America's Homeplace - Nashville - New Home Drywall Walk Through

America's Home Place Mt. Juliet 

-Nashville Custom Home Builder

Drywall Walk Through

It's been a while since my last post and I just realized that I have so many photos that I would be better off placing them on immediately and telling the story of my adventure with America's Homeplace, rather than waiting until the end of the build. 

Sometimes, I forget how powerful and eye opening stories are as they are happening.  I am a visual person.  Everything I experience through life is always deeply rooted in visual memories for me. 

That being said, let me take you through my walk through this morning of my "dream home"  here in Franklin, Tennessee.

When I envisioned this build with America's HomePlace out of Mt. Juliet (Nashville, Tennssee), I truly didn't expect to be putting anything but wonderful and beautiful photos of my build with them. 

I will my photos speak for themselves. 

I was initially very upset when I posted this, however, the house is cleaned up now (including the outside) and they have maintained a pretty tidy appearance since I posted these images.   If you are building with America's Home Place in Nashville, hopefully you do not experience this. 

This is my garden tub.  The former project manager made a big deal about how he was going to put down ferrying strips so that the drywall would fit nicely against the tub with no bulges or gaps.   I am SO PERPLEXED by this particular issue even now.  As of July 21, 2020, this particular drywall looks the same.  I will be curious to see what they do to fix it. Trim?  Caulk? (I hope not), New drywall?

This is my little crooked wall friend with a plethora of debris throughout the room. I will never understand the mess these subcontractors have made and just simply did not pick it up at all.  It's maddening. 

 

This is an image of when they "repaired" the crooked wall. The solution? More plaster.  Yeah..no..that did not play out well.  The wall was removed and it was identified as a having a crooked/twisted 2x4 as the culprit.  I will be interested in seeing the final repair of the new wall. 

I remember when I took this photo.  I had left my apartment excited to come and see the new drywall up.  This is the Master Bedroom.  It's pretty filthy but truly not so bad. (Keep reading).

Because of all the framing/flashing/window installation issues with had with America's Home Place in the beginning, I was very interested in seeing how their drywall people performed. 

I have to say...they are pretty darn good. Drywall is one of those trades that if you get a bad "guy" to do it...it will haunt you for the rest of your life.  Whoever did this drywall has finesse with their trowel.  I truly appreciate that. 

This is the master bath where the vanity will go.  (New pictures soon!)

This is an area that was not properly spray foamed (insulation) and I allowed some time to pass before I brought it to the attention of the former project manager who said it would be done. It wasn't.   

Oh well. Also notice the crow bar marks on the sill. Fortunately the trim hides this, but there are some windows that weren't so lucky. 

Follow the shower on the right from top to bottom. Notice how the lip disappears at the bottom? Not only is it worse in person, but you can see where they've used and excessive amount drywall mud to try and make up for the cracking that is taking place as it dries. This type of error will never let up and this wall will be a lifetime nuisance if they don't fix it. A new quality home should never have something like this.   

Debris that was drywalled over causing crooked? (It ended up being a twisted 2x4) Wall. If this looks messed up, it is. Check out what it looks like in the other images.  It's bad quality right now. 

There are a few areas like this in the house where plaster repair of the holes or accidents in the drywall look like this.  I hope they repair it because there is nothing worse than a nice smooth wall with a dent or bad repair job in it. 

I took this photo just to show anyone who is building a custom home that drywall has a rough stage and a sanding/smooth stage.  Here you see the edge of the trowel marks along the wall. These were knocked down and sanded to a smooth finish. 

Another example of something that is easily knocked off and sanded. This is not something to freak out about unless the painters are there painting over it...then it's time to freak. 

Garbage strewn about the jobsite. See the frame?  That goes to my gable vent (the one they didn't forget to put up).  It has since been thrown away.  But why?  

Perhaps my favorite thing about all this debris is the magazines of nails from the roofing that have been stomped into the mud and covered with dirt.  A simple tarp around the house to collect debris during roofing would easily have prevented this.  I've been told in so many ways "It's a jobsite".  Unfortunately what they don't understand is that I've been on several jobsites before.  The amount of nails and debris is unacceptable.  I would be ashamed of this were my company. With a company mission of "principle over profit", and seeing all this wasted material and knowing that my front door leaks and interior doors are crooked.... I just about lose my mind.  I hate a company that sounds good but is a farce when it comes to living up to the standards they sold you on. There is still hope...but it's been pulling teeth to get there and being lied to on the way doesn't leave a good taste in anyone's mouth. 

UPDATE on the MOLD in my new America's Home Place Home ---  IT CEASED.  We had a very wet Spring so I will say that our former project manager did work his tail off to clean it off.  He's a rather big guy and to imagine him crawling under this thing in a closed space with a fungicide is strange.  I fear for his health but I appreciate his commitment to getting rid of the mold.  He's a good mold remover. 

Below is a curious thing.  This is the plastic in the crawlspace. They taped the seams of some areas but not the ones you can't see from behind the air unit.  Then around the foundation block, nothing.  What exactly is the reason we are taping anything if we have loose ends like this?  The story I will hear is that they aren't finished.  Meanwhile, I've tested items like this with AHP and unless I address them, they get marked acceptable somewhere and they have the nerve to ask me to sign a paper that indicates that I am satisfied to release a draft of money.  Yup...no.   I will not sign or take any action in that regard until this is done.  Their lack of follow through with so many things has taught me to not trust this company non their word.  It's sad that a collateral is even necessary.  

UPDATE --- July -- Still not completed or sealed.  This will likely be something I will have to go under the house and do myself. Ideally you want each seam sealed and the plastic to be taped around the blocks.  I will end up adding wall insulation at some point too and closing in this space. I'll make sure to update!

Just WHY is this not taped and sealed?  I don't get it. 

Most of the garbage was taken out of the crawlspace but it has become a cool refuge for the workers on their lunch break.  Sometimes, they don't clean up. They don't pee in the crawlspace anymore either, so it has stopped smelling...so that's good!

This area lacking plastic was covered with a very loose clear plastic "fix" just to say it was done. A proper fix would be the exact same mil plastic sealed and taped down. 

This is the electric for the Kitchen Island. It is now installed (and beautiful) and is waiting for it's electric.

This piece of insulation continually falls down. It's been put up more times than I can count now. It simply need more supports to hold it up. It has to stay up around a drain pipe.  I hope they find a solution because I don't want to have to do it. 

There hasn't been a good rain in awhile so it will be interesting to see how this drain performs.  During all the months of the build, it has continually filled with water seeping in from the concrete repair around the pipe (I'm guessing it wasn't hydraulic cement) and filling up to then flow out of the pipe. It's been on the list to repair since December.  

The drain that started it all.    This is the drain that was the indicator as to what type of build we were getting ourselves into.  Since day one, this has had backflow of water into the crawlspace.  See the muddy rock?  That's all water and mud from outside the house at this corner that pools due to poor workmanship of of what is supposed to be a passive positive draining system. Because the drains outside are higher in elevation than this hole.

It is a consistently is a reliable source of water under the house Every time it rains.   Don't even get me started on what standing water does to a foundation over time. So far, this new house has essentially been soaking in a pool of water every week for the past six months.   I've been lied to about this drain several times.   Everything from, it's fixed (and we dug to find out it wasn't) to it will be fixed tomorrow.   

Here is an example a properly sealed plastic in a crawl space around a pipe/fixture that goes into the ground.  Why did they seal this and a few seams (not all) and nothing else?

Properly sealed.  Sadly...only in the front of the crawlspace where you see only if you peep in. If you go back behind the air handler...different story.  

Leaky cement repair. Every time it rains, the water leaks into the crawlspace through the bad cement around the pipe and then it fills up to a puddle that then gets high enough to drain out of the crawlspace. This is NOT what is suppose to happen. The cement should not allow water to pass through it. 

Pieces of subfloor and other various construction debris along with nails and wooden stakes. Big stuff was moved. Small stuff (like nails and stakes) were bob catted over with dirt and now lie beneath the surface of the dirt and sometimes make an appearance. 

Front yard mess before I posted these images on this blog.  Since I posted, this has since been kept fairly clean. It definitely has not looked like this again 

See that tub?  Keep your eye out for it being put in your America's Home Place house if you choose to build with them. It came unboxed like this when we got it and had dents on it and had to be repaired. They replaced it with a new tub. It has sat in our yard for several months now.   I have no clue why it's still there. 

One of the cleaner rooms.

The kitchen area and the mess begins to get out of control....

So here I am imaging this beautiful walk through to admire the work of the drywall workers......and.....

Literally everywhere there is mess and sadly, in some areas it was left and carpeted over.  Not nearly as bad as this but there are some areas where I can feel something under the padding.  I suspect it's plaster stuck on the floor or something that someone was too lazy to pick up. 

Laundry room. They took all of the failed inspection papers and put them somewhere else. There were quite a few there where you see the green stickers. 

Funny thing here. They drywalled over two outlets here. They found the one for the stove fairly easy, but the one to the right of the fireplace was missed so now there is a bad drywall repair job in it's place. It's been flagged on the punch list...but goodness...why was it done in the first place?

This is the top step that has been marked to be replaced since January.  I noticed it to be a convenient little place to throw garbage or sweep in dirt. I let them know I didn't want this. When the attic insulators threw in the extra insulation in here, I let it go.  I don't mind more sound proofing...and if I ever need a new tube of paintable caulk, I know I can find it in this little hiding place if I rip up the carpet or make a hole under the stairs. 

It has a fire block so this is literally a tiny garbage can for the builder. I was trying to figure out why the wouldn't just put the wood on the top stair...now I know.  Builder trick but an owner nightmare.  I want a clean house. ...in every area.

Here are some more photos of work/mess.

This was totally weird to see. There is supposed to be a light INSIDE the closet...The electric decided it would consider outside. They did fix this...but once again...another repair. 

I think this is my favorite of the mess. Can you imagine walking down steps into a "beautiful" foyer stepping on grime and bits of tape the whole way down?  It caught my attention. 

Yikes. 

But why???? When I built with Ryan Homes, my build was NEVER like this.  It was always cleaned up at the end of the work day and I truly have a new appreciation for that practice now. 

I chose to build The Hill.  It's a great little plan that you can customize. The price for the square footage is wonderful and it is easy to add additions/garages etc. to.  This is less square footage than our old home but the set up is similar and we made sure we had an open floor plan.  As you can see the drywall walk through was not dreamy but hopefully the final walk through will be massively different.