You and your new home
Protecting yourself from common builder’s mistakes
Jeff Cross
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Jeff Cross
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means be it electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or any other without the prior written permission of the author. Quotations in critical reviews or articles are exempt from this statement.
The information contained in this book is from the unique perspective of the author. The author does not warrant any of the information within and urges that the reader research any information obtained. This is not a “How to Build a House” book. This is more of a how to recognize common builders mistakes book. To keep the cost of this book down, it is kept as brief as possible. Common mistakes and oversights which the author has personally encountered are brought to your attention to help to prevent the same occurrences from affecting your project. Some of the designs may be regionally limited.
“In an effort to promote good and safe work practices…”
You are welcome to contact the author or see how to obtain this book in print at jcrossbooks.com
Introduction
As a building inspector it is my job to protect consumers from the mistakes and oversights of building contractors as well as their subcontractors. The United States construction industry has moved from craftsmen learning a trade through an apprenticeship to entrepreneurs building “cookie cutter” homes utilizing unskilled laborers. It has become more important than ever to gain knowledge to protect yourself.
Custom homes are now built exactly like “spec homes” and the same mistakes are made repeatedly. Spec homes are homes which are repeated over and over within a neighborhood. Many homeowners now hire real estate inspectors or construction consultants to perform inspections during construction. If this option is available to you, then use it. There is no comparison to having a trained set of eyes watching over a project which you’ll be paying on for thirty years or more.
Master craftsmen are few and far between. When you find one, you’ve accomplished something! Looking at work your builder has done in the past was typically a good way to judge the type of work they would do. All builders, though, are in business to make money. So, in turn is the challenge:
A builder will hire subcontractors to build their homes. For example, a dirt contractor will go out and prepare the site. When he has completed this portion of the job, he receives his pay and goes to the next one. Now, his dozer breaks down and it costs him $9,000 to repair it. Therefore, he goes to the builder and says he is going up on his prices to offset the cost of his equipment repair. The builder has quoted your house already and the extra cost is not allotted in his bid, so he calls someone else to do the site work at your house.
The builder may implement at any time during the construction process. What you look at may have been constructed by an entirely different group of people. The builder basically just coordinated everything. Now I am not discounting the importance of coordination, because without it, the work will not come together. Moreover, the builder does more than coordination and a good builder who is vigilant has all my respect.
The fact is, no matter what the evidence, things change and you need to know what to watch for. In this book, we’ll cover aspects of many basic building practices. I will introduce you to the International Residential Code (IRC), and I am hopeful you will be a comfortable with what you observe as you visit your new home site each day.
Please let me introduce myself. I am Jeff Cross and a building inspector in a medium to small city in Texas. At the time this edition was written, our city had adopted the 2003 International Building Codes. The State of Texas does not require builders to obtain a license and basically, anyone can be a builder. Any construction outside the city needs no inspections.
I’ve been in construction all my life, owning my first construction company while I was still in my teens. In high school, I would assist my father in pouring concrete flat work and constructing steel buildings. Eventually I went into the plumbing business, as my father was a master plumber. I then moved into mechanical work (A/C and heating), and then into electrical work.
At this time, I hold certifications for building, plumbing, mechanical, energy conservation, and electrical inspections through the International Code Council (ICC). I also hold several other license and certifications for commercial inspections which do not apply here.
I firmly believe you are better protected in a city or a jurisdiction where building inspections are performed. Even where inspections occur, you are vulnerable to oversights. Keep in mind this very important fact: the building code is the worst the building should be. If the structure is to code, it doesn’t say much; just that it is safe for occupancy. A building inspector is limited in what he/she can enforce by the model code which has been adopted. A builder is capable of exceeding the requirements of the code and you must demand this.
If you would like to obtain a copy of a building code go to International Code Council’s web site at www.iccsafe.org, or speak to the building official within your jurisdiction to find which code they have adopted. Most building inspectors will try to answer questions if they can.
These are the basic items we’ll talk about:
Site work and utilities
Plumbing ground work
Foundation
Framing
Electrical rough-in
Plumbing top-out
Mechanical rough-in (duct)
Drywall and fire protection
Final inspections
Energy Conservation
I will not cover the following items in this book:
Your contract between you and your builder – This is a legal issue and should be treated as such.
Any permitting information
Designing your home – There are minimum requirements for designing homes which are so small it is difficult to mess this up. You need to be happy with your lay out, if you need help with this, an architect would be a better source than me.
Choosing your lot – I have a couple of tips in the section about site work. Other than that, well, there are too many things to cover. An architect may help you here if you need it. I think you probably have your place already if you have bought this book.
Basements – This subject would take an entire book by itself. There are a lot of books out there covering basements.
Swimming Pools
Decks and Porches
Cabinets and trim – These are not structural and vary to an infinite degree.
Site work
and Utilities
Wooded Lots
If you have a wooded lot, you most likely will not be able to save all the trees. Meet with your builder after you have chosen where to place your home on the site and stake the general location if you can. Some locations have too much vegetation to get through. This means a weekend of fighting poison ivy and wasps.
Staking out the house will give you an idea where the trees will be in relation to your home. You don’t want a tree closer than about ten feet from the foundation since roots will be cut, and you may be removing it in the future when the injury has caused it to die. Roots may affect the foundation. Debris from the trees may also affect any gutter systems, patios, balconies or inside corners. Don’t forget in some areas, pests are a consideration when dealing with trees close to the house.
Slope
Any slope in excess of 2% will usually ring some bells for your builder. A good lot is considered to be less than a 2% slope. What he means is inch per 12 inches of fall or more exists. This doesn’t sound like much, does it? Think of it this way; if you have a structure fifty feet long, and the slope drops 1/8 inch per foot, then you’ll drop fifty eighths, or 6 1/4 inches.
For the builder, this means either filling in or cutting down. For you, this means more money. Dirt work is expensive and in some areas it is limited by climate. If the decision to cut is made, and if the soil type will allow it, soil will be moved from the high side to the low side. This is the best-case scenario. Top soil is made up of soil which still has decomposition occurring or silt and other types of unstable materials.
If the decision is made to bring in fill dirt, then you want to make sure it is of a quality which will make a stable pad. If it is possible to be on site when the soil is delivered, watch for the following: roots, debris, ashes or burned soil or uneven mixtures of soil types such as chunks of clay in gravel fill. Also watch for expansive soils, which are soils that hold a lot of water and shrink when they dry out.
Pad
The pad is basically what your house is going to sit on. It extends from undisturbed soil to the bottom of the concrete slab or where the skirting starts on a pier and beam house. Undisturbed soil is typically 12 inches below grade.
Fill
When the fill dirt is spread, it should be spread out in six to eight inch layers. Each layer is called a “lift” and each lift must be compacted. This can be accomplished by driving a loaded dump truck or water truck back and forth until the tires have pressed it down uniformly. A tracked dozer will NOT “do it as good.” The tracks on tracked equipment are designed to spread the weight out and the compaction will not reach its full potential.
The elevation of the lot must be considered as well. This will affect your utilities as well as how you enter and exit. The driveway must be usable, so don’t skimp on fill just to require four wheel drive to get out of the garage. 12 1/2% is a typical slope for a driveway. This is a 2 inch fall per foot. Mowing is a concern when building a pad in a high slope area. We’ll address the utilities in below.
Keep in mind your pad must direct rain water away from the house and in the direction it would have traveled before you began building. The exception would be where the water is required to go out to the gutter by the authority having jurisdiction.
If you are building in or near a flood plain, you definitely want to keep this in mind when determining the elevation of your pad.
Site utilities
The builder may, and should watch for the following. If he doesn’t, it can be costly.
Sewer
The first utility normally addressed is the sewer. If a public sewer system is available then half of the battle is won. You want to verify the elevation of the sewer main so the drain system will drain by gravity. This should be checked before your site preparation begins, seeing as it will directly affect the elevation of the house. I personally dealt with a builder who cut down a lot 4 feet only to find the sewer main was only 2 feet deep. The builder was forced to install an expensive pumping system to dispose of waste.
If public sewer is not available then an On Site Sewage Facility (OSSF) must be utilized. Different places handle OSSF’s in various ways. In Texas, they are controlled by the State via a designated representative for each county and municipality. Look in to this before you begin because the cost can be enormous. Different soil types will affect the design and, the size of your lot can even make it unbuildable.
Power
Electrical power is also a must. If a power line runs over head, look for the transformer closest to you. That will most likely be where you’ll get it from. If you are a quarter mile off the road, you may have to pay the power company to run a line to your home. Call the power company and ask them to send a consultant out to meet you on site. They usually do this free of charge.
Gas
Gas is a nice utility to have. Don’t discount it before you read the chapter on efficiency. If gas is locally available, you’ll want to have one of the service provider’s consultants tell you where the lines are. It is difficult to run a new gas line under a driveway or around other structural and natural barriers. The plumber can stub out for gas where it is needed, instead of where it is convenient for him.
Plumbing
Underground
The plumbing underground is installed after the pad is completed, the rough forms are in place, and after any sub-grade footers are installed. The pad inside the forms should be flat and consist of sand or a soft non-expansive soil that can be spread out. Some areas will use a layer of gravel. The plumber will excavate the ditches for the drain lines placing pipe in the ditches using the soft soil or sand to bed the pipes in as he goes.
Drain
The most common drain system is made of schedule 40 PVC. The pipes will be marked for use in drain, waste and vent systems (DWV). A riser will extend up at each place a fixture or stack is to be placed. A stack is a vent or drain, which will go to the second floor. You may have a riser, which is 10 feet tall. This is a pressure test. All the risers are capped off except the tall one which is then filled with water. The weight exerts pressure on the system for leak detection. This is called a ten-foot head.
The entire system can be capped off and air pressure can be placed on the system. 5 psi would be the ideal amount as 5 psi is the same pressure that the 10 foot head is. The PVC cannot handle much more. Demand to see one of these tests.
The slope of the pipe is another thing to look for. Get an accurate four foot level and tape a 1/2 inch spacer to one end. When you place the level on the pipe, and it shows level, then an exact 1/8 inch per foot fall is being used. Make sure the spacer is on the end pointing toward the sewer main. Using a small level, such as a torpedo level is not accurate enough.
3 and 4 inch pipes should have a slope of 1/8 to 1/2 inch per foot. 2 1/2 to 1 1/2 inch pipes should run between 1/4 to 1/2 inch per foot.
PVC joints in the pipe must be cemented together using a primer that is purple in color and a solvent cement that is not purple. This is a code requirement. Without the primer, the manufactures listing is invalid. A clear “cleaner” is NOT a replacement for purple primer. The word cleaner and the word primer do not mean the same thing!
The next thing to watch for is dips in the piping system. Earlier I said the pipe must be bedded in. It is very important this occur to prevent dips in the pipe. The pipe is laid on a flat firm bed. Soft soil or sand is filled in on both sides of the pipe and tamped down tight around it. You should be able to see just enough of the pipe to determine its size and material. I walk down each piece and it should not move as I do (and I am a fat man!).
The ditch should be backfilled six inches and compacted so the concrete crew has less chance of damaging the pipe. When the concrete crews dig beams, the ditch where the piping is should not cave into the beam.
The sewer is stubbed out on the side of the house pointing toward the sewer tap or OSSF. A clean out fitting is placed within 5 foot of the house at this point.
On pier and beam homes, the drain isn’t placed in ditches under the house. They should be supported off of the ground from the floor framing above. The pressure test is performed later in the top-out stage. The transition from the building drain system to the sewer is typically be made at the edge of the house. The drop would be made at an angle so that stress will not be placed in other parts of the system when the house moves.
Take a look at the spacing of hangers used to support the drain and verify they do not exceed 4 feet on PVC pipes. The slopes must be maintained as described above.
Sizing of the drain system must be on a per house design. In the ground, you should not have a drain size smaller than 2 inches though code allows it. It is difficult to clean a stoppage in a line smaller than 2 inches due to the design of equipment used for the purpose. Additionally, examine your clothes washing machine drain. It will be 2 inch and should have no other fixture connected to it until it goes into a 3 inch or larger pipe.
The use of proper fittings is a very in depth study. These are things licensed personnel must know and use. It is imperative to check a workers license. Demand the worker on site is minimally licensed as a journeyman plumber. Some states and jurisdictions will allow a tradesman to plumb houses with less experience than a journeyman. If the master plumber comes to the site and checks each phase of work personally, chances are the work will be right or corrected if needed. Look at both of their plumbing license! If you want to know exactly what the plumbing license looks like, contact the authority having jurisdiction.
Water
The water system may or may not be installed in this phase of the job. In warmer climates water may be run in the attic and inspected during the top-out phase. In cooler climates, the water is placed under the slab, brought together inside walls, and connected together in manifolds.
The material may be of copper or crosslinked polyethylene (PEX). Copper, being more expensive, is losing popularity while PEX has overwhelmed many markets. In some cases a single manifold is used and left accessible to the homeowner and individual lines are run to each fixture from this manifold.
Make sure copper lines are sleeved through concrete as the acidic nature of concrete will rapidly deteriorate the copper. PEX must be sleeved in areas being sprayed with pesticides because studies have shown pesticide carriers may pass through the material causing water to have a bad taste.
Either type of system must be tested before concrete is poured. The water distribution system can be tested with 50 psi of air or water. I’ve seen entire rolls of copper split on a test such as this. If it had not been tested, the lines under the slab would have been useless. PEX is susceptible to ultraviolet light. Piping stored outside may become damaged. This test most likely will help find piping damaged in this way.
Do not use PVC, CPVC or any other material which requires having joints under slabs. A “silver solder joint” on a copper pipe under a slab is not acceptable.
Bringing the water into the house in the slab is clean in appearance and should be done in this phase, though it isn’t required in warmer climates.
Foundation
Everything depends on the foundation. If it moves, the devastation can be serious. There are several types of foundations. Some are engineered and some aren’t. The most common is known as slab on grade. Pier and beam is typically the least expensive. Since the most common is slab on grade, we’ll cover it primarily but I will touch on the others too.
Footings
There should be no roots, grass or other materials which will decompose over time under your home. The footings of your foundation must extend 12 inches, minimum, into undisturbed soil. In some cases footings must extend further to get to a soil suitable for stability and to be below the frost line. If you can afford it, hire a geo-tech company to bore your site for the best information. The geo-tech’s engineer will be able to recommend a proper depth when the soil is questionable. Residential builders will only do this if the authority having jurisdiction requires it, due to the cost. Call a local reputable foundation repair company if you are unable to use a geo-technical service, as they will be familiar with the area and may recommend a depth if needed.
Piers
Some footings are simply bored piers. This is accomplished by a sub contractor boring holes under the points in the slab where load bearing beams will intersect and between those points where the span of the beam requires it. The driller will bore down to a soil type which appears stable. Some builders will have the driller bell the bottom of the pier to give it a larger bearing surface.
Bored piers should not be left over night. They should be dry if possible, but should have no more than a couple inches of water if unavoidable. They can be pumped if water begins to enter. Loose soil must never be pushed back in the hole before the concrete is poured. That would place your footing on non-compacted soil, a big no no! The concrete is typically poured to the point where the bottom of the beam will be located.
Spread Footings
Spread, or block footings, are usually excavated rectangular holes. They would be strategically placed just as the piers are described above. The bottoms of the footings are firm and will not normally be very deep. They too will be a minimum of 12 inches into undisturbed or compacted soil. They are also used where bored holes will not work due to a high water table.
Beams
Beams are the most common footers used. They are the same beams which would sit on the footers above, but on a level lot or on a well compacted pad the footers may not be used. The beam would be at least 12 inches wide and 12 inches deep measuring from the top of grade for a single story home. Grade would be where the concrete floor would come into contact with the pad.
Re-bar
Footers and beams are usually built with reinforcing steel in the concrete. Concrete will break with or without steel in it. The reinforcing steel is what will hold it together when it does break. The beams spanning footers or directly on grade must maintain its strength even when the concrete breaks. Code requires a minimum of 2 reinforcing steel bars of 1/2 inch diameter in a beam. Personally I think more is better. It is not uncommon for a single story house to have 4 bars per beam. 2 placed 2 inches off the bottom, and 2 placed 2 inches below the floor. Most concrete contractors will tie the top bars at the same level as the bars placed in the 4 inch thick floor. The important thing is the re-bars be placed in a way to allow at least 2 inches of concrete to incase them.
When the contractor speaks about the size of re-bar, he will use numbers such as Number three or Number five. Don’t let this rattle you. Re-bar is sized in 1/8 inch increments. A Number three bar is 3/8 inches in diameter. A Number five would be 5/8 inch in diameter.
Slab on Grade
Your slab is basically the floor. It extends over the beams to the inside edge of the forms. The beams are normally poured monolithically with the floor. When you look at your foundation, the concrete subcontractor will be ready to pour. It is very important you slow things down just a little. This is a very critical inspection. Take your time and ask questions if you’re not sure.
Engineered Slab
It is possible the authority having jurisdiction or conditions at the site will require you to have an engineered foundation. If your foundation is engineered, you need to have the most recent design with the engineers stamp and signature on it. You want to read ALL the notes on his design. If any item is not per his design, then he no longer holds responsibility. Therefore the installation must be per his design EXACTLY. If it isn’t, then the engineer must approve any changes in writing. Do not allow the builder to pour concrete if the engineer is not 100% convinced that it’s ready. The only way to prove inconsistencies is to tear it out. Photos may not always do it!
Non-engineered Slab
If the slab on grade is not engineered, look for the following:
No soil should be between the footers and the beam.
The pad under the floor area must be firm, flat and have no dirt clods or soft spots. If you can push a Number 4 re-bar into the pad more than 4 inches, be concerned. The plastic may need to be pulled back to allow drying.
A 6-mil vapor barrier must be in place covering the entire pad. In comparison a kitchen trash bag is only 0.9 to 1.2-mil.
Reinforcing steel must be in place and supported 2 inches off the bottom or in the center of the floor. Stretch a string across the top of the form and measure between the tightly pulled string and the top of the pad. The steel should be in the middle.
The minimum size of reinforcing in a poured on grade floor is nonexistent in the code. Personally, Number 3 re-bar on 16 inch centers each direction would be my minimum. More is better.
A “concrete encased grounding electrode” must be installed in a beam. This item is forgotten a lot. Usually it will be installed near the electrical panel box, although it can be anywhere in a wall. Look for a Number 4 re-bar (or larger) sticking up in an outside wall. It will continue down into a beam and tie to, or run alongside one of the lower bars in the beam. Either way works. If it is tied, make sure it is tied in at least three places to the bottom bar. Under this bar, there should be no plastic vapor barrier for 20 feet. This is so the ground can conduct a fault to the earth. It is difficult for electricity to pass through the plastic barrier. Verify it is not in a door where it will have to be removed later.
At this time, the conduit must be installed for any islands you will have. An island in a kitchen must have at least one electrical outlet (unless it’s moveable).
While looking at the beams, observe the plumbing pipes. When they pass through the beams, they should be sleeved through another piece of pipe two pipe sizes larger. This sleeve should extend into the pad on both sides of the beam. This will prevent concrete from entering the sleeve. Using sleeves allows the soil to move without damaging the pipe. Wrapping cardboard around the pipe instead of using a sleeve does not accomplish the same task. This applies to drains AND water pipes. If a riser comes into a beam and stubs up through the slab, then of course it can’t be sleeved.
In areas where termites are a problem, a pretreatment of the soil under the vapor barrier or other preventative measures may need to be addressed. Some opt to utilize a Bora-Care treatment which is applied to the framing rather than the soil. Contact a licensed pest control applicator for recommendations in your area.
Look for the anchor bolts. They should extend 7 inches into the concrete and be 1/2 inch diameter minimum. This means they will be need to be about 10 inches long. The extra length is to allow the bolt to pass through the sill plate.
Wood Foundations
A lot of designs are out there, and most of them work well. Many original designs are actually a combination of wood and masonry. It would be impossible to cover all of them, so let’s look at certain important aspects. The basic design is; the piers set spaced throughout the house pad. The girder beams set on and are connected to the piers. Floor joists of 2X material (2X8, 2X10…) are set on edge on the girders. The subfloor will attach on the joists to complete the wood foundation.
Any wood within 18 inches of the ground should be pressure treated lumber, as well as heavy girders within 12 inches. Wood which comes into contact with concrete or stone should also be pressure treated. Any pier or column must be able to maintain its natural strength in any condition it is subject to encounter.
The footers, columns, girders and wall panels must be tied together to resist wind loads which push horizontally AND will create an uplift effect on the entire structure. Keep in mind some parts of the country have higher wind loads than others and seismic activity will also affect the entire structure. In these areas it is strongly recommended to ask the advice or use an engineer.
Watch for fasteners and their locations. Below grade, request stainless steel; above grade, exposed to elements galvanized steel must be used. Bolts used in foundation are typically 1/2 inch in diameter or larger. Lengths of nails will normally be one penny per eighth of an inch of board. A two inch board would use a 16d nail. However, this is not always the rule.
Framing
The frame of the house contains many very important components most people do not see. And many framing tasks are performed out of habit not knowing why! It is important that you understand why framing members are used in various method. This will help you help yourself.
The most important rule in framing is all loads must be transferred directly through the framing members and foundation to the ground. Any load imposed, including wind, snow and seismic, should be able to be traced all the way down.
We will look at the following things in this chapter:
Wind loads (and seismic loads)
Fire stopping and fire blocking
Moisture penetration
Chases
Headers
Spans
Wind Loads
Engineered Framing
Once again, when you deal with an engineered structure, read all the notes. Direct any questions to the person whose name is on the engineer’s stamp. Engineers deal with all loading questions within a design. All prefabricated structural elements must be designed by an engineer. This includes trusses, I-joists or manufactured beams. Ask for a copy of the shop drawings and layouts when dealing with trusses. I am not an engineer and I ask the engineer about anything I don’t FULLY understand. I implore you to do the same.
The most common mistake made in relation to trusses is other subcontractors drilling holes or cutting notches into engineered components. If any portion of a truss, I-joist or manufactured beam is altered in any way, verify if the engineering will allow it. If any one of the engineered components are altered in a non-allowable manner, then the engineer must design a repair or “fix” for the damaged component. A photo of a truss repair is in the “Trusses” section later in the book.