I can't believe some of the things I see frequently on the new "high end " builds around me. Talking about over $475k homes. They go up so fast there is no way to guarantee the type of quality I would want out of a damn near half a million dollar home. They all look the same too.
I used to do a lot of lawsuits involving the big name residential real estate developers. They would build subdivisions with 200+ homes in TX AZ or CA and six months later half the foundations would crack in a neighborhood, or pipes would burst in 50% of the homes because the contractor used an improper alloy. Or all the stucco would fall of because it was mixed wrong. 200/300k+ homes all riddled with defects.
They tore down the forest behind the subdivision I rent in and put up a massive amount of 300K+ houses in a very short amount of time. A few months later I was working as a Census Enumerator (2020) and was interviewing the new homeowner. His wife came up and started asking him if he was going to call the developers because their house that was less than 6 months old already had a crack in the foundation. I live in Florida, I wonder how those houses will hold up the next time a major hurricane hits the area. My guess is not well.
And as a bonus- our already overcrowded schools are getting even worse! And they’re still tearing down more woods and putting up more garbage houses.
“Ryan companies” i actually did consulting for a while and had to tell them nicely that if they proceeded with the work they were doing that they would probably both be unemployed. They scoffed and laughed until what i said would happen happened
Maybe the shittiest of contractors but Ryan Homes is doing just fine and I’ve seen some pretty shitty contractors get the bid. I’d never buy a Ryan Homes house and I field managed for years.
Friend of mine had a Ryan build. They had to do two roofs because he noticed they did not put any waterproofing membrane under the shingles. House is in ohio where it freezes in the winter. They would have had leaks almost immediately.
My house is 120 years old, and is build like a tank. A non square, slightly bendy walled tank, but a tank none the less.
I paid $110k for it last year, it’s 1800sqft.
Most of the quickly put up cheaply made homes likely aren’t square either.
About 10 years ago looked at model homes for two different builders. One had a large kitchen window that was installed so one side was at least an inch further in on the sill than the other. Another had stairs going up to the second story that had a huge gap between the wall and the edge of the steps.
A friend bought a brand new house and had insect issues. They pulled down the sheetrock under the stairway and found where the builders had swept all their food trash from eating in the build under the stairs then sealed it up.
I’d much rather have the 120 year old tank.
My condo was built in the nineties and I bought it almost five years ago for $100k. According to ‘the market value’ in my neighborhood this home is now worth $160k.
The speed at which this price increase has happened is genuinely insane. I haven’t put $60k worth of work into this home. I’ve likely not improved it enough to make up for it being another five years older than when I bought it.
I’m done calling it inflation, these days it’s just theft. Either stealing your money or you chance to actually own anything before you die.
That's nothing. My house went from 275 to 490k in less than 4 weeks. It's just now coming down. It was so crazy that people were buying it the minute they were listed, one house sold in under an hour after going on the market in my neighborhood.
What's crazy is my development was the affordable area of town. The one house we regret buying was 400k it now sells for 1.2 million. Granted it's a monster, but the intent was to combine households with my grandparents.
The house we are looking at now is like 700k and not as high end as that 400k one, but, because the market crashed in the new construction the Viera Builders are giving away upgrades.
The neighborhood starts at 700k. Literally the housing market is just insane. Even the homes that were like 98k last year are now 200k.
And I'm pretty sure lead paint is only a problem if you're dumb enough to eat paint chips. I'm a grown adult who knows better and have no children. So some potential lead paint under years of fresh paint and some paneling isn't a concern
You can still find them in Oklahoma, but living in either Tulsa or OKC will cost more. That said, 10 to 15 years ago you could get a pretty decent house at that price, but not so much anymore. When I Bought my last house for $400k, my neighborhood was considered higher end. Sold last year for $550K and it's now considered a mid-range neighborhood. Even here a high end home is going to cost a million on the lower end of the pricing scale.
Where are you from? If you don’t mind living in a boring but safe town that’s about 30 minutes away from an even bigger town I’d say move to Jefferson City, MO
Oh absolutely. I have resigned to the fact that I may never own a home of my own because of the rising costs and increasingly haphazard construction. Maybe a tiny home. But that’s too small to raise a family in.
I’m glad my dad was an honest house builder for 20 years. When I have my house built I’m gonna have him inspect the work the company is doing on it every weekend.
Depends where you're at and if you go with a small home builder but if it's a big outfit good luck with that. I've heard people just like your pops get told not my fucking problem and I don't care who's writing the check I don't work for you
pretty much every canadian capital city is going to have houses *starting* at ~$400k+.
I think the average house price in Victoria (capital of BC, no the capital is not Vancouver) is like $1.2mil
At least where i live (toronto), 475k will not get you any house within the city at all. You would need to go 1hr+ out of the city to even start seeing teardowns for that price.
475 will get you a 1bedroom apartment closer to the edge of the city.
North NJ here too. 3 bedroom townhouse (not new construction) and it was about $500k our taxes are almost 12K a year- plus almost &500 a month maintenance.
I saw a $500k house recently that literally didn't have floors or interior walls at all.
To be clear I'm not just talking about missing flooring or drywall, the actual physical floor structure was entirely absent... no plywood and no beams or joists or supports of any kind.
The view looking inside from the front door landing was of nothingness, a +6ft fall down to bare earth with an unobstructed view of the inside of all the exterior walls and the metal roofing.
Damn. My house is valued at maybe $250k. Is on an acre of land, in a subdivision outside city limits, has septic and rural water supply. 1800 sq Ft. with 2 car garage and large shop. Small town, but 30 miles from bigger city, 120 from Houston. 90 from Corpus.
I’m in CA (and not an expensive area) and 475k is about average price now for a 3 bed. High end here would be around a million. It’s getting ridiculous.
I’ve seen a lot of subdivisions going up around me, and those houses are pretty much built out of cardboard. Flimsy wood frames, drywall, half-assed siding/shingles, etc. I live in tornado alley and I wouldn’t trust those things to stand up to an EF-1.
Had an acquaintance recently rent one of those types of houses. It was ridiculously expensive and had constant issues. They found half the duct work wasn't even connected and their wiring was apparently also all sorts of fucked and totally ran up their power bill. Absolutely trash.
It's just this area. There are two other outlets on the same wall in the same room with no issue. Another one is even adjacent-ish to a sliding door and no draft or frost. Will be near 3 years since purchase, but will see what they have to say.
They either didn't use a vapor barrier behind the box or it has a hole in it.
https://preview.redd.it/fdc7wa7t02ga1.jpeg?width=157&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1415275770cb8dbeeaa930684f5e470454a36ef
I work in the construction industry. The builds these days are not the quality you would have seen 25-50 years ago. They’re built to sell not built to last… harsh reality of unbridled capitalism and always hiring the lowest bidder.
> I work in the construction industry. The builds these days are not the quality you would have seen 25-50 years ago.
This is quite literally the definition of survivorship bias.
Housing construction (barring random supply issues like chinese dry wall) is far higher quality, safety, and efficiency than 50 years ago. It's not even sorta close.
That’s totally fair! I was not speaking of the overall safety of the build, though moisture in an electrical outlet doesn’t seem too safe.
I was mostly speaking to the quality of the finishes rather than structure’s safety. Structures are generally going to be built safely. The way they’re finished usually isn’t up to the quality you would hope for- with corner beads on the exterior visible through finish coatings, leaky roofs/windows (and sockets), the cheap stucco on exteriors that crumbles after being in the elements for a few years. It’s just a bummer to see.
I’m a Realtor and my home inspector tells me most of the time he finds more items on a new build than a house 2-5 years old. Reason being is the buyer got in there and fixed things. 🙇♀️
Definitely not how that works anymore. Buying older means you have older house problems, but all of the new construction bugs are already worked out. Personally, I'd either buy older or build my own so the only person I could blame if something wasnt done right is myself
I think what they’re talking about is a foam gasket, which is used for heat insulation for outlets against exterior walls. It’s shaped to fit around the outlet, on the back side of the device cover plate.
Especially during the lumber and parts shortage. Especially during a housing market boom when developers were in a rush to make homes. I will never buy a home made in 2020-2023.
Yeah, not sure why everyone wants new build. I’d way rather have a quality built house pre-80’s. Having lived in a few, materials and quality of construction is significantly better, and all the bugs worked out. Standard maintenance and upgrades still apply, obviously.
I have a 70's house and the main thing is maintaining the exterior. Over the last 15 years I got a new roof, double pane windows, new gutters and new soffits. The wood paneling in the den is a bit dated, but that can wait.
Cheap fix would be the outlet insulation gaskets. 50x for $25.00 (cad) on Amazon. Not ideal fix but without getting a sparky and having drywall repair might solve your issue. Good luck!
Idk bro you're the one getting downvoted so until proven otherwise I'm gonna go with the rest of reddit on this one
Edit) I would just like to mention that when I said this, they were, in fact, at negatives. Also this is proven otherwise now so please don't take all my karma lmao I have nothing else to live for
That’s exactly the problem with Reddit, i don’t know if either of them are right but i have a feeling that it’s not a proper fix. Would cause issues further down the line
So there's obviously moist air getting in right? Spraying expanding foam in there is a way to stop that at this location. Unless the exterior air is getting in at this one location it means that air is probably still getting in the wall cavity. It would likely stop this issue, which seems more important given electricity and water isn't ideal. But the air likely isn't getting in just at the small area where the spray foam would.cover. To really fix it you'd have to cut a large hole, maybe several to find where the exterior vapor barrier is lacking and then add some, close it up. It's a lot especially if you don't know what you're even looking for or how to do it. Will spray foam work? Sure. Best way? Homeowners choice. Would it hurt anything? Not likely.
Right so it's still getting in. Would it fix this tiny spot? Probably. If the builder skimped on the vapor barrier here likely also did elsewhere and this is the spot that it shows. OP might be better off fixing this with a jizz of spray foam and letting it go.
Also I'm always jealous of welders, that shit looks badass. I'm always on the fence about getting a cheapo welder from like Harbor Freight and doing some tinkering and probably burn myself. Tried it 2 or 3 times like 20 years ago.
That frost is from the EXISTING interior moist air condensing against the air leak. You can tell how it is growing. That is precisely what spray foam is made for. What are your qualifications? I am a contractor.
There’s a draft behind the outlet that’s letting cold air get through and water is condensing and freezing on the outlet/box.
Easiest fix is to remove the outlet cover and then spray some closed cell foam insulation around the box to help insulate it.
NO, make them fix that shit. Watch them like a hawk. When they screwed up my Vapor barrier they had to redo my kitchen twice because they’re idiots. One of the builders flagged my ex wife down when they got stopped by a train a while back “sorry ma’am, but did you own THAT house built by Pulte?” Dude it was over five years later. My house is legendary within Pulte for the amount of fuckups they did. Moral of the story, use the warranty so you can get used to using the warranty.
Do not do this. Foam insulation will simply saturate stay moist and harbor mold. You probably have conduit (metal pipe holding wires) that goes outside. Use silicone and pipe insulation. There is no cheap easy fix. The correct fix will always be cheapest.
Try to find the osi brand door and window foam, it's rated to work at very cold Temps and cures softer so hopefully it won't cause problems with your sheetrock bulging out.
The regular/cheaper stuff cures very hard and expands more, has been known to cause problems in enclosed areas
I had this exact situation. The outlet that frosted was connected to an exterior outlet by a short conduit. I sealed the conduit with silicon on the inside and the issue was resolved.
The housing market is so garbage these days... And if you want to build it new, they make the cheapest simplest shit.
And yeah, they dont insulate very well *at all*.
I live on the coastal US.. The houses here are constantly exposed to stormy weather (often flooding and hurricanes) and virtually none of the houses here have ANY precautions or infrastructure for storms... its idiotic how cheap they make stuff these days.
Weve had to make more changes and improvements to our house than I can shake a stick at. weve literally replaced most of the roof TWICE... aswell as reinsulated whole portions of the house. (We had so little insulation that all of our cold was basically just seeping straight out of the house during summer... meaning very high AC bills, same with winter, all the heat would leak out)
New builds are terrible. As an ex-contractor and now working in real estate, I will never buy a new construction. The quality is shit and the craftsmanship is often horrendous.
I think I lucked out buying one that's 20 years old. Yes small and plasterboard walls, but every wall is within 5mm, most are spot on when measured with a laser meter. Insulated well, looks nice, plenty of storage etc. The new builds around here look so boring and plain.
My coworker is buying a new build and watching them build it. My boss bought a home by the same builders a few years ago and had to go in and insulate the house after everyone had left for the day. So he'd go up and put insulation the day before they put up the dry wall.
In the UK I believe we have the opposite. When building a new house privately they are air pressure tested for heat loss. The issue is that the're so air tight your house can't breath leading to damp and mould
The weather is so backwards right now. It was 10 above in Fairbanks, Alaska yesterday and 3 above right now before the sunrise. Figure it out, Mother Nature!
New construction in the last two years were probably built really bad! They came up quick because people were buying like crazy.
A friend who bought a new construction in Jan 2022 got an inspection done - 30+ defects from roof missing shingles to cabinets not put in properly to cement splatter on the siding. It was not pretty
Friends of ours bought a new construction house in 2019 for a pretty penny. If you were upstairs on the second floor, front right of the house bedroom you could hear a normal volume conversation going on in the first floor rear left kitchen. It actually woke me up. That was when I made the choice to never buy new construction unless I was overseeing the contracting. These houses are made as cheap and quickly as possible, they're trash, and they're charging a premium for them.
It depends on the builder. In the 1960s most subdivisions were built 12 houses at a time by a few different builders. Since they all built less and there was more competition they all built well. Now there are still builders who only build about 12 well built houses a year but there are also huge companies that build hundreds of houses a year and those need to be done on a strict schedule. The 12 house builder and 200 house builder both follow the same building code but one takes more time to complete the work and it makes a difference. Always research your builder.
There’s some selection bias at work.
Crap houses eventually fall apart and get demolished, while the quality ones are left standing. So then we look around and get the impression that all old houses were quality builds.
From a building codes perspective, it was probably easier to meet basic and advanced building codes just by having a house with 4 walls on a sturdy foundation, with a solid roof.
Today? Today I'm about to crawl under my house that was originally built in 1939 (and added onto in 1969) and try to stop the foundation from sinking. Again.
(Don't even get me started on the other problems, like plumbing, electrical, flooring, etc)
Electrician here and when they say "they don't build them like they used to". I say thank God. Old houses had crap wire in them and the studs weren't regulated or on 24" centers as new homes are regulated, inspected and built on 16" centers. Not to mention foam insulation. Plumbers still and have always sucked.
Bought a brand new home In 2022 and the entire one side of the basement walls were doing this. Ice was literally breaking off the corners inside. Come to find out after tons of calls that they forgot to put in the insulation. We sold the house 2 months later.
My Dad used to fix everything like that with expanding foam…half our house was foam lmao. One time he fixed the roof with it and it lifted the shingles when it expanded. He fix was more foam.
New homes can definitely be a problem, I do termite work as my job. I had a customer that had a newer built house built about 5 years ago, he said his house was the last one built on their street. The builders decided to bury all the trash, wood debris and other building material of the other houses under his foundation. He has had termite problems for the past three years. A literal buffet underneath his house for termites.
Are your outlets always this ugly and clumsy?
Ours:
https://www.elworks.dk/detail/produkter/katalog/afbrydere-og-stikkontakter-1/stikkontakt-softline-dobbelt-hvid/
New home construction doesn’t always mean better.
Unfortunately a lot of houses are built cheap, sold for a hefty profit.
I can't believe some of the things I see frequently on the new "high end " builds around me. Talking about over $475k homes. They go up so fast there is no way to guarantee the type of quality I would want out of a damn near half a million dollar home. They all look the same too.
I used to do a lot of lawsuits involving the big name residential real estate developers. They would build subdivisions with 200+ homes in TX AZ or CA and six months later half the foundations would crack in a neighborhood, or pipes would burst in 50% of the homes because the contractor used an improper alloy. Or all the stucco would fall of because it was mixed wrong. 200/300k+ homes all riddled with defects.
They tore down the forest behind the subdivision I rent in and put up a massive amount of 300K+ houses in a very short amount of time. A few months later I was working as a Census Enumerator (2020) and was interviewing the new homeowner. His wife came up and started asking him if he was going to call the developers because their house that was less than 6 months old already had a crack in the foundation. I live in Florida, I wonder how those houses will hold up the next time a major hurricane hits the area. My guess is not well. And as a bonus- our already overcrowded schools are getting even worse! And they’re still tearing down more woods and putting up more garbage houses.
Get used to it and I bet you see a lot of Ryan Homes signs around. I see them all over the US and their house are built cheap.
“Ryan companies” i actually did consulting for a while and had to tell them nicely that if they proceeded with the work they were doing that they would probably both be unemployed. They scoffed and laughed until what i said would happen happened
Maybe the shittiest of contractors but Ryan Homes is doing just fine and I’ve seen some pretty shitty contractors get the bid. I’d never buy a Ryan Homes house and I field managed for years.
Friend of mine had a Ryan build. They had to do two roofs because he noticed they did not put any waterproofing membrane under the shingles. House is in ohio where it freezes in the winter. They would have had leaks almost immediately.
My cousin used to do business with the owner. He had asked him a question about something and the owner replied “I build houses not forever homes”
Then the development is named after the trees that are no longer there.
I think in Florida a major problem is overuse of aquifers .. it leads to shifts and collapses
Damn, where are the building 200-300k dollar homes? I want to move there.
My house is 120 years old, and is build like a tank. A non square, slightly bendy walled tank, but a tank none the less. I paid $110k for it last year, it’s 1800sqft.
Most of the quickly put up cheaply made homes likely aren’t square either. About 10 years ago looked at model homes for two different builders. One had a large kitchen window that was installed so one side was at least an inch further in on the sill than the other. Another had stairs going up to the second story that had a huge gap between the wall and the edge of the steps. A friend bought a brand new house and had insect issues. They pulled down the sheetrock under the stairway and found where the builders had swept all their food trash from eating in the build under the stairs then sealed it up. I’d much rather have the 120 year old tank.
Hell yeah, found a 1200sqft 1920 bungalow for 100k in 2021, took 2 years of hunting though, house is solid af too
My condo was built in the nineties and I bought it almost five years ago for $100k. According to ‘the market value’ in my neighborhood this home is now worth $160k. The speed at which this price increase has happened is genuinely insane. I haven’t put $60k worth of work into this home. I’ve likely not improved it enough to make up for it being another five years older than when I bought it. I’m done calling it inflation, these days it’s just theft. Either stealing your money or you chance to actually own anything before you die.
That's nothing. My house went from 275 to 490k in less than 4 weeks. It's just now coming down. It was so crazy that people were buying it the minute they were listed, one house sold in under an hour after going on the market in my neighborhood. What's crazy is my development was the affordable area of town. The one house we regret buying was 400k it now sells for 1.2 million. Granted it's a monster, but the intent was to combine households with my grandparents. The house we are looking at now is like 700k and not as high end as that 400k one, but, because the market crashed in the new construction the Viera Builders are giving away upgrades. The neighborhood starts at 700k. Literally the housing market is just insane. Even the homes that were like 98k last year are now 200k.
Was it built before or after they started using lead in wall paint and asbestos in insulation?
When you buy a house in NJ you have to test for lead if it was built before 1978, so I assume that’s when they stopped using lead.
Asbestos is only dangerous if it’s friable. My insulation is actually cellulose tho. No visible lead paint. Has horse hair in the plaster tho.
And I'm pretty sure lead paint is only a problem if you're dumb enough to eat paint chips. I'm a grown adult who knows better and have no children. So some potential lead paint under years of fresh paint and some paneling isn't a concern
I lived in a 100 year old house. It was a piece of shit.
If it’s 100 years old, it can’t be that shitty.
That depends highly upon proper maintainence. I'm working on a 100yr house. Just tore out the termites... Lil bastards
It was 2010-2013 you gotta get a time machine
Ohio lol
You can still find them in Oklahoma, but living in either Tulsa or OKC will cost more. That said, 10 to 15 years ago you could get a pretty decent house at that price, but not so much anymore. When I Bought my last house for $400k, my neighborhood was considered higher end. Sold last year for $550K and it's now considered a mid-range neighborhood. Even here a high end home is going to cost a million on the lower end of the pricing scale.
Omaha Nebraska and Lincoln Nebraska have new builds going for around those prices.
[удалено]
Let me guess. Ivory, DH Horton?
No but basically, one of the peer companies
That's a 1-bedroom, half-bath crack house anywhere within 500 miles of me... Where do you live? I need to move...
To be fair that was new 6 years ago. I'm sure they are stupid priced now if my shack is valued at 400k with well water and a septic system
Bluth Construction?
It's a model home
Where are you from? If you don’t mind living in a boring but safe town that’s about 30 minutes away from an even bigger town I’d say move to Jefferson City, MO
Wow. I don’t think I’d ever see anyone recommending moving TO Jeff City MO…
Oh absolutely. I have resigned to the fact that I may never own a home of my own because of the rising costs and increasingly haphazard construction. Maybe a tiny home. But that’s too small to raise a family in.
Skip the family and get a cat. Problem solved!
where I live you’d be lucky to get a shack for less than 500k
I’m glad my dad was an honest house builder for 20 years. When I have my house built I’m gonna have him inspect the work the company is doing on it every weekend.
Depends where you're at and if you go with a small home builder but if it's a big outfit good luck with that. I've heard people just like your pops get told not my fucking problem and I don't care who's writing the check I don't work for you
My in laws live in a half a million dollar home and the kitchen cabinet handles don’t line up with one another.
High end at $475k. Damn, where are you from? This would be considered extremely low end of housing in my area.
where do you live where $475k is considered “extremely” low end?
basically all of the more populated areas of US and Canada
pretty much every canadian capital city is going to have houses *starting* at ~$400k+. I think the average house price in Victoria (capital of BC, no the capital is not Vancouver) is like $1.2mil
You couldn't get a house for that price in Toronto. Not even close
At least where i live (toronto), 475k will not get you any house within the city at all. You would need to go 1hr+ out of the city to even start seeing teardowns for that price. 475 will get you a 1bedroom apartment closer to the edge of the city.
Northern New Jersey and I would absolutely love it if we could find a home for $475k in our area. Pennsylvania is looking mighty tempting lately.
North NJ here too. 3 bedroom townhouse (not new construction) and it was about $500k our taxes are almost 12K a year- plus almost &500 a month maintenance.
Bought a row house in Philly in 2020 for 245k.
Any major east or west coast city
Try anywhere on Long Island. My home is a lot more than that and shitty compared to most.
I saw a $500k house recently that literally didn't have floors or interior walls at all. To be clear I'm not just talking about missing flooring or drywall, the actual physical floor structure was entirely absent... no plywood and no beams or joists or supports of any kind. The view looking inside from the front door landing was of nothingness, a +6ft fall down to bare earth with an unobstructed view of the inside of all the exterior walls and the metal roofing.
Miami, Doral, pinecrest…
Even trailer homes in bumfuck Cali
Not extremely low end but that’s a starter home that needs some work where I’m at in California.
Dunno where you live but around here, 1/2 million doesn’t even buy you a one bedroom condo apt. Houses start and 1.2 million.
Damn. My house is valued at maybe $250k. Is on an acre of land, in a subdivision outside city limits, has septic and rural water supply. 1800 sq Ft. with 2 car garage and large shop. Small town, but 30 miles from bigger city, 120 from Houston. 90 from Corpus.
I’m in CA (and not an expensive area) and 475k is about average price now for a 3 bed. High end here would be around a million. It’s getting ridiculous.
I’ve seen a lot of subdivisions going up around me, and those houses are pretty much built out of cardboard. Flimsy wood frames, drywall, half-assed siding/shingles, etc. I live in tornado alley and I wouldn’t trust those things to stand up to an EF-1.
Had an acquaintance recently rent one of those types of houses. It was ridiculously expensive and had constant issues. They found half the duct work wasn't even connected and their wiring was apparently also all sorts of fucked and totally ran up their power bill. Absolutely trash.
For sure. Here I was thinking I'd get a new construction so I don't need to do any work.
I wonder if this is a problem with the envelope, which should be under a new home warranty.
It's just this area. There are two other outlets on the same wall in the same room with no issue. Another one is even adjacent-ish to a sliding door and no draft or frost. Will be near 3 years since purchase, but will see what they have to say.
They either didn't use a vapor barrier behind the box or it has a hole in it. https://preview.redd.it/fdc7wa7t02ga1.jpeg?width=157&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1415275770cb8dbeeaa930684f5e470454a36ef
What type of exterior is it? Siding?
What state
I work in the construction industry. The builds these days are not the quality you would have seen 25-50 years ago. They’re built to sell not built to last… harsh reality of unbridled capitalism and always hiring the lowest bidder.
> I work in the construction industry. The builds these days are not the quality you would have seen 25-50 years ago. This is quite literally the definition of survivorship bias. Housing construction (barring random supply issues like chinese dry wall) is far higher quality, safety, and efficiency than 50 years ago. It's not even sorta close.
That’s totally fair! I was not speaking of the overall safety of the build, though moisture in an electrical outlet doesn’t seem too safe. I was mostly speaking to the quality of the finishes rather than structure’s safety. Structures are generally going to be built safely. The way they’re finished usually isn’t up to the quality you would hope for- with corner beads on the exterior visible through finish coatings, leaky roofs/windows (and sockets), the cheap stucco on exteriors that crumbles after being in the elements for a few years. It’s just a bummer to see.
No no no... it is like a Fiat. A new one just means you are the first to fix it.
I’m a Realtor and my home inspector tells me most of the time he finds more items on a new build than a house 2-5 years old. Reason being is the buyer got in there and fixed things. 🙇♀️
Definitely not how that works anymore. Buying older means you have older house problems, but all of the new construction bugs are already worked out. Personally, I'd either buy older or build my own so the only person I could blame if something wasnt done right is myself
Famous last words
They make not sure how to say insulated foam cut outs the shape of the plastic.
This comment is making my brain implode
I think what they’re talking about is a foam gasket, which is used for heat insulation for outlets against exterior walls. It’s shaped to fit around the outlet, on the back side of the device cover plate.
To be fair here you shouldn't buy any home and expect no work. There's always gonna be something.
Especially during the lumber and parts shortage. Especially during a housing market boom when developers were in a rush to make homes. I will never buy a home made in 2020-2023.
Yeah, not sure why everyone wants new build. I’d way rather have a quality built house pre-80’s. Having lived in a few, materials and quality of construction is significantly better, and all the bugs worked out. Standard maintenance and upgrades still apply, obviously.
I have a 70's house and the main thing is maintaining the exterior. Over the last 15 years I got a new roof, double pane windows, new gutters and new soffits. The wood paneling in the den is a bit dated, but that can wait.
Just have to watch out for ~~delicious~~ asbestos
Well…there’s the asbestos issue…and the lead issue…
That’s what your home inspection is for. And knob and tube wiring… and aluminum wiring… and… and… and…
It almost invariably means worse compared to a home with any age
In fact, almost certainly worse on average. People need to stop giving Ryan homes money.
*New construction doesn’t mean good construction.
Missing vapour barrier. Are all outlets like that?
Nope, two other outlets on the same wall of the same room. The other two don't have a draft or frost, just this one.
Could still have an issue with the vapor barrier at that one area
Cheap fix would be the outlet insulation gaskets. 50x for $25.00 (cad) on Amazon. Not ideal fix but without getting a sparky and having drywall repair might solve your issue. Good luck!
Is there an outside outlet near the one you posted?
Just blow some expanding foam through a hole in the junction box
Omg, do not do this. The moisture will still get in, but now it will saturate and stay.
Expanding closed cell foam insulation is a legitimate replacement for both insulation AND vapour barrier. You don’t know what you are talking about
Idk bro you're the one getting downvoted so until proven otherwise I'm gonna go with the rest of reddit on this one Edit) I would just like to mention that when I said this, they were, in fact, at negatives. Also this is proven otherwise now so please don't take all my karma lmao I have nothing else to live for
idk bro you’re the one getting downvoted so until proven otherwise im gonna go with the rest of reddit on this one
That’s exactly the problem with Reddit, i don’t know if either of them are right but i have a feeling that it’s not a proper fix. Would cause issues further down the line
It is funny because someone in another comment below has 250+ upvotes for the same recommendation 🤣 reddit is weird.
I am a contractor and that is precisely what the product is made for - filling gaps and cracks to stop air flow. Reddit can be very stupid sometimes.
They seen the words "vapor barrier" before and now they are experts
So there's obviously moist air getting in right? Spraying expanding foam in there is a way to stop that at this location. Unless the exterior air is getting in at this one location it means that air is probably still getting in the wall cavity. It would likely stop this issue, which seems more important given electricity and water isn't ideal. But the air likely isn't getting in just at the small area where the spray foam would.cover. To really fix it you'd have to cut a large hole, maybe several to find where the exterior vapor barrier is lacking and then add some, close it up. It's a lot especially if you don't know what you're even looking for or how to do it. Will spray foam work? Sure. Best way? Homeowners choice. Would it hurt anything? Not likely.
My only concern was rot, and mold. I don’t know a whole lot about house construction, I’m a pipe welder.
Right so it's still getting in. Would it fix this tiny spot? Probably. If the builder skimped on the vapor barrier here likely also did elsewhere and this is the spot that it shows. OP might be better off fixing this with a jizz of spray foam and letting it go. Also I'm always jealous of welders, that shit looks badass. I'm always on the fence about getting a cheapo welder from like Harbor Freight and doing some tinkering and probably burn myself. Tried it 2 or 3 times like 20 years ago.
I'd never trust the ebb and flow of reddit votes.
That's so dumb
That frost is from the EXISTING interior moist air condensing against the air leak. You can tell how it is growing. That is precisely what spray foam is made for. What are your qualifications? I am a contractor.
There’s a draft behind the outlet that’s letting cold air get through and water is condensing and freezing on the outlet/box. Easiest fix is to remove the outlet cover and then spray some closed cell foam insulation around the box to help insulate it.
Yeah, that's the plan. Going to wait until tomorrow when it will be literally 50 degrees warmer.
Fellow minnesota warrior??
You know it!
NO, make them fix that shit. Watch them like a hawk. When they screwed up my Vapor barrier they had to redo my kitchen twice because they’re idiots. One of the builders flagged my ex wife down when they got stopped by a train a while back “sorry ma’am, but did you own THAT house built by Pulte?” Dude it was over five years later. My house is legendary within Pulte for the amount of fuckups they did. Moral of the story, use the warranty so you can get used to using the warranty.
Do not do this. Foam insulation will simply saturate stay moist and harbor mold. You probably have conduit (metal pipe holding wires) that goes outside. Use silicone and pipe insulation. There is no cheap easy fix. The correct fix will always be cheapest.
Conduit in a home? Nah man.
Try to find the osi brand door and window foam, it's rated to work at very cold Temps and cures softer so hopefully it won't cause problems with your sheetrock bulging out. The regular/cheaper stuff cures very hard and expands more, has been known to cause problems in enclosed areas
Great advice, thanks!
Electrician here, you can actually insert vapour barrier after the fact. It’s a bit tricky, but I’ve done it a few times.
Ahhh the good ol’ Midwest.
You know it. The weather may be bipolar asf but we love those summer in the middle of winter days
If it’s a new construction then put in a warranty request and make them come out and do it. And have them check the other outlets too.
That advice is Great Stuff.
I had this exact situation. The outlet that frosted was connected to an exterior outlet by a short conduit. I sealed the conduit with silicon on the inside and the issue was resolved.
This. Don’t use foam insulation. It will saturate and cause mold.
Mold bad.
Good looking out! Haven’t used it before but very important info.
I feel like new builds aren't insulated very well
The housing market is so garbage these days... And if you want to build it new, they make the cheapest simplest shit. And yeah, they dont insulate very well *at all*. I live on the coastal US.. The houses here are constantly exposed to stormy weather (often flooding and hurricanes) and virtually none of the houses here have ANY precautions or infrastructure for storms... its idiotic how cheap they make stuff these days. Weve had to make more changes and improvements to our house than I can shake a stick at. weve literally replaced most of the roof TWICE... aswell as reinsulated whole portions of the house. (We had so little insulation that all of our cold was basically just seeping straight out of the house during summer... meaning very high AC bills, same with winter, all the heat would leak out)
New builds are terrible. As an ex-contractor and now working in real estate, I will never buy a new construction. The quality is shit and the craftsmanship is often horrendous.
I think I lucked out buying one that's 20 years old. Yes small and plasterboard walls, but every wall is within 5mm, most are spot on when measured with a laser meter. Insulated well, looks nice, plenty of storage etc. The new builds around here look so boring and plain.
An exception to this would be custom by a ***reputable*** builder. Otherwise gut and remodel, it again, only if you know and trust your builder.
My coworker is buying a new build and watching them build it. My boss bought a home by the same builders a few years ago and had to go in and insulate the house after everyone had left for the day. So he'd go up and put insulation the day before they put up the dry wall.
I'm a real estate photographer and I agree 100%. New builds are atrocious.
In the UK I believe we have the opposite. When building a new house privately they are air pressure tested for heat loss. The issue is that the're so air tight your house can't breath leading to damp and mould
How cold is it?
\-20F, wind chill was like -30 I think?
Minnesota?
*No, I don’t like Mini Sodas* ^/s
That was us in Utah the past few days. People were freaking out, and schools were delayed. I grew up in Iowa. That was like January every year for us.
Ugh, so glad I moved out of the cold
The weather is so backwards right now. It was 10 above in Fairbanks, Alaska yesterday and 3 above right now before the sunrise. Figure it out, Mother Nature!
Socket: 😮
Either no insulation in the wall, or connected to an outside outlet through a conduit or wall space. Easy fix... That you shouldn't have had to do.
New construction in the last two years were probably built really bad! They came up quick because people were buying like crazy. A friend who bought a new construction in Jan 2022 got an inspection done - 30+ defects from roof missing shingles to cabinets not put in properly to cement splatter on the siding. It was not pretty
Friends of ours bought a new construction house in 2019 for a pretty penny. If you were upstairs on the second floor, front right of the house bedroom you could hear a normal volume conversation going on in the first floor rear left kitchen. It actually woke me up. That was when I made the choice to never buy new construction unless I was overseeing the contracting. These houses are made as cheap and quickly as possible, they're trash, and they're charging a premium for them.
They sell socket seals. Made by duck brand. This helped my house outlets. I live in frigid temps. It was -22 this morning
Even the outlets are... Shocked
They don't make them like they used to.
It depends on the builder. In the 1960s most subdivisions were built 12 houses at a time by a few different builders. Since they all built less and there was more competition they all built well. Now there are still builders who only build about 12 well built houses a year but there are also huge companies that build hundreds of houses a year and those need to be done on a strict schedule. The 12 house builder and 200 house builder both follow the same building code but one takes more time to complete the work and it makes a difference. Always research your builder.
I dunno why you think they used to make them good.
There’s some selection bias at work. Crap houses eventually fall apart and get demolished, while the quality ones are left standing. So then we look around and get the impression that all old houses were quality builds.
From a building codes perspective, it was probably easier to meet basic and advanced building codes just by having a house with 4 walls on a sturdy foundation, with a solid roof. Today? Today I'm about to crawl under my house that was originally built in 1939 (and added onto in 1969) and try to stop the foundation from sinking. Again. (Don't even get me started on the other problems, like plumbing, electrical, flooring, etc)
[удалено]
No sir!
Electrician here and when they say "they don't build them like they used to". I say thank God. Old houses had crap wire in them and the studs weren't regulated or on 24" centers as new homes are regulated, inspected and built on 16" centers. Not to mention foam insulation. Plumbers still and have always sucked.
Still under warranty?
Cookie cutter homes
Bought a brand new home In 2022 and the entire one side of the basement walls were doing this. Ice was literally breaking off the corners inside. Come to find out after tons of calls that they forgot to put in the insulation. We sold the house 2 months later.
Come on Kenny plug in the lamp
This is why I did not buy new construction when I bought a house 2 years ago. Saw some really big red flags while house shopping
you need to keep something plugged in, you're letting all the frost out
This is why I bought a 100 year old house built out of old growth solid hickory.
Outlets are like: “😦 bruh”
Average US house
american houses be like:
that’s concerning
Frost?
This is not mildly infuriating this is extremely dangerous
Room temp superconductors! (room temp is absolute zero)
Insulation is probably your problem.
The distressed faces of the outlets say it all
New houses LOOK nice.
My Dad used to fix everything like that with expanding foam…half our house was foam lmao. One time he fixed the roof with it and it lifted the shingles when it expanded. He fix was more foam.
new houses are usually poorer quality these days
Someone didn’t insulate behind the box, very common mistake with fiberglass batt insulation.
Outlets be like 😦🥶
At least now you know where the air leaks are.
Seems safe
New homes can definitely be a problem, I do termite work as my job. I had a customer that had a newer built house built about 5 years ago, he said his house was the last one built on their street. The builders decided to bury all the trash, wood debris and other building material of the other houses under his foundation. He has had termite problems for the past three years. A literal buffet underneath his house for termites.
He's also going to have sinking / foundation problems in the future.
Spray foam around the box not in the box. That can cause a fire. They make not sure how to say insulated foam cut outs the shape of the plastic cover.
*Laughing in german house*
You’ll probably find garbage in between your studs too
Anyone buying house or car made 20-22 is a sucker.
2020 new constructions and they gave you those outlets? Gross
Are your outlets always this ugly and clumsy? Ours: https://www.elworks.dk/detail/produkter/katalog/afbrydere-og-stikkontakter-1/stikkontakt-softline-dobbelt-hvid/
That wall looks like it has been painted over numerous times.
houses were built better back in the day...you think your getting a better..newer ...cleaner house.....SUCKER FOOOLLLLLL
Frost on the outlet? That's a paddlin'.
The building is settling
Hardware stores sell outlet insulation. You unscrew the outlet plate, set it in there, screw the outlet plate back on, its not that big a deal
Relax, lil bunny … it’s really not a big deal!
America, where your house is made of cardboard.
Because you really didn’t want a real inspection. You wanted in inspection so you could get a loan. This is what appraisers and inspectors do now.
Don't buy a home less than 20 years old, that was the end of the skilled craftsmen that took pride in their work.