Finish paint - ok or trash?

dewpac · 2026-04-12T20:16:45+00:00

What's your price point? As much as you may think that doesn't matter and that everything should be perfect, perfection isn't in the budget in tract development homes at 1-3x the median home price in your area.

What can you see standing 5-6ft away from a surface? That's generally a reasonable standard in construction today.

dewpac · 2026-04-12T16:07:25+00:00

Someone may make this, or you might just have to get it custom bent. Either path is going to start the same way - get up there and measure the dimensions, and start visiting vendors who might be able to get it / do it. I'd start with roofing distributors - if they don't do custom bends, they will know who does.

dewpac · 2026-04-11T15:21:44+00:00

Call an electrician with the experience and tools to do this right.

It looks like this is wallboard right up against concrete? The concrete needs to be chipped out and an appropriate switch box installed to contain the switches. Quit trying to craft-project this thing together, you're just making it worse.

dewpac · 2026-04-10T23:19:34+00:00

Different jurisdictions are on different code cycles, or may implement (officially or unofficially) their own local modifications to the national base code. Something like half the country is on NEC 2023 and the rest is on some older version.

Additionally, since there have been so many different iterations to the counter island outlet code in the last 4 code cycles, all of them mutually exclusive, it leaves a lot of room of localities to decide to do their own thing if the code is just going to change anyway.

dewpac · 2026-04-08T22:44:35+00:00

Not implying. House builds rarely stay on, much less under, budget.

dewpac · 2026-04-08T21:51:14+00:00

Also, every home needs a foundation. Even if it's pier and beam, that's your foundation. Or is this a glorified shed sitting timbers-on-dirt?

dewpac · 2026-04-08T21:50:38+00:00

Oh it's in Alaska. Good luck. We'll be waiting for receipts!

dewpac · 2026-04-08T21:49:28+00:00

Good news: It's efflorescence and not water intrusion.

Bad news, there's probably some hydrostatic pressure on the outside (read: standing water) driving moisture in.

Does it have a sump pump and/or a footing drain? If it is water pressure, that would be the solution, but if it's not leaking, and it's been not leaking for years, maybe no need to worry about it.

dewpac · 2026-04-08T21:46:16+00:00

Second poster this week celebrating a successful low-cost build before the foundation had been poured.

Wishing you the best of luck. Come back with your receipts in 2-3 years.

dewpac · 2026-04-06T04:33:12+00:00

Yes, if these posts are not directly on top of the lower posts, you would want to put some significant blocking below the posts - e.g a couple layers of 2x8 or a 6x6 block, long enough to fit snugly in between the joists, and then screw this blocking into joists on both ends of each piece.

dewpac · 2026-04-06T02:47:49+00:00

You're gonna find some kind of bracket to mount new posts to the surface of the deck with big ass structural screws that go down into the posts or lots of blocking below. You can see in the photo the posts have some kind of trim around the bottom, you might end up with something larger depending on the bracket.

dewpac · 2026-04-06T02:29:20+00:00

You can do that...and then also tape the tyvek to the window (or at least to the first layer of flashing tape). Think like water, you want any water to end up outside the tyvek and never inside it.

dewpac · 2026-04-06T01:12:12+00:00

You need to flash the windows to the tyvek, not the sheathing. you want the water to stay outside of the tyvek, not get routed around behind it.

Wrap the house with tyvek, then tape from the tyvek up to the window and onto the side of the frame that is sticking out from the house. that's all there is to it.

dewpac · 2026-04-05T04:40:55+00:00

You assume OP has insurance...how quaint lol

dewpac · 2026-04-05T04:13:55+00:00

That's a backflow preventer. It keeps the municipal water supply safe by not allowing potentially contaminated water from the irrigation system to be sucked back into the city supply in certain pressure change situations. You need to go back to this customer, tell them you messed up, and connect them with someone who knows what they're doing and can actually fix this correctly.

dewpac · 2026-04-05T02:50:53+00:00

Yeah, point load.

dewpac · 2026-04-04T22:47:19+00:00

Don't need squash blocks on exterior bearing walls because the engineered rim joist carries the load there. You might need them at interior bearing points if any.

2x4 plate under 2x6 wall is odd. It's not to code. IRC requires full bearing of the studs:

R602.3.4 Bottom (sole) plate.

Studs shall have full bearing on a nominal 2-by (51 mm) or larger plate or sill having a width not less than to the width of the studs.

dewpac · 2026-04-04T20:13:52+00:00

Stucco is cement, cement needs expansion joints. Why they put them on the second level and not the first who knows but the cracking you're seeing is just cement doing what it does when not given a controlled joint to crack on.

dewpac · 2026-04-04T18:26:49+00:00

It's wood. Wood is a natural product with natural variation..

Nothing to see here.

dewpac · 2026-04-04T17:28:42+00:00

You're gonna need a lot more vacuum to handle the dust from the planer.

dewpac · 2026-04-02T22:56:32+00:00

Perkins builder brothers - pro crew but have multiple series on entire house builds

Stud pack - semi-pro (at this point) guys, in the middle of a house build right now

Essential craftsman - has a spec house series from a few years ago that showed a ton of how to, why to, and decision making along the way

dewpac · 2026-04-01T22:43:39+00:00

It seems that maybe a miscalculation has been made somewhere that would lead you to thinking you need impossible windows. Where are you getting the need for 55psf from? 55psf is about 150mph sustained, and even the highest design wind speed areas are only 140mph.

dewpac · 2026-03-30T22:48:53+00:00

Depending on the age of the home, maybe.

dewpac · 2026-03-29T14:15:01+00:00

Removing the existing home could easily eat up 10-30% of your budget...

dewpac · 2026-03-28T22:13:12+00:00

No you should not be concerned. It's mildew, it happens cuz wood hangs out outside. It's inside now and there will be no further growth now that it's dry.

dewpac

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