NOT DIY RELATED: Hired Contractor Question - Is this normal

Weekend Warrior DIY

Well since I posted once here, it got my mind rolling about other things my contractor has done that I'm interested in.

This one, for example, I'd like justified.

He build a covered rear porch per my drawings and installed a french door. He put the french door on top of a 2 x 6 sill plate. Hence raising the threshold creating a tripping hazard getting out of the house. Is this the norm? He then pitched the porch deck plywood the same height towards the rear of the porch for water drainage.

It's a very weird thing, I have never seen a door built up on anything, the threshold was always flush to the floor.

Thanks again.

joecaption

Need some pictures.

He may have set the door on top of the plateand adding some form of caulking under the plate hoping to stop water from getting in under the door.
Just a guess.

Blondesense

Our front door has a high threshold you have to step over.
What does it look like from the outside?
Do you have a pic?

CoconutPete

My slider sits flush on top of my floor except for flashing etc and it still has a little step up you have to lift your foot to go over.

KevinPh

The Building Code here requires a door to be a minimum of 4 inches above a deck, porch or the ground. Anything under 4 inches in height is considered a tripping hazard. Doors that are flush with a deck can allow water or snow to go into the interior room quite easily - not sure if you have snow where you are located.

The optimum is to have the interior floor flush with the threshold, and the deck 6 inches below. Not sure if this was possible in your case.

AndyGump

Uhh, I can't even imagine a scenario where what you are describing would be a good idea.

Andy.

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Tham

I set sliders on the subfloor and all other ext. doors on 3/4 of an inch. That allows for carpet, Oak floor, tile on underlayment, and a welcome mat or rug. Pretty standard here (lotsa snow).

T

I don't understand what you mean about deck plywood?

joecaption

Once again were all guessing without seeing one picture.

robertcdf

But the description is so perfect, why can't you see it in your minds eye?

However if it's what I'm picturing in my mind then you need to get a new contractor.

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joecaption

If this is a covered porch was was the plywood pitched?

Weekend Warrior DIY

Sorry for the lack of response and pictures. Tonight was a fun night arguing with the contractor regarding he wanted his final pay and he was done, he didn't know what else I wanted him to do. A friend of mine who is a contractor on the side told me to not pay him, the basement is all over the place in heights, ranging from 84.75" to 85.5" He told me that if I wanted a perfectly smooth basement, he would have quoted me on that. That he's doing things for cost, etc.

Anyway, I'm more than fed up than I can imagine. Back to the point here.

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Weekend Warrior DIY

Because the water, when it rained, comes in mostly on that side of the house and he wanted to pitch the water away.

Mort

He really said this?! He's not going to be in business long with that attitude, especially if he's "doing things for cost," which is also a stupid thing for a businessman to do.

hand drive

it looks like the door was installed with no regard to the inside of the basement being finished, is the door flashed correctly on the outside? Is that standard sub floor on the outside of the house covering the porch floor?

Weekend Warrior DIY

Yes he actually said that. He said if I wanted the project done 100% it would have cost an additional $30k. He then told his workers, some of who never worked a day on my property, that I wasn't paying them. Last I knew, I wasn't responsible for paying them, they're not my workers, he's working on several jobs, he shows up hit or miss and so randomly I never know where he's going to be there and who's going to be there.

His workers came to my door, all younger kids in their 20's saying that he told them I wasn't paying them. I went through the whole deal with them, they said they know he's full of it sometimes and isn't always on the up and up.

I missed something on my plan calling out the height of the basement because it was something I didn't know about. He assured me all along that it isn't a problem and a full basement would be fine.

One of the workers says to me that he's a basement guy, it's what he does, but he wasn't here when the basement was poured, he was on vacation. Well so was the other concrete guy. So who in the world would pour a slab without two of their concrete guys?

I'm not concerned about how long he stays in business.