November 1, 2014

Progress!!

 

 

 

It's hard for me NOT to go by and check on the progress of our lot. If I could, I would do a drive-by every single day!! I'm a bit of a stalker when it comes to our home. I want to be involved in as much of the building as possible.

 

Imagine my surprise when my boyfriend and I visited our lot this past Saturday and found out that they laid gravel which would serve as the base of  our soon to be driveway. They also laid re-barb (hope I'm spelling it right) wiring down onto the floor of the basement as well as the floor of the garage. The re-barb is wiring that is laid down on the floor prior to concrete being poured on the base. It helps with holding the rigidity of the concrete.

 

My boyfriend snuck in a few days prior (how dare he!) to me and saw them trucking in loads of dirt to help backfill the foundation. He counted at least 3 large dumpster sized trucks. There were also 2 mini-bull dozers that would roll over the dirt repeatedly until it was packed in solid.  

 

We were able to walk our lot and finally get a good look at how much land we had and get an idea of how much yard space we would have at our disposal. Though we don't have a lot of yard space in the actual back yard portion of our home, we have LOTS of space on the left side of the house. When they showed us the blue print of how the house would be positioned on the lot, our Sales Reps. Brandon and Sean explained to us that we may not have that much back yard space. We thought we would have a lot more than what we actually saw once they backfilled the dirt but I can live with it since we have that large space on the side. I don't want to be responsible for all that maintenance anyway!

 

One of our next projects, once the house is completed and we've recovered financially from the amount of furniture we would need to buy, is to have a small deck to the rear of the home with a roof-like covering where we could run electricity and have lighting and a ceiling fan (boyfriend's idea). Looking at the area that he has pre-selected he's not too sure that there's enough space to accomplish this fete but only time and a licensed contractor will tell.

 

Below you will find a few pictures of the foundation of the home after it was backfilled and some footage of the yard space in the front back and side of the home. Nothing too exciting but it's progress none the less!

 

I'll be back in a few days I'm sure with updates and more photos. Until next time fellow Ryan Homes bloggers!!

 

 

The gravel where our driveway will eventually be. I believe that the actual driveway will be the one of the last things that they do. They'll keep the gravel there so that way it will serve as a base for the asphalt.

 

 

Full frontal of home

 

Close up of front of home. You can see a step-up of where I'm sure the front door will be.

 

Right side of basement wall (if facing the home from the street). I think that we have a nice amount of space between our home and the home next to us. We will eventually have our landscaper Jose come and plant large evergreens on our property line to give us a little more privacy.

 

 

 

Left side of the basement wall.

 

 

A closer view of the left side of the basement wall.

 

This is the back corner of the basement wall that faces the rear of the home in the back yard. We believe that this is where the door to the deck will be placed. If so, it will only be a few steps down to the actual deck itself. My boyfriend isn't exactly sold on the back yard space but I think that it can still be done. We have a "line of disturbance" and a woodland preserve that is directly behind our lot so we can't build beyond our property line. But the trade off is that we have a good view to a beautiful lake and even have some geese! (I'm sure I'll be feeding them at some point if they stick around, I love all animals)

 

Here is a view of the back wall of the basement.

 

Here is a picture of our garage. If you click on the photo to enlarge it you will see the re-barb wiring that I was talking about as well as gravel to hold the concrete once it's poured.

 

Our basement floor pre-concrete. You can see the re-barb wiring as well as more gravel.

 

 

Here is a photo of the yard space that will be to the left of our home (if you're facing the house from the street). This picture doesn't do it any justice because we actually have a lot of space on that side of the home. In the beginning we were told that the developer wanted to make a path where that black tarp is down to the lake and build a sidewalk around it as well. We think that would be great but also wouldn't be upset if that didn't come to fruition. Even though it would just be a few feet, we could utilize that yard space for ourselves and also line this side of our property with trees for more privacy.