I have two lots 20 minutes East of the city I work in. On the way out there are several new housing Developments. There is one where I noticed they just started building the houses. They have got up the bulk of 3 houses in this newly Developed neighborhood.
I am very curious when it comes to building techniques and exactly how people choose to do things. Plus I plan to build a shop soon and like to see how others did things as research.
One evening this past weekend I was on my way back to the city and decided to check out one of the houses they were building in this new development. I never mess with anything or touch anything. I visually inspect and leave. And I have noticed a pattern with all of these houses and how they are built. First off they are built cheap. Just the lumber, materials, etc.
But my concern is the overall craftsmanship. These people just don't seem to care. Like they just want to get the house up and onto the next house. There were studs that were just horrible pieces of wood. Just missing chunks off the back. There were couple where they had knots that were knocked out on their edges. So you had these first floor studs with big open Cs on their edges. Not small, but good sized C shaped missing sections right on the edge of the stud about 1/3 the width.
On the outside perimiter they hadn't really properly proteced where the sheathing met the slab. (These are all slab foundations. I'm assuming to cut costs.) The sheathing is flush with the edge of the sill. Doesn't overlap. And they just have the this plastic sheathing behind it to keep the water out. It's just a thing strip of plastic they ran around the slab and then nailed the sheathing over the sill to hold it on.
This house needs to last years and this is the one oppurtunity there is to do things right to ensure it lasts. i understand time is money and the builders don't have to live in this house.. And maybe the people in charge pushed them to do it like this.. But they have one chance to do a lot of this stuff properly and they just don't care. I mean take the extra 2 minutes to do something the best you can before you don't get the chance to again..
I'm not a professional by any means, but I do know enough to know the houses in these developments are built poorly. But they go all out on the outside. The masonry is incredibly done and the details are seen to when it comes to the exterior. These houses just have bad bones.. They make them look all nice and slap a high price on them.. They are all crammed together too.
One of the worst things was the job site. It was a mess. The house has a garage and they haven't hung the door yet. They could have just stacked up their stuff and sat it neatly inside. They knew the rain was coming... They had wood scattered all over the yard and street edge. Good sheathing panels were ruined. Brand new just scattered around soaked. There were boards with nails in them just laying around and trash every where. I couldn't get over all the good wood they just had sitting in pools of water. It just rained in the morning. No heavy winds or anything. They just decided to leave it like that Friday..
And this is Oklahoma.. They used next to no hardware in the house. They framed it in a way they should have used ties in places they didn't..
How do crews get away with this nonsense? Some of these lots are sold before the house is built and the owner has say in how they want things. Are the owners not walking it and seeing this poor work? I understand the ones who come in after and see the house from the street and think ohhh nice... But people paying to have a home built?
I am very curious when it comes to building techniques and exactly how people choose to do things. Plus I plan to build a shop soon and like to see how others did things as research.
One evening this past weekend I was on my way back to the city and decided to check out one of the houses they were building in this new development. I never mess with anything or touch anything. I visually inspect and leave. And I have noticed a pattern with all of these houses and how they are built. First off they are built cheap. Just the lumber, materials, etc.
But my concern is the overall craftsmanship. These people just don't seem to care. Like they just want to get the house up and onto the next house. There were studs that were just horrible pieces of wood. Just missing chunks off the back. There were couple where they had knots that were knocked out on their edges. So you had these first floor studs with big open Cs on their edges. Not small, but good sized C shaped missing sections right on the edge of the stud about 1/3 the width.
On the outside perimiter they hadn't really properly proteced where the sheathing met the slab. (These are all slab foundations. I'm assuming to cut costs.) The sheathing is flush with the edge of the sill. Doesn't overlap. And they just have the this plastic sheathing behind it to keep the water out. It's just a thing strip of plastic they ran around the slab and then nailed the sheathing over the sill to hold it on.
This house needs to last years and this is the one oppurtunity there is to do things right to ensure it lasts. i understand time is money and the builders don't have to live in this house.. And maybe the people in charge pushed them to do it like this.. But they have one chance to do a lot of this stuff properly and they just don't care. I mean take the extra 2 minutes to do something the best you can before you don't get the chance to again..
I'm not a professional by any means, but I do know enough to know the houses in these developments are built poorly. But they go all out on the outside. The masonry is incredibly done and the details are seen to when it comes to the exterior. These houses just have bad bones.. They make them look all nice and slap a high price on them.. They are all crammed together too.
One of the worst things was the job site. It was a mess. The house has a garage and they haven't hung the door yet. They could have just stacked up their stuff and sat it neatly inside. They knew the rain was coming... They had wood scattered all over the yard and street edge. Good sheathing panels were ruined. Brand new just scattered around soaked. There were boards with nails in them just laying around and trash every where. I couldn't get over all the good wood they just had sitting in pools of water. It just rained in the morning. No heavy winds or anything. They just decided to leave it like that Friday..
And this is Oklahoma.. They used next to no hardware in the house. They framed it in a way they should have used ties in places they didn't..
How do crews get away with this nonsense? Some of these lots are sold before the house is built and the owner has say in how they want things. Are the owners not walking it and seeing this poor work? I understand the ones who come in after and see the house from the street and think ohhh nice... But people paying to have a home built?