Seting posts in concrete is normal in a lot of places including OKC. A simple request to land the posts on the piers should do it along with your willingness to pay extra for it. My outfit always set the posts on the footings but most of my compatition dont. J.

Hello, All. Somewhere in my reading process it was said facia (is it fascia - sorry about that) and soffiting vinyl are manufacturered thicker than normal vinyl siding. I did considered it a non-issue but thanks to you I've written it down to ask the contractor. If I can get thicker I'll get it. Going back a long ways a roof's overhang wasn't often enclosed except maybe for some guttering on the edge. The exposed rafters sure were a good place for wasp and hornet nests. In the 50's or 60's contractors began covering the area. I doubt if the words facia and soffit had come into being before then. Facia board covers the edge of the roof rafters and runs the entire perimeter of one's house. Where needed guttering is nailed over the facia. Soffiting covers the area beneath the roof rafters from the facia edge to the house. A few years ago I built a house that was left open between the overhanging rafters. This allowed air to flow from the outside, into the attic, and on out the ridge vent. Air flow was primarily to retard hot weather damage to the roof, and it kept the house a little cooler. Being the rafters were open the soffiting was preforated to allowed air to flow but kept out bees. Where I now live was built in the mid 60's. It does not have opening between the rafters. My current soffiting is unpreforated plywood, so the vinyl soffiting without preforations will be okay. My guttering will be seamless and I highly suggest it. I've had and heard too many stories about seam problems with the 10' section stuff. But I suppose it may have depended on how well it was installed. I talked to a couple of my kids (I'm widowed) about colors. I told them I wanted a color "standard" that would be acceptable for a number of years. Please rememeber, this is for me and not a recommendation. I have white vinyl windows. They said the facia, soffit, window trim, and door trim should be close to the same color as the windows. They said from their observations of new developments that's generally the case. So, I chose that color a little off white, called linen. My downspouts will be the same color as the vinyl siding -almond. My guttering will be the same as the trim - linen. I know what you mean about getting away from the colors you have. At my age my vision is probably a little shorter than most of you readers. I'm doing more what might be acceptable to others whereas if I were younger I may or may not have other thoughts. Screw in bolt brackets for guttering is typical, I think. Sure is better than nail in. The brackets expand the width of the gutter with a screw going through them, through the vinyl facia, through the facia board, and into a rafter. I'm not familar with any other type of supports. I'll keep reading this topic for a while, Folks. I'm trying to gain enough knowledge to ask the contractor the right questions. Regards, Gene

About 25 years ago, I asked several neighbors for recommendations for someone to do stonework for me. I called them and only one was interested in such a small job. He came over, I explained that I wanted a DRY stone wall, low, really a retaining wall for my brick terrace - about 18" high. I also wanted a concrete retaining wall 5' high, between the terrace and the driveway. He gave me a price for each. We told him we would buy the stone but he needed to pick it up - he would provide all other materials. He showed me lots of pictures of beautiful walls he claimed to have done (found out later he had not done them - just pretty pictures). We had no written contract. He came to do the concrete retaining wall. Having had one collapse into the driveway of a home we were under contract to buy many years before, I was very specific about how I wanted it built. It needed to be tied into the foundation of the house, and it needed drain holes lined with aluminum downspout. He assured me this was how he built walls. I was working the day it was poured so I didn't really see the total job. About 5 years ago, it started separating from the foundation and I discovered he had not tied it in properly,. Someday, it will collapse into the driveway but engineer says no time soon and it would destroy much landscaping and the terrace would have to be rebuilt at that end, so we're not rebuilding it. Then the stone and other supplies were delivered. I was quite surprised to see multiple bags of mortar- this was to be a dry wall - no mortar. When he arrived the next day and I asked him about this, he made a fatal error: he called me. "Little lady". I'm no raging feminist but when a workman calls me this, I see red. He told me that I just thought there was no mortar in a dry wall - it really was there, put way back in. I asked him if he'd actually ever seen a real dry wall - there are many around Lexington KY where they're called slave walls, due to the stones on top on the diagonal so the field hands would not sit on the wall when working. Mine were to be the New England type without this addition. He clearly had no idea what a dry wall even was. I told him to leave and I would get back to him. I had no intention of paying him for on the job training. i called a lawyer friend to ask how to get rid of this guy. I had no written contract. In KY, one can legally fire for no cause. I had a separate price for the concrete wall. I had paid for the stone. I did not order mortar. The lawyer told me to pay him for work/materials done and then fire him. This was not received well. He left my house (with his cashiers check), and went straight to the County Court House and filed a mechanics lien on my property. Of course in due time I was notified of this. Again called the lawyer. He said the man had no legal claim, but it cost me $500 to have him write a strong letter demanding that the lien be removed. It scared him and he removed it. My husband ended up building the wall, with me sitting there reading him instructions. It's held up pretty well and at least it was free! You have a written contract. He will put a mechanics lien on your property and he will prevail. Is your contractor over priced? I don't know but you've learned an expensive lesson - take your time, get multiple detailed bids before signing anything. You really cannot legally (to say nothing of ethically) change contractors. Do it right for the additional work you want done.

Thanks everyone. I’ve decided to sell the house while I’m still under warranty. When i get an offer if the buyer hires an inspector any issues that arise that should be covered under warranty i will send it over to the no good builder. If it’s a couple thousand or less in repairs or something I may eat the cost. I don’t want to get into prolonged legal battles the home has already increased in value by about 30k in the 11 months I’ve owned it so hopefully I’ll walk away with a chunk of change in my pocket. I’m over it, I live in a rural area I honestly feel the builders and inspectors around here have no integrity. Two new houses were built across the street the grade looks awful, most the homes in this subdivision are new/built In 08 at the latest. They all are built pretty close together with grades similar to mine where the neighboring house have a grade much higher and slopes wonderfully into peoples homes. The city inspector out here seems clueless. I’m not an engineer so I didn’t notice this to be a problem when I was first interested in buying the home. After now experiencing it, grades may be one of the most important thing for me to focus on when buying a home. Yet my house passed city inspections, builders built it without a care in the world. I even hired an individual inspector to double check the home prior to the purchase. Either the folks out here have no idea what they are doing or they simply don’t care. I remember asking the city inspector when he came out here to look at it and I asked why is my neighbors grade so much higher then mine? He said “well son you are on a hill” bologna I found a google street view photo of my lot back in 2008 when this lot was empty and it was completely flat. These homes were built at the same time and i think they were just too lazy to do anything about that dirt and they just piled it up. Prior to my neighbor having landscape rock put in her grade looked like a clumped up mess. She can’t even access her side gate or even walk on that side of the house it’s literally just a giant sloping hill of rocky heavy clay you are practically sliding down hill trying to even walk on that side. Where I’m from this would never pass any sort of inspection. I’m sure she’s going to have issues down the road her self, honestly I hope everyone of these homes has issues. They may not see it yet but maybe the city inspector needs a reality check since he passes this type of Work as acceptable... my fence is even bowing out and screws breaking off the posts from the weight of her grade against it. Fence dug into the dirt all around the peremiter. What shotty work and inspections. I’m a new home owner and had to learn the hardway how awful this is. Yet contractors and inspectors don’t mention a word about it like it’s normal and acceptable. If I was an inspectoe (knowing what I know now) I would of suggested to the buyer a French drain be put in or problems may arise. That way I could of had the builder do it or walk away from the purchase but nope it wasn’t mentioned once. Lesson learned don’t trust city inspectors or any inspectors at least in rural areas like mine.