HawthorneVillager.com

Congrats on the purchase! Yeah, I'm really liking the make up of our street. I love your optimism - 'we close on Oct 21st', hopefully there's no delays...but knowing our luck...

Hi All,
Had an awesome day mtbiking up at Kelso today ... weather was perfect for it!
I passed by the lot after, and decided to take my bike around .... #1 I was riding around in your backyard lol. What I discovered was a ravine/creek that was about 6'-8' deep to about 10' wide. I believe it starts from Intercorp property and runs along the back of all the houses (starting at lot 13-1), it's widest is actually around lots 1-5. It then rounds the back of lot 1 and goes south along the wood lot. After that I stopped following it.
I went to the sales office after and asked about it. One of the ladies said that its Intercorp property and Matamy has nothing to do with it! My concern is there will be this ravine/creek that can potentially fill up with water, and without a back fence this could be dangerous for anyone with children or dangerous in general. I couldn't really gauge where the backyards would end, but I don't think they will be filling this ravine in with dirt to grade it (hoping they do!).
Another concern that came up as I was talking to the sales lady is that Matamy does NOT build us a "back" fence! I thought usually builders do this and new home owners would just build the dividing fence between the houses? Given this, I think one contractor should do the entire back fence, so that the workmanship and "look" is consistent for the entire length of the back, and for the dividing fences ... we could build that ourselves or opt to hire someone cheaper or make a deal with the builder of the back fence.
Anyways, this ravine/creek is something that I didn't know about and not sure if any of you guys did? I'm personally not liking it.
I'm gonna contact the city for more info on it.
Sal

I think we could do both. For event planning etc just use this thread, but for more discrete stuff, use an email thread.

Anyone wishing to be on the email list, fire your emails through PM (private message) to Amabelle

Once we get all the emails, we'll distribute a list to everyone through email...

I'm alright with the ravine\creek. Adds to area. Although, gonna have to keep a close eye on any kids around there. I live in front a pond\wooded lot now, and anytime I see kids around there I watch them, just in case...Gonna have to warn my kids about going around there...

My suggestion for the fence issue is to get someone to do the holes\post...then every house involved chip in and help build the fence for every house. Its just a matter of screwing everything together. There alot of handyman's on our street I'm sure. Probably take a weekend or 2 to help build the fencing. Also, we'd have to wait for Intracorp to be built as well, so the houses involved can split the cost...

I dont think Intercorp will be involved in the fence as the ravine will be seperating us. Unless they fill it in?
The other question is, will this ravine shorten up our backyards due to building the fence far enough away to have the post holes go down 4' without any possible ground problems. ie ground breaking away around the posts on a heavy rainstorm. btw the walls of the ravine are not reinforced with stone or rocks for possible wear.
I've built enough fences, but all the back fences i've seen built are done by the builder or proffessionals .... it needs to be solid and not cheap lumber used. BUT it can be done.
Sorry, something doesn't seem right about this ravine .... It looks like an erragation passage for the farm land (Intercorp property), it doesnt seem like a "natural" creek.

If you check this link:

http://www.milton.ca/execserv/agendas20 ... Report.pdf

The plans are in there, and according to the plans...the land will be filled in because there will be houses right behind us. Here is an image proposal from that link:



Although, just go through that document, it was done in January 2009, so there could have been changes...Maybe contact Intracorp or Collin Best for a more updated plan? I don't think they would build a fence to separate the 2 builder sites, but who knows...

hey, I didn't find anything in the link you sent regarding the creek .... but by the looks of it, it does get filled in! whew feeling better about this lol
i did find how tall the back fence should be .... maximum 2meters.

I read that too...Thats a real low fence...roughly 6.5' But I think thats if the builder has to build it those are requirements. It also said that for front or side yard its a 1m high fence. Mattamy is putting a steel\wire fence along the woodlot for us, which sounds about right at 3.25'. We plan on leaving that fence up and planting bushes or a whole bunch of cedars along the fence.

Amabelle- we decided to delete the doors to the jack and jill bathroom in our Juneberry because we wanted to have extra wall space in each of the bedrooms and not have to place furniture in the room based on extra doors but that's just my opinion. And we also opted for the 9 ft. ceilings- they look awesome- well they will when the house is complete! Have fun with your choices- we did!

_________________

It's not too late to join the 9' club Neighbourhood pressure in effect

Okay, thanks to everyone that sent me your email addresses. I have sent out an evite regarding our upcoming neighbour get together. If you sent me your email and didn't get an invitation, check your junk mail and make sure that evite.com is on your "safe sender" list.
Once I have a few more addresses, I'll send out a Coombes Crescent email. If you want to keep your email address hidden, just let me know. Otherwise, I'll send it out and everyone will have the email addresses of the rest of the crescent

Tam&Jay> we wanted a later closing. We have a lot to do before we are ready to sell our house but we're set to close in November. But I'm glad that we don't have to worry about selling our current house over Christmas..... at least I hope it's not delayed that far.

Hey, can we join the 8' club too? We didn't do the 9' either. Thought about it, but after visiting the model homes in Cambridge, we realized how much we'd want to add in the kitchen, so the ceilings lost
So, for the kitchen, we're thinking lots of potlights, granite countertop, upgraded cabinets/tiles, backsplash, valance lightings and we already changed to alternate kitchen layout. Plus more potlights on niches and hallways, wooden stairs, glass enclosure for the ensuite shower. And I'm pretty sure the list is going to grow once we see the upgrades list and visit the design centre.
I'm only 6'2'', who needs 9' ceilings?

hey neighbour ... did you have a choice for 9' ceilings on the second floor? we didn't, although we did put them on the main floor

your kitchen sounds amazing so far!

we're starting to rethink whether we're going with the builder for certain upgrades or with contractors after the build?! for example, hardwood floors ... the builder would reinforce the floors to accomdate the extra weight of the hardwood, so to minimize any potential squeaking down the road. it would be difficult and costly to do the reinforcing after. pot lights with the builder, the reason why its so expensive is because they insulate each light in the cavity of the ceiling to prevent heat build up. aftermarket pot lights, i don't think they will be insulating the light?
just something to think about

btw one of my buddies that bought a Spirit home (south of Derry) just got his closing day delayed another 3 months! i hope that doesn't happen to us

Hey neighbour
Yeah, good point about the pot lights, we want to put them everywhere in the house, we got inspired by the model homes. Not sure about the hardwood floors, I mean we already paid for the carpet...We're thinking to leave the carpets on a couple of years until they wear off and then do the floors. But we'll do wood on stairs for sure.
Big game this weekend, I know, nobody cares about soccer...

PS No choice for second floor 9' ceiling

I like watching TFC, but don't follow them right now. It is a big game on the weekend tho...

Personally, I have a bad experience with builder hardwood and would never go builder hardwood again. They usually don't use the highest quality wood. I screwed down my floor of my current house and the floors still creak once in a while. Were doing the stairs with the builder and most structural stuff, but I am gonna do alot myself. Pot lights, backsplash, stone fireplace, deck, hardwood and front porch tile I'm gonna do myself. We did most of the stuff in my current house.

hey Dean .... when you're finished working on your house, i'm over at lot #9!!!!!!!

we're finally gonna check out the DC on Saturday and maybe the modle homes ... hope to see someone from Coombs along the way!!

Sylvian, one of my closest friends works for CBC sports and covers the soccor games all the time ... i'll see if he has any extra tickets to pass on and we can hook up! i haven't seen a game yet

also, we just received the flyer for the Green Park, Arista Homes, and Fieldgate releases for this Saturday. gonna check out the competition