How not to build a house.

There a probably hundreds of things wrong. This is what I could see from the street

Death trap deck in Washington, DC

Don't walk on this deck !

No ledger board to support the floor boards. You may not need a ledger board to support the rest of the deck as long as the joists are overlapped a good 8 feet or so. Regardless, flashing is needed to prevent the boards from rotting. These boards are already warped and span 8 feet. Decks should be sloped down away from the house and not level.

Flaky sill pan flashing in Washington, DC

Sill pan flashing not only looks sloppy, but catches water and water runs into the house.

They didn't wrap the sides of the door opening, either. The side has a piece of 2 inch zip wall tape under the nailing flange. And of course, no sill or threshold plate to deflect water away.

Bare OSB

Unpainted OSB on the inside wall has been sitting over a year with no house wrap, tar paper or whatever.

I don't see any scuppers or any way for water to exit the roof except this opening. I doubt the roof is all sloped to drain water out of this opening.

There isn't anything wrong with leaving a gap in the zip wall, but these gaps are diverting water into the framing, and the framing is warped and bowed.

Framing lumber is badly warped

Framing lumber is badly warped. Water running down the wall runs into the gap on the zip wall. This house has been like this over a year.

These windows look homemade. They look like aluminum withe the joints covered with black tar. Setting the windows flush with the sheathing invites leaks. Check out the nailing flange under the window: Tell me this doesn't leak.

Cracker box styling

Cracker box styling might appeal to some, but it looks cheap to me.

I can go on and on with what is wrong with this picture. I took pictures a year ago with the idea of how not to build a house. The fact that nothing has happened in a year except rot reflects inexperience or just plain incompetence. I predict that within another year they will tear this house down. Sadly, they tore down a perfectly good pebble dash stucco four square house to build this monument to mediocrity. If you are wondering, this house is in Northeast Washington, DC, in the Brookland area.

My Book - Stucco and the blind man - Table of contents

Chapters one and two

Introduction; About windows and doors.

Chapter three

Evil EIFS

Chapter four

All about lath for plaster and stucco

Chapter five

Mortar and sand

Chapter six

About interior plaster

Chapter seven

Bonding plaster and cement mortar.

Chapter eight

Planning a plaster or stucco project.

Chapter nine

Decorative features from a 24 year old website.

Chapter ten

Glossary of plaster terms.

Chapter eleven

Flashing for stucco.

Chapter twelve

Chimneys.

Chapter thirteen

Pay per leads.

Chapter Fourteen

Stucco Art

Chapter Fifteen

Identifying the age of materials

Addendums

January, 2024

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Thanks for reading all these years.