What goes wrong most often?

Q. We’re starting a big construction job (big for us) on our home. Are there any pointers you can give on things to look for so we don’t wind up with problems later? Like what goes wrong most often?

A. There are so many things that I’m writing a book. First, have a good contract, including readable, professionally prepared plans with lots of details and accurate dimensions. If the contractor has to keep stopping to figure things out, guess who pays for their time. Stipulate the little things in the agreement, like cleanliness, paying for damages to property, not paying until all inspections and paperwork are finalized and you get sign-off for the permit you hopefully obtained.

Notoriously, foundations are not dug deep enough to be below the frost line (below 3 feet deep, not bottomed out at 3 feet), steel-reinforcing rods aren’t tied to existing adjacent foundations, below-grade insulation is missing, below-grade waterproofing is shoddy or not done — it’s a long list, just below ground. With framing of walls, corners are hollow and insulation is missing. The greatest torsion (twisting in the wind) on your house takes place at the corners, yet they’re rarely braced properly.

Insulation is loaded with gaps big enough to stick your hand in when there should be complete enclosure. They attach the insulation to the sides of wall studs instead of overlapping tabs on the room side edge of the wall studs to create a complete vapor and air barrier. The reason for this is because they don’t want to hear the wall board hangers complain that staples holding insulation up are sticking out. In my home, I spent about 10 minutes in each room with a 28-ounce hammer and forced the staples all the way in to settle the problem. That extra 10 minutes saves thousands of dollars in heating bills, and your comfort as well.