A little over a year in

So we have been in the house for a little over a year now and things have gone pretty well.  All our outstanding issues have finally been resolved, some took longer than others, but luckily they were just cosmetic things.  Our neighborhood is now complete too, which means no more construction vehicles taking up the roads.  Here are a couple of random issues we had pop up:

• Breaker for foyer would trip with heavy rains.  They had originally come out to take care of this in the spring and just replaced the breaker.  We didn't get many heavy rains, but the few we did it kept happening.  The electricians came back out and ran a new wire through the conduit to the lamp post, when they took the old one out it had nicks in it which were probably getting wet cause the issue.  Hasn't happened again since they fixed it.
• Furnace would randomly flame out and back on.  We had an issue in the spring like this but turns out our new neighbors kid stuffed our exhaust flue with rocks and dirt.  This could have cause a potentially unsafe condition, but the furnace would kick off when the pressure built up.  Unfortunately this cost us $90 since it isn't a warranty item.  There after the furnace would randomly do it again, they replaced the flame sensor and it seems to be fine since then.

Since moving in we also have done a few things around the house:

• Had the back yard re-graded.  (Done by contractor that put our patio in)
• Put a patio in.  We went with an exposed aggregate concrete, turned out nice, but the contractor turned out to be a pain to work with.
• Put a privacy fence in.  We went with a 6ft vinyl privacy fence on the sides and 4ft picket across the back.  
• Built a bench and added cabinets to our mudroom.
• Added ship lap, crown molding, and framed out window in our half bathroom.
• Hung a swing on the porch.
• Built a gate in the upstairs hallway for our daughter.
• Painted most of the downstairs except for the front dining room.
• Painted upstairs hallway, master bathroom, and one of the bedrooms.

Here are a few shots of our projects:

Noisy cold air return fixed

So Ryan Homes had another HVAC company come out and redo the cold air return run from the basement ceiling down to the furnace.  They replaced the duct with one lined with acoustical material to help silence it.  They also roughed in a return in the basement per the drawings, unlike the other HVAC company that just cut a hole in the side of the air return and slapped a grille on it. Although I will say thankfully they did that since it got all our vents cleaned on Ryan's dime.  Since the new duct was put in we no longer have to yell when the air is running or turn up the volume on the tv.

BEFORE

AFTER

We also finally got our new island countertop installed.  Only a few more things on our list to be taken care of.  As for the yard grading, we actually cut a deal with Ryan Homes to have the contractor putting in our patio do the grading and Ryan Homes would reimburse us for the grading.  I presented this just so we didn't have to have the machinery tearing things up more than once and to get it all done at once.  Kudos to them for agreeing to this to ease the burden on us.

Almost 4 months in

We are now almost in and growing accustomed to our new home.  For the most part everything has been going well.  We have had a few more issues pop up and some of our others resolved.  For our 30 day fixes they sent out one of their subs to fix things and to be honest, I wish I would have just done most of them myself.  It was a father/son crew.  Some things they did alright, but others it seemed like just a half-assed attempt.  I let our project manager know and he said he will have his guys repair anything outstanding, hopefully they do a better job.  I'll just list a few of our outstanding issues, don't want to list out everything as some are just minor.  Most outside things need to wait until it warms up.

Outstanding items:

• New island counter top.  When they framed for our island they must have put the 2 small support walls 1" farther apart than necessary so they ended up needing a filler between the cabinets.  They did not account for this with the counter so it did not fit right.  Just waiting for all the parts to come in before it is fixed.  
• Replace transom windows above front and back door.  The grill in the windows above the front and back door were both crooked.  Plygem was supposed to come out last week to replace them, but the techs truck broke down, we now have to wait 2 more weeks to get back on the schedule.
• Backyard grading.  We've pretty much had issues with water standing in our backyard since they did the rough grade on the yard next door.  This has caused tons of water to form, to which we called Ryan Homes out several times for on twitter.  They didn't want to do anything until spring until I kept pushing it and they finally installed a drain on the lot next door.  This resolved the issue somewhat, but our yard will still need to be graded differently to prevent pooling.  

We also had issues with our cold air return on the first floor being very loud.  The HVAC company came out and tried to alleviate it by installing a return air vent in the basement, this did nothing except reveal and sandwich wrapper that still had cheese on it in the return itself.  The result was Ryan Homes paying to have all the ducts/vents cleaned in the entire house.  Since adding that vent did not resolve the issue they brought in another HVAC company that will be installing a new return line from the basement ceiling to the furnace that is lined with acoustical padding, this will get installed next week.

We are finally to the point of picking paint for the walls and covering over the flat paint that gets marks on it from just looking at it, not to mention it is such a thin coat that painters tape will rip it off.

We are also in the stages of getting quotes to have a patio put in.

To anyone else who has the Landon model with the bonus room, or even without.  Do you feel your rooms above the garage are colder than the others?  Our bonus room gets to be real cold and measuring the temperature at the floor by the baseboards often shows 20-30 degrees lower than what the thermostat is set for.  I know they used a spray foam and then insulation but I can't help but feel there is still air intrusion somewhere.  I've even pulled the attic access panels in the bonus room and lined them with insulation.

If you have any questions about the Landon, or want to see how something was done, just let me know.