What Good OR BAD Issues Have You Had With Your New House? Do's and Don'ts Of New Built Homes Series: linktw.in/lKzhtQ DIY Merch: thediyapparelco.etsy.com

Talking about Plumb. I made a dog house, went around to new construction homes, and grabbed lumber from the dumpster. I have never seen 2x4s twisted and warped so bad. I was thinking oh, it is just a tiny dog. These warped 2x4s will do just fine. It was a fight to get anything to be straight or square. Luclky my dog is not picky.

Thank you again! I remember watching a House Hunters episode where the people pretending to be buyers (I know the show is fake) were saying they would only go with 2x6 construction bc the guy's father was a builder and said not to go with 2x4s as they weren't as sturdy. I personally would go with 2x6 to be on the safe side. I'd do that for any interior wall with plumbing as well. Several months ago I decided to tackle a renovation in my bathroom. The glue-up surround was falling down, the wood panels (which had murals of ducks & swans prior to the surround being glued up) behind it were delaminating. The 1/4" plywood behind that was water damaged. There was termite-damaged tongue-and-groove behind that. When I pulled those off I found that some of the studs were termite damaged, none were evenly spaced, some were stacks of 3 2x4s on to of one another. Some didn't go all the way to the ceiling, some didn't go all the way to the floor. There was undamaged tongue-and-groove on the other side so that helped. I ended up having to shore the wall up with fresh 2x4s so my cement board would have solid backing. Nothing in this house is on center, square, or even remotely done right. Walls are not plumb-- they all lean back as they go higher. I'd say whoever built the place would get an F. The end walls of the shower did not have tongue & groove or properly spaced studs as both were the walls of closets. It was 1/4" plywood over who knows what spacing. I can push on the wooden wall panels and see where the walls flex and where they are solid to find the studs. I prefer 16" on center as well. My current walls are waaay more than 1/4" out. I had to shim the hell out of the cement-board for the shower walls. I'd say it was almost 2" off in some spots. Fortunately PVC trim exists to cover imperfections. One of these days I'll get a laser level. It would take some learning to figure out how to use them properly, but I think they can come in handy when I renovate the other bathrooms and laundry room. I had to use some flexible pvc trim to hide some imperfections on my shower wall (it was my first time doing that sort of renovation so I made some mistakes). It's nice and forgiving of uneven surfaces. Looks nice now. Not perfect but I can take showers and look at my work and know that I did it (with the help of a friend who has more strength and coordination). A friend/coworker of my sister's went to some construction projects in progress to look at the work being done by different builders, researched, & decided on the one that looked like it did the best work. They had a semi-custom house built. Apparently the builder argued about them with some feature that he said they would want and should get. They caved and were glad they did. They did regret the laminate flooring though. Any idea what brand & name is for the plumbing boots going out the wall? I may need some for when I renovate. Only one fixture in the entire house is vented semi-properly & its a non-functioning toilet jammed in a 23" alcove. I'd like to see nailing plates over some of the places where the plumbing passes through the studs (or those shoe thingies that go around the pipe inside the holes) but maybe those will be added later. Id' be mad if my new construction had that 2x4 to 2x6 and the bottom plate cracked. Having a garage sure would be nice. I hadn't really thought about blocking for cabinets in one- but I do have a workshop down in the barnyard. Ah, thank you for reminding me that I will need to add blocking for the cabinets when I renovate the laundry room! I also will need to put some since I intend to put a shelf behind the washer & dryer to keep things from falling behind them. Will need extra blocking in an adjacent wall to mount a fold-down table for sorting/folding laundry. This also reminds me to wrap my supply lines in insulation in that area. Mine come from under the house rather than from above though. When we redo the other two bathrooms I will add blocking for grab bars. What do you find is the best way to secure the blocking? Nails or screws? Or both? In a video taken near Houston, the building inspector told the DIY builders to use foam board sandwiched in the header as extra insulation. Not sure if it is a code requirement or if it was just recommended. But foam board on the outside rather than middle does not seem right. Yikes. I would not hire those builders ever. Cardboard? Roaches will destroy it! Wood is definitely better than mdf. I despise mdf. I've never checked to see if my window sills slope but there is no sill on the outside. Windows are pretty much flush with the siding and are framed with J-trim all around. The windows & doors were not removed when the siding was re-done on the house and there had been no house wrap before. Pretty sure the installers didn't wrap any insulation around inside the house. The exterior door sills are completely rotted. I'll be replacing the wood sills with PVC (or at least putting pvc on top of any new wood & the wood will have flashing) & painting it. So, what would be the proper way to do the house wrap under the window? Or say, someone is using zip sheathing, what would be the proper way to do it? On the spray foam, I will say it is very important to use the right kind. I made the mistake of using the wrong kind (back before I could load KZfaq videos to watch) & used the stuff that expanded too much. I will have to cut it all out when I replace that door. It rotted from the bottom up. Little backstory- we used to have a steel back door. We had deadbeat tenants who did a lot of damage to the place. They stole the door to put on a house they were building and replaced it with a wood door. Only they got the wrong height one and rather than try to raise the header and do it right, they trimmed the bottom of the door. Never put any sort of sealant on it & it wasn't exterior grade. They also notched the subfloor & ruined any sort of seal that had been there. So water splashed up ruined the sill, the edge of the subfloor, and the bottom of the door. Sorry for the wall of text. LOL. I get excited about build stuff. I really enjoyed this video.

Thank you. This has been very educational.

Looks like some of those framers were first year apprentices and the journeyman supervisor was slack. There are too many inconsistencies in thst framing job. I would not hire those framers to build anything for me. 😮

The quality of this tract house is non existent. It is total garbage.