Update

I wrote most of this yesterday afternoon, and Gmail must be having
problems again because on Wednesday morning it still has not posted.
There are new developments which I am adding and will attempt to post
the updated version.

Just when I thought the last of the new house bugs were going to be
fixed, things have taken a turn for the worse. Yesterday morning I saw
a big ant hill at the edge of the patio. I grabbed my bag of ant
killer granules and poured some on it. I decided to walk around the
yard to see if there were any more. When I got to the west side of the
house I saw the end of a pipe with a cap on it on the ground. I looked
and saw that the PVC pipe that is the clean out pipe for the tub and
shower drain had broken off. I don't know how it can be fixed. I
stuffed a steel wool pad in the pipe to keep mice from moving in and
put this on my list.

The technician from the fireplace company came with the factory rep.
from Lennox. They started checking out the vent piping and controls on
the fireplace. They went up in the attic. I poked my head up in the
attic and one of the men showed me a pipe that had become detached
from the roof. It is the pipe from the vent fan in the master bath.
Then they went up on the roof to check out the fireplace vent. The
vent piping had been bent during construction and the gas flow is
restricted. They will have to come back and replace the vent piping.
Then they started checking out the gas controls on the fireplace. They
found my inlet gas pressure is too high. They said the gas company
needs to lower the pressure to my house. I immediately called CoServ.
We were put on hold numerous times while the office person talked to
the service department. They refused to lower the pressure. The Lennox
man then called Meagan. She is supposed to have a plumber come and
adjust the pressure. Then they determined the high pressure had blown
out a valve in the fireplace and it was leaking gas. It was not safe
to operate the fireplace with the valve in that condition. I am glad I
insisted the pilot light be shut off and everything turned off.

Meagan just called. She already has the plumber lined up to come out
this afternoon. Pulte is doing their best to make things right. I just
wish there had been fewer things to fix.

Dillards is supposed to be here sometime within the next two hours. I
hope that my curio cabinet does not bring more problems.

Wednesday morning:

The plumber showed up shortly after Meagan called. When he came in I
explained the situation. He told me he was not allowed to adjust the
regulator at the gas meter. I thought that was going to be the
situation. He thought he could adjust the regulator on the fireplace.
I explained to him that the inlet gas pressure was higher than the
regulator was supposed to handle and that the fireplace valve was
broken and not safe to operate. I told him the Lennox factory rep. had
said the gas flow to my cooktop is too high. The plumber went over to
the cooktop and turned on the burners. He agreed that the flame height
seemed to be too high when the burners were on the high setting. He
said he would like to check with my neighbor. We went two houses down.
He went in and checked their cooktop. He then went to a new house that
is not occupied and checked the gas. He then went and talked with
Meagan. He came back and said Pulte was going to have to get involved
with CoServ. He also said he could repair the broken cleanout pipe on
the side of the house without removing bricks and mortar. I was
relieved to hear this. I am caught in the middle of a stand off
because the fireplace company will not repair the fireplace until the
gas pressure is reduced and the gas company seems to be the only one
who can do this, and so far they are refusing. If the Lennox rep. is
correct there will be more damaged valves around here. My house has a
unique three-sided fireplaces. Most of the models have more
traditional appearing fireplaces.

Before the plumber left Dillards' truck arrived with the curio
cabinet. I like the cabinet. The cherry wood blends well with my Ethan
Allen furniture. The size is just right where it is placed. The
delivery men were very careful while the set the cabinet up. It has
five shelves which had to be put in the cabinet. Its glass and mirrors
need to be cleaned. I will do that this morning, and then unpack my
figurines.

Last night I noted on Weather.com that Dallas was under a high wind
warning starting at midnight and going until 6 PM on Wednesday. I woke
up during the night and heard the wind. When I got up, I went out on
the front porch and saw that the settee had blown off the porch. This
is the second time this has happened. Beaumont did not have wind like
this unless it came with a hurricane. The settee was not hurt. I will
have to remember to put it in the garage if I see another wind
warning. This morning local news says Dallas is getting wind gusts up
to 45 mph. There are delays of over five hours for flights at DFW. The
TV also said that three to four thousand people are without power.