|
My wife and I bought a new construction house 6 1/2 years ago, back when anyone and everyone could get a home loan, so they were putting these houses up as fast as they could to keep up. The interior was pretty decent, although the layout leaves something to be desired. Why you would put the electrical and gas service entrance on one side of the house, but install the rest of the utilities in the center makes no sense to me. Instead of tucking the furnace, water heater, and laundry away in the corner, they're front and center as soon as I walk down the steps to the basement. Not a code violation, more of a common sense problem. The "plumber" who installed everything was a joke. None of the pipes were strapped properly so they bang when you shut off the faucet fast. The water heater was installed with a thermostatic mixing valve, but no check valve like the instructions require, so when I turned on the cold water at the kitchen sink, it blasted out 150 degree hot water first before finally going to somewhat cool water. And seriously, who sets a residential water heater to 150? There's even a big warning sticker next to the thermostat saying "don't set above 120". None of the windows in the basement opened properly when we moved in. They are all 6' wide vinyl sliders, and I could barely force them open with both arms. The builder sent someone out to "fix" them. The fix was basically taking out the moving sash and removing the rolling wheels on the bottom. Sure, they slid somewhat easier, but it's still a struggle for me, and my wife can't open the office window at all. Later I discovered the real fix; there's supposed to be a screw in the top center of the track that you can adjust in or out to move the frame slightly. The builder never installed the screws, and left them all in a bag with a set of installation instructions the windows. Install the screw, give it a couple turns and now they slide much easier. But now with the wheels missing they're starting to slide harder now that the smooth vinyl is getting roughed up by the repeated sliding. I fixed that with some peel-and-stick teflon dots from the hardware store. The exterior was full of problems, most likely because the house was built in late December thru early February in Minnesota. I've had to remove and replace the exterior outlets because they weren't weatherproofed properly, so the GFCI breaker would trip every time it rained. The guys installing the siding took a shortcut installing the j-trim around the windows and didn't trim the bottoms properly. Instead of a J-trim and undersill combination, they just used undersill with the nailing flange cut off, so the siding flexes out and flaps in the wind. They didn't read the directions when installing the shutters, so they drilled holes thru the siding and sheathing, so when it rains, a ton of water gets behind the siding from the undersill problem, then leaks into the walls thru the shutter spike holes. Compounding the problem on the front of the house, they didn't install a kick-out flashing at the bottom edge where the porch roof meets the front wall, so all that water streams down and hits the same shutter. I can't necessary fault the builder for this one, but the shingles they installed on every house in my addition are one of the brands from Certainteed that's been in the news due to premature failure. Every time it rains, I have to sweep a ton of granules off the sidewalk. Of course, Certainteed won't admit my shingles have a problem, so we're going to have to replace a 7 year old shingle on our own dime next spring.
|
#
¿
Oct 21, 2011 06:29
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 5, 2024 08:38 |
|