Weiyan8--we're building just barely over the northern part of the county line, due north of R. We have 1.5 acres and for the first time I am realizing how much yard work I'm going to be doing! Yikes. So, right now in this heat, your .47 acres looks good :-) And you're right--that IS a good sized lot for your area. One house we were interested in there at your sub/div was in the Parade of Homes last year, but the houses were way too close around it. I've probably driven past your house, but because it's still under construction, not paid much attention to it. I drive through when I need ideas--first exterior colors, then front door stain, and now landscape ideas. I'm always driving through yours and H.C. sub/div for ideas because it's so close to our apt. You do have a nice commute, and my husband is going to miss it. (Aren't you glad that road got re-surfaced before you moved in? We had a bad 5-mile stretch--worse than GLTD if you can belive it--that JUST got re-done. Perfect timing). I'll post some pics later. Since our grading was done, the height of our porch is much better, but I don't have a pic of it lately. It looks like you have at least 1 more step than we do. If you have little ones, I'd probably put up the rails--maybe even in my situation, but I don't. It's exciting to get so close to move-in, isn't it? Good luck and hope you enjoy your new home. Tracey

Forget the advice from "some guy at the store." Wood conditioners are meant to prevent splotching, but they do a poor job at that. Stains are of two basic types - Pigments : finely ground powders - Dyes : chemicals that are dissolved Think of third grade science where you put dirt in a jar of water and shook it and sugar in a jar of water and shook it. What was the difference the next day? The dirt mostly settled out to the bottom. The sugar remained in solution. Pigments work like the dirt and dye like the sugar. The big contrast comes about because the earlywood (large pores) get a lot of pigment in them and the latewood (hard and smooth), does not absorb so much because it's wiped off. Dyes, on the other hand will absorb more evenly and reduce the contrast (at least color wise). So, what you want is a dye. Problem is, Minwax stains are sometimes dyes, sometimes pigments, and often both. They don't tell you. I suggest looking up Bob Flexner's "Understanding Wood Finishing" at your local library, where he shows photos of oak dyed on one half and pigmented on the other. Then get some scrap of oak and test out your intended products and processes on the scrap before starting on your newel post. It's easier to not make a mistake than it is to recover from one. You can get dyes at most woodworking stores such as Rockler and Woodcraft, or via mail order. You can control the concentration by how much dye you add to solvent (distilled water in most cases). So you might want to mix up a series of concentrations and apply each to see the resulting color. But to see the true color, you will have to apply the finish coats as finishes intensify the stain colors.

you need to work with a pro who has a little creativity because your objections really shouldn't be a big deal. To keep the p/t lumber from being visible, use a stainless steel grommet in the ipe post trim with a hole bigger than the one holding the cable in the p/t post. for the cap rail, do a metal cap rail to meet code, then router a channel in the ipe and mount it to that. Done. It'll take a little bit of design time to ensure that all your proportions are right and everything ties together appropriately and structurally, but there are definitely ways to get the look you want while satisfying the permit store. Obviously not dimensionally accurate or really thought through in terms of attachments, but here's the gist.

I understand that OP needs it to be cheap until closing because this is a lender requirement (not unusual) and if it is fixed before closing, it becomes a fixture and stays with the property even if the buyer doesn't close. CONSIDER: A solution to this would be a rehab type loan rather than the typical purchase loan. Benefit to the buyer is they don't need to resort to expensive hard money type loan as mentioned up thread. Also it gives the buyer the TIME to figure out a permanent solution. The buyer can close right away on a rehab loan. The disadvantage to a rehab loan is that the interest rate is slightly higher than your typical purchase mortgage. Something to explore.