Naperville Custom Home Construction: March 1

Been a bit since the last update - have been less motivated to post, as we have reached the point where the daily visual changes no longer occur. All the action is now occurring in the guts of the house - plumbing, HVAC, electrical, so those great visual leaps and bounds dont happen anymore, as this is the part where it slows down a bit.

Have been able to keep the plumbing, HVAC and electric within tight timing - in fact maybe too tight. Plumber started last Tuesday and HVAC came in on Friday. Electrician is itching to get in tomorrow (Monday) but will have to delay him a few days - as there is simply too much going on in the house right now for him - and plumber and HVAC get "priority" over location of piping/etc...electrician gets the space thats left over. Of which, I am learning my massively open floor plan has created some challenges for the plumber/HVAC - but nothing they have not been able to figure out.

Last Thursday we got about 3 inches of rain/t-storms in the matter of 4 hours...given that the lot has not been final graded, all the rain got funneled into the sides of the foundation and the sump pump was running non stop. Basically the water that was pumped out was circling around back to the window wells, via all the little rivers created by the electric service underground install. I simply went out back and dug a couple holes to divert the water and within 2 hours, sump had turned off. I was surprised when I heard the sump running non stop...as when this lot got 10 inches of rain in the matter of 2 days back in Sept, there were no water issues. Plus, the excavator had commented how dry it was digging nearly 10ft down - never hit a drop of moisture. So my hunch is once the lot is graded, this wont be an issue again.

Also, the other day, I had stopped by the site and happened to run into a Verizon tech at the site. Apparently Nicor gas had called them to flag their utilities on site. It was perfect timing as we always had what I called the "hatch" from Lost in the front yard - basically a 4ft by 2ft utility vault in the ground that was going to be an eyesore and cause issues with the final grading and driveway. I dont know if it was my lucky day or just got a nice service tech...but mentioned to him the situation with the driveway and final grade. I was hoping at best to get them just to agree to bring it up to the level of final grade and put in a new cover - as the current one was cracked and likley 20 yrs old. Well, after discussing the options and him making a few calls...he more than surprised me when he called me about 2 hours later and said they will not only take care of it...they will just bury the wires and fill in the hole - meaning no hatch and no eyesore. Better yet, it is all on Verizons dime. From the way the tech was talking - I think Verizon was more concerned with someone/something falling into the hatch and blowing out service to the northside of Naperville...burying it, I guess, solved that concern.

A functioning casement window above the garage...

The master bedroom cieling has plenty of room...

The nearly 5x6 walk-in shower...(keep in mind - we ditched the whirlpool tub and put the $$ in a massive shower).

For virtually no xtra cost, the framers are putting 2ft "tray" cielings in the other 3 bedrooms...and they are fabulous...not the small tray you see in some tract housing, these are some deep trays...amazing what and experienced framer can do. Make the rooms feel much larger.