Young people failing at maintenance and DIY

and how does he expect the average homeowner to know all the codes? are you kidding me? you're gonna stand there with the contractor and inspector and tell them what is wrong?

my guy hung the floorjoists for the addition only 1 1/2" over the sill of the existing house. inspector passed the rough framing. you can't see it unless you go up the ladder in the basement and look over the ledge. when i hired a carpenter to do some work, he told me they are supposed to hang over a manimum of 3"". they are holding up the whole inside floor of the addition.

 

I haven't noticed him identifying an inspector, although in a small community the inspectors and their bosses will know who the inspector was.

 

Sounds fixable with some fabricated steel joint reinforcement. There might even be off the shelf parts to do that. probably need an engineer to sign off on it.

 

that's exactly what he did. a coupla grand later. and all because (the carpenter said) the contractor either didn't want to go up 2' in dimension because of cost, a hundred bucks or so, or that's what he had and didn't want to delay.

sorry to go so far off topic! i should be in the rants and vents thread.

 

But that's ok, the unionized City employee Inspector still stamped "Approved" and let it slide. If the addition had actually caved in and somebody had been hurt or killed, all involved would have shrugged, looked the other way, and started whistling

 

exactly! exactly! a public servant cannot be held accountable for their mistake. my neighbor hired a contractor to put a second floor on his ranch. contractor takes the blueprints to the inspector. from there, conservation commission, board of health, etc., etc., etc.
he gets the permits after about six months of b.s. and tears the roof off the house. then he frames up the second floor. meantime, the guy behind him is upset because the second floor is going to block his view of the ocean. turns out, he's a surveyor. he does some homework and finds out the guy in front is on a non conforming lot. they wind up in land court and the judge makes them rip off the second floor and put the house back together as a ranch. the guy's lawyer says, but he got all the required permits and sign offs from four boards. what about the responsibility o f the town? tough luck.

 

In that case, the City can say "too bad, so sad"

 

Being an elected official, I like this part of the law.

Tom

 

<smirk>

See, I knew there was a method behind your scary madness

 

these guys are not elected, they are mostly older contractors looking for a way out with benefits and some do contracting as well. there are some elected to the various boards, mostly voluntary and with little knowledge. i know i'm painting with a broad brush, i certainly believe in building codes and the need to be enforced no matter who is doing the work. and they need to be clear, not vague or arbitrary. just my personal experiences.

 

Just to be clear, I am not a building inspector. As an engineer, boat builder, woodworker, metal worker, and long time builder of things in general, I would probably be pretty good as a building inspector. Democracy being what it is, I am the dutifully elected president of our local school board -- a task for which I am completely unqualified. Gotta love it.

Tom

 

When I did an energy efficiency retrofit of our house, I did most of the work, in cooperation with a contractor. I did much of the work precisely because the contractor either had never done or refused to believe what I was doing.

For example, our ceiling is R-100. Using rigid foil-faced foam I was able to get high R-values in a relatively small space. Too many contractors are used to "go get more" and balk when confronted with less space and new materials. Unfortunate because we have enjoyed high energy efficiency for 21 years.

 

Your realization that you are unqualified puts you head and shoulders above the average school board president.

 

R100? details!

 

Every house in the US and Canada should have such insulation values. Think of how much energy we could save