Villa Futura

Landscaping done

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:20:30 -0400

We have been living in the house about 1 month so far. Can’t believe that it has gone this quickly. We have worked out just about all kinks, learned a few things we would do differently. But all in all, everything is working very well.

Almost all boxes are unpacked and put away. That has been a big job.

The big step that we have now accomplished is the landscaping on the upper side of the property. We have done some shaping/grading and brought in dirt to give us good contour. I n my original plan, I did not want grass on this side of the property but it is almost required for the septic system.

All plants need very little attention and no trimming. They are all drought resistant but we have installed irrigation based on our rain harvesting tanks. I really wanted a Ginko tree and they sure are ugly when young. It will grow pretty quickly and is one tree that Frank Lloyd Wright planted at many of his houses.

We are waiting for some furniture that has been back ordered and when that arrives I will take some photos of the inside of the house.

Moved in.

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:29:03 -0400

We have now moved into the house. We are finding that we do not have a lot of storage space since most rooms are just open rooms. It helps to keep you things to a lesser level. We are also digesting the spaces and how they work.

One thing that was interesting this week-end was that as hot as Atlanta is in August, we turned off the air and opened the doors. The breeze comes off the lake and when it hits the concrete floors the air is naturally cooled.

We have a few things left to do:
The pantry was made wrong and it has to be corrected. That should happen this week.
We are painting the floors in the shop and the garage. That will start Tuesday.
We have to install the locks to the pool gates.
We have a leaking toilet. That needs to be addressed.
We have a smoke alarm that is giving us trouble. We need to either move it or turn that one off.
Landscaping will be finished in September.
We are pouring final driveway part next week.

Passed with a reservation

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:17:13 -0400

Friday we had our final inspection. We are free to move in but not free to occupy just yet. They want a letter from IKEA that says that all the glass they use in their closets is tempered and meets building code. We know it is tempered but the sticker on the glass is not good enough. This has to be resolved Monday. Everything else is fine.

The pool will go through final inspection later in the week.

Some of the work done this week has been:
We are cleaning the house. Windows will be separate but all the paint has been removed off the windows.
We have finished all landscaping towards the lake. The sprinklers are running off the rain harvesting tanks and they are working automatically now. We installed all the crushed slate and 9 pallets of sod.
We have built several left over ikea cabinets in the downstair garage. This will allow me to move a lot of my tools.
I have moved some motorcycles to the shop and also moved the old Land-Rover and a trailer.
Moved a lot of clothes and small kitchen items.
We are filling the pool. It’s almost full. All pumps will be turned on Monday afternoon.

This week we are:
Moving in.
All panels for the railing around pool will be installed.
We have to program the pool system, add salt to the water, filter and probably do the first back-wash. We are going to build a door for the pool room.

Final inspection - will it pass?

Thu, 6 Aug 2009 20:45:15 -0400

So, tomorrow is the scheduled final inspection. We feel like we are in good shape. Very much has happened this week. It has been really busy.

Pool will be ready to start filling Friday night. We have done all the concrete work. The pool equipment is about in
We have got the low voltage LED lights around the pool. working.
We have done a lot of landscaping. We are completely finished towards one neighbor. We have also adjusted a retaining wall towards the other neighbor. Saturday we get sod and we will completely finish the lake side.
We have cleaned up a lot. Very quickly the dumpster was filled with general trash, old concrete and rocks.
We have painted the stairs and installed the final steps. I will show pics later. They are now covered in paper for protection.
The propane tank has been buried, filled and connected. We have tested the wok burner. It all works.
We have finished all the interior paint, exterior paint, touch up on stucco, finished IPA.
We have done new seals for the garage doors. The standard plastic seals just did not measure so I found door sweeps from McMaster Carr and we ripped some IPA to make a nice finish
We have cleaned up the beach. That was big job.
We have insulated the roof in the penthouse.

So tomorrow we will see if we pass inspection......

Pushing towards the end

Sat, 1 Aug 2009 17:08:40 -0400

We have had a week with some final big steps. The septic system is now 100% complete. This was the last big step for grading.
We have installed our Chimney. A major part of the design.
We have installed the sprinkler lines for the irrigation, fed by rain water.
We have cleaned out the garage. Moving last construction details out of the way.
We have poured the pool deck and finished up the panel in the pool room.
The final plumbing details were done.
Final stucco was completed Saturday.

Next week we are:

Installing last railing parts. Cutting off all excess cables.
Painting the last inside details.
Starting on the landscaping
Pushing hard for Certificate of Occupancy. Move in!!!