-630am is a bit much for me. They even do it on weekends. The workers are bad about speeding through the neighborhood and about blocking the entrance and exit roads. It's extremely frustrating. The school bus has been having issues lately because she gets here, and there are trucks in the road doing various things. She will often have to wait several minutes or try to make a tight u-turn. Yesterday, there was a sewage truck blocking the road. Today, it was a truck delivering cinder blocks. The school bus comes at 6:45am. I'm serious when i say. .... work and noise start early! On the plus side, the dumpsters have been moved out of the street and onto the lot they are working on. That's nice. If only the workers would be as considerate, things would be nice. I'm constantly having cigarette butts and loud men yelling in the front of the house. Its pretty annoying, to say the least. 
Some good news is...we have not had any creepy crawlers since the hole was patched. I'm glad that is resolved.
Our utility bills while using the heating system have been lower than expected, which is a nice surprise.
We had a few minor issues, one with electrical and one with the thermostat blanking out at random times. RH sent out folks to check it out within a few days. One issue was resolved, the other we are keeping an eye on.
The house has been settling. There are random nail pops and cracks in the walls. It's nothing that is alarming but just expect it to happen. We will get it fixed after ten months.
The third floor option is a must have! It is awesome to have the extra space up there. My only gripe is that I wish there was a storage room up there.
The fireplace is a must have! It is really nice and warms the room well. Ours is gas and I'm so glad we got it. It was totally worth the upgrade! Just be sure the gas line is sealed. I do wish it had a fan option on it, but even without it, I like it. Besides, all homes need a mantle!
The metal rails on the steps are another thing you must have! They open up the space nicely. They are expensive, but what isn't?
The dishwasher offered in the standard package is garbage. It's loud. There is no timer on it. That thing runs for hours and you can hear it upstairs in the master bedroom. If you choose to upgrade any appliance, make it this one.
Also, there is a vent or something behind the microwave. That thing is loud! Every time the wind blows, it flaps. I keep thinking that there is something over there. This will take some getting used to. I wish I could tape it down.
One last thing.... If you have the option for gas, go with it! Gas stove, gas dryer, gas fireplace and gas grill line. I dont regret any of it! In my opinion, these things are worth upgrading!

Last, upgrade, upgrade, upgrade the kitchen! I have a few neighbors who didn't and they regret it. If you dont add the island AND peninsula, there is dead space in the kitchen. This is true also for the Ravenna model. Definitely upgrade the island! Besides, having the extra eating space, prep space and plugs is really nice for  entertaining and cooking. 

That's about it for now. If anyone has any specific questions about the Verona model or anything, just leave it in the comments. Happy holidays!

Creepy Crawlers...Rodents

Have you seen any mice or other unwelcome visitors in your home? We have. Several, in fact. It took me a long time to post about this because I was really upset and angry about this situation. We began seeing them the first weeks we were here. I was convinced there was a hole somewhere, but I was assured that my house was sealed. We hired pest control. We bought sticky traps. You name it, we tried it. The issue is. .... they kept coming. So after some screaming, yelling, sleepless nights and sanitizing my entire house over and over, we found the issue. There was an UNSEALED gas line under the fireplace. We kept seeing them around the fireplace, so this made sense. It was a good size hole. And it was open to the crawlspace. We sealed the hole. And guess what, no more rodents!

I'm frustrated because we hired pest control, spent a bunch of money on pest control products, and so on. I called Ryan Homes and their response was.... "We dont insure against pest." I understand that. But. ... this was no traditional pest issue. This was due to a hole. AFTER we found the hole, realized the insulation was falling under the house, and realized that the door to the crawl has been open for several months because it was broken  and accidently left open since our final walkthrough, some people from RH came to help fix it all. They sealed a hole or two they found under the crawl, temporarily fixed the door and put the insulation back up. I can appreciate that. I wish this had been done after I found the first mouse. I wish I had pushed harder to get them to come and look for holes before. They told me since i live in a construction zone, mice are common. I get that. I understand. But this was too common. We had about 7 in a short period of time.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is to let you all know, if you have a fireplace, and field mice, double check the lines coming into your home, double check the crawl space doors and anywhere else that may be open to the outside. Other neighbors have had issues with mice too. I'll have to ask but I think the fireplace is where they found a hole too. The neighbors bought this stuff called Great Stuff with Pest Control. It works for the moment. Good luck. I hope you all dont have this issue but if you do, definitely look for the way they are getting in. Good luck! Hopefully this is the last of my major issues, and I can get on to the fun stuff.

Update: After speaking with the neighbors, it appears they had their hole in the same place. One of them also mentioned sealing the line behind the stove better too. Just check and double check these places so that you dont have to go through this  sort of situation.

Great Customer Service Experience with Ryan Homes

First off, to follow up on a previous post, my columns were addressed. One of the PMs, Matt, came out the next day after I posted to fix them.He tried to fix them and paint them, but the reality is, the guys who originally "fixed" them kind of made a mess of them, so they needed a little more work than Matt could do that day. But I appreciate how quick he came out to deal with it.

So, this morning I went online and sent a message to Ryan Homes about my columns and a roof leak that we noticed in the last storm. About 5 hours later, I got a telephone call from a guy named Drew. I am not sure of his position in the company, but he came out the same day to address my issues. He did a water test to determine the source of the leak on the porch. He made an appointment to get our columns looking good again. While here, he also advised us on some other issues we had, including the need to fertilize the grass, and fixed a couple of other problems we noticed around the house. He was seriously a jack-of-all trades. He had a very helpful attitude and was more than willing to help, which is more than i can say for some other folks. Now, there has to be a follow up to today's work, but that's fine. It should be taken care of pretty soon. I am quite impressed with Ryan Homes Customer Service though. Thanks guys!

The Reality Is...

The reality of new construction is...things will break. Things will not be perfect. And that's fine. That is perfectly okay. I expect it. What distinguishes one builder from the next is how they handle these things. I am happy overall with my home. Are there things that have needed repairs? Yes. Will there be more things? Yes! And that's okay...and as long as it is done the right way, I will continue to be happy with my home.

Landscaping woes... and more

UPDATE: See below

Our trees have been dead since we closed. Not just my trees, at least four of my neighbors have dead trees too. They look awful. Our PM told us he would replace them if they didn't make it. But now he is gone to a new community. This is very concerning. I challenge all Ryan home owners to BEWARE of landscaping. I'll post photos of the trees soon. The grass is ok. It could be better but it's ok. I'm thinking we will fertilize it soon. Nothing will save the trees. Three out of four are pretty much dead. I dont suggest closing on a house with questionable landscaping. I'm going Ryan Homes steps up and fixes this. I'll keep everyone posted.

The other major issue we are having is the columns on the porch are falling apart. There have been three or four attempts to fix them. The latest fix may have worked. They shot up the panels with a nail gun and glued the seams. They need to sand it down and repaint it. It's been about two weeks since they last worked on it. So far, no painter. 

UPDATE: Our PMs Adam and Matt were on it quickly. They replaced my trees and a neighbor's trees as well. The trees look good and healthy. The landscaper left two of the old trees because they *might* come back. He left an additional tree in a pot in case one of those trees dont make it. I can appreciate that they kept their end of the bargain on this. Unfortunately, the land here is pretty sandy. So when the old trees were pulled, one neighbor suggested putting peet moss or something in it, or some sort of quality soil around the new tree. The landscaper did not do that. I don't think he understood English that well, to be honest. But that may be part of the reason the old trees died. Maybe I will dig around them and put a better soil around it. Again, I am happy with what was done to rectify this issue. Thank you Adam and Matt for dealing with my trees. Although I know you aren't happy about it, I appreciate you doing it anyway.

Two Weeks In.... and No Storage

Update: Our PM came through and helped us open up the spaces in the FROG. He put four screws in to hold the door back up. That solves our issue for the moment. It's not pretty thogh. Definitely not the same as having nice doors with handles. I can't blame the PM, he didn't design the house. I hope this is something Ryan homes changes in future homes.

We have been in the house for just a few weeks. So far, everything is ok. There are several little things that have to be addressed but nothing crazy. The shower upstairs literally takes 7 minutes to get hot. I'm waiting on that to be fixed. I do have one major complaint.

STORAGE

This nice, large house needs storage. We have 4 storage spaces that are literally glued shut. One has a door that opens, where the AC is tucked away. I have no idea what is behind each door, I'm sure there is some space. I asked our PM about it about four days ago. He hasn't said anything about it. I asked for hinged doors with handles. Once I was told that they dont make doors that size. I was also told that the space isn't made to hold a load. We literally have no where to hide the Christmas tree, or out of season clothes. I just have several boxes in the middle of the floor. We have a finished attic, so that's not an option for storage. I'm annoyed that Ryan Homes doesn't make use of a few of these spaces as storage options. Im just going to have to figure it out. I'm hoping my PM will come through and help us out with this. I'll put the floor in, but I would like to know which space is the largest and if they can add a door. This is a big deal for me. I hope it gets worked out. Anyone else with our model have any input?