While I love the outdoors and camping, I will not sleep in a tent unless it’s absolutely necessary. Maybe I have read one-too-many-innocent-campers-in-a-tent stories but I just don’t feel safe. At least I still have drywall here at the Willowbrook lab, though I notice it’s warm to the touch during the day since there are no exterior walls (see photo). There is also the pronounced smell of mold in the master bathroom which abuts the now-exposed wood.
I have always appreciated exterior walls like the kind you won’t find camping in a tent, or here for that matter. Well-built exterior walls are quite functional in their ability to keep out the weather (theoretically), vermin, intruders, loud noise, fumes and other outdoor and air-borne elements, as well as their ability to stabilize a structure, hide the mold and defects underneath, and muffle conversations.
Builder online magazine recently responded to reader comments about shoddy construction with an article about our national home builder. I signed in with Twitter as Behavior Coach and left a comment on their site back in July: “The problem is about business ethics and the lack of negative consequences for continuing to build. It’s not that difficult to build a sound waterproof structure–it’s been accomplished for millennia. How does KB explain 20+ other crumbling communities in FL? Did they use the same subcontractors for those communities? What about the defective homes across the US? Same subs? Despite trying to divert attention to the subs, KB is ultimately responsible for quality assurance of their product…”
As you can see, I was wondering if KB Home used the same subs in what must be thousands (since there are 270 units in this community alone) of other homes with construction defects throughout FL and across the country. Their attempt to deflect to their subs is just another example of their business model. The best defense is a good offense? Says a lot about a company, to only take responsibility when forced to do so as in this case under FL Chapter 558, Construction Defects. And yes, they have admitted to making ”mistakes,” which I interpret as being held accountable because I think of a mistake as being unintentional. Grownups who make mistakes are usually willing to make repairs — figuratively — or in this case literally.
As I’m sitting here writing this, I hear a conversation through the drywall between a male project manager (whose voice I recognize) and a female subcontractor in which the male exclaims there is a lot of wasted space. Then in response to a question from the female, he says they are “replacing all the old plywood with CDX plywood.” The female is questioning the rafters: “…concern the water is coming in…” Hammering drowns out the conversation typically masked by having exterior walls… Life is just full of irony.