Happy Holidays!

Wow, it's been a LONG time since I've updated my blog. Sorry about that. It's partly due to not having anything really interesting to post about and also just being busy. My house was to the point where I've been enjoying it the last while. I still have to find window coverings for my patio door and bedroom. But my dining room table arrived. I ordered a custom Bermex table through the Bay. At the time it was 25% off plus another 10% off for opening an HBC account. The quality of Bermex products are very good. You can really feel the difference in the finish and the assembly is very solid. I know that my table is going to last me a very very long time. Of course, you have to pay for it and can be quite pricey. But I like how I got a table with the dimensions that I wanted. One feature that I really like is that the leaf stores underneath the table. Plus the mechanism to extend the table is really easy to use.

I splurged on the dining room table but had to cut back on the chairs. I ordered my dining room chairs from Costco.ca. I got six of them for the price of what it would have costed me to buy three chairs through Bermex. They're comfortable, look nice and match well with my dining table.

Here's a pic of my dining room (don't mind the messes on the side). The the end table is just in its temporary home as my Xmas tree has taken over its regular spot.

So while I have been enjoying my house, I encountered a problem with my house. Last Tuesday, the sink faucet in the main bathroom wasn't working. I found that odd given that the tub and toilet were working fine. I opened up the vanity underneath and it was really cold. Turns out the lines were frozen. So I called Mattamy warranty in the next morning and Adam came by shortly afterwards. He confirmed the frozen pipes and said there is air leakage coming in. He cut a few holes in the ceiling on the main level near the front entrance and immediately can feel a cold draft coming in. He originally thought it was coming in from the front because there was a strong wind hitting directly the front of the house. So he called in some trades to take apart the soffit. It actually turned out that the air leakage was coming in from the garage. So he called in a few of his crew and they cut out some drywall in the garage and sealed up the leak with insulation. The faucet is working fine again and the floors aren't nearly as cold as they were before. Mattamy just needs to come by to patch up the holes which I said could wait until the new year because they were all getting ready to go off from their holidays. All in all, another good experience with the warranty office.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone!

I let the Genie of its box

Now that my garage door was adjusted properly (it wasn’t parking in all spots), I decided to install my Genie garage door opener that I had bought earlier this year. Enlisting the help of my friend Chuck, who was the one who put me onto the Genie Excelerator opener, we set off with the installation after treating him to breakfast at Royal Oak (gotta love cheap labour).

Overall, the installation isn’t too difficult but took quite a bit of time. One of the challenges was that the garage door seems to open up at a very high level. So we would have to use the maximum length for the arm to attach to the garage door. We thought that maybe I would have to extend it but in the end it wasn’t required. The other challenge was reinforcing the top section of the garage door. There aren’t really any clear instructions on how to do that in the manual. My garage door being an insulated one is different from Chuck’s and my brother’s so I couldn’t use the same way to reinforce. In the end, I connected 3 angled-type braces across the top of the garage and then got another piece of bracket to mount vertically down the center of the top section. I bolted all the brackets down and is pretty solid.

The final piece is running the wiring for the sensors and wall control and it was ready to go. I did a few fine tuning adjustments and it all works. As advertised, it does open very quickly (claim is twice the speed). It does create a bit more noise because of the garage door rollers moving faster along the track. I also noticed that the rollers installed on my garage door are the nylon ones instead of metal so that will help with noise reduction. Inside the house, you basically hear the noise from the garage door rather than the opener itself. My neighbor has a chain-drive opener and you can hear the hum from the machine. So installation took maybe 5 hours total but with a break in between and a Home Depot run to buy more brackets. Chuck was only there for a couple of hours and had left after we had mounted the unit onto the ceiling. I did the rest myself. Not too hard of an installation. Probably no more difficult than a chain or belt driven opener although I’ve read how people do not like installing screw-drive openers. Not sure why though. Now that I’m more “experienced”, I’m sure I could cut the installation time to near half.

Checking off the 30-Day Tarion List

Mattamy came by on Thursday and Friday to address the items on my 30-day list. Marc from the warranty office arrived on time with a tradesman who was there to fix a chip in the bath tub. The bathtub was fixed quickly and there's no evidence that a chip was there before. Apparently, the process that they use is a very specialized one. Only a few people in Ottawa have the skills and tools to do it properly.

Marc brought along the work order which breaks down the items and who will be responsible for fixing them. All of the trades were scheduled to come in to fix those items which Marc cannot fix. Marc is more of the handyman who will fix the smaller items. Throughout the day, several trades arrived and fixed the issues. All of them were very nice to deal with.

I must give kudos to Marc. He is a very friendly and nice guy and really seems to care that things are addressed properly. He even went and fixed other things that he noticed that didn't seem right to him even though they weren't on my list. For the paint touch ups and repairs, he took it upon himself to go around the house and fixed up any spots that could use it even though I marked only a few spots for him.

Completed items from my 30-day list:

• garage door adjusted so that it parks in all positions (done by the Door Company)
• all toilets adjusted for proper flushing (done by plumber)
• paint touch ups
• dents in hardwood floor -> I had two of them in my floor. The trade came by and explained to me the repair process which would require a panel of floor would need to be cut out and a new piece to be glued back in place. The problem with this is that for that piece, it would no longer be locked in via tongue-and-groove. I decided that I'd rather keep the integrity of the entire floor together and skipped the repair. The dents aren't major and are only noticeable if you view it at a particular angle and light. There is no chip or scratch either...just an impression.
• scratched window replaced by trade
• garage door lock fixed
• windows that were catching were adjusted
• countertop and incomplete vanity parts ordered by Laurysen. To be completed at future date
• railings were cleaned and touched up by trades
• ceiling repair from water leak damage
• closet support bracket and shelf fixed

Items incomplete or which I need to address with Mattamy:

• trade did not show up to top up my attic insulation.
• seam in carpet not repaired. Trade said that it appears that someone cut the carpet to repair something so it is not their responbility
• three-way switch was supposed to be installed for extra light outlet over stairs. According to the plan, it was not in it so as far as the trade is concerned, they did everything according to spec
• floor deflection and squeaks to be addressed at 1-year mark

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the work. Everyone was pleasant to deal with. For the most part, all of my fixes were quite easy so it didn't take very long for the trade to do the repair. They were in and out.

Snail Mail...where I'm the snail

So I finally got my key for the community mailbox. After not receiving any mail for a couple of weeks at the post office where my mail was being redirected to, I called Canada Post back up to check on the status on my key. I had thought when I originally called them shortly after I moved in that they told me that the key would be sent there automatically when the community mailbox was set up. Apparently not. So I thought it strange that for over two weeks, there was no mail for me at the post office. I guess I must of misunderstood them originally and that I was expected to call them back to request my keys once the community mailbox was set up. I didn't even notice the community mailbox was set up until last weekend and my neighbour had told me it's been there for a couple weeks. Can you tell that I've been a bit busy? Anyway, I got my keys the next day so I went over to my mailbox and opened it up and saw this:

Guess I can't really blame the postal service being slow at delivering the mail because technically they had delivered my mail...I just couldn't pick it up. And yes, there were a couple of "past due" items. Whoopsie...my bad.

Fixture Mixture

In continuing with the oil rubbed bronzed look from the breakfast bar pendent lights and great room ceiling fan, I decided to swap out the semi-flush lights in the hallway on the main floor. The standard fixtures aren't ugly by any stretch. In fact, I've received numerous comments on how good they look for standard fixtures.

But I came across some lights at Costco. At $40 each, I figured what the heck. I'm trying to coordinate things to the best of my abilities but stopping short from watching those makeover shows on TLC. :)

My dining room light is also of the same finish. I still need to get around to hanging that one. Since the light outlet isn't where I need it to be, I'll need to figure out a way to hang it so that the light will be over the dining room table. I also need to shop for a light for over the kitchen table as that one is still stainless steel.

30-Day Tarion List

I had submitted my 30-day list to Tarion and Mattamy on August 14th. Today I met with Adam from the Mattamy warranty office to review my list. I had a total of 55 items on my list which was comprised of the items noted by my home inspector as well as additional items that I added.

The way the warranty process was described to me was that we would review each item on the list to ensure that all items are warrantable. If something isn't warrantable, they will explain why. All the other items will be transferred to a work order. If a trades needs to be brought in, they will make the arrangements. Otherwise, it will be Adam and his team that will do the work. I would sign off on items that are not going to be fixed. It sounded like Mattamy has reorganized its warranty department and how they operate. I've read/heard of people not being happy with the service that they had received in the past so maybe this is a move to improve customer satisfaction.

Overall, the review went very well. Adam was very pleasant to deal with. I was actually preparing myself for a bunch of excuses as to why they wouldn't fix items on my list. But even for items that were sort of iffy, he said that he would still leave them on the work order. Most of the items, Adam responded with a "no problem, we'll get that fixed". I had noted that touch-ups were needed from the pdi and he said that he'd even fix damage that I caused during my move in. He also added to the list as he noticed that there was a seam in the carpet in office that really stood out.

From my list, there were a few items which were noted as to monitor and revisit at the one year list, namely the deflection in the floor in the master bedroom, floor squeaks in the upper hallway (which weren't squeaking during the appointment). Other stuff like grading, sod, driveway will be done obviously when the other houses get done but I still had noted them on my list. Everything else should hopefully be fixed. The next step is that Mattamy will make arrangements to come in and do the repairs. They will try to schedule everything all together so that they can get it done at one time.

So a good experience today. Hopefully it wasn't just all words and that they will deliver on the repairs in a timely fashion.

Reflecting back

Well, I've been in my home for 6 weeks now and was reflecting back over everything in the last year and a bit since I started the whole house buying process. I've learned so much over that time period. Thanks to those who have been reading my blog and introducing yourselves to me. I'm glad that you're finding the information useful and am more than happy to share the knowledge that I have gained.

One of the reasons for this entry is that I've been hearing about people's frustrations over the whole buying experience with Mattamy lately. Whether it be countless delays, lack of communication or just poor construction quality of their home. I can definitely sympathize with them as buying a home is supposed to be an exciting experience, not a journey of frustrations and disappointment. Fortunately, my whole buying experience was actually pretty darn good from beginning to end. I experienced no delays and am quite happy with the delivered product. Sure, there are a number of things that still need to be done with my house but it's not anything major that would prevent me from enjoying my house. Now if I were in the shoes of those experiencing delays or a poorly constructed house, I can understand their reactions. When I bought my house, I basically prepared for delays based on the countless stories I've read on forums and newspapers. Anytime there was a remote chance of a delay, I got into defensive mode ready to unleash some wrath on someone. But thankfully it did not happen.

Post closing service hasn't been as good. It seems that the responsibility falls on the owner to stay on top of Mattamy to get something outstanding done even though they tell you that it will be done. I had to call three times before they finally scheduled a plumber to fix a leak in the master ensuite which was dripping down to the dining room ceiling. The hole in the ceiling still needs to be fixed and is scheduled for next week. Talking to my neighbours, they are experiencing the same type of service. One neighbour was telling me the other day that workers showed up in the morning and started some work but never came back after lunch to finish it. I'm hoping that my 30-day list will be addressed fairly promptly. I may end up doing some of it myself in the end.

So what would I do differently now that I've been in it for a month and a half? Here's a short list:
- I didn't need to add an additional porch electrical outlet as it does come with one standard (I was told it didn't come with one);
- did not need the upgraded circuit panel box (it's huge when a standard one would have sufficed);
- probably could have gotten away with two potlights in the kitchen instead of getting four;
- did not need the over-the-tub light in the master bathroom as there is a standard light fixture near the toilet area (was told there wasn't one)
- should have added a couple of potlights in the master bedroom but I can do this later
- should have gotten the maple railings to match the floor better. The oak railings have a lot more wood grains in it and doesn't match as well
- in the great room and master bedroom, there are three windows but only one opens (casement window). I wished that the one on the opposite side would open too. But I'm not sure if this is even an option as it's not in the design centre catalogue
- I should have paid closer attention to the positioning of the light outlet in the kitchen area and dining room. They aren't exactly over where I put my tables.

Pickiness:
- no real windows at the front of the house on the main floor. Only one is in the powder room which is down a few stairs and in its own room. The only window is the front door so not much light comes in. But I realize that this is very typical of townhomes in general
- still not sure about upstairs laundry room
- don't like the railing configuration on the porch

What do I really like about the house?
- love the kitchen, I'm so glad I got the Executive Kitchen upgrade. I think it looks fantastic
- raised breakfast bar -> I think it looks good and like how it hides some of the kitchen stuff that I keep on the counters (e.g. dish rack, dish soap)
- colours - I'm quite happy with all of my choices for cabinets, flooring countertops, etc. They seem to work well with each other
- master ensuite shower -> love taking showers in it, it's very spacious
- main bathroom -> I like having windows and bringing in natural light into it

Overall, I love my house. Also helps that I've met some great people so far and really believe it's going to be a great neighbourhood.

Covering Wonderings

Okay, I've come to the realization that I really need to finish off the window coverings for the rest of the house. For the powder room, two smaller bedrooms and main bathroom, I got faux wood blinds from Bou Clair Home. They will cut them to the proper width and you can trim the length (which I still need to do). However, for my great room and master bedroom, they didn't have blinds wide enough to fit. So, I'm still in need of some. I was thinking of getting something a little more fancier like the sheer weave with blinds. But those are VERY expensive (e.g. approx $1200 just to do the great room window). So I need to find something more affordable. A friend suggested just going with curtains in the great room which I am leaning towards. But I still want to have some light control to allow some light in, reducing glare on the tv and give privacy. So I'm thinking of adding a sheer curtain, sheer roller blind or getting more faux wood blinds. And then there's the challenge of finding something that will look good. I seriously need some help here. I've been feeling dumbfounded any time I go to a store looking for decorative ideas. I seriously should just give some money to some of my female friends and tell them to go decorate my house. Martha Stewart (is she still considered a guru?), I am not (I pay my taxes).

And then there's the patio door. Again, I want something to control lighting while providing some privacy. For this, I'm leaning towards vertical blinds. I realize that they don't look the greatest but they will be much more functional and convenient that putting curtains.

I'm open to ideas so please feel free to comment. And if you see a guy shopping for window coverings with a clueless look on his face, chances are that's me. :)

A little motion to light your way

Another change that I recently did was swapping out the outside lights to fixtures with motion sensors. The lights will automatically turn on when it senses movement. So when people go up my driveway or the porch at night, the light will turn on. I've got it set so that it will stay on for three minutes. And the lights will not turn on during the day. I think the fixtures look pretty good. I got them from Rona and I believe Home Depot carries them as well. Cost is $70 each. My neighbours seem to be enjoying them as well as they're close enough that they will trigger them and it lights their way in. Aren't I a thoughtful neighbour? :)

(Before / After)

Abandon ship!

Well, okay not really. I've a got a small water leak coming from the master ensuite somewhere. I came downstairs after getting ready and taking a shower in the master ensuite to notice that the drywall tape in the dining room area was peeling. I grab a chair and touch the ceiling...yep, it's wet. It's not dripping down onto the floor so I suspect it's a slow leak. I put in a call to the Mattamy warranty office.

On a happier note, my neighbour pointed out to me that Mattamy installed the shudders and the accents on the exterior of the house.

Finally...some pics (but only a few) :)

I finally thought that a few of the rooms were in good enough shape to start sharing. So I snapped some pictures today. They're mostly of the main floor as there isn't much to share in the other rooms at the moment. You'll notice that I am in dire need of some art, accent pieces and decorative stuff. So please don't mind the bare walls and empty shelves. :)

Sakura Range Hood

"Sakura" definition - an ornamental cherry blossom tree and its blossoms

When I did the upgrades on my house, I knew I was going to swap out the range hood with something so I didn't bother upgrading it, not even for colour. The one I got was a plain Jane white range hood fan.
I decided that I would replace it with a Sakura range hood. My parents have one in their home and it does a very good job venting. Now, my mother makes a lot of stir fry type dishes and cooks on high heat so it is almost a necessity for them. For me, probably not so much while I do like to do my fair share of cooking. But I've always been impressed by the performance of the fan so I decided to get one for my home. I ordered the U2 II model directly from Toronto and had it shipped here. It took about 3 business days to arrive.

Today, I went to install it. Taking off the old hood fan is easy, just loosen four screws and then slide the range hood off. Undo the wires and voila. The installation of the Sakura required a little creativity. It only came with a circular damper so I originally thought I could just hook it up directly to the 6" venting hose. But the Sakura is a deeper fan so I couldn't use the round damper option as my cabinet is in the way. I could make it fit but would require me to cut into my cabinet and lose some of my shelf space. I was not keen on that idea. So, I took the rectangular damper from the old range hood, attached it to the Sakura and then got a sheet of steel to cover up the rest of the opening. It just barely clears the cabinet but it works! Once I got that together, I drilled new holes for the new mounting screw locations and then mounted the range hood. The wiring is easy, just three wires (hot, neutral and ground). Here are some pictures of the finished install.

I didn't realize how bulky the fan is. It sticks out a fair bit more than the standard fan. But as you can see , the actual fan is over the range rather than towards the back. The fan isn't really that quiet but there are two speeds and you can control the left and right one independently. But that's okay. As I mentioned when I ordered my appliances, I went with functionality over form.

Now...what should I cook up???

2nd Floor Laundry Room: An Inconvenient Truth?

I've read and heard from people how they love having their laundry room on the second floor. My house is so equipped and even when I had decided to buy the Fernwater, I wondered if I really liked that idea. So far I've done about four loads of laundry since moving in. The last one was the biggest and had two loads to do. I tend to do my laundry at night time just because that's when I have the time. Also doesn't hurt that energy costs are lower too in the evenings.

My particular laundry room is not super big. It fits my Samsung laundry pair fine. But there's not much room to do much else. With the doors on the machines open, there isn't much room afterwards. In my prior home, having the washing machines in the basement allowed me to do all the sorting downstairs. I basically just made two piles of laundry on the basement floor and then scooped them into the laundry machine when it was their turn. Furthermore, the basement provides space to hang dry those items that don't go in the dryer. I don't have that luxury anymore. I plan on hanging a wall cabinet (similar to the "uppers" that Mattamy offers in some of their homes but strangely enough not on mine) and then a closet bar in my laundry room above the machines which should help alleviate this problem.

The other negative of the second floor laundry is noise. Mind you, my Samsung pair works quite well (more on that later) but the noise from the water lines and then the dryer is still quite noticeable. I was worried that the noise and vibration would be heard by my neighbour who has a bedroom on the opposite wall. But he said he couldn't hear or feel anything so that's good to know. I did upgrade to a solid door to the laundry room and it does make a pretty noticeable difference. But the noise still travels through the adjacent bedrooms in my house. And I can notice it from the master bedroom as well.

A quick review of my Samsung laundry pair. The VRT (Vibration Reduction Technology) in the washer works quite well. When the washer enters the spin cycle, it does a really good job of balancing itself out and is pretty quiet. And it spins fast. Items come out not too wet but items can tend to twist up. Also, I'll need to figure out if my shirts are getting flipped inside out by the machine or whether they went in there that way. One thing I did notice about the washer is that a little water still sits in the rubber ring opening. With my last front loader, this could lead to mold growing if it sits there for a long time. I solve this by wiping it down and then keeping the washer door open. The dryer seems to work well too but really there's not that much technology involved in making a dryer work. It looks pretty next to the washer and does its job. Not much more to say. On a related note, my neighbour has a gas dryer. Says it only takes 20 mins to run a dry cycle.

To wrap up, it could be that a slightly bigger room would be better for me but then I think that I'd prefer more bedroom space. I also miss having a laundry tub nearby. I realize that there will be noise from the laundry machines regardless where they are. So, I may just have to schedule my laundering at better times and just change up my laundry routine (i.e. sort before going into the laundry room). We'll see how it goes as I do more laundry. It is nice not having to lug the laundry baskets downstairs but that never really bothered me. Maybe as I get older (maybe I am already with my rants?), I'll really appreciate the convenience but for now the jury is still out.

*ugh* First house payment

I guess it was inevitable that my first payment on my house mortgage would come and today was the day. Actually, today was just the interest adjustment payment for the period from my close date. So, I didn't actually pay any principal down. My first "real" mortgage payment will be later this week. Yay for being in debt!

stopping to take a breath and blog

I've been quite busy since I've taken possession of the house trying to get things organized. I thought I would be a lot further ahead but I'm slowly getting there. I am taking my time with things instead of just rushing through things. And some things are just taking longer than I thought it would take. I'm basically focusing on the main floor first. Things that I have completed to date include:

- hanging pendent lights over breakfast bar. $38 from Rona.

- swapping light switches to decora and dimmer switches for the Great Room and kitchen lights. Still other switches to do but these were the first ones to get done. From left to right: the left is a 3-way dimmer switch to control the breakfast bar pendents (other switch is by the patio door and also is a dimmer, cost $70); dimmer switch for potlights in kitchen (cost $40); regular decora switch for ceiling fan in Great Room (cost $2); dimmer switch for Great Room potlights with remote control, I had bought this a long time ago for my old place and never did end up installing it

- installed ceiling fan in Great Room. It was a bit of a pain to hang but works well. Only $25 from Home Depot.

- building two Ikea bookcases. I'm becoming a pro at assembling Ikea stuff. Although I don't think it's anything to be really proud about. :) Here's the one in the Great Room.

- setting up home theatre. I ran the speaker wire for the rear channels down into the basement through the central vac rough-in. I then came back up through a hole in the floor by the heat register. I'll insulate the wire a little more just in case it gets warm. I think it'll be okay. It's not *in* the vent itself

- built and hung the Ikea Leksvik coat/hat rack by front door

- installed bathroom fixtures

- swapped out window crank handles for ones that fold in and are more compact. I got these from...you guessed it...Home Depot. The standard crank handles are quite long and can get in the way more if you've got inside mounted blinds. The new ones are less instrusive.

The shopping also continues. I don't know how many trips I've made to Home Depot lately. Luckily it's very close by but still. And I sorely underbudgeted for bathroom accessories. I spent a whopping $300 at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Yikes!

Slowly settling in

Everything got delivered as scheduled over the last few days. Although there are two burners on my stove which are not working so I had to call up the Brick and they are ordering a new stove for me. It should arrive in two weeks. The assembly process has begun on everything that I ordered. It's been just one thing after the other. Nothing too difficult though, just time consuming. I've also had to make a few trips out to Home Depot and Canadian Tire just to pick up things so I can hook things up. I bought some stainless steel braided hoses for the fridge waterline hookup and the laundry machine. These are more sturdier than the plastic and rubber hoses that come with them. It's worth the investment IMO especially since they are on the main and upper floors. I've also been pricing out dimmer switches. Wow! I didn't think they were that expensive. But I still want to put a lot of my lights on dimmers so I can control the lighting, especially on the main floor.

Speaking of lighting, I came to the realization that my main floor has A LOT of lighting. I probably could have gotten away with two fewer potlights in the kitchen. But the rest seems alright. I basically have a bunch of zones and will never have all of the lights on all at once so it is nice to have the flexibility. On a related note, I'm finding that the lights installed overhead in the master ensuite shower and the bathtub in the main bathroom aren't very bright. I'm going to try putting in a higher wattage bulb.

I also just realized that the extra light outlet that I had added as an upgrade over the stairs is too close to the wall to install the 52" ceiling fan I was planning on putting there. I put this light outlet to help circulate air around. So looks like I'll need to put in a 42" fan which will not do as good a job. Also, the light outlet only has one switch at the top of the stairs when I had asked for two. I will be noting that down on my 30-day list.

In other house related stuff, I've begun trying to seal up some of the duct joints in the basement with the foil tape. My house inspector pointed out to me that air is leaking out of the joints so best to try to seal them up. Afterall, my basement is unfinished so I'm losing a decent amount of heat/air conditioning through these gaps.

Still lots to do and I'll report back on other things as I do them.

Moved in!

Well, the move yesterday went amazingly well. I had about 6 of my buddies help with my move of which one of them, Eric, used to be a mover back in the day. So, needless to say he was very efficient in loading up the truck. I basically told him to tell us what to move and he organized it all. I had a 26 foot truck and still had plenty of space left over. I should have gotten a smaller truck to give Eric more of a challenge. We started loading the truck at 8:15am and had everything in it by 9:30am. Then we drove from the Craig Henry area to Half Moon Bay and I gave my friends the tour of the house. Started unloading and were done by 10:45am. I returned the truck and we were eating pizza and drinking beers by noon. I'm quite amazed how fast we got it done. Now the fun part, unpacking... yippee

So I spent my first night at the house. I was so wiped from the previous few days that I simply crashed out. But I did manage to get a few things done and unpacked. It'll be a slow process I'm sure but hoping to get it to a point where I can sit back and enjoy it.

Tuesday is a big day. I've got the following happening:
> Delivery of:
- daughter's bedroom furniture
- sofa and loveseat
- washer & dryer
- coffee table and end table
- fridge and microwave
> Rogers is coming to hook up my internet
> air conditioning is being installed (just before the heatwave)

I also picked up some blinds for a few of the rooms from Bou Clair Home. I just got the faux wood ones. 40% off FTW!

House Inspector

I hired a house inspector to come take a look at my house for things. Buying a house is such an overwhelming experience that I felt that I needed that extra level of comfort in looking over my house. Plus, it's not as if I know the building codes and all the things to look for. I had printed off the Tarion PDI checklist which was a good start during my PDI but still wanted an experts opinion.

I used Acker Home Inspection to do the house inspection. Phil, the owner, is an active member on buildinghomes.ca and seemed to be really knowledgeable. There were also numerous positive experiences posted on the forums there and my experience was no different. I scheduled the inspection for the day after I close and will put these items on my 30 day list. Having the inspection done before I move in is good in that they can see everything in the house.

The team, Phil and Randy, arrived on time at noon. They proceeded to tell me the whole process and what they were going to do today and what I will end up with. We started to walk around the house and Phil would make notes into a digital audio recorder. What I really liked was that Phil would take pictures of the deficiencies to document them. Once in a while, Phil would pass his recorder to Randy who would key in the notes onto the laptop while Phil and I continued the inspection with another recorder. This made the whole process very efficient. Phil also tested electrical plugs, water shutoff valves, hot water, ventilation fans and other things. The exterior was just a visual. He used binoculars to look at the roofing shingles.

Overall, the house was in pretty good shape. He had noted 25 items, some of which were ones that were on my PDI list which still needs to be fixed. I should note that he doesn't look for cosmetic items, more for functional and structural items. Some of the larger items he noted were:

- door frame in door to garage not sealed properly
- garage door does not park in all positions (i.e. closes by itself)
- insufficient insulation in attic (apparently, it was supposed to measure almost 14" (R40) worth but was only at 11" (R32). but it was sprayed evenly)
- incomplete caulking around master ensuite shower
- powder room toilet only flushes if handle is held
- water trapped in insulation (possible leak but could be condensation)

One item which I'm not sure about is the laundry room ventilation. There appears to be an external vent but there is no exhaust fan in my laundry room. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to get one but can't seem to see anything in the standard features list. I'll still note it on my 30 day list.

The final report would include a cover sheet for my 30 day list for Tarion and Mattamy, listing of defects found, a comprehensive report with more details, a cd of all of the forms and pictures taken. So, all in all, a very thorough report. Cost of the inspection was $370. I plan on having them come back just before my 1-year list is due to Tarion.

Packed!

Well, I'll be moving into my new house tomorrow. It'll be me, a 24 foot U-Haul truck and 6 friends. I like to call it, remember when I helped you move? Well, it's time to repay the favour.

And I am officially a homeowner!

At around 4:45pm, I got the call from my lawyer saying that everything is ready. I pack up at work and head over to the Mattamy sales office. The girl at the reception desk told me that I had to go to the construction office to get the keys. But then she said that she didn't think they were still open and that she thought they closed at 4:30pm. I'm pretty sure I gave her a dirty look and said that I only got the call from my lawyer at 4:30pm. She told me to go check it out and I'm pretty sure I made some comment that they better be open. Okay, so I may have been a little rude but really, Mattamy's communication between groups really sucks.

Anyway, off I went to the construction office and I see lots of trucks parked out front. This was a good sign. I go into the office and was promptly greeted by someone calling me by name. Phew! I sign for my keys and Matt F. (the same guy who did my framewalk) came out and then went with me to my house. We walked through the whole house checking off stuff that was on my PDI. There were a few items that still needed to be fixed but that I was expecting that. I initialed off on the items that were done. On a side note, I must say that Matt F. from Mattamy seems like a really good guy and seems to really care about his work.

So, now I am officially a homeowner!!

The house overall looks pretty good. There was a gift basket that had a bunch of cleaning supplies and stuff. I guess they were admitting that the house could still use a good cleaning?

I went outside to grab my camera from my car when the couple who bought the Queenscliffe Corner across the street from me pulled up. They came over and introduced themselves and we started chatting. We showed each other our houses (they're closing in about a month). I also met my neighbour next door to the left. He had closed yesterday. His house is very nice too. It's the Eastland model, the one I considered getting too. I also saw that there were people in Block 501 that were moving in too. I believe they closed today.

Well, I guess this is the end of the house buying experience. But stay tuned as I continue to write about my home ownership experience.

And now the wait...

I went down to my lawyer's office this morning to sign all the documents. Interestingly, I will be picking up the keys from the Mattamy sales office. I had thought that I'd get them from my lawyer when he received them. That's how my friends got theirs with their Minto homes. That's fine because my lawyer is on Wellington St. where the roads are all torn up. Now the wait is on for the big phone call. Any bets on how productive I'll be at work today?

One day away!

I'm one day away from closing. w00t!! A couple of small annoyances. First, The Brick will not be delivering my appliances until Friday. They were supposed to be delivered before my closing date and Mattamy to install them. Not sure what the mix up was but the Brick was supposed to coordinate with Mattamy but I kept getting the calls. I really dislike dealing with the Brick. Hope this will be my final time. Anyway, Mattamy customer care said that they'll have someone on site on Friday to hook everything up.

I also need to go meet with my lawyer tomorrow morning to sign the papers. Good news is that I should be getting some money back because the extra money I had to put down for the upgrades and such. But sucks that I'll have to go see him first thing and then go back to get the keys whenever they arrive. Oh well, just some minor speedbumps but still totally psyched to become a homeowner tomorrow!

PDI complete!

Today was the PDI. I met with Mark A. from Mattamy. We all got there right at 2pm. First thing I noticed was a lot of the little green pieces of painter's tape was gone in my house although a few still remained. I took that to mean that they came in and did some repairs/touch ups. The next thing was that the electricity was not working. Mark told me that they are waiting for Hydro to finish and to flip the switch. I had him note that we will not be able to test anything electrical related on the PDI list. Then we started upstairs and went into each room and then worked our way downstairs and then outside. Overall, I didn't see anything major. Most of the windows had their screens missing but while we were there, someone had dropped them all off. To my eye, the workmanship overall looked pretty good. Nothing seemed really crooked or installed poorly. Pretty much all the items on my list were cosmetic in nature and for the most part, very minor. Mark had pointed out a couple things here and there which I didn't notice. I didn't feel rushed either. Honestly, if I really wanted to be particular, I could have noted down more minor blemishes but in my mind, these don't concern me. I'm willing to bet I'll cause much worse when I'm moving all my stuff in. Some of the stuff that were noted:

- floor squeak in upper hallway near bedroom 2
- window catching in master bedroom
- caulking not complete in master ensuite
- end of countertop of master ensuite vanity not complete
- minor drywall damage around shower
- fix caulking in main bath on right side
- heat register not fitting properly
- paint/scuffs on railings
- repair ceiling in great room (looks like they had to cut a piece out to get at something)
- fix drywall and gap around hood fan duct box
- waterline to fridge incomplete
- garage had gap on right side, trim incomplete
- some chips at bottom where fridge cove is

So that's pretty much it. Honestly, I don't think all of my PDI list items will be complete before I close but like I said, most of it is relatively minor. On some of the blemishes I had noted, I had to look pretty hard for them. We did go outside to look at the exterior but everything looked fine to my untrained eye. We couldn't access the backyard either. I'll let my home inspector look more closely at my house after I close for the 30-day list.

I asked how many other people are closing this week and he said three. My block and 503 are the first ones to close. Next will be 507. Three more days!!!

One more week

Today, I am officially one week away from my closing date. I popped by my house yesterday to check it out. To my surprise, the front door wasn't locked so I was able to walk right in. In fact, my neighbour's doors were wide open. Maybe there was someone working in there, I couldn't tell for sure. Anyway, back to my house, the carpeting was put in. And there were little pieces of green painters tape everywhere which looked like were put there to indicate where they need to fix, repair, touch up, finish, etc. But overall, the house looks pretty much done. The gas meter still needs to be put in out front but there wasn't anything major that I could see that wasn't done. My house is numbered and my mailbox was even installed. Check out the latest pictures on my picasaweb album starting with this one.

While I was there, I saw a family pull up and was checking out one of the houses across the street. I knew it was a member from the buildinghomes.ca community forum which I have been posting on. So, I introduced myself and had a nice chat with them. They seemed pretty excited about the progress of their home and they should be so. It was neat meeting people who you've been conversing with on an open forum.

All of the townhomes along Burritts Rapids Place are coming along nicely. I'm excited that I will be calling it home in a week's time. Not excited about all the packing though. Still have lots to do and think I may have sorely underestimated how much stuff I have. Is that show "Clean Sweep" still on? Think I could use their help.

HMB is safer...for cars

I set up my house insurance policy yesterday with Bel-Air Direct. This is the first time that I've had to get my own policy. Setting it up is pretty painless although there are a lot of questions to answer including whether your house is within certain distances of a fire hydrant and fire station which would affect your premiums. I had actually got that information from Mattamy beforehand. I am currently with Bel-Air Direct for my auto insurance so I will now get a discount on my auto insurance for having multiple policies. At first, they quoted my discount at $189 but then got a call back from them saying that the discount will actually be $290 because the HMB area is deemed to be a lower risk. I never thought of my current neighbourhood being unsafe so probably still relatively low risk although maybe that sweet old lady next door isn't so sweet? Could be just a front to cover up some elaborate car chop shop operation sending stolen cars to South America. Hmmm...better put 'The Club' on my car tonight.... :-P

Finally...Mattamy opens their model townhomes

After entering the Ottawa market for over two years and having sold a bunch of widelot townhomes in Kanata and Barrhaven, Mattamy finally has available two model townhomes open for viewing: Maplefield End and Fernwater End. There is a third one in between them but it was not complete. Actually, it wasn't anywhere near complete. Not sure if that was part of the plan.

Both model homes are very nice. Not surprisingly, they did quite a few upgrades to them both. Probably not a bad thing that they didn't have these models ready when I was buying as I probably would have spent more on upgrades. Hahaha. But it was definitely nice to walk through a Fernwater. It got me rethinking about how I will place my furniture. For example, I think I will put the loveseat along the wall with the window and center the sofa like on the main wall as pictured below.
The kitchen layout is slightly different than mine. The biggest difference is that the dishwasher is located to the right of the sink and therefore the breakfast bar extends out further. I don't recall that being an option when I had bought so I'm guessing it's a new Architect's Choice option. Not sure if I would have gone with this option though. If I did, there wouldn't be much room to put a table in the kitchen area.

Update on my house: I went by my house since I was in the neighbourhood. Just as I arrived, a couple of cleaners just had finished up my house. They were kind enough to let me go in the house before they locked up. So, I snapped some pictures of the insides with it mostly clean. The carpeting was not done but the underpad had been laid down. I could see that a few other small things still needed to be done but it was refreshing to see it so close to the finish product. I chatted with the cleaners afterwards and they were telling me how they usually clean each house three times. Their next two visits to my home will be just before my PDI and then again on my closing date.

Spending like it's going out of style

The shopping continues. Over the past couple of weeks, I have bought a sofa and loveseat from Sears. Also bought some chairs to go with the dining room table. I made the final payment for my appliance upgrades. I think I'm done on the big stuff. Still looking for a bedroom set for me and a computer desk but those aren't high priority right now. Focus will be on the little and useful things like kitchen and other domestic stuff. I also need to get window coverings but I'll have to wait until I move in so that I can get the window dimensions.

I noticed Canadian Tire had the garage door opener that I bought for $20 less than what I had paid in May. So I went back and asked for the difference back. At first, they said they only refund differences within 14 days but they have a 90 day return policy. I asked what was to keep me from returning the one I had bought and re-buying it at the lower price. She agreed so she processed it just like that. Refunded the original and resold it to me at the lower price. Frugal? Cheapskate? Penny Pincher? Go ahead and label me. :) That money paid for a couple of tv trays I bought afterwards there.

I guess I have been spending lots of money as of late as my Mastercard account was flagged and put on hold due to the recent flourish of transactions. Last night, I tried paying for gas with one of those speedpay thingies at the gas pump and it got denied. I called Mastercard up this morning and straightened it out. I don't mind that this happens especially since I know people who have had their credit cards compromised. All is good now and it's time to hit the stores again today. Staples, Ikea and Home Outfitters, here I come!!!

PDI Scheduled for July 13th!!1!1!!!

I just received a call from Mattamy to schedule my PDI. It is scheduled for July 13th. Woo Hoo! I guess everything is on schedule then. I did go visit my house yesterday and it's looking really good. The hardwood flooring was put in. All of the bathroom vanities were done including the sinks and toilets. The lighting fixtures were all in including potlights. I like the fixtures that they put in for the kitchen eat-in area and the ones in the hallway. My original plan was to replace them all but I may just end up keeping them. But I still will be replacing the ones over the kitchen sink with pendent ones later. The kitchen cabinets are in but the countertop was only half complete. Admittedly, I was a bit worried about my colour choices but seeing them now, I think it's going to look really nice, especially with the contrast with the black appliances. One thing I noticed that I never thought of was the railings. They are made of oak and my floors are maple. So, the railings have a lot more wood grains in it. I should have gotten the maple railings to match the floors better. This is an upgraded cost though.

The biggest item that I can see that's left to do is the carpeting. After that, it's just little things like finishing the trim by the floors (i.e. putting quarter round down), paint touch ups, installing closet doors and shelves, etc.

I think that I will be able to fit two cars on my driveway. It's hard to tell for sure but just eyeing where the street lamps have been put in along the street and guessing where my driveway will end, I think it's possible. I won't have a sidewalk on my side of the street either.

Today, I will be going to the bank to finally sign my mortgage papers. The bank was apparently super busy so they only got the paperwork together a few days ago. I am two weeks from my closing date as of today. Can I get another Woo Hoo?!?!

My first unexpected surprise

So I went to visit my house this past weekend. Things are really coming along. When I was there, there were a couple of workers finishing off the ceramic tiling in the master ensuite. One guy told me it was okay to come in so I did! The ceramic tiling in the front foyer, kitchen, powder room and main bathroom was all done. The drywall was complete and painted. All of the trim was dropped off. On the outside, the siding is complete and the porch railings are installed. Now here's the unexpected surprise. If you look at the picture above, you'll see there are railings on the left and right side. I was expecting not to have the railing on the left and a longer railing on the right so that you could walk straight into the house after stepping onto the porch. Here's a picture of what I thought it would look like:
Thinking that they screwed up on my railing, I contacted Mattamy customer care and sent them the two photos. They responded quickly saying that they checked the architect design and there was no error with the railing. And they also pointed out that in the product brochure, it shows that the Elevation B unit like mine is shown to have the railings on both sides. Sure enough, I rechecked the product brochure and it does indeed show that. Mattamy said they would not change it.

I don't really like this design. First off, it can be a bit of a pain to moving big stuff in and out of the house. Secondly, I was planning on putting a couple of patio chairs on the right side to make a little bit of a sitting area. Now, it will seem weird having on of the chairs in the middle right where the step is. There's nothing that I can do right now. I guess I could see if I can change out the railing after I close. Not sure how much that would cost though. I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Shop til I drop...or go broke.

So the money spending continues even before I take possession of my house. This weekend, I bought a bedroom set for my daughter's room, coffee and end table and a kitchen table. There were some decent sales this past weekend so I took advantage of it. I'm not 100% sure about the coffee table though. It's so hard buying furniture for a place that doesn't exist yet. Besides trying to figure out whether the colours will work, it's also hard imagining the furniture layout. I just hope it isn't too cluttered. I've been using those online room planners but still. Anyway, I can always cancel the order if I have second thoughts before they deliver it.

Later this week, I plan on ordering my dining room table. Again, there's another sale that I know of so I want to take advantage of that. Basically, I've been deal hunting for the last few months. If I see something that's on sale that I know that I need, I picked it up. Lately, I've been looking through all the flyers I get with my paper. It's quite a sad site seeing me get excited about flyers. I know which ones come on which days and I've even resorted to cutting out coupons for certain stores like Home Outfitters. Hahahaha! Hey, may as well save a few dollars with the amount of stuff I need to buy, right? With my kitchen table (glass top table, nothing fancy) that I've been eyeing, there was scratch and save so I pulled the trigger on it this past weekend. But of course all I got was the lowest discount of 5%. Saved a whopping $25!

Still lots of other stuff to buy though. I think I need a bunch of linens, housewares stuff and some other furniture items. My friends are going to wonder where all this stuff came from when they help me move. :) Less than 5 weeks away until close date!

Market rebounding?

So, in my last blog entry, I mentioned that rates 5-year fixed rates went up 0.2%. Well, I noticed this week that the rates went up another 0.4% (variable rates are still holding). The posted 5-year fixed rate at the big banks is now 5.85%. I've read that the bond markets have been strong as of late which explains the increase. But still somewhat of a shock that the rates have gone up 0.6% in a couple of weeks.

Something else interesting is how the Ottawa housing market seems to be somewhat bucking the trend. I've been reading that builders have been raising the prices of new homes. Now, I can't say for certain what the puts and takes are given that sometimes they offer incentives to offset their prices. But I did notice that for my particular house that the base price went up by $5k. I popped into the Mattamy sales office to see whether they were offering any kind of incentive. Besides the same "free kitchen appliances" that I got, there was no incentive like the $5k upgrade credit that I got. So, factoring this in, my house went up in price by $2k from when I bought it. Not exactly a huge amount but I wouldn't have thought that prices would have gone up until next year sometime at the earliest.

Rate drop over?

Could it be that the falling mortgage rate ride is over? The big banks raised their 5-year fixed rates by 0.2% to 5.45% today. 7 and 10-year fixed rates also went up by the same amount. Variable is still bank prime + 0.6%. Although I haven't signed the final documents, I'm still locked in at 3.75%. Phew...I cut that one pretty close.