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Saturday , December 30 1899

Comments (total comments:28)

Designer :

Quality of materials together with quality of workmanship lead to the state of current home construction. While there are several qualified construction companies out there, the vast majority are unqualified, jumping on the money wagon and taking advantage of the construction boom.

These unqualified companies use people of the street to operate a staple gun (not being able to swing a hammer!). Houses are poorly constructed with no consideration to proper building envelope details and techniques.

Structurally, the majority of these home fall short of proper framing and load bearing construction - point loads being totally ignored.

A sign of the times!

Posted: 10/17/2012 12:38:31 PM

Tara :

Everything used today is of low quality. Believe it or not.

I lived in a brand new home for a year and a half as a tenant. The home sold for 330,000.

There were cracks where the walls met the ceilings. There were cracks by some doors. Nail heads were popping through the walls. And we had a pipe burst.

It's the fact that everything we buy is being produced at the least cost option; whether it be cell phones, clothing, food or building supplies.

I just bought my first home. It's 27 years old. I refused to buy a new home!

Posted: 10/17/2012 10:19:31 AM

West Coast Girl :

Those houses are so close together, it's a wonder more never burned down completely.

Posted: 10/17/2012 7:05:36 AM

All you people are out to lunch :

structure wise the houses are quite safe, its the material used is the problem, i also see someone said air exchangers are split between two houses lol get your facts people and answer the question properly

Posted: 10/16/2012 11:37:25 PM

Rod :

Particle board or OSB is junk wood chips held together by glue. It's all you see used anymore in walls and roofs. Rafters now commonly use this junk as the main beam with some solid wood on either side.
Add heat and flame from a fire and the house begins to melt first as the glue softens, and then catches fire, with the glue not being flame retardant.
And while there are some good contractors out there, there seem to be more cutting every corner they can to save on their expense, but that saving doesn't get passed along to the home purchaser.
Just watch the state these rapid rise subdivisions are in, in five or ten years. And as for the home "warranties," anyone I know who has tried to make a claim says it's worthless marketing.
I wouldn't buy a home any newer than 10 years old so that at least you can see how it's fairing after a bit of time.

Posted: 10/16/2012 9:41:03 PM

Architect :

I don't know where everyone is thinking houses going up in a week, took mine 11 months first of. Also don't blame contractors they are following the national building code of canada thats right national code. The provincial yes could space them further but guess what will happen/ $$$$$$ house price goes up and people are already complaining. You can't say quality because people who want fire proof house for instant are to cheap to pay for it. Also houses built years ago are nothing like they are today don't matter what people say, the ones today are alot better.

Posted: 10/16/2012 8:30:50 PM

From NL :

Building materials have everything to do with how fast the home is destroyed. I live in the Edmonton area and lost my home to fire last year. My (educated) opinion is that the use of OSB for example greatly increases the "total loss" risk of any fire. The sheeting is basically made of glue and wood chips. As well most floor systems are now made of this material and causes the home to implode when burning. If we were to use good old fashioned lumber and even plywood the home would last longer, at least long enough for the fire department to respond. Use of these materials would increase the cost of the home though, I for one would be willing to pay the extra, just like how I am glad I always payed for ample fire insurance!

Posted: 10/16/2012 7:57:50 PM

Roy :

I guess that since this house has a 7 year warrenty then it will be replaced by the builders association at no cost to insurance and all furniture and personal items also. Don't think so, they are fast off the starting line defending themselves and the material they use.

Posted: 10/16/2012 7:34:30 PM

Crista :

the seven deadly sins????

Posted: 10/16/2012 7:16:26 PM

Finally someone telling the truth :

When you use all chemically produced material what do you expect, every peice of material in new homes is made of from the cheapest product so the builder can charge full dollars for less then great quality material, i see it everyday osb board instead of solid wood, vinyl siding instead of clapboard vinyl windows instead of wooden windows all of those listed above is a cheaper product

Posted: 10/16/2012 6:53:16 PM

Gary :

contractor only want one thing,makes the most money and not care what material is used...

Posted: 10/16/2012 5:50:09 PM

John S :

The issue is not the quality or strength of the components, but the increased fire load and the fact that such components fail much faster under direct flame then those used in earlier years

Posted: 10/16/2012 5:14:57 PM

Concerned about quality :

I owned one of those so called beautiful homes in Paradise that was built by a local so called quality contractor .And let me tell you there was more quality in a dog house .I had 35 issues in the first yr with qualtiy everything from water leaks ,electrical problems uneven walls the list goes on and on and as for these so called warrantys .One word garbage I sold the house after 2 yrs I could not live in it anymore .So people beware what you are buying because you are paying top dollar and getting very poor quality in return..

Posted: 10/16/2012 5:13:52 PM

Thebogeyman :

they build single family close enough together know they could be duplexes they are build of glue and paper make no wonder they burn so fast

Posted: 10/16/2012 5:05:25 PM

More Space :

If you want to reduce the chances of fire spreading from one house to another. Give the people more land. 40X100 50X100 is for the birds. Look around there is lots of land!

Posted: 10/16/2012 4:23:27 PM

SheldonTwo :

I know several people who work on or with those houses and they say the stuff that gets done to these houses are down right frightening. I also have a friend who bought a house about 5 yrs ago now. 2 Windows were after FALLING OUT of the wall, that is how secure they were "placed" I won't use the word "installed" cause that's not was done. Every nail head popped out of the finished walls. Cracks appeared near the ceiling and plumbing was done very shady. Electrical was top notch but that was it.

Posted: 10/16/2012 4:05:40 PM

Sherrieo :

It is not just plastics..the old homes don't have air exchangers allowing the passage of air from one home to the next. That is the big difference..Just my Opinion.

Posted: 10/16/2012 4:01:52 PM

Ram :

As for building these houses out of osb what would be the difference if you built the houses out of 3/4" grade A plywood. Would it burn any slower in doing this. I DON'T THINK SO TIM. That is the quality Point. If you want to Make a bit of a difference as a home owner, Spend the extra money on fire rated stuff and see how much your house will cost. EX: Fire rated Gyproc, Roxul Insulation, Metal roofing, Concrete siding, and steel studs. All of this can be purchased at your local hardware building supplies. That is just a few examples.

Posted: 10/16/2012 3:49:39 PM

Territory Of Labrador :

He says the home on Petite Forte Drive was fully inspected and had a seven-year warranty, and the materials used are the same as those in construction of homes across Canada.

So I take it that the replacement will be covered by the warranty and no need to call the insurance broker then eh!

Posted: 10/16/2012 3:34:03 PM

Mr. SQUID :

The CHBA comment not withstanding.....today's homes are slapped together as cheap as possible. If there are in alignment with the codes then the codes need to be changed. Everyone is aware of contractor's taking shortcuts.

Posted: 10/16/2012 3:24:09 PM

Goalgetter :

Houses are just junk being slapped up and left with owners to deal with. Builders are getting away with murder. Promising homes on a certain date and not delivering for 2-3 month after that date. Then they blame city inspectors who catch them cutting corners for their reason to be late. It's out of control and Government turns a blind eye. I congratulate the fire chief for speaking up.

Posted: 10/16/2012 2:47:23 PM

SERIOUSLY!! :

When was the last time you heard of a house going up in a week. It seems all I hear from anyone waiting for a house to be built are complaints that the builder is behind schedule. It is taking twice a long to build a home now that what it did 20 years ago, literally!! The Chief was referring to plastics in house construction, drywall is drywall, hardwood is hardwood, however there is a difference between clapboard (such as an older home) and vinyl siding. Do you want to pay the cost to have clapboard supplied and installed? Do you want the maintainance? All plumbing pipes and water lines are plastic now and not copper. Do you want to pay for the copper lines? I am sure a builder will use any product you wish to have in a new home construction, you just have to ask and be willing to pay the price. Open concept house sell, house with seperate kitchens, living room and eating areas do not sell well. Most people want the best and pay the least. You get what you pay for. The constuction quality of houses is considerably higher than 40 years ago. My house (which is 40 years old) is now under renovation, there is no exterior sheeting, just foam board, the insulation in the exterior wall is R12, attic R20 and there is one electrical plug in each room and none in a bathroom. There are no roof vents, the siding is aluminum and the paper underneath the siding is tar paper. Do we want to go back to this kind of constuction?

Posted: 10/16/2012 2:43:21 PM

JJ Mt. Peral :

There ya go! a firemen makes a comment about how to build a home. And now our home insurance will go through the roof.

Posted: 10/16/2012 2:11:15 PM

Jeffy :

"The quality of materials used in home construction in the province is in full compliance with the national building code."

Well I guess maybe we should get a better building code if my house can burn to the ground in less than an hour... I get more burn time out of a few splits of birch!

Posted: 10/16/2012 1:41:08 PM

Greed :

They are slapping up houses all over the place. They use cheap materials are are charging top dollar.

Posted: 10/16/2012 1:00:42 PM

Fred :

Surprise surprise. What you get when you build with particle board and a staple gun, I guess. The ones that don't burn down will likly blow or fall down in time....

Posted: 10/16/2012 9:23:54 AM

Dar :

They are slapping up houses for the least amount of money it takes to build them, then wanting top dollar for them. Also, these homes are being built like within a week. I would never consider buying one of these new homes when there are so many wonderful ones already out there on the market.

Posted: 10/16/2012 8:37:46 AM

What quality :

Quality doesn't exist anymore like the old day . Everything now is about the almighty dollar , profit over quality , greed !! The workmanship is going down but the cost of these houses are going up , quicker we build this one we can move on to the next one . Can't falt the workers a spose ,trying to make a dollar like everyone else but at what cost ?

Posted: 10/16/2012 7:30:30 AM

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