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Archive for February, 2016

Movies about Houses

Feb 9, 16 • News

I am buildingĀ a list of movies about houses or house building. If you have any suggestions, please send them to me.

HOUSES

Still Mine

Life as a House

The Money Pit

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Home

Are We Done Yet?

 

HORROR

The Last House on the Left

The Amityville Horror

Rose Red

 

DOCUMENTARIES

Winchester Mystery House

Monticello: Home of Thomas Jefferson

Frank Loyd Wright’s Fallingwater

The Whitehouse Documentary (History Channel)

The Queen of Versailles

America’s Castles: Biltmore Estates

America’s Castles: Newport Mansions

America’s Castles: The Astors

America’s Castles: The Vanderbilts Abroad

America’s Castles: Andrew Carnegie

 

 

The Most Common Residential Building Code Violations

Feb 7, 16 • News

Here is a recent article from the Journal of Light Construction based upon a 2013 joint study by the International Code Council and the National Association of Homebuilders titled, Common Code Violations Survey.

Top Ten Code Violations

This is a national survey and reflects a lot of what I see on a day to day basis. I would like to add a few issues that were not mentioned, perhaps due to their being a localized problem in the North Central Texas area.

  1. Lot Grading and Drainage. This is found on nearly every house I inspect. In the expansive soils we have in this area inadequate drainage leads to differential foundation movement and structural damage.
  2. Window Installation. On 9 out of every 10 houses I inspect the windows are not installed in accordance with the code, manufacturers’ installation instructions or other applicable industry standards.
  3. Electrical Installations. About 60% of the homes I see have multiple electrical installation code violations.
  4. Framing. Flagrant wall and roof framing code violations are common.
  5. Foundations. Foundation formwork and reinforcement violations are on every house.

Garage Door Repair Ripoff

Feb 2, 16 • News

Local consumer Watchdog Dave Lieber holds forth on garage door repair scam.

Watchdog: Carrollton-based garage door company’s ex-manager fesses up