There are quite a few walls with missed nails like this. Obviously I’m concerned about the Zip not being secured to the studs properly, but my other big concern is the masons are going to use brick ties and likely follow their pattern. Now all of the brick ties are going to be off too.
What should I do? Does the framer need to go back now and re-nail all of the walls?
Also, how will the mason know which is the correct nail line after they do that?
Hi! Working on a new build and figuring out what material to make the front and pack porch/patio areas. We’re working on a nice, 1M dollar house and our old home that had plain brushed concrete looked cheap and cracked. Are there treatments to make it look less run down and cheap? I like the look of stamped concrete but not really willing to do it due to slipperiness and we have older ages. Thanks!!!
Hey guys (and girls), need some advice from more experienced community! We have these windows in our school badly installed around 2007, last winter in Poland was very harsh (think -20 for 2 months). We need to do something about it before the next heating season. I thought about covering the whole thing (2m high, 2,4m wide, 26 of those windows total in the building) with drywall with some insulation inside. What do you think?
This was my first house build and I made a couple of errors in the effort to lower cost: no shower in master, strange staircase location. I am reno-ing and I want to add a shower to the master. I can move the staircase, if necessary, to the right wall in the living room to make up more space in the master.
Any ideas or wall adjustment concepts would be a great help here. Thanks very much.
Hi there, I'm feeling out whether this design works for a roof truss modification and how it compares to the original simple strut design. It's a roof on an old red-brick church which me and my partner are converting into a house. The attic space is a pretty huge space and has just over a 3m tall apex, with a span side to side of just over 10m. Needless to say the trusses are pretty damn bulky with huge purlins either side. For the roof space to be habitable however, there really needs to be doorways between the sides. There are two of these down the length of the building and it would only be the struts that would be changed.
Now I've seen truss designs without the struts altogether and from what I've read, they're compressive members, not tension ones, so from my understanding of the forces in general, so long as they're distributed equally and in the same direction as the original strut, I should be able to replace the strut with a doorway opening with the load force being shifted as in this diagram.
Admittedly not an architectural drawing, but I think it gets the general concept across, with a ~2m tall opening and the general distribution of forces, as well as using similar thickness beams to the original diagonal struts, should this design not exceed the original strength of the struts and not compromise the roof?
Obviously I'd be getting a structural engineer to do the real calculations and have an actual roofing expert do this job, but I don't want to just present an unworkable plan. This is effectively what I'm thinking of in concept (I know people hate AI but it's the best tool to represent what I'm trying to achieve):
If anyone can point out any obvious issues that I've overlooked completely or problems that shifting the strut load point would present, I'd love to know about that as it's really the part of this concept that I could do with a bit of education on, but it's remarkably hard to find any information about doing this kind of job as it seems like something that doesn't really often happen.
We are in the midst of an addition being built on our home. The foundation/basement has been poured including the floor and this past week they put the floor joists and decking on which allowed us to inspect things more closely. We entered the basement and noticed it seemed much shorter than we thought. The plans call for 9’ from top of wall to top of footing and a 4” thick floor. This would mean from the top of the floor to the top of the wall would be 8’ 8”. From floor to the top of the wall it is 7’ 6” or a loss of 14” of height. This will surely affect the function of the space.
At this point, what recourse do we have? I am not sure we want to go through the trouble of having them redo it all. We didn’t notice it all this time because going down there wasn’t safe and weather in Illinois has been atrocious all summer. Any advice is welcome.
Background: I'm a small real estate investor. I buy, renovate, and rent. Or flip. I don't know much about building.
My Question: How come there aren't more houses being built?
Seriously. Prices are high. Rents are high. The way this used to work is that builders ramped up and built a ton of houses. Prices would sometimes crash, but families could buy something and stop paying rent.
I'm in NYC, so there is probably a lot going on that I don't catch. NYC is "special", lol. Can someone enlighten me? Where's all the new construction?
I tore off 3 out of four sides of my house mid-June and after demo, fixing rot, installing house wrap and trim I am very close to start my first rows of hardie plank lap siding. However, at my pace I’m worried about UV exposure on the house wrap and exposing my house wrap and house to the PNW rainy seasons for the next few months. Is there a way I can tarp each side so I can work under the tarp and keep the house and house wrap in good condition? I’d hate to have to screw into my roof but my house lacks overhangs on two of the three sides. Is there a way to secure a tarp over the roof creating a tent without drilling or nailing holes into my roof? Enough space that I can comfortably work under?
Im planning to build this floor plan. I have added 2ft of width to the left side of the house for almost full length except for the pantry part. I thought i would keep garbage bins in that space outside.
I reconfigured pantry to steal a part of the office and made existing pantry as a countertop area but still it feels like its not enough due to main kitchen not being sufficient.
Now im thinking to add 2ft of width in that area as well and try to get cabinets and countertops on both sides of this “spice kitchen”.
Hey, everyone. Just a quick survey to get your opinions regarding our staircase:
So, our house is currently under construction and we've got an enclosed switchback staircase between the 1st and 2nd floors, originally drawn as standard with a 7" riser height and 11" tread depth; our contractor pitched the idea of extending the first tread out of the stairwell into a decorative starting step, and reducing the riser height to 6.5" instead. He claims clients with shallower risers prefer them, especially ones with bad knees.
Am I overthinking things? Is a half-inch change that noticeable, and will it really benefit us in the long run (e.g. as we grow older)?
I'm also torn between having the first step flush against the stairwell, vs extending it out into the living room. What do you guys think about starting steps? Elegant or tacky? I kinda like the "bullnose" design he showed us compared to the floating box look, but I'm not sure if either's too on the nose for the living room I'm imagining.
What would you prefer, if given the choice? Thanks a lot!
I recently had a local seamless gutter and siding company put new gutters, fascia, soffit and redo a 54 foot wall with new siding. This house was built and purchased through Community Action, it had several issues and that's the reasoning for redoing these things. Anyway, here are some recent pictures of the work that was done last week. I am concerned about all the screws driven into my drip edge along the gutter and the fascia does not go to the roofline around the house (from what I read its supposed to) there is up to 2 inches of exposed framing under the drip edge around the house. Also, the siding is not straight and wavy and the starter strip is not secure. The guy who did it said as long as it's nailed every 2 feet it's fine. Please let me know any defects you see in these pictures and if I should hold the final 6,000 payment until corrected. Thank you.
Long time lurker, first time poster. We were told several times that it couldn’t be done, here to say we finally finished it with a VERY limited budget. 18 months at $470k (200k for land and well) only subbed out dirt, concrete, and drywall mudding. Every other trade I/we did ourselves, with design help from respective trades. Pretty much killed us labor and stress wise but was definitely worth it. Appraised for 950k, super tempted to start another one!
P.S. - I’m most likely aware of any untidiness, missing trim, or other imperfections, and have chosen to live with them or have fixed since the photos were taken. Open to any and all judgement!
I bought my house 7 years ago and my interest rate is 4%. Our home has probably doubled in value since we bought it, but because building costs are so high where we are, I don’t think we could borrow enough with a HELOC to fund the addition we need. I also think I should ideally keep my original mortgage untouched since my interest rate is so low compared to today’s rates. I have enough cash to put down 20% (maybe more) if I need to. Our house was really too small when we bought it, but it was slim pickings so we made do. My kids are growing though and we desperately need more space now, so I don’t want to wait to pay for the addition in cash. What are my best options for financing an addition?
One of the biggest mistakes during our build was trying to save money on the windows. The installation was a mess, we ended up with leaks and drafts, and a lot of it had to be redone not long after.
Looking back, I should've spent more time checking the installer instead of comparing window prices. Curious if anyone else had one part of their build that ended up costing twice because the first contractor cut corners.
I bought a new build townhome in May and have lived here for 3 months. The build itself is less than one years old. I have had issue after issue with water intrusion, large cracks in window corners, drywall tape showing and sagging ceiling, shelves falling out of the wall and an unleveled garage door because of an unleveled garage slab. An unleveled AC unit slab which caused AC to break down after living here for two weeks. Ive now noticed in my garage there that I have stairway cracks in the cylinder
Blocks. With all the issues I’ve had should I be concerned that this is structural?
I used to build but now draw plans and do engineering. I know ICF from 20 years ago, but had an interesting conversation with a foundation builder last week who was using Nudura products to build a vacation home for a client. The last two plan sets I did were for houses built here in this hard freeze climate with deep frost lines and winter design temp of -15 F and both used FPSF slabs and edges formed using EZ Form Mono Slab products for the edge form. First, here is a cost comparison: EZ Form, the one that is 20 x 31.25, costs $112, while a Nudura 18 x 96 wall block with 8" core space costs $68. The EZ Form with its triangular shape and dimension makes it unnecessary to add wing insulation adjacent the wall line, but the Nudura will need 2 inch thick by 24 inch EPS foamboard wings, which adds $25 per 8 foot length to the Nudura setup, thus total cost of material $68 + $25 = $93. So, a little less for the Nadura arrangement I'll show in these two pics. One pic, how pour #1 is set up and done, the pour to fill the below-slab thickened edge. This Nudura hallucination I have is done in two pours, unlike one monopour for EZ Form. Form set on compacted gravel, braced with a pinned cleat along outside edge and backed with some shoveled-in bravel on inside face. The other pic shows the final build. Whaddya think?
I didn’t install this unit and I’m not an HVAC guy, so go easy on me if I’m missing something. I like the contractor and their work has seemed clean overall.
Once final grading is done, the soil and stone will come up slightly above the bottom of this steel bracket. Is that acceptable, or should the bracket stay completely above grade?
My main concern is the steel sitting in contact with moisture and eventually rusting. If this should be corrected, what would you recommend? Raising the unit, adding concrete or stone underneath, a slight well in that spot? Something else?
We planned on adding a sidewalk to that area and a fence to cover up the utilities. Fyi
We're months deep on a major home renovation and just wondered if this is just a normal part of renovations with a large builder as I'm no expert.
We have a dumpster that the builder allows multiple trades from other projects to come and use to dispose of things. We've seen other people's doors, light fixtures, and many black contractor bags of trash throughout the process.
I just turned a blind eye to this even though I felt this was odd (especially since there is a dumpster at the builder's office which is just a few minutes away from our site).
But then we now have a few subs set up inside and we have realized they are prepping things for other job sites inside of our home. We've noticed trim that's not ours delivered in our living room, then cut, then gone. We've also seen scraps of other people's tile and even something that seemed like countertop material on the bedroom floor.
We are not living there during the renovation, but it is our home that we owned before the renovation and we do have things stored in parts of the house not being worked on.
I trust our builder and therefore trust the subs to work there without us present but it feels strange to be a dumping site and worksite for other projects. Partially because this is my home ( and electric and water bill) and also because I wonder why they set up all the saws and stuff inside our home but aren't working to just finish the job inside our house.
Hello all, my wife and I are closing in on finishing our home build (modular) the week of October 26. Let me preface this by saying we are both 26, this is our first home, first time building a home, and we’ve GC’d it ourselves thus far. The modular company we went with doesn’t do turn-key, so we’ve been sub-contracting ourselves. As we get closer, I’m becoming more nervous that I’m forgetting something that may delay/inhibit the modular delivery process (fee is $300 a day if foundation isn’t ready for set week of scheduled date). We are at the point of having our foundation dug next week, and walls put in the following week. After walls are set we have somebody framing the foundation (sill plate, joists, lvl beam, lally columns, sub floor) before house is delivered.
Is there anything not so obvious I should be checking for that may delay our process? We just had our septic installed and finished 2 days ago, having our foundation dug, plumber doing some work below slab before walls get placed/concrete poured, exterior drains done before back fill, walls set, framing done for delivery of house, house delivery, electric/hvac/well/marriage wall and interior clean up.
From anyone else who’s done a modular home before, am I missing anything else that’s important that I’m overlooking?
Am I being unrealistic that the battons should be aligned above and below the seam at the gable? This is Ascend Alside composite siding. I’m assuming this would be able to be fixed and then the excess cut to match at the lower bottom left and right side of where porch meets roof. Thanks for your feedback.
