Here in the Pacific Northwest, contractors can make a killing without much effort.
The lack of skilled personnel has skewed the playing field.
Unfortunately my sister and her husband, fell victim to an unscrupulous contractor. The damage was substantial to say the least, more than most of our homes worth.
FBI is/was investigating but nothing has happened that I know of.
I try to do everything myself…
The lack of skilled personnel has skewed the playing field.
Unfortunately my sister and her husband, fell victim to an unscrupulous contractor. The damage was substantial to say the least, more than most of our homes worth.
FBI is/was investigating but nothing has happened that I know of.
I try to do everything myself…
I was speaking with a real estate developer here a few weeks ago, discussing the glut of office space now being converted to residential.
His view is that you're not going to see the problem in two to five years, but in ten years and more a lot of the rehabs which involve new plumbing and HVAC have the potential for catastrophic failure owing to the damage done to the flooring,
I avoid ladders completely -- crushed my heel falling off one taking the Christmas lights off the house in 2002.
There's been rehabs done for decades. It's de rigueur to replace 60 year old plumbing and HVAC. There's a right way and a wrong way.
It's a good idea to involve an engineer and/or architect in a major rehab. There's businesses popping up all the time dedicated to the architectural, engineering, and planning aspect of rehabs. How many of these firms are good? I don't know.
It's a good idea to involve an engineer and/or architect in a major rehab. There's businesses popping up all the time dedicated to the architectural, engineering, and planning aspect of rehabs. How many of these firms are good? I don't know.
Centuries ago across the whole of Europe there was the Guilds System. To join a Guild you had to show that you were properly trained over many years by a master of your trade. That's why across the whole of Europe you can still see the results of the Guild System standing. If you did a bad job or ripped off a client you were thrown out of your Guild and ended up a pauper or living in the nearest forest.
In the UK in the 1970s the big building companies decided with the help of the Nasty party to break the building unions, they succeeded. Basically anyone who buys a property constructed from the late 60s' onwards is an idiot, that's why so many construction workers are now foreigners, especially from East Europe after the collapse of the Iron Curtain. The best homes to buy are from the 1930s' when all houses had to be built with a proper DPC - damp proof course. The materials were first class - properly seasoned soft wood, all brickwork was done by qualified brickies, indeed all tradesmen were qualified. You can modernise these properties easily.
In the UK in the 1970s the big building companies decided with the help of the Nasty party to break the building unions, they succeeded. Basically anyone who buys a property constructed from the late 60s' onwards is an idiot, that's why so many construction workers are now foreigners, especially from East Europe after the collapse of the Iron Curtain. The best homes to buy are from the 1930s' when all houses had to be built with a proper DPC - damp proof course. The materials were first class - properly seasoned soft wood, all brickwork was done by qualified brickies, indeed all tradesmen were qualified. You can modernise these properties easily.
There was a "golden age" of construction in the Chicagoland area. It's isn't now.
Houses built between about 1930 and 1970 were built with first rate, "real" materials. The craftsmen that built them were skilled and proud of their work.
They started cheaping out on construction in a big way around 1990. Building codes changed to accommodate the new synthetic (fake) construction materials. General labor largely replaced true craftsman (whose job became to monitor the unskilled workers) and quality became hit and miss. Fast forward to today and the don't use any "real" materials like brick or wood. Prior to 2000 Chicago was built with bricks, stone, and mortar. Bricks are too expensive now and so is real wood. Exteriors of new houses are now fake wood (or if they're really cheaping out, vinyl siding). They look so cheap and out of place next to real Chicago houses.
I guess the new generation of "engineers" forgot all about the reasons why Chicago building codes are so strict. Number one reason is fire safety and ease of escaping a burning structure. I've been inside of these new houses and the lack of safety and overall cheapness of appearance is glaring to me.
I guess we have to repeat history every couple hundred years or so. It's not just engineering and construction either.
Houses built between about 1930 and 1970 were built with first rate, "real" materials. The craftsmen that built them were skilled and proud of their work.
They started cheaping out on construction in a big way around 1990. Building codes changed to accommodate the new synthetic (fake) construction materials. General labor largely replaced true craftsman (whose job became to monitor the unskilled workers) and quality became hit and miss. Fast forward to today and the don't use any "real" materials like brick or wood. Prior to 2000 Chicago was built with bricks, stone, and mortar. Bricks are too expensive now and so is real wood. Exteriors of new houses are now fake wood (or if they're really cheaping out, vinyl siding). They look so cheap and out of place next to real Chicago houses.
I guess the new generation of "engineers" forgot all about the reasons why Chicago building codes are so strict. Number one reason is fire safety and ease of escaping a burning structure. I've been inside of these new houses and the lack of safety and overall cheapness of appearance is glaring to me.
I guess we have to repeat history every couple hundred years or so. It's not just engineering and construction either.
Attachments
OSB is the "good stuff" now.
When I went to the store to buy sheathing for my house, the CDX plywood cost seven times what the OSB cost. I had to go to three stores to buy enough because they only kept a couple sheets in stock.
2x4s and 2x6s etc are still made of real wood, but they are less than a quarter the weight of old school studs. I think they come from 10-12 year old trees now.
We have a lot of catching up to do to replace the old growth forests we took for granted 60 years ago. It's going to take a whole lot longer than 60 years to grow them back too. We should have started a hundred years ago, but nobody cared.
When I went to the store to buy sheathing for my house, the CDX plywood cost seven times what the OSB cost. I had to go to three stores to buy enough because they only kept a couple sheets in stock.
2x4s and 2x6s etc are still made of real wood, but they are less than a quarter the weight of old school studs. I think they come from 10-12 year old trees now.
We have a lot of catching up to do to replace the old growth forests we took for granted 60 years ago. It's going to take a whole lot longer than 60 years to grow them back too. We should have started a hundred years ago, but nobody cared.
The problem here in Canada is firstly the fir is all gone, pine and spruce framing materials are not aged at all before use. Kiln dried lumber leaves a lot to be desired. They basically cut it down and immediately build with it.I f you stuck a 2x4 into a pot of soil it would probably grow branches. In Europe they stockpile logs for 3 years before cutting it into lumber, then another 2 years before building with it. However this practice has probably changed by now.
I use a combination of steel and wood when framing a basement. All window and door openings have double wood studs. Bathrooms, kitchen areas requiring structure get wood. Long walls and bulkheads are steel with reinforcement bars. Everything stays straight as an arrow. I will typically use 40-50 2x4s in an average basement build. The rest is steel. After being there for three weeks during the build that 2 or 3 leftover 2x4s laying on the floor now look like hockey sticks but started out straight as an arrow. I'll go to the supplier and the stack of 2x4s are so perfect and tight you couldn't get a cigarette paper between them. The window and doorway doubles are screwed together so they stay pretty straight supporting each other.
Don't buy a house in Canada built in the winter. The framers will build it with frozen lumber. Take a wild guess what that house will look like in the coming Spring/Summer. Sure it'll thaw during construction but it'll still be wet. Add to that typical propane heat that spews mega amounts of moisture and that house may end up looking like a Salvador Dali sculpture. Screw pops all over the place, rippled and detached drywall tape in the corners, cracks around doorways, severely shrunken and cracked corner bead, highly visible drywall joints, especially the butts. Oh yea, the builder will take care of it under the 1 year warranty, ahem. He'll send his service guy to quickly do some superficial appeasement. But what about the next year? Cracked grout in the tile floors, creaking floors and staircases, and the rest of what started happening in the first year.
I use a combination of steel and wood when framing a basement. All window and door openings have double wood studs. Bathrooms, kitchen areas requiring structure get wood. Long walls and bulkheads are steel with reinforcement bars. Everything stays straight as an arrow. I will typically use 40-50 2x4s in an average basement build. The rest is steel. After being there for three weeks during the build that 2 or 3 leftover 2x4s laying on the floor now look like hockey sticks but started out straight as an arrow. I'll go to the supplier and the stack of 2x4s are so perfect and tight you couldn't get a cigarette paper between them. The window and doorway doubles are screwed together so they stay pretty straight supporting each other.
Don't buy a house in Canada built in the winter. The framers will build it with frozen lumber. Take a wild guess what that house will look like in the coming Spring/Summer. Sure it'll thaw during construction but it'll still be wet. Add to that typical propane heat that spews mega amounts of moisture and that house may end up looking like a Salvador Dali sculpture. Screw pops all over the place, rippled and detached drywall tape in the corners, cracks around doorways, severely shrunken and cracked corner bead, highly visible drywall joints, especially the butts. Oh yea, the builder will take care of it under the 1 year warranty, ahem. He'll send his service guy to quickly do some superficial appeasement. But what about the next year? Cracked grout in the tile floors, creaking floors and staircases, and the rest of what started happening in the first year.
Make sure you get the right crew for the job. I had the horror moment of watching the framing crew go at the wood siding with a skill saw, pencil and a small T-square,
The framing crew got done a few days early and decided to start on the siding. I sent them away and asked fir the proper crew for that.
The framing crew got done a few days early and decided to start on the siding. I sent them away and asked fir the proper crew for that.
I'm sorry to read that. Fellow across the street from me had that happen too - caused very difficult times going forward for him. He said it was an extension that somehow "let go" while he was up on it.
Here's my latest ladder accessory - The gutter needed fixing and I couldnt do it with the ladder leaning up against it. (I've done a different incarnation before using the same fence pole clamp method) Used part of a canoe dolly I bought for the wheels, to replace the rubber on my hand truck.
Still have no idea why whomever designed this tile roof just had anything leaking underneath empty directly into the "soffit" on this house. No "over Fascia" vent or anything else accomodating that - more like splash the fascia and then, "whatever!".
I once made the mistake of buying some 'cheap' soft wood. It got delivered wet, got it inside and I swear it began to twist in front of my eyes. Properly seasoned soft wood used to cost 20% more than standard - well worth the extra.
In 1982 I happened to work for a couple of weeks in Norway on the DB100, then the biggest oil platform in the world being finished off in Stavanger fiord. Constructed in South Korea, not where it should have been built from Scottish steel in a Scottish shipyard, the selling out of British workers had started by then - more profit. Stavanger was a lovely little town. I managed to get one day and one evening ashore. It was early April and I took a walk around the town and noticed some new houses were being finished off. Construction didn't stop for the Norwegian winter, houses were being built under inflated canopies - what a brilliant idea. It meant there was no stoppage for bad weather, men were working in pleasant temperatures, materials were in top condition - the whole thing was cost effective. Equally effective if this system used in wet climates.
I had an old school friend who had trained in NDT work and by then was a 6-2 man. He had married a Norwegian girl and had spent a good few years working on and offshore in the Norwegian gas and oil fields. It was easily the best work on platforms and rigs.Nobody had a clue about the work and left you alone. He was one of the few who had managed to dodge the Norwegian tax man. Anyway he said that if you go to a Norwegian bar or pub by 8PM all the Norwegian guys would be rat-arsed leaving a lot of frustrated women. He also told me that the Norwegian beer gave you a bad head in the morning - he was right on all counts. I was on a promise with two lovely Norwegian girls but had to be back on the platform. It's a beautiful country and for those who love the great outdoors, it can't be beat BUT come the late spring and summer - you get clouds of midges (just like Scotland) mosquitoes, horse flies. I've heard that in Canada it can drive even the indigenous people crazy - there is no such place as paradise.