Originally Posted by
prawnograph
Still undecided on building or buying. Have a section in a subdivision slowly being surrounded by houses and now unsure if that's where we want to be
No hurry
Not having built . : . but we were first occupants of a new house, leased for three years. Nice house, moved out match 2014; we got to live through a few problems/ faults
Start on the exterior
Two ground level doors, two more on to upstairs balconies. None suitable for exterior use. Warping, two beginning to show signs of rot at the bottom. All should have had a small ? Canopy rather than being flush with exterior walls
Locks fitted to all four were crap. Owner agreed and i replaced the lot. Pointless cost- cutting on things like that
Aluminium windows. Again, on a budget, without security bars they were hardly 'secure' as local cop showed us, popped one out of frame in seconds with a pocket knife
Lack of overhang/eaves on each side of house. Didn't leak from there, but i'd far prefer the standard 1 m overhang all around
And weirdly, there was no access to the roof cavity. Walled/roofed in, fully. If there'd been a leak, or electrical problems, out with the ladder and axe?
The two concrete balconies had a small drain pipe at each end, 15mm pipe, constantly blocking and as a result filling with water
Inside. All doors were full height, I'm 1.87m, no problem, except for the bathroom door, a cheap plastic item in a frame, somewhere about eye level with a step-down to wet area. You'd think i'd get used to it, but no, just needed the occasional smack in the head as a reminder
While we're there, would have preferred a further step-down to actual shower rather than whole toilet/bathroom on same level. Or ideally, separate toilet room. Floor drained poorly. Made worse by poor plumbing drainage which was eventually replaced/repaired leaving a mess of mis-matched tiles
Kitchen, a range hood required
Garage. Wide enough for a small car, Yaris etc but useless for anything bigger unless passenger gets out first and park hard up against left wall
And the garage roofing, angled up to house wall, rather than proper flashing they'd just used a cement plaster mix, useless, cracked and fell away, resulting in damp/often wet garage floor
Overall internal. Not enough electric power points. For a new build, no allowance for eg cable tv, internet, required a bit of messy masonry drilling, and too many visible wires
Sure there's more, but just a start. The owners, lovely couple next door, had their own new house built same time, same builders. Same problems, except for constant roof leaks which, nearing five years on, still not 100% cured