"Frozen snot" houses???

[djswan]

I could use some good terms for the really poor garbage housing construction I see everywhere. I'm betting the ratio of wooden boats to "frozen snot" boats is better than the ratio I'm dealing with in housing construction. Why is it so hard to for folks to build quality instead of quantity of garbage.

Thanks

Derek

[Todd Bradshaw]

...and they're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same.

[Figment]

pfft. shows what you know.

Every other house in this development has brushed nickel bath fixtures, but mine has satin nickel fixtures. Open yer friggin eyes before you go mouthing off next time.

[djswan]

That's the spirit.

Just continuing my journey about educating folks. :)

I hope I don't ruin too much of peoples bliss. La la la la la What's on American Idol tonight?

I have always admired the purple house in the sea of beige masonite.

[Bruce Hooke]

little boxes made of ticky-tacky...

This piece http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040600934.html which I was reading last night, has what appears to be a good insight into part of what drives the rush to the bottom in home building. Basically, customers tend to compare based on square foot cost, with cheaper being better, so builders respond by building large houses with cheap components. Amazing how short-sighted people can be...

[John of Phoenix]

I've done some pretty extensive remodeling on our 60's built home and I've gotta say, "They sure don't build 'em like that anymore."

I wish I could find some wood like they used. Clear, straight, tight grained fir 2x4s and 2x6s that you just can't find anywhere any more. I’ve use a number of salvaged pieces on other projects.

Ninety degree corners even in the closets. Heavy gauge copper tubing in the plumbing. Two problems - aluminum wiring (all pigtailed w/ copper now) and single pane windows, but most have been upgraded. Everything else is great.

[SamSam]

I could use some good terms for the really poor garbage housing construction I see everywhere. I'm betting the ratio of wooden boats to "frozen snot" boats is better than the ratio I'm dealing with in housing construction. Why is it so hard to for folks to build quality instead of quantity of garbage.

Thanks

Derek
I find that the term "Piece of sh1t" is very handy.

1. Quality takes time, time equals money, people are cheap.
2. Most workers don't know how to do quality work.
3. Most buyers don't know what quality is.

[katey]

There's an interesting statement at the end of that Washington Post article: the builder claims that the additional cost of using low-VOC materials is negligible. I'm renovating a house and using low-to-no-VOC products when I can, but it's hard to find information about specific products. My fallback position for _decorating_ is "when in doubt, buy from IKEA" (because, while most of their products are in fact made in China, they at least meet the EU's indoor air quality standards), but that puts a significant limit on one's style, and doesn't help at all with more fundamental questions such as "What should I use for a subfloor?"

If anyone knows where I should be looking for information about offgassing by a variety of building materials, please let me know. Until I can get my arse back to Maine and surround myself with the aroma of Eastern White Pine (which itself is a VOC, of course, but at least it smells good) I'm stuck using sheet goods and such.

[Phillip Allen]

I could use some good terms for the really poor garbage housing construction I see everywhere. I'm betting the ratio of wooden boats to "frozen snot" boats is better than the ratio I'm dealing with in housing construction. Why is it so hard to for folks to build quality instead of quantity of garbage.

Thanks

Derek

California, (the southwest in general) and Florida and the gulf coast is FULL of frozen snot houses...it's called stucco (over chicken wire and styrofoam)

[djswan]

little boxes made of ticky-tacky...

This piece http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040600934.html which I was reading last night, has what appears to be a good insight into part of what drives the rush to the bottom in home building. Basically, customers tend to compare based on square foot cost, with cheaper being better, so builders respond by building large houses with cheap components. Amazing how short-sighted people can be...

I still can't believe this stuff. Blows my mind away how uneducated the public is. There is going to be a housing crash. A value system based on sqft price. The cheaper you can make a house the more money you make. This is a horrible industry to be in. The people trying to do the right thing are squeezed between dumb people and crooked developers.

[TimH]

I bought a computer desk from Office Max. I looked at all the garbage they sell and cant believe it. A sneeze would spell the end of most of their furniture. I bought the heaviest duty one they had...its their "professional line".
Its still particle board, but real thick. Problem is I can barely stand to be in the same room with it because of the smell. How long do these things "outgas" anyways....?

[seanz]

Surely the building industry wouldn't sell a substandard product?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10463460

Yep.

In NZ we have the 'Leaky Buildings' scandal. A winning combination of poor design , materials and construction. The ratepayers (not the building industry) are picking up the tab for that one.
Of course the government rushed in to help by passing legislation to tighten up on owner-builders...........even though leaky buildings were nothing to do with owner-builders.........:(
Oh and did I mention they make the people that live in them sick?
It looks like the people responsible for this debacle will never be held responsible.
If they were made of 'frozen snot' they wouldn't have leaked.:rolleyes:

[botebum]

I still can't believe this stuff. Blows my mind away how uneducated the public is. There is going to be a housing crash. A value system based on sqft price. The cheaper you can make a house the more money you make. This is a horrible industry to be in. The people trying to do the right thing are squeezed between dumb people and crooked developers.
I build condos and, more recently "custom" homes in this area for a small developer. I wouldn't pay 30 cents to their dollar price tag. It's crap. Why is it crap? Because people will buy crap. All ya gotta do is put some cheap crap icing on it and they come runnin'. Recently the market has flattened considerably. What do we do? Knock a third off the price and sell the hell out of 'em. Profit? Oh, don't worry. It's still in there.
It's obscene.

Doug