We all know this. But, sometimes we're reminded in ways we'd rather not be. This past Wednesday, I learned that a friend and former co-worker's son had been killed in a car accident. When my dad died, planning his funeral was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I can't imagine having to plan your child's funeral. Nor can I imagine how hard it will be to celebrate Christmas this year and in future years without him. We naturally expect to outlive our parents, but the sudden death of anyone, especially your child, is particularly hard; unimaginable as a friend said. He had a wife and three small children. We know God has a plan, but when things like this happen, it's hard to see that plan and we never truly understand it. And nothing anyone can say or do will make the hurt go away. A hurt I know will be with them for the rest of their lives.
This time of year, we naturally think about the excitement - Santa Claus, gifts for family and friends,decorating the tree, church activities... This year, I'm reminded that while most of us are celebrating, many families will be struggling with loss. And, there is a strange twist in all this for me - he has the same birthday as my brother (though a different year) and will be buried on my birthday.
Friday, December 7, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
It's Heaving!
What is heaving, you ask. My house! In case anyone has wondered what I've been doing for the past month (obviously not blogging), I've been trying to figure what was going on with my house. There was trip to a conference in South Carolina thrown in there, but this has taken up a good deal of my time.
And, the answer is the house is heaving. Currently, the four outer corners of the house are higher than the inside. As mentioned in previous posts, I've had some issues with the house. When ceiling cracks kept popping up and then seams started showing up in the ceiling (where the sheetrock panels meet), I figured it was more than normal settling. Have I mentioned the driveway? It's got a crack in it big enough to stand a small pole up in and it's not level. So, I took a walk around the house and looked closely. You guessed it. I've got cracks in the brick on two sides of the house. I've also popped two corner caps, but everyone says that happens and it doesn't affect anything it just looks terrible.
Given the fact that my one year warranty from the builder is approaching the end, I decided to have the house inspected. What an eye opener. Yes, I know they tend to go overboard, but even keeping that in mind it was still a little unsettling. The first house I owned was also new and I never had any problems with it. Certainly not to the extent that I got a home inspector out there. And, when I sold it six years later, the inspector basically found nothing.
So, what did my home inspector say/find? Well, the number of cracks I have and the number of seams showing up are NOT normal (ya think?). They are signs that the foundation is shifting. He said he has never seen a driveway as bad as mine, even on 30 year old homes. The drainage sucks, but I knew that and have been trying to tell the builder that for some time. They made a half hearted attempt to fix it, but it didn't do anything. Let's just say I'm really soggy on both sides of my house.
According to the home inspector - the gutters are installed wrong, the roof was put on wrong (and there are raised nails on a portion of the roof allowing shingles to flap in the breeze), and one of the post tension cables from the foundation was never cut and sealed (you can actually trip over it) and another wasn't sealed properly after it was cut (the builder didn't this was a big deal, but the home inspector did, so I'm not sure what to think). Those are the biggies; there were some other smaller issues.
The next step was to have a foundation company come and look. He's the one who determined it's heaving. Basically, it was built during a drought and then we got a LOT of rain. Add poor drainage to the mixture and you get a house that moves. It's not going to fall down around my knees, but I can expect cracks and other things to continue to happen until the house "settles" - in about 5-8 years. I also think some of my problems are due to poor craftsmanship. The builder is a good one. The only thing I can figure is they did a lot of the work on my house on a Friday afternoon.
Needless to say, I'm not a real happy camper. My first house was a breeze; that's why I bought new again. You don't expect these types of problems with a new house. I've requested the builder pony up for repairing cracks, etc in the house for an extended time. Not sure what they are going to do. Not sure what I'm going to do. I expect there will be movement again as we head into winter. Question is - do I want to commit to the aggravation of cracks and other fun stuff or do I want to bail? I just don't know right now. If anyone has any thoughts on the subject, please share. :)
And, the answer is the house is heaving. Currently, the four outer corners of the house are higher than the inside. As mentioned in previous posts, I've had some issues with the house. When ceiling cracks kept popping up and then seams started showing up in the ceiling (where the sheetrock panels meet), I figured it was more than normal settling. Have I mentioned the driveway? It's got a crack in it big enough to stand a small pole up in and it's not level. So, I took a walk around the house and looked closely. You guessed it. I've got cracks in the brick on two sides of the house. I've also popped two corner caps, but everyone says that happens and it doesn't affect anything it just looks terrible.
Given the fact that my one year warranty from the builder is approaching the end, I decided to have the house inspected. What an eye opener. Yes, I know they tend to go overboard, but even keeping that in mind it was still a little unsettling. The first house I owned was also new and I never had any problems with it. Certainly not to the extent that I got a home inspector out there. And, when I sold it six years later, the inspector basically found nothing.
So, what did my home inspector say/find? Well, the number of cracks I have and the number of seams showing up are NOT normal (ya think?). They are signs that the foundation is shifting. He said he has never seen a driveway as bad as mine, even on 30 year old homes. The drainage sucks, but I knew that and have been trying to tell the builder that for some time. They made a half hearted attempt to fix it, but it didn't do anything. Let's just say I'm really soggy on both sides of my house.
According to the home inspector - the gutters are installed wrong, the roof was put on wrong (and there are raised nails on a portion of the roof allowing shingles to flap in the breeze), and one of the post tension cables from the foundation was never cut and sealed (you can actually trip over it) and another wasn't sealed properly after it was cut (the builder didn't this was a big deal, but the home inspector did, so I'm not sure what to think). Those are the biggies; there were some other smaller issues.
The next step was to have a foundation company come and look. He's the one who determined it's heaving. Basically, it was built during a drought and then we got a LOT of rain. Add poor drainage to the mixture and you get a house that moves. It's not going to fall down around my knees, but I can expect cracks and other things to continue to happen until the house "settles" - in about 5-8 years. I also think some of my problems are due to poor craftsmanship. The builder is a good one. The only thing I can figure is they did a lot of the work on my house on a Friday afternoon.
Needless to say, I'm not a real happy camper. My first house was a breeze; that's why I bought new again. You don't expect these types of problems with a new house. I've requested the builder pony up for repairing cracks, etc in the house for an extended time. Not sure what they are going to do. Not sure what I'm going to do. I expect there will be movement again as we head into winter. Question is - do I want to commit to the aggravation of cracks and other fun stuff or do I want to bail? I just don't know right now. If anyone has any thoughts on the subject, please share. :)
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Trees and other good stuff....
A week ago this past Saturday, I went tree shopping. I had a goal - a Little Gem Magnolia for my backyard. My friend LH went with me. The first nursery, which I had such high hopes for, was a dud. So, we toodled to Home Depot. Great sale price for a nice looking tree. Didn't include delivery or someone to plant it (it was about a 22-24 gallon tree; no way was I planting it, at least not properly). We heard a guy talking on the phone and he sounded like he would be the person to talk to about who to contact to get a tree planted. So we did. Very nice guy. Brother-in-law does landscaping on the side. His advice was that the trees look great, but people have had problems with them. He recommended a tree farm. We had a couple of hours till they closed, so we went. What a fun place! I like plant nurseries anyway, but this was bunches of trees in one place. Plus some yard art. Just lots of fun. The did have Little Gem's. They were a bit higher, but about the same size tree and their price included delivery, planting, mulching, and staking. Well worth it!
And, yesterday it was planted. My little backyard just seems complete. Of course, the two added bird feeders, bird bath, and twirly thingy help also. I added those on Saturday. Still waiting for the birds to discover us. Now the backyard doesn't look so empty.
The other good news is something that was expected, but came early. The same Saturday, I bought the tree, I got what I thought was my monthly car statement from Toyota. I opened it to find that it was the title to my car! My loan is paid off and I am now the total owner of my car. Woo hoo! Now, I can start putting that money in the property tax fund. Ahh, the joys of home ownership.
Friday, September 28, 2007
7 Random Facts...
A fellow blogger got tagged for seven random facts. She didn't exactly tag me, but I was curious to know if I could come up with seven random facts. Here they are:
1. I have literally moved cross country twice and made four major moves (to different states) in eight years.
2. I have lived in six different states.
3. I attended the 1986 World's Fair in Vancouver.
4. My current profession is my 3rd profession - I started out working for the Air Force (Civil Service) and then worked in the software industry.
5. I spent my childhood spending the week in the city and the weekends on my family's farm (complete with cows and gardens)
6. Sherlock Holmes remains my favorite detective
7. I rarely vacation, but have been to Mexico and Germany. Would love to visit Scotland and Ireland.
Well, there they are. I did come up with seven. If you see this and are of a mind, consider yourself tagged.
On an ending note, we rarely see anything about the World's Fair anymore, so I did some checking. Wound up in Wikipedia, of course, and found that the last one was in 2005 in Aichi, Japan. The organization that handles it is the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). For the 21st century they moved to sanction expos every 5 years. In 2001, the US withdrew it's membership from the BIE. The US Pavilion at the 2005 expo was privately funded. Participation in the BIE is funded by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Complete Wikipedia article on World Expo's is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Fair#USA_membership
1. I have literally moved cross country twice and made four major moves (to different states) in eight years.
2. I have lived in six different states.
3. I attended the 1986 World's Fair in Vancouver.
4. My current profession is my 3rd profession - I started out working for the Air Force (Civil Service) and then worked in the software industry.
5. I spent my childhood spending the week in the city and the weekends on my family's farm (complete with cows and gardens)
6. Sherlock Holmes remains my favorite detective
7. I rarely vacation, but have been to Mexico and Germany. Would love to visit Scotland and Ireland.
Well, there they are. I did come up with seven. If you see this and are of a mind, consider yourself tagged.
On an ending note, we rarely see anything about the World's Fair anymore, so I did some checking. Wound up in Wikipedia, of course, and found that the last one was in 2005 in Aichi, Japan. The organization that handles it is the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). For the 21st century they moved to sanction expos every 5 years. In 2001, the US withdrew it's membership from the BIE. The US Pavilion at the 2005 expo was privately funded. Participation in the BIE is funded by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Complete Wikipedia article on World Expo's is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_Fair#USA_membership
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)