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Originally Posted by exreo

I want that house!!! Man, do I want that house.

What a lot of people are saying here is true. If homebuyers wanted quality product the builders would have to build quality homes. As it stands though, no, people don't really care. And that pex tubing is pretty standard now with new home construction.

I am very happy that we don't use ductboard up north anymore. I still come across some jobs that have mostly condo's or townhouses but we still mainly use sm for all plenums, return boxes, and all trunk lines. We do use alot of flex for the individual supply and return branches but we are only allowed 12 ft of flex commercial and 15ft for residential, believe me you will still find guys who will run flex for everything but they won't last long.

Par for the course around here and better than many I've seen. I'd suggest supporting the ends of the supply and return plenums to avoid plenum tear off in the fullness of time. Pulling the flex tight, suspending it and sealing it better around the supply plenum. Looks like they were a little skimpy on the blown in insulation too.

Two different AHUs. One with the primary tied into the secondary pan drain. The other with the secondary pan tied into the secondary drain. At least they had clean-outs. I would suggest a vent after the p-trap for all the traps.

I've noticed commercial work is generally to a higher standard than residential work in my area. I still see metal ductwork in commercial work. Never seen new metal in residential work.

Custom homes seem to be built better- contractor is working directly for a client, rather than a spec house (build and put on market)
Custom guys are shooting for a different part of the housing market- people building theior own homes, so there's more of the builder's rep in getting the job, and sometimes it drives which subs they'll have do their work.

I hate to say it but that is the way they are building everywhere in the u.s now. Throw in a granite countertop and jacuzzi tub in master bath and theres your luxury estate. I gues they don't sell pvc traps where this house is cause they make p-traps, running traps, J trap and even a clear one that comes with a cap and brush to clean it (EZ Trap). Plumbing is being done with pex everywhere because one plumber can not bid a job with copper he will never get the job. Pex is better than CPVC that i can tell ya but don't say in Texas cause I live and work in Fairfield county in Ct where the average home is half a mill. At least we need licenses for everything and very strict building codes and inspections. We even have to hire an energy audit company to pressure test ductwork before passing final inspection. New code that went in to effect last January but I'm happy about it. Believe me there is stiil plenty of hackers hacking away!!

Originally Posted by exreo

No installation problems?

It's called sarcasm Your welcome

Originally Posted by motoguy128

They probably just put a larger unit in. Clearly it was just undersized, no installation problems here.... Carry on.


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No installation problems?

Originally Posted by exreo

I'm not an HVAC guy, but I know in the summer when they finished it would only cool the house down to 80 degrees. I kind of lost touch with all of it after that.

They probably just put a larger unit in. Clearly it was just undersized, no installation problems here.... Carry on.


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Originally Posted by coolcajun

Is the drain , secondary drain and the overflow pan all tied together? And also not insulated!

I'm not an HVAC guy, but I know in the summer when they finished it would only cool the house down to 80 degrees. I kind of lost touch with all of it after that.

Is the drain , secondary drain and the overflow pan all tied together? And also not insulated!

Originally Posted by mark beiser

That is one ugly house...

Yeah, but the last 4 pictures are the ugliest part of it. Notice in the last picture how the wires in the background just run chaotic and don't follow the partitions or rafters.

That is one ugly house...

I know I uploaded some of these pictures on the forum about 5 years ago. The electrical and HVAC work on this house were really done shoddy IMHO. There were new owners in the house around 2008 or so.

Originally Posted by exreo

You won't believe some of the work that was done.

While I haven't seen everything, after 21 years working in the DFW area, I don't think I would any level of home construction incompetence unbelievable anymore.

When I have time I'm going to put up about 10 pictures of a friend's house that was done in rich Aledo, Texas a few years ago. This was a 700K house, and he sold his house in California at the peak (2005/2006) before he moved to Texas. You won't believe some of the work that was done. I have pictures of the HVAC system, and it is unbelievable. Also, the elctrician had 2 whites wires coming out of all 240V circuit breakers. There should be black/red on the 2 poles and then white to neutral and the copper to ground. In Aledo work doesn't have to be inspected. A building inspector had a 24 page report of things that were wrong with the house.

Originally Posted by wolfdog

Finger joint studs and lumber will be straighter and cheaper than solid lumber in the same dimensions and comes in longer dimensions.

Finger joint studs are the only way to get straight wall studs anymore.

The stuff they sell as #1 grade these days would have barely been #2 grade 20 years ago, and the stuff they sell as #2 grade would have been sold at a deep discount as culled lumber.

The cost and availability of wood materials has driven prices way up and led to new materials. Finger joint studs and lumber will be straighter and cheaper than solid lumber in the same dimensions and comes in longer dimensions.
Same thing with laminated beams. They are straight and hold the dimension in whatever length you order, saving time and money.

I don't personally like PEX or plastic for water, but nobody strips the plastic out of a rough in to sell for scrap.

The houses and the quality of construction have really gone down, but it's not all because of materials.

Nothing wrong with any of those products being used. The quality of how they are installed and sizing makes a bigger difference. As I replace most of hte plumbing in my home I'm using Pex. Great stuff, espectially in retrofits because you can fish it through existing walls. Very quick and easy to connect and you can have prefabbed manifolds.

The devil is in the details.

Why I get disgusted is the quality of windows, siding and trim materials and hte use of fake decorative features like fake shutters that are improperly mounted and the wrong wise and ding stupid things like trying ot make a McMansion looks somehow like a southern colonial but adding a big porch, or adding a gambrel roof and calling it a dutch colonial. Ugly as all h***

You want to see dumb new home buyers, check out this "master planned" community.
http://www.viridiandfw.com/

In all the BS about the nature habitat, golf courses, etc., they don't mention that it is across the street from the city dump, and that when the weather conditions are right, the whole area stinks like a dump, sometimes for days after it rains.

Originally Posted by timebuilder

$15,000 in 1956 has the same buying power as $128,234.01 today.

Kinda makes you stop and think....

http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

most of us in this forum could afford that mortgage thesedays. not like my area, where a starter home would cost 250k. and new townhouse condo sell for 310 and up. if you go to new subdivision it seems they all cater to the ppl who is dumb enough about money. big house with only a couple in it, formal dining room with no one eating in it and so on and so on.

PS: by subdivision I mean newly built subdivision where the tree hasn't grow back.