Steve the Builder emailed us the final cost specs for the house with our changes and additions. Everything looked great. A few things bumped up the price a bit, but not by a lot and not by any amount that would make us rethink anything. Probably won't change the mortgage payments by any more than a few dollars a month. That's good news!
The 'dog-eared' dormer was our big wild card, and that was a lot cheaper than we thought. Which is great because that will save us a lot of money in the future when we finally get around to expanding the master bedroom.
He approved the french doors to the study, the knee wall in the kitchen, the hardwood throughout the kitchen, dining room, foyer and study, the window seat in the study, the closet in the laundry room, the molding and wainscoting in the dining room, the molding in the study, the mudroom addition, the expansion on the deck to accommodate the mudroom and the extra windows. And only about half of that cost us anything extra. Yaaaaay!
The best part, we were able to get our real fireplace! No wood-burning stove, but that's OK. As long as we have a place to have a real fire in the winters. The questions we had circled around codes and masonry and positioning and chimney height and we were worried we wouldn't be able to have a fireplace.
The builder and real estate agent recommended a gas stove, but we didn't want that. We have it now and it's very expensive in the winter, it constantly has an open flame and while it does give off heat, it's still a big hit to your gas bill. We really wanted a real fireplace (which has been done in the development before).
Steve the Builder had to do some research for us since he hadn't put many real ones in and he also knew that codes were changing in June.
Luckily, he gave us 2 choices and a lot of information about both. The first, was a traditional masonry fireplace. This would have been a great choice but with the higher ceilings and an attic, the chimney would have had to go REALLY high (and would have had to clear the roof by a certain distance) and we might have even lost a foot or two from the two upstairs bedrooms that were right above where we wanted the fireplace. That would have cost us close to $9K! Yikes!
For about 1/4 the price. It's a real fireplace, but instead of a chimney, it's a pipe, like a wood stove. It's called (ready for this one?) The Heatilator (imagine a deep voice with an echo saying that...like a superhero). You can build it right into the wall as long as it's insulated and it won't take up more space. It's a little smaller, but works the same and claims to be easy to clean, too. Instead of an expensive brick chimney, you can build the casing around the pipe on the outside of the house so it looks like a chimney, but is sided just like the rest of the house.
Real fire, no extra cost, no loss of space in the bedrooms and a nice neat siding covered pipe going up the house.
Sold!
That's some good news for the week!
Now, Steve and John the Real Estate Agent are drafting our Purchase and Sale agreement and we should have that in the next few days. Once it's signed and the condo is sold, they'll start digging!
Condo goes on the market next week...fingers crossed!
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