re: Embattled developer D.R. Horton 'vigorously denies' its homes can't handle La's humidity

Are there any DR Horton hoods that have held up in value, appearance and quality after 10 years?

They all seem to go to ship after a few years. They are littered all over Livingston Parish.

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You either work for DR or you yourself have a DR Horton home

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Neither shite is for the poors

I just have seen plenty being built and and am an engineer who knows codes.

And yea every home is inspected, atleast in calc parish they are

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There are 100%, without any doubt, DR Horton homes built in the Lake Charles area that have studs every 20 inches or greater. The codes allow it and they build to whatever the codes allow.

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Maybe 20, I might have read it wrong but I thought you said 24. My bad

All of this.....I bet the issue with most, if not all, of these houses is that they just got sealed up a little too tight during insulation and what you noted above would have absolutely solved the problem.

The real problem here is that the people buying the houses have no fricking clue how to keep up a house. They don't know how to notice if humidity is a little off before it becomes a bigger problem.

This. It's a problem in lots of new homes. Humidity must be monitored

I did too.

Hmmm....LSUfanNkaty...are you an Hebert by any chance?

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ftr i do not have a dr horton home and wouldnt and their are much better homebuilders for those types of homes that are much better. but lets not act like Dr horton doesnt build thousands of homes that have no issues.

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I show around 550 houses a year, so I see a fair number of DR Horton homes.

It truly depends on the crew. The best inspection I have seen was on a DR Horton home. Some of the worst were DR Horton ones.

Saw one I could have pulled the brick off the wall with one hand and there were 20 houses on the street they didn’t do the brick corners right.

If you have them build one, be there every day and red tag anything you don’t like. They’ll bitch, but in the end you’re paying for it

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And yea every home is inspected, atleast in calc parish they are

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Dude, I know some of those inspectors. They can study and pass a test but couldn't build a toy house out of legos. I wouldn't be so confident in them especially after seeing some of the crap they have passed.

In terms of humidity control its better to somewhat undersize the ac rather than oversize. Oversize cause short cycle which does not cool down sufficient to condense the moisture.

the next thing would be to have a very well experienced insulation guy look at applications. Its easy to have good intentions that cause condensation. A simple example. Ridge vents work good above open attacks. They can work poorly above elevated ceilings by drawing moisture in. Use of closed cell foam has caused several houses I know to have moisture zones. Fibrerglass is better

humidity control starts with they framing baseplate. In the old day 30 pound felt was between base plate and concrete to keep out bugs and moisture. Today its bubble wrap which leaves more voids. Prior to insulating, take a half dozen cans of spray foam. and seal all opening through the wall. Air leakage is moisture.

I paid an independent engineer to represent me in the inspection process for the foundation , framing, roofing and siding. It was well worth the 6000 dollars on a 450 thousand dollar house.

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They used cheap materials

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And then sold the house cheaper than other developers. These people expect a custom home built for D.R. Horton prices. It's silly IMO

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To be honest I would buy an older home over any of the shite that has been built the last 20 years. I was looking to buy a home in 2011 and I was looking at new construction homes. These damn homes were supposed to be new and the wall joints were already separating where the tape was laid. Then on some the brick beam above the garbage door was separating from the post seam. I know the home, especially being new, is supposed to settle but damn these issues were not minor touch problems.

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Man. There are a lot of misinformed and flat out dumb takes in this thread. This one here - yes, those issues ARE minor touch problems. Its called thermal expansion. In the first year of a home especially your mud and caulk will shrink when the season/humidity changes. Happens on 100% of homes. A good builder will caulk and paint them after the winter. You're comparing a home in its first year to a home in its 10th or so when all of those issues for the older home have been repaired. How do you know that home didn't have the same issues in its first year?

And then the people blaming the inspectors - look im not a fan of inspectors city or 3rd party (and lol at banks requiring a 3rd party), but there is no inspection in any jurisdiction for the insulation and sealing of a home. You get a framing or "open wall" inspection and if it passes you move forward with insulation and sheetrock. They don't come back out until trim outs. If you think an insulation inspection should be required thats one thing, but to say "its bc the inspectors are taking money" - you don't know what you're talking about. However they do now require a blower door test at the end of the project to test the thermal envelope. This test will bring back a number that tells you how much fresh air gets into the home aka how well its sealed up. Louisiana allows between a 3 and a 7. Above a 7 and you've got too many gaps, lower than a 3 and your home is considered too tight and a fresh air intake would be required to be added. Im wondering what the numbers were on these homes.

My bet is that Bell undersized the units on top of a shoddy insulation job. Wouldn't be the first time I've heard Bell being accused of that. But I think I read the issue here is no remedy once they were made aware.

Also that video that gets thrown around of the homeowner and "contractor" in lafayette... the contractor doesn't know what he's talking about. He's sensationalizing or embellishing a lot of the things he's pointing out.

Oh and to whoever was on here early on defending DR Horton early on about "using the same structural materials as all builders". Lol. No.