Category: Contractor fun

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Update – or lack thereof

I know a blog with no posts is worth little. There isn’t a lot to talk about, however.

I have a builder who is treating my project like his hobby and dabbles at it a few hours a day for a couple of days a week. He does not have a full crew and brings ’round whomever he is able to rustle up that day. Many days nobody shows up at all.

When I talk to him about moving this project along, he sounds reasonable as to why things can only happen in a certain order and what the hang ups beyond his control are. He really does sound reasonable. But when I step back and see that this is a build that he started in JUNE, then the fact that he’s still puttering at it in DECEMBER is unbelievable.

I’m shocked at myself for allowing it to go on.

But, the updates for the last month: Most of the shingles have been installed. Not completely, of course. That would be too straightforward for this builder. But day by day someone comes and does a bit of work and the so far the shingles have taken 3 weeks. Apparently he has ordered a special material to cover the flat spot on the roof, which of course he couldn’t have ordered any time in the previous 6 months. But now he’s waiting on it.

The shingles themselves are beautiful. I’m glad I ordered them.

Carriage House

 

 

 

Now the builder is working on flashings, fascia, soffits, eavestroughs etc.

The HVAC appears to be done. I elected to go with 5 vents off my current furnace (3 on main, 2 upstairs), with in-floor heat in basement and in upstairs bathroom, as well as wall-mounted electrical heat. Had I been offered choices a few months ago, I probably would have chosen a high velocity furnace for the addition.

My main concern was having air conditioning on all floors.

The plumbing is roughed in. I had to take the advice of the plumber on where the toilet and sink HAD to go for the powder room, so we’ll see how that looks in the end. (I’m afraid I might be so renovation-weary that I make those “I don’t care – just do what you want” decisions).

The electrician is scheduled for next week. Then after that will be complete insulating and sealing up.

Very funny is that my end of the bargain – refinished windows – is not completed. When reglazing, the putty takes weeks to set, and I can’t paint the sashes until the putty is set.

Further, I have to build the window jambs, and I’ve been balking on that. I went to the hardware store and saw that fir for this project (8 windows) would cost $600 or so. It’s hard for me to just go and buy that. On the other hand, new wood windows would have cost $12,000, so I should just go and do it. I think another thing slowing me down is that I’m not a carpenter, so I’m not sure I’m making the right decisions on the wood or building the jambs correctly. Obviously they have to fit the actual sashes, so there is some customizing of the jambs as well. Plus, the sill has a downward bevel to it, in order to allow water to pour away from the window. Don’t know how to do that.

The stairs are still in the planning stage. Builder says he does not want to start those until after the building inspector has been by on the other parts. I’ve reiterated that I want the builder done before Christmas, so I expect we’ll come to blows shortly because there’s no way he can do all of what is left in the next three weeks.

Being a customer of a useless builder is no fun.

 

 

 

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Concrete walls are in

Pouring of concrete into the ICF  (insulated concrete forms) started yesterday around 8am. The builder showed up alone. He had paid his helper the day prior, which resulted in a classic post-payday “sick day” for him. Luckily for the builder, one of the concrete supply guys offered to help.

I know the builder expected the job to take only a few hours, because he booked a second-opinion plumber to come at 10am. But it took until 3pm to finish pouring the walls, and what a mess they made! I have no idea if this is normal, but since my plan had been to leave the ICF wall as is/uncovered in the basement (particularly if all I’m getting is a crawlspace), I will now have an ugly mess for a wall. They also kicked the walls everywhere to ‘tap’ the concrete down to the bottom. The kicking left indents on the styrofoam wall. I don’t know anything about ICF, but I’m pretty sure that kicking the wall wasn’t the inventor’s planned means to get the concrete to the bottom.  A Fine Homebuilder post indicates that multiple helpers, tamping rods, and a vibrating attachment on a drill are what are used to settle the concrete properly in the form. In that post, their forms were filled in 2 hours. Mine took 7 hours and was only three walls. http://www.finehomebuilding.com/2016/07/12/placing-concrete-icf-foundation

Concrete that missed its mark

Anyway, at 3pm, the builder disappeared without a word. Since I had been waiting all day at the house to let the second-opinion plumber in for a tour, I was quite annoyed that this tour didn’t happen and that the builder left without telling me he was done for the day. And, since this is a long weekend, I won’t see or hear from him until next Tuesday and am left hanging on the important question of whether this can be a full basement or not.  Am I allowed to swear on a blog?

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Somebody is bad at their job

Yesterday my builder told me that my new 7′ ICF basement is actually going to be just under 6′ high.

I don’t think something under 6′ constitutes a basement, but rather a crawlspace. Certainly with me being almost 6′ tall, I won’t be able to walk freely down there, and my son, who at 13 is 6’2″ tall and continues to grow, will have to crawl. It’s shorter than my current basement. It’s a crawlspace.

How is this not something the builder could have assessed at the time we discussed basements a year ago?? He knew the current building code, he knew my present basement height, so how could he have promised me a 7′ basement?? He’s trying to pin it on the designer.

I’ve asked him to go back to the engineer to see whether we can dig down a foot between the footings, which would give us about 10 feet in the middle where we can walk and maybe play ping pong.

Also, the said builder has not worked a full day yet. Every day there is some reason to leave early.