acer, talk to a mason contractor about what they use to water proof their block retaining wall for garages. There is a plastic product that has bentonite clay sandwiched between the plastic sheets. Don't know the cost but it will stop your ground water and concentrate it to your drain. The bentonite clay is impervious to water seepage. You could also dig a 8 foot deep cutoff trench along the stream and your property edge and fill it full of bentonite slurry. Of course you will push the water to your neighbors yard. You have the best approach, Where will your relief drain end up? Aloha

Thank you for the follow up. I have also searched MLS in large cities and the National Home Builders Association. Our home has been sitting with partial brick and stone since the end of Oct. If I don't resolve this problem soon I will be without friends and family soon! I would love to consider Allison0704's mortar washing, however our mason has never heard of that technique and he is also concerned how it would weather in Northwest Indiana. I spoke with a cement rep. from essroc. and he said they are starting to mortar wash homes in Louisville, Ky. He was kind enough not only to talk with me several times but he sent some pictures also. The wash is nice but I lean more to a full coverage like Allison0704's beautiful home. He did mention to take a look at a brick by Cherokee called Old Savanah Tudor. Keep up the search as will I!!

I just got home last night from a two day drive through 9 states. One learns a lot on such drives! First, why on earth would anyone build a subdivision that has houses practically in spitting distance of an interstate? Got the land cheap? Buyers bought more house than they could otherwise afford? But geez - the price that is paid with noice, fumes, lack of privacy both inside and outside. Yet I saw these in nearly every single state. Practically none of these houses had any windows on the sides. If cost is that much of a concern, I'd forgo the windows onto the interstate and put them on the side and design the house to work this way! Then there are the huge decks up in the air on the back of houses on flat lots, which somehow got built with walk-out basements. They not only look ridiculous, but again - a still better, higher view of the interstate? And how do small children go outside, with a long flight of stairs to their yard? I live in a house on a slopping lot, basement garage and the kitchen is up one flight of stairs to the yard (but not as high up as those decks). It is far from ideal. My excuse for buying it? We had one weekend in which to buy a house for a job change. We were living in KY, it was 1 April and we had to move by 10 June. Only one buying trip would be paid for. It was the best of a whole bunch of far from ideal choices. But it is very limiting - building out the back would cost twice as much as it's up in the air. I'm NOT an architect, nor are there any in my family anymore (a first cousin who has been dead for 25 years was one). But as an interior designer, I see the problems that are caused when one is not used. Odd placement of doors, windows - the fireplace is a favorite - put it where there is no possible way to have even a chair next to it. Sure, that works! My parents used an architect to design their first house. Unfortunately, my father was transferred while that house was under construction and they never got to live in it. They wanted to use the same plans for the house they were to build in another city, but the building costs had soared due to 100 families being transferred into a small town with limited housing stock. So, they used one of their builder's stock plans. It was very poor design and my mother struggled with living with it for 11 years until my father was again transferred. It took a year to sell that house - others knew it was a poor design. Building even the most modest home on a modest budget deserves good design. What is good design? It's design that is not just pleasing to the eye - it actually WORKS! One reason we bought the house we did was it had good traffic flow and the only room one had to walk through to get to another was the DR - not unusual or a problem unless one has very large parties. This house is not suited for large parties, I don't give them and I don't like them! But the house works and that's why I'm still in it 33 years later, and have spent money improving it further. People with the smallest budgets will be best served by hiring an architect. Money very well spent.

Maybe I posted this in the wrong place. It seems that almost everyone that replied felt compelled to critique the house plan I picked to build. While I do appreciate the comments, the responses have been to questions I simply did not ask. I posted here because I wanted to interact with anyone on this site that might have built this house already. I did the same thing here on Houzz when we built our last house several years ago, and had some amazing conversations with people that had built that plan and suggested some things that we were able to keep in mind as we built ours. I obviously picked this plan because it fits what my family and I wanted and it is in keeping with the style and a layout that we really like. I'm sure its not "right" for everyone but that is why they make so many different plans. What might be considered flaws to some are welcomed features to others. That being said, I had already made a few changes to the plan to customize it for our build that addresses many of the things pointed out here, especially concerning the closets and the bathrooms. I agree there is not enough room in the master closet for the Island pictured. We had already decided not to have an island there which really opens up the master closet. I also agree many of the closets marked as WIC on the plan are not really "walk in" LOL. I did enlarge the closet in the bedoom on the front far left by making the "pod" on that side a couple of feet larger to the rear. That helped the size somewhat but that will only be a guest bedroom for us, as our kids are all grown now. The bedroom to the left of the front door was changed to a study/library with the entrance moved to a set of french doors opening to of the front hallway. This eliminates the funny Jack and Jill aspect of the bathroom that was attached to that room. I appreciate everyone's concern about having no windows in the kitchen. It was something we really contempated. The house that we live in now is a very popular Southern Living Plan and does not have a great deal of light in the kitched either (one small window that faces west) but we were careful to light the kitchen with large island lights, recessed lights and under cabinet lights and we are very happy with that. Our current family room is also in the same loaction of the house as with this plan, with a large bank of windows to the rear of the houses that opens to a large covered porch. We like the cozy atmosphere it creates in that room especially with the glow of the fireplace in the winter. Just the right amount of natural light enhanced by the use of lamps and recessed lights when needed. We extended the dining room to the back of the house and added a few more windows in the process. This will help somewhat with more light as well, but I agree it will not light the kitchen much if at all but the dining room will have pleanty of nice light. Maybe we are not as concered with having a ton of light in the house like some are that live in more of a city setting. You see the house is being built in the middle of 50 acres of land up on a rise that is 300 yards off of the road. We are blessed with a beautiful large piece of land to build upon, with pleanty of opportunity to enjoy the outdoors and the sunshine as we roam the acreage. One of the things we really like about the house is the very large rear porch and the spacious front porch. When we want to enjoy the sunlight at our current house, we simply step out on it's large front or rear porch which we use as a very welcome extension to the house year round. We love to use the rear porch and our outdoor area of our current house and use it to entertain with friends often. We love the flow of the rear porch opening to the family room, kitchen and dining area with this layout. In fact, that we actually elarged the already large rear porch on this plan so that we can enjoy the outdoor living aspect in abundance with this house. All that being said, if there is a better place to post this question, I am all ears. I guess I don't hang out on this site as much as some of you do, so maybe there is a better place to try to get the information I was seeking. Thank you.