Purrs much needed

Thankfully our health is fine here but... We ran into a slight (BIG)
construction problem. One of our walls wobbles. It's not a support wall,
in fact they pulled it out to rebuild again because the first time they
threw it up, it was only to build one part. Sorta like, they had to
perform step one to complete step two, but step two needed to be done
before step one can be done. Hence step one needed to be temporary
before they can return to it and make it permanent.

Anyway, it's a 15 foot (high) wall that doesn't have *any* load bearings
whatsoever but well.. it wobbles when you close the door.

*pulls hair out*

Suffice to say I'm extremely nervous right now because they need to do
some adjustment. Dad and Jody swear it's only minor and it really is ok.
But it does look bad when the wall wobbles even in the slightest. Even
if they're telling me you can yank the whole doggone wall out and the
rest of the house is uneffected... Can I stress that I don't want to see
my house wobbling???

*whimpers*
Grace

"GraceCat" wrote in message
...
Thankfully our health is fine here but... We ran into a slight (BIG)
construction problem. One of our walls wobbles. It's not a support wall,
in fact they pulled it out to rebuild again because the first time they
threw it up, it was only to build one part. Sorta like, they had to
perform step one to complete step two, but step two needed to be done
before step one can be done. Hence step one needed to be temporary
before they can return to it and make it permanent.

Anyway, it's a 15 foot (high) wall that doesn't have *any* load bearings
whatsoever but well.. it wobbles when you close the door.

*pulls hair out*

Suffice to say I'm extremely nervous right now because they need to do
some adjustment. Dad and Jody swear it's only minor and it really is ok.
But it does look bad when the wall wobbles even in the slightest. Even
if they're telling me you can yank the whole doggone wall out and the
rest of the house is uneffected... Can I stress that I don't want to see
my house wobbling???

*whimpers*
Grace



Grace,

I suggested earlier that you post a message to alt.home.repair. Did you
ever take a look at that newsgroup? They have a variety of people there
with a *lot* of knowledge in various areas of construction, and you could
probably get more specific information from that type of NG. A wobbling
wall would have me in a panic, and I hope you are also taking steps *not* to
pay until the job is done right.

MaryL

"GraceCat" wrote in message
...
Thankfully our health is fine here but... We ran into a slight (BIG)
construction problem. One of our walls wobbles.

Grace



In addition to what I said in the message I posted a few minutes ago: In my
opinion, you also need some practical (and expert) on-the-spot advice. If
it were me, I think I would consult both an attorney and a reputable home
inspector to make sure you don't get left with some major problems after
this job is done.

MaryL

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message
...

"GraceCat" wrote in message
...
Thankfully our health is fine here but... We ran into a slight (BIG)
construction problem. One of our walls wobbles.

Grace



In addition to what I said in the message I posted a few minutes ago:
In my
opinion, you also need some practical (and expert) on-the-spot advice.
If
it were me, I think I would consult both an attorney and a reputable
home
inspector to make sure you don't get left with some major problems
after
this job is done.

MaryL



Ack, I missed the alt.home.repair message. And in truth, I'll take a
look at them but I barely have enough time for this newsgroup .

It's not that big of a deal really. It's a great structurally sound home
in all honesty and as I said, this wall is a non-load bearing wall and
all that it's going to take is a step back and return to reconstruct it,
or add extra support to it to keep the wobbles out. At worst, we'll have
to eat the cost of some special orders ($5k).

I'm still a bit tweaked and a little worried but since the wall isn't
*completely* finished, it's premature to fall into a total panic.
Apparently, after it was explained to me, I grasp the problem better.
It's a "hmmm, that's not going to quite work, we need to add such and
such before the sheetrock goes up".

And if I keep repeating that, I may believe it

I post my home stuff here because it is a group of my friends and it's
easier to spill the woes than it would be to a group of strangers. If
that makes sense instead of going to a newsgroup that talks about this
sort of thing .

Grace

"GraceCat" wrote in message
...

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message
...


Ack, I missed the alt.home.repair message. And in truth, I'll take a
look at them but I barely have enough time for this newsgroup .


I post my home stuff here because it is a group of my friends and it's
easier to spill the woes than it would be to a group of strangers. If
that makes sense instead of going to a newsgroup that talks about this
sort of thing .

Grace



It makes perfect sense to post here for moral support. However, I thought
it would be a good idea to *also* post to the other group because they might
have some sounds ideas about what is causing your structural problems -- and
whether it is likely to cause further problems in the future or if it is
something that can be corrected at reasonable cost and effort.

Whatever you do, good luck. I hope everything works out well for you. I
would like to add a sunroom onto the back of my house in the next year or
so, and I hope I don't run into any "little inconveniences" along the way
(which often does happen, I know).

MaryL

"GraceCat" wrote in message
...
Thankfully our health is fine here but... We ran into a slight (BIG)
construction problem. One of our walls wobbles. It's not a support wall,
in fact they pulled it out to rebuild again because the first time they
threw it up, it was only to build one part. Sorta like, they had to
perform step one to complete step two, but step two needed to be done
before step one can be done. Hence step one needed to be temporary
before they can return to it and make it permanent.

Anyway, it's a 15 foot (high) wall that doesn't have *any* load bearings
whatsoever but well.. it wobbles when you close the door.

*pulls hair out*

Suffice to say I'm extremely nervous right now because they need to do
some adjustment. Dad and Jody swear it's only minor and it really is ok.
But it does look bad when the wall wobbles even in the slightest. Even
if they're telling me you can yank the whole doggone wall out and the
rest of the house is uneffected... Can I stress that I don't want to see
my house wobbling???

*whimpers*

Purrs and hugs.

You are reminding me why Joel and I swore black and blue that we'd never
build a house again. You don't want to see it while its being made because
you see all the flaws, shortcuts and dodgy handiwork. But if buy a pre-made
one, then you see the end product only and can make up your mind on what th
whole thing, take it or leave it.

I don't know if it will reassure you, but if its not a load-bearing wall,
then its not really a big deal. It can be replaced or stabilised later
without affecting the stability of the rest of the structures. I know its
frustrating for you, I know, honest, but as long as youcan trust your
builders (and Jody) to see to it that the wall doesn't wobble by the time
you make the fnal payment, then you are just worrying for nothing. Yes, I
also know you can't help but wory, but sweetie, now you know that that wall
wobbles, you can make *damn sure* it doesn't before you hand over the last
payment. In fact, you can inspect all the walls for wobble before the last
payment, now that you know about the potential.

Many many purrs, its a very stressful time.

Yowie

"Yowie" wrote in message
...

Purrs and hugs.

You are reminding me why Joel and I swore black and blue that we'd
never
build a house again. You don't want to see it while its being made
because
you see all the flaws, shortcuts and dodgy handiwork. But if buy a
pre-made
one, then you see the end product only and can make up your mind on
what th
whole thing, take it or leave it.

I don't know if it will reassure you, but if its not a load-bearing
wall,
then its not really a big deal. It can be replaced or stabilised later
without affecting the stability of the rest of the structures. I know
its
frustrating for you, I know, honest, but as long as youcan trust your
builders (and Jody) to see to it that the wall doesn't wobble by the
time
you make the fnal payment, then you are just worrying for nothing.
Yes, I
also know you can't help but wory, but sweetie, now you know that that
wall
wobbles, you can make *damn sure* it doesn't before you hand over the
last
payment. In fact, you can inspect all the walls for wobble before the
last
payment, now that you know about the potential.

Many many purrs, its a very stressful time.

Yowie


Yeah, I trust them. And I trust our builders 100%. In fact, I tried to
call the builder and ask if Jody's telling me the truth if it's not load
bearing, it'll be ok. Yeah, I'll take his word over that of my husband's
but hey!! It's his job .

I'll take some photos but the problem was that this wall is fifteen feet
high. (so I've been told) And if they use "anchor iron" in four
different places before the sheetrock and bolt a mantle/support beam
(which looks natural because we have a hardwood cathedral ceiling) then
it doesn't bow out just a little bit.

And if that doesn't help, we tear the wall down again, add extra stud
support, toss the insulation back up and do the iron thingie.

Grace
still upset, but soothed

"Yowie" wrote in message
news:c2r8bi$20mvre$4@ID- Many many purrs, its a very stressful time.

Yowie


Oh.. and another thing. Even if we handed them the last payment, they
will come back again and again until the job is done or we're satisfied.
Half of these people are extended family and the other half are in Dad's
Sunday School class. The Jenkins family has branched out into all fields
of building from houses, to cabinet shops, to heating/air cond to
electrical work. They're *the* family to use on any and all construction
here. It's at least a six month wait before they even come out to
inspect the house plans so their reputation is excedingly excellent.

So getting it right is the least of my worries. It's just.. it might be
a couple weeks pushed back again...

Grace

"GraceCat" wrote in message
...

"Yowie" wrote in message
news:c2r8bi$20mvre$4@ID- Many many purrs, its a very stressful time.

Yowie


Oh.. and another thing. Even if we handed them the last payment, they
will come back again and again until the job is done or we're satisfied.
Half of these people are extended family and the other half are in Dad's
Sunday School class. The Jenkins family has branched out into all fields
of building from houses, to cabinet shops, to heating/air cond to
electrical work. They're *the* family to use on any and all construction
here. It's at least a six month wait before they even come out to
inspect the house plans so their reputation is excedingly excellent.

So getting it right is the least of my worries. It's just.. it might be
a couple weeks pushed back again...

Oooh! I think its time for building horror stories :-)

We had our house built back in 98/99

Afer the signing of all thepapers I was told it will take 3 months *tops*
before the house was ready to move into. That supposedly included rainy
days, strikes etc etc.

So, figuring that 3 month was a short period of time, Joel and I moved into
the dingiest darkest smelliest most digusting flat because ti was cheap and
why waste more money on anapartment we'd only be in for 3 months?

We went to visit our house every week.

It got to lock-up stage within 3 months.

Then it sat there, doing sweet FA for another 6.

I kept ringing the contruction company and kept getting BS excuses like the
roads weren't ready or the council had put a moritorium on work that week
etc etc etc. All complete lies, I know, because I checked every single one
of their alleged excuses.

The closest I can get to the actual truth is that the building company was
building allthe houses in my area at the one time. So the concreters came in
and laid the slab for every single house. If you happened to be the first
house that had its slab laid, you'd have to wait forever for the last house
to have its slab laid before the frame was contructed.

And right in the middle of the building process there was a housing boom in
Sydney so that you couldn't hire contractors for love nor money

So it got to lock-up stage and just sat there, doing nothing, while we went
mad in this pokey, dingy, smelly disgusting little flat. I would have
willingly gone in and done the painting and tiling had they let me, but no,
I didn't "own" it yet, and therefore I couldn't.

After nearly a year, we finally got the keys to move in. And literally while
we were moving in, the landscapers were still doing the driveway and putting
in the lawn.

I'm really glad you trust your builders, Grace, because I wouldn't trust a
builder as far as I could spit one, which wouldn't be very far.

If there's a next time we are goign to buy a second hand house, and be aware
of its "eccentricities" before we move it, rather that discovering them too
late to do anything about but knowing we could have had it fixed if we'd
just been aware of the problem before it was "set in concrete" so to speak.

You have my utmost sympathies. Here, have a nice hot camomile tea Úº to help
soothe those nerves.

Yowie

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 19:53:21 -0600, "GraceCat"
wrote:

Thankfully our health is fine here but... We ran into a slight (BIG)
construction problem. One of our walls wobbles. It's not a support wall,
in fact they pulled it out to rebuild again because the first time they
threw it up, it was only to build one part. Sorta like, they had to
perform step one to complete step two, but step two needed to be done
before step one can be done. Hence step one needed to be temporary
before they can return to it and make it permanent.

Anyway, it's a 15 foot (high) wall that doesn't have *any* load bearings
whatsoever but well.. it wobbles when you close the door.

*pulls hair out*

Suffice to say I'm extremely nervous right now because they need to do
some adjustment. Dad and Jody swear it's only minor and it really is ok.
But it does look bad when the wall wobbles even in the slightest. Even
if they're telling me you can yank the whole doggone wall out and the
rest of the house is uneffected... Can I stress that I don't want to see
my house wobbling???

*whimpers*
Grace


(((Grace)))

Building our own house can be VERY stressful.

I don't have any personal expertise as a builder, but grew up with a
lot of carpenters - Grandpas on boths sides, uncles, and were, or
still are, carpenters. So I grew up listening to their discussions
enough to know that things like you describe aren't that rare.

So, since you don't say if it's a problem that the builders caught, or
something that they were ignoring and/or trying to hide, I don't know
if you should worry or not.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky

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