I am building 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
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Electrical Installations. About 60% of the homes I see have multiple electrical installation code violations.
- Framing. Flagrant wall and roof framing code violations are common.
- Foundations. Foundation formwork and reinforcement violations are on every house.
Local consumer Watchdog Dave Lieber holds forth on garage door repair scam.
Watchdog: Carrollton-based garage door company’s ex-manager fesses up
