Inspector Gadget...

Actually, his name was Greg. And his last name was not Gadget. But Jeff and I kept singing the theme song the days leading up to and after the inspection. We had our home inspection last week and fortunately, there was nothing major to fix.

There were 3 fix right away items:

1. One of the breakers had died and there was no power to the master bedroom and one of the walls upstairs. Now how the owner didn't know about this is beyond me. There was also a slight wiring problem inside the breaker box that was a shock risk. Nothing that immediately needed fixing, but since the electrician was coming out anyway, might as well have them re-wire it. Our realtor called her trusted electrician, and it was already fixed by 12:30 that day. Check!

2. The upstairs furnace (yes, we have two heating and cooling systems) was not turning on. Our inspector didn't think it was the furnace itself was the problem, since it's only 6 years old. It was either the upstairs thermostat or the circuitry board in the furnace itself. He also suggested that we get the lint vent cleaned out since it was very full of lint. On a side note, probably most of you reading this should have it done as well. To prevent fires, it should be cleaned every 3-5 years. Our realtor called her trusted HVAC guy, and the vents are cleaned and our thermostat is fixed so the furnace is functioning. Check!

3. Two of the roof tiles on the ridgeline have blown off in a storm and the owner never got it fixed. Fortunately, they are sitting there on the other side of the roof so they just need to be re-attached. Our inspector said there are no leaks in the roof and no signs of water damage. But, the longer it sits there with the tiles off, the more weather damage the underlying paper is getting. Which will eventually cause leaks. Our realtor has called her trusted roofing company (man, I love her connections), and they should be coming out soon to give us a quote on the fix.

Besides those 3 main fixes, there are several other things that will eventually need attention, but are not damaging the house:

-The house is filthy...tell us something we don't know!
-The dishwasher probably doesn't have much life left in it...fortunately, it is one of the cheaper appliances
-The spring on the oven door is broken, so you have to catch the door so it doesn't just slam down...either fix it or replace it down the road
-The backyard does not drain well...Moat on one side of the house included! At least we're protected from the black knight! No damage is being done to the house, no water is getting in, but eventually we'll want to either put down gravel or put in more drains, or both.
-The seal in one of the windows in the master bedroom is defective...merely a cosmetic problem, and can be fixed whenever we get tired of looking at it
-The faucet in the kitchen sink is, um, loose...it looks like it's barely connected to the sink. Again, how exactly did the owner not know about this??? Probably will be fixing that in the near future before it becomes a serious problem. Unless it's an excuse to not do the dishes?
-There are several cracks in the concrete outside and in some of the walls...nothing structurally wrong, just ugly.

We multi-tasked while we had the inspection, and also had our flooring estimate. We want to re-do the flooring in the kitchen/family room area which is currently carpet and linoleum. I could deal with the linoleum if the carpet transition weren't coming up and the tack strips weren't exposed. Long story short, the estimate came back reasonably within our budget so we went ahead with ordering everything we needed for the flooring. Then we got a phone call that the trim strips are insanely back-ordered, and won't be in until Feb. 28th at the earliest. Not sure what's going to happen, but we're hoping they'll still be able to install the flooring part before we move in, and then come back to do the trim. We'll see.

So when will the McMansion officially become ours? No one seems to be able to tell us. The answer is "by the 6th...or earlier." Isn't that helpful??? We're guessing sometime next week. We will be signing our ginormous stack of papers on Tuesday, and will hopefully have an idea when we'll get the keys in our hands. You mean, this might actually happen?!

The movers will be coming on Thursday to give us an estimate. We're planning on having them move us on Feb. 17th, which is also when our bed, bed frame, and appliances will be delivered.

For now, we're packing in what little spare time we have (which currently we are both fighting colds, so it's a slow, painful process). Jeff is insanely busy at work, and figured out that he's worked 27 of the last 29 days. yuck! I've been working long hours, as usual, and trying to maintain my sanity. I think I'm more stressed about this house/move than I was about the wedding. Although as Jeff points out, I had almost 2 years to prepare for the wedding, while I've had less than 30 days to prepare for this big step.

Stay tuned for more news on the McMansion, moving, painting, cleaning, and packing. Hopefully Jeff and I don't kill each other in the process!