Day 104

The bad news is: we don't have a closing date yet. We are still waiting on the sewers. It will probably be somewhere around Day 150 before we can close. What happened to 79 days? I know schedules get mucked up, but come on, people!

The good news is: we know more now than we did a week ago. As of last week, the developer said they had about 2 weeks to go, weather permitting. The nice thing is, the weather has been fantastic; maybe a little cold, but clear and sunny for the most part. If we assume 2 weeks, that means they will be done with the sewer around April 1. Great! April Fools' Day. That's not the best part. After hearing this news from Ryan Homes, I spoke to the town Water and Sewer Superintendent, then the Code Enforcement Officer. It pretty much comes down to this:

To close with the mortgage company, we have to have a Certificate of Occupancy (aka C of O).
To get the C of O, the sewer needs to be certified.
To be certified, the sewer needs to pass a mandrel test to make sure it hasn't collapsed or separated.
To run a mandrel test, the sewer has to sit for 30 DAYS!

That puts us at May 1 (Day 142, if I'm counting correctly) before they run the mandrel test. They probably won't give us a closing date until the sewer passes.

Hopefully, we can close by mid-May. We better, because I promised Buddy we would have his b-day party at the new house. His b-day is at the end of May.

To Ram, my reader from Ohio: This is VERY IMPORTANT!
At the pre-build meeting, tell your project manager to make sure the washer is left of the dryer, especially if you have a front loading washer. I'll explain:

The Bainbridge was originally designed to have the garage on the right. When you have a reversed build (like we do), they don't do new prints: the contractors just reverse everything. I haven't looked at the prints for the 2nd floor laundry room, but I would bet the washer/dryer are oriented properly on the prints. The plumber probably looked at the prints, measured the washer drain from the front of the house, and ran the drain there. Unfortunately, that puts our washer to the right of the dryer. That means you need to pull the clothes out of a front load washer, lift them over the washer door, then throw them into the dryer. I'll take pics the next time I get into the house. I was there today, but was too well dressed to go inside.

To get around this, we have to find a right-hinged washer. The only ones I've found so far are Miele (start around $1,900), Speed Queen (not sure on price here), and Electrolux. The Electrolux is unique because it is the only front-load washer on the market that allows you to reverse the washer door. Any way, this oversight will cost us about $400 - $500 more than we had planned to spend on a washer/dryer. Aarrgghh!!

On the brighter side, we are getting better toilet seats! Long story for another post.