Order of building a home stages-anyone similar??

10 years ago

So we live in upstate NY and its snowing here. We broke ground at the end of August. We have block foundation and as of today we still don't have a basement floor yet...or a garage floor. The stage of the rest of the house is at dry walling. They are expecting to put tile down in another week. They also haven't sided the house yet. Has anyone else had there home built in this order? Our last home was built by a different company in a subdivision (current build is a custom home on a private 2acre lot) but it had a basement concrete floor right away along with siding. I keep hearing people say its bad to pour concrete in such cold weather..so I'm wondering why he didn't pour it in August, sept , or oct. I don't want to ask him because I'm assuming he has a reason for it?

Featured Answer

Awnmyown

10 years ago

We see this a lot in our colder weather. First, siding when installed in colder weather will expand in the summer heat causing it to warp. So out here (ND) a lot of cheap builders will cut it all short when they install in the winter, and the better builders will wait for warm temperatures. As long as the house wrap is on, it's fine. Just don't let them wait 8 months to side it because the tyvek only lasts so long.

Basement slab. We also see this a lot in cooler weather. When you only have so many things you can get done, closing the house in comes first. Here, we'll close it in (wrapped, windows, roof, shingles) and backfilled, and if it's winter, do the slab then since the house will be heated and that helps the concrete cure (much better then using additives for cold weather).

Many folks here will also have their garage slab poured in the springtime. Just a matter of trying to get everything prioritized I suppose.

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Comments (10)

mushcreek
10 years ago
They really should have poured the basement slab before they backfilled- Or haven't they backfilled yet? The concrete comes up on the first course of block (or whatever the foundation is made from), and helps support it against the pressure of the earth. It's a lot easier to build a house with a slab to work on rather than dirt- I can't imagine why they haven't done it yet.
Karen15
Original Author
10 years ago
I only saw a few finished homes he did. But we have no stairs in yet to even go in our basement. I'm not sure what is down there besides little tiny rocks.it will be an unfinished basement but I've never seen anyone build this way. Would it be insulting if I asked the builder?
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User
10 years ago
There also shouldn't be drywall being done unless the home is fully dried in with a roof, windows, and siding.
Oaktown
10 years ago
Builders work in a service industry. There are no dumb questions from clients. You should not feel hesitant to ask.
Karen15
Original Author
10 years ago
Theyre def dry walling before siding. We have a roof though and windows. House is wrapped but not sided.
nostalgicfarm
10 years ago
Unless there is any reason a builder can through out for this, I would be worried that he hasn't paid for the other cement so can't get any more? Hopefully he has paid his other vendors and hasn't earned a bad reputation from siding guys or anything that he can't find one?
Karen15
Original Author
10 years ago
We have three homes in our private drive. He's building them all. He did this same order for there's too and sided towards the end along with cement garage floor .
nostalgicfarm
10 years ago
Unless there is any reason a builder can through out for this, I would be worried that he hasn't paid for the other cement so can't get any more? Hopefully he has paid his other vendors and hasn't earned a bad reputation from siding guys or anything that he can't find one?
LOTO
10 years ago
In my younger days I was a concrete finisher and worked in Nebraska and there were quite a few homes that were started late in the year and we ended up pouring the basement floor after the home shell/frame was constructed. That way we could keep the concrete floor from freezing as the home was kept heated with construction heaters.
In the North country sometimes things might seem like are done out of sequence in the winter.