Stupid builders

[70charginglizard]

I purchased my home new back in 1996. Went thru multiple cloth dryer heating elements since then. Recently purchased a new dryer last year and noticed that the cloths still were not drying very well so I looked into the vents from the dryer to the wall and it looked fine. I then decided to try to find the vent exit on the outside of the house with the dryer running and couldn't find anything coming out...no hot air what so ever. So I climb into the crawl space to find that my home builder forgot to install a 50 inch section of pipe at the area where the vent from the dryer went down and under the house.
Seem that air was just going out thru the wall, down the pipe under the house and spraying right on top of the pink insulation blanket. Over the years I guess the lint built up and built up until it plugged up to the top of the vent.

Pulled out about 11 years of accumulated lint.

Nice hu.

All becasue the stupid builder decided to blow off installing a curved connection pipe to the pipe that was supose to run the hot air out of the house.

Those bastard could have caused my house to burn down along with my charger....so wrong!!! 

Can't believe the inspector didn't even pick up on that one. Don't they check to see if the appliance vents are working?

I am one lucky s.o.b.

Fixed now.

[Old Moparz]

I know that feeling pretty well, & feel for you. 

We bought our house in 1989 & it was only 18 months old. Saw a lot of older homes in need of work, so one that was almost new was appealing. I had worked for a couple of home improvement companies in the past, so looking over this house I spotted some "minor problems" that I knew I could fix. Maybe they wouldn't be too minor to some people, but the price was right so we bought it.

Here's what I spotted & knew I could take care of:

The deck was built too high & actually higher than the door sill, so the seller had repaired floors because water came in under the doors. Also, one corner of the deck was too low, possibly settled some & could be shimmed.

Removed the deck to lower it & found the joists 6 feet on center. (Yes, that's right, 6 feet.) Also inspected the corner that was too low & dug down to inspect the footings. Oooops, what footings?   

Did more extensive repairs to the floor that the previous homeowner didn't because of the water coming in under the door off the deck.

A partition wall was built in the basement, but they cut the studs too long & forced them in under the upstairs floor & created a bump that cracked a bunch of ceramic tiles.

Removed partition in basement to let floor settle & the hump went away. Now one door inside stopped getting caught on the speed bump, lol.

All angled stair railings had no upright balusters (spindles) but the horizontal ones did. I have a feeling the builder didn't have his miter saw at this point, or his help just couldn't cut angles because of the vast complexity of geometry. (I'll get to why later.)

Added balusters (spindles) to the hand rails because I knew how to cut angles & had a miter saw.

A fixed, non opening, decorative window leaked.

Went up on one of the roofs to access the fixed, non opening, decorative window with my caulking gun, & found that all it was, was a double pane, piece of glass set into the wall framing with no window frame, no sill, no flashing, no plywood sheathing, & that the siding was upside down right to the wall studs. I rebuilt the whole section of the wall & reinstalled the window & made my own frame for it as well as flashing. 

I moved in in August, so I didn't get around to running the boiler other than turn it on to see that it worked. It did, so I "assumed" it made heat. By the time it got cold out, we soon discovered that the house stayed cold inside. The boiler was installed without a pump to circulate the water through the baseboards, so it would run, overheat, then shut itself off. It also turned out to be junk after it was repaired so I scrapped it a couple of seasons later for a new one.

I did run into a plumber who worked for the builder. He had told me that the builder had a crackhead working for him, & that the crackhead lived in the house while they built it. He also stole the builder's tools & sold them off, so that might explain the problems with a lot of the construction. He was arrested with some other builder's tools & crack, as well as some of the previous owner's belongings. I have been repairing things for years, but some things I just live with, like my closet door that opens up by itself just enough to stub my toe going to bed. 

Home ownership can be an adventure. 

[BigBlackDodge]

I know that feeling pretty well, & feel for you. 

We bought our house in 1989 & it was only 18 months old. Saw a lot of older homes in need of work, so one that was almost new was appealing. I had worked for a couple of home improvement companies in the past, so looking over this house I spotted some "minor problems" that I knew I could fix. Maybe they wouldn't be too minor to some people, but the price was right so we bought it.

Here's what I spotted & knew I could take care of:

The deck was built too high & actually higher than the door sill, so the seller had repaired floors because water came in under the doors. Also, one corner of the deck was too low, possibly settled some & could be shimmed.

Removed the deck to lower it & found the joists 6 feet on center. (Yes, that's right, 6 feet.) Also inspected the corner that was too low & dug down to inspect the footings. Oooops, what footings?   

Did more extensive repairs to the floor that the previous homeowner didn't because of the water coming in under the door off the deck.

A partition wall was built in the basement, but they cut the studs too long & forced them in under the upstairs floor & created a bump that cracked a bunch of ceramic tiles.

Removed partition in basement to let floor settle & the hump went away. Now one door inside stopped getting caught on the speed bump, lol.

All angled stair railings had no upright balusters (spindles) but the horizontal ones did. I have a feeling the builder didn't have his miter saw at this point, or his help just couldn't cut angles because of the vast complexity of geometry. (I'll get to why later.)

Added balusters (spindles) to the hand rails because I knew how to cut angles & had a miter saw.

A fixed, non opening, decorative window leaked.

Went up on one of the roofs to access the fixed, non opening, decorative window with my caulking gun, & found that all it was, was a double pane, piece of glass set into the wall framing with no window frame, no sill, no flashing, no plywood sheathing, & that the siding was upside down right to the wall studs. I rebuilt the whole section of the wall & reinstalled the window & made my own frame for it as well as flashing. 

I moved in in August, so I didn't get around to running the boiler other than turn it on to see that it worked. It did, so I "assumed" it made heat. By the time it got cold out, we soon discovered that the house stayed cold inside. The boiler was installed without a pump to circulate the water through the baseboards, so it would run, overheat, then shut itself off. It also turned out to be junk after it was repaired so I scrapped it a couple of seasons later for a new one.

I did run into a plumber who worked for the builder. He had told me that the builder had a crackhead working for him, & that the crackhead lived in the house while they built it. He also stole the builder's tools & sold them off, so that might explain the problems with a lot of the construction. He was arrested with some other builder's tools & crack, as well as some of the previous owner's belongings. I have been repairing things for years, but some things I just live with, like my closet door that opens up by itself just enough to stub my toe going to bed. 

Home ownership can be an adventure. 

HLPAG Construction Company no doubt!!!!


BBD

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

It must not get cold by you huh?   In the winter months here you see the tell tale "smoke" from the dryer vent

Glad to hear you got it fixed now

[Charger_Fan]

Pulled out about 11 years of accumulated lint.

Save it in a jar & sell it on Ebay!
Make sure at least one piece resembles Jesus, though.

[mikepmcs]

 

Yeah, i've gone through a loaf of bread and still can't get one to resemble it.

dang!

v/r
Mike

[Mean 318]

106 year old house. . . . . Nuf said

[71ChallengeHer]

Pulled out about 11 years of accumulated lint.

Save it in a jar & sell it on Ebay!
Make sure at least one piece resembles Jesus, though.

Make sure you list it as Hemi Lint.

[70charginglizard]

You all are too funny...

[TylerCharger69]

Not to mention the fact that improper ventilation from a dryer can cause a fire!!!

[70charginglizard]

Not to mention the fact that improper ventilation from a dryer can cause a fire!!!

Yeah. Id say hot air exhaust from the dryer blowing straight onto the pink insulation blanket material could have definately caused a fire eventually.

[69-DodgeCharger]

You could probably easily sue for that, if I found out that happened to my house I would be heated 

[BigBlackDodge]

Check those vents!


http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3Ddryer%2520vent%2520fire%26fr%3Dieas%26fr2%3Dtab-web&w=600&h=170&imgurl=www.dryerbox.com%2Fimages%2Fclips%2FDryer-Fires.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dryerbox.com%2Fdryer_fire_articles.htm&size=35.2kB&name=Dryer-Fires.jpg&p=dryer+vent+fire&type=jpeg&no=10&tt=144&oid=2aa958e19fe4891e&ei=UTF-8


Helluva link............lol

BBD

[mikepmcs]

guess I know what i'm checking tonight.

thanks

v/r
Mike

[Charger_Fan]

Sooo...


...


...after seeing the pics of lint inside the dryer duct...how are you supposed to clean that out? Replace your whole vent line every other year? Do they make a drain snake with a big bottle brush on the end?

I know I get lint buildup on the flapper door on the outside of the house & I know there's lint buildup further down the line, besides the 5" I can reach with my fingers. Enquiring minds wanna know.

[mikepmcs]

Ok I checked mine and I hadn't checked it since new(3 years DOH!)
It was actually very clean.  A little mess in the front of the dryer which I cleaned up (I dump my lint trap in the dryer every time I use it)
I really expected to see a nightmare when I took it apart but almost nothing, very pleasantly surprised.
I even ran the dryer real quick to see if a lintball came out of the vent but nothing.

I understand though how Kelly's built up so much though, no vent, no trap etc......

Good thing to check if you haven't for a while for sure!!!

v/r
Mike

[NHCharger]

You could probably easily sue for that, if I found out that happened to my house I would be heated 

I doubt if it would be worth the trouble. If this was the only problem with the house it sounds more like an oversight than deliberately leaving it disconnected. This could have caused a fire and  more than likely the builder whom assigned the dumbass to install the duct work took the dumbasses word that the job was done instead of checking for himself.
Unfortunately in todays contruction trades finding reliable help is getting harder and harder. I had to fire a carpenter two years ago when I caught him doing coke on the jobsite.

And yes, you are suppose to inspect your dryer venting once a year for lint build up. Most towns have outlawed the flexable coil type vent pipe because  of the quick lint build-up. Around here it has to be hard piped.

[mikepmcs]

Wowsers a rigid pipe, I still have flexible.

That is the reason I don't drink COKE by the way, too many questions.  I prefer Fresca, no worries that way.   Ohhh you meant.............