Things to do with a new house

[Raekwon]

We are moving into a newly built home in 2 weeks and I’m just looking for things that may or may not be common sense to do to the house and things that are not needed but have benefits. Do basements and garage floors need to be sealed or are they usually done already.

Curious to see the responses.

[John Doe]

You need to break-in each and every room

[Harju]

Have the furnace/duct work cleaned. Likely lots of construction, drywall dust plus the workers have likely been disposing of their cigarette butts and and other garbage in the vents.
I've heard different views on whether you should seal grout or not. Don't forget you need to break-in each and every room.

[EVERLAST]

Open all the vents hot vents and intakes and look inside.

Remove the doors from the furnace and if it’s not spotless start making demands.

New legislation was passed in December 2017 and they cannot use your furnace at all for construction purposes at all. I’ve been doing furnaces for 30 plus years and the crap I clean out of vents ducts and furnaces is mind blowing .....piss jugs, poop bags , orange peels , apple cores you name it.......in fact I’ll do a free inspection if you want it as it’s a service I provide as one of Calgary’s oldest established companies.

Also, start a list of deficiencies for the builder as they will offer to come back before 1 year is over and fix anything and hold them to it.

Make darn sure everything is noted on your walk thru.

[Meelapo]

Buy some paper blinds. Buying real blinds takes a lot of time (and money) and paper blinds can get you by for a while.

[Northendzone]

I’d investigate doing something with the garage floor before you have a bunch of crap in there and have driven on it. Throw a tarp down before you break it in to keep the floor pure.

Also, ensure you are the neighbor that contributes to the building of the fence.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

I’d investigate doing something with the garage floor before you have a bunch of crap in there and have driven on it. Throw a tarp down before you break it in to keep the floor pure.

Also, ensure you are the neighbor that contributes to the building of the fence.

Break in every room, even the garage

[Stud_McCool]

Get a plunger immediately.

[Sliver]

Check to see if you can treat the concrete right away. When I built I had to wait a certain period of time (can't remember how long) to allow all the moisture in the concrete to evaporate or something. It was at least several months and may even have been a year.

[Derek Sutton]

Paint the floor, do this right after you take possession BEFORE you move anything in there. Are you getting the basement finished? If not paint that floor to.

Start saving for window coverings now

Get lights installed in your living room by the builder, it's much better then having lamps everywhere EDIT, too late

Depending n your build etc.., but if you have a deck, get them pour concrete under it rather the leaving it dirt, y can all do this yourself but as a homeowner, getting 2 meters of concrete delivered can be a pita. EDIT: two weeks away, a liTtle late for this....

[ken0042]

I wasn't told until after my possession walkthru that my only chance to point out paint issues was prior to that. Also look for paint issues at different times of the day. I had a few bad spots that are really noticeable in certain light.

I put a second coat of mud and primed my garage walls before I moved anything in. I also marked the bottom of the walls to show where the studs were; makes it easier later on when you want to hang heavier stuff off the walls.

Make sure they terminate all the data lines. They hadn't terminated my coax lines.

Also, don't worry about being too nit-picky if something is a deficiency. You just paid a good chunk of money for a house- it should look good.

[Raekwon]

Well it was a reidbuilt home so the builders warranty does not exist, the new builder that sold it was nice enough to take care of deficiencies that were found during a home inspection we had.

We take possession on a Friday and I’m going in to mount blinds, build a temp fence for dogs since the houses on either side are not finished, install vacuflo and central air. Friday is a big day but I wanted to do the floors at the same time but I’m concerned they won’t be dry in time for the move the next day.

[wooohooo]

I would have epoxied or put some kind of surface down on my concrete in my garage. Now that I haven't, it's dirty and I have crap everywhere and have just resorted to living with it. Would have been nice to do it on clean concrete without having to figure out where to place all my belongings.

[bc-chris]

Originally Posted by Raekwon

Well it was a reidbuilt home so the builders warranty does not exist, the new builder that sold it was nice enough to take care of deficiencies that were found during a home inspection we had.

We take possession on a Friday and I’m going in to mount blinds, build a temp fence for dogs since the houses on either side are not finished, install vacuflo and central air. Friday is a big day but I wanted to do the floors at the same time but I’m concerned they won’t be dry in time for the move the next day.

well that didn't end the way i expected! ha!

[EldrickOnIce]

I would absolutely not paint any concrete floor

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Meelapo

Buy some paper blinds. Buying real blinds takes a lot of time (and money) and paper blinds can get you by for a while.

For a while?

[Northendzone]

Derek would you really want concrete poured around a new build right away? i know the dirt around our house had some sinkage over the course of the first spring.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

On the furnace front, before winter hits, get some tin tape and tape up literally every seam and hole in the furnace room on the ducts where air can get out. Efficiency plus.

[Tyler]

How much does it cost to epoxy a garage floor? Say, your standard double car garage?

[automaton 3]

Do seal your driveway before winter including the 2 feet inside your garage door. I waited a year on this and we already have a little bit of scaling by the door.

Consider planting some trees sooner than later.