Browse Forums Building A New House 1 May 06, 2014 7:50 am Hi everyone, I am building a house with Big M and currently in the frame stage. I increased my ceiling height to 2700, doors to 2340 and windows in the family and rumpus room to 2100. They did not align the door and windows height and now the windows are sitting on the floor(top end of windows lower than top end of the doors). I asked them to increase the height of the windows from the floor to align with door height but they asking for a fee of 400$ per window as they are calling it a variation. Shouldn't they have aligned it by default? Should I leave it as it is or pay them and get it aligned. Please reply soon as it will become more difficult to make changes as we go further. Re: Windows and door height not aligned - advice needed 2May 06, 2014 8:08 am The height of the windows would be on your contract drawings. Have they put them in to what's on the drawings? If so, I can't see them budging on the $400 fee as its something you could have picked up before signing. Re: Windows and door height not aligned - advice needed 3May 06, 2014 8:35 am The same thing happened in my last build. I didn't get the builders to rectify it and it bugged me everyday of the two years we spent in that house. I would pay them to fix it! Good luck. Re: Windows and door height not aligned - advice needed 4May 06, 2014 8:45 am Check your drawings to see if they are aligned. Frankly speaking, I doubt that they will align them for you since that was not part of your instruction. Don't assume that they will do things by default! You better check your drawings and other things to see if there are anything else that you assumed will be provided by default are missing. Although variations at this stage is not a very good idea, but it is still better to find out now than later. Good luck! Re: Windows and door height not aligned - advice needed 5May 06, 2014 7:42 pm Thanks for your reply and suggestion. I thought they would align my windows by default as everywhere I see, it is like this. On the drawings, I saw the window height as 2100 but they actually meant height from the floor. So thats why I got confused. This is my first experience in building a house. If you look at the pictures below, you'll see what I mean. This is the picture of the sliding door and the window: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usman235/14121101525/ This is my elevation D drawing showing the window height: https://www.flickr.com/photos/usman235/13934475188/ Re: Windows and door height not aligned - advice needed 6May 06, 2014 8:40 pm It's quite clear from the elevation that the windows are on floor level. Try to see if there is anything else you would like to have changed. It looks ok with the windows on floor thou. If you have timber floor, suggest to have the variation done as you will have moisture near windows and floor connection.. good luck! Re: Windows and door height not aligned - advice needed 7May 06, 2014 10:09 pm Unfortunately I don't think you have a leg to stand on as you signed off on the final drawings that way. Good luck whether you decide to pay per window or not. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Windows and door height not aligned - advice needed 8May 06, 2014 10:10 pm Although you'd think someone would have pointed it out to you along the way, the draftsmen etc. Not many people would want windows on the floor and not lining up with doors so they could have provided some advice at the time. Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Windows and door height not aligned - advice needed 9May 07, 2014 9:55 pm EmyN Although you'd think someone would have pointed it out to you along the way, the draftsmen etc. Not many people would want windows on the floor and not lining up with doors so they could have provided some advice at the time. This is exactly what I was thinking. Someone from Metricon team should have pointed it out since this was my first build. I have negotiated with them and paying them 800$ to change the height of all 3 windows in elevation D. I thought its better to pay them rather than have regret later on. Re: Windows and door height not aligned - advice needed 10May 07, 2014 11:01 pm I'm so happy to hear they are going to change the position of the windows for you. $800 is a small price to pay for piece of mind. I hope the rest of the build goes smoothly for you. i imagine you also have another contract with an architect? and yeah, whatever other's said about special conditions and appendices 16 16026 My door tends to rub against the frame during winter and I'm looking to fix it so it closes smoothly. Looking online on Youtube I'm seeing methods to fix the alignment and… 0 702 Versaloc is a mortarless besser block system that still needs a properly engineered footing. If you just do a 400x200 footing it will fail in time. At 17m long you need it… 1 18226 |