new construction - couple questions/concerns as we near the end

3 years ago

All - my wife and I are towards the end of building a custom home and I wanted to get this communities pulse on a couple issues. For reference, we are in Tennessee, this is a custom build, and we have a tentative close date of 8/12:

- We were told that we would be involved in the selection of the returns and hvac registers. We were not consulted and only now realized we weren't. Now that the AC is running we've noticed that the entire upstairs hallway and and 2 story foyer are extremely hot. The upstairs consists of 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a bonus room with 2 sets of stairs. There are no ac vents in the upstairs hallway which stretches the length of the house. If I walk into one of the 3 bedrooms upstairs it feels like the temperature is at least 10 degrees cooler. We have antes into each bedroom and the thermostat is in one of those antes (noted below). Blue rectangles are current AC vents and duct work is running the length of that upstairs hallway in the ceiling. Is it within our rights as the buyer to ask them to add vents to cool the hallway? Is this a huge ask? Or is this just to be expected with an upstairs hallway. The stairs in the front are 2 stories so it's somewhat of a 2 story foyer but not completely. See screenshot of plans below:

- the mudroom floor which is a brick tile is noticeably lower in certain areas. This has been covered up until the last 2 weeks and we weren't aware until we've been able to walk in it and notice. I imagine its an issue with the sub-flooring settling but this seems like a huge project for them to fix and I'm just wondering if we need to require them to fix it or if this is something that is to be expected. Seems sloppy and poor craftsmanship to me but I want to be reasonable. Don't have pics yet but can get them.

- The screened in back porch used some of the worst wood for the frame

I've ever seen. Pics included for reference but when we brought this up during a QC walk through with the project manager from our GC the other day he said "yeah that'd be a really big fix..." as if to imply we shouldn't ask them to fix it or its too late to do it. Are we within our rights to ask them to fix this or are we being too particular. It just feels like the wood already looks like it's 10 years old.

Pics below:

Featured Answer

User

3 years ago

The most important issue is the return air path and I didn't see that on the plan. It's often though a hallway which would help to cool it. Are there any return air ducts from the rooms? If not and the hall is used as the return path are the doors sufficiently undercut? Has the HVAC sub blalanced the system yet?

Vents don't have dampers so the air flow cannot be modified but registers do. Check to see if you have registers.

You haven't given us enough information to help you yet.

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Comments (12)

WestCoast Hopeful
3 years ago
I’m a bit confused. If you are a month or so from house being done isn’t most of it complete? How do you think you can possibly get new AC vents in?
Jim B
Original Author
3 years ago
Yes it is - That's why I'm asking
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WestCoast Hopeful
3 years ago
Wood looks awful to me but also hard to tell in context of whole house.

AC is a lost cause in my opinion unless you had a plan showing where vents should be and they didn’t follow it and you can prove you requested they did and expected it done.

Mistakes happen in a build. We had many and caught some and had to let others go. But none were as big as what you are suggesting...
Jim B
Original Author
3 years ago
awesome - thanks for the input. I was a little worried it would be too late on the AC front but going to fight hard for the wood to get fixed.
Tiger Lily
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
We have an upstairs hallway similar to yours and we don't have vents in our hallway. Ours was also a new build and we have been living in it for 3 years and I have not noticed the hallway being hotter than the other rooms. The only room I noticed being hotter is the guest bedroom that faces southwest and that room is only hotter when the door is closed during the summer months. Your AC system may not have the appropriate load capacity for your sized home if you're noticing a large difference in the air temperatures.

Edited to add: the woodwork looks bad. I wouldn't close until all of it is replaced per your approval.

Also edited to add: check the thermostat temperatures on the first and second floor. We had to adjust the upstairs thermostat to cool 1 degree lower than the first floor because we have a 2-story foyer and staircase and the thermostat on the second floor was reading the temperature on the first floor and not kicking in when they were both programmed to the same temperature.
bpath
3 years ago
Is there no vent in the jack and Jill bath?

Where are the returns?

Can the thermostats be moved? They seem like they are in exactly the wrong place.

Our upstairs hall has no vent and it is stuffy, because all the downstairs heat goes right up the stairs! We find that if we close the bedroom doors, they stay cooler.
bpath
3 years ago
Res, thanks for the distinction between vents and registers, I didn’t know that.

Doesn‘t each room, each, register, have to have a its own return? When we got a new furnace, the guy said that our house was short on returns, though when the house was built it was probably considered fine.
WestCoast Hopeful
3 years ago
We have air returns on each floor in the hallway. We have registers which I mistakenly interchanged with the word vents, in every room, non in the hallway. We have dampers on all registers in our main floor so they can, in our case, send heat more effectively to two rooms that are farthest away. We have had to have the system balanced twice. So yes that step is needed
Trish Walter
3 years ago
glad folks have answered your questions. Feel free to join those of us building here. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5948581/july-2020-building-a-home-thread#25747131 we're all in various stages of construction.
Jim B
Original Author
3 years ago
Hey everyone - thanks for the comments and feedback! Really appreciate it.

@Tiger Lily Thanks - we figured it was probably too late to change anything with the AC. I'll ask about load capacity. Thanks with the wood too - we are going to ask that they fix it. That feedback seems universal from the comments.

@bpath yes there is a vent in the jack/jill - I was adding those blue rectangles from memory since I wasn't in the space and forgot that one. The return is in the ante under the thermostat. So the thermostat should be moved?

@User the return air path wasn't in the plan but the return is under the thermostat. I honestly have no idea regarding the path. there is duct work running above the ceiling in the hallway. No clue if the sub has balanced the system yet but I will ask. Sorry yes, we have registers not vents. They are in each room other than the hallway.
sktn77a
3 years ago
If the 2nd floor AC was properly sized for the entire second floor, can you not add a couple of runs and registers in that hallway? We have the same issue with our upstairs foyer - bedrooms are OK but the foyer is probably 5 degrees warmer. Try to place the second
floor thermostat as far from the stairs/foyer as possible so the system isnt trying to cool the foyer and the bedrooms are freezing.

new construction - couple questions/concerns as we near the end

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new construction - couple questions/concerns as we near the end

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