As many of you probably know, I purchased my first ever home this year. New construction, it is slab-on-grade.
Being the tinkerer that I am as well as curious how things are made, I thought back to the homes I lived in over the years with my family.
One that comes to mind was in a town called Mooresville in the early to mid 70's which were some of the happiest times of my life. We lived in a 3br 1 bath unit that was constructed in 1958. It is still standing but with some exterior changes.
We lived in a cul-de-sac and the entire northern part of town were all National Homes. Based in W. Lafayette Indiana, the churned out pre-fab homes at a dizzying pace. All were on a slab and as was our home, the ductwork for the gas heat was also in the slab. The 1 car garage had been converted to a family room of sorts with the last 6 feet or so left unfinished and we referred to it as the "backroom". Located in there was the 60 amp fuse box and a JC Penney chest freezer along with mom's harvest gold GE dryer.
Being a kid, I had no clue what model it was so I did some research and found a site that has a floorplan that matched ours. I don't recall the sq ft but I am pretty sure our model was referred to as the Colonial "Fairwood" (the brochure does not easily identify which is which).
I dimly remember the single pane wooden windows with removable screens and storms. There was no central AC, we got by with a JC Penney window unit that ran in the kitchen for a while then the family room. Lakewood P25 box fans did the rest. I don't recall the furnace make either except is was natural gas. There were no closet doors, literally a curtain sufficed as the door, even in the master bedroom.
You can see how National cut costs by running the bathroom plumbing right behind the kitchen to eliminate long runs in the slab. The kitchen also has a place for a washer and mom did in fact have one for a year until it broke. Then we did all our stuff at the laundry mat using huge boxes of Bold 3. No, I don't recall the washer she had nor does dad. Nor do I recall what machines were at the laundry mat either. Hopefully Speed Queens!
The "hallway" that led to the bathroom also housed the electric water heater and furnace and I recall those had some strange accordion doors. Dad had a water softener installed a couple of years before we moved out.
The attic has darn near NO insulation. I know this because when we did sell, the inspection at the buyer request revealed that. Thus in order to sell, we I should say me and dad put insulation in the attic area.
We moved out in 1977 to a god forsaken patch of ground in a rural area of same county. Our abode for 15 years was a Sunrise Park 14x70 trailer. Built in 1974 before HUD codes became law, it was a five star POS in every sense of the word. Incredibly, Intertherm, the joke of an outfit that made the POS oil furnace that came with the POS trailer is still in business as a division of Nortek aka Nordyne. During our 15 years in housing purgatory, we ended up with a wood stove because we not not afford to heat with oil. IN addition, the furnace was constantly being repaired. One of the happiest moments I recall was when my uncle who had his own HVAC biz in Seymour came out and replaced it with a much more reliable electric unit. Naturally REMC loved us when we turned it on which was rarely. We depended on wood all those years. I took my frustration out on that furnace by emptying not 1 but 2 full boxes of 12 ga hi brass 5 shot until that POS furnace looked like the Russian army marched over it on their way to Berlin. Both my dad and uncle, former military men, thought I was losing it.
We then got a sectional built by Carrolton homes of Goshen, IN. Finally we had room and much more comfort and a far better built home. The Coleman/Evcon furnace was also a POS but now with dad working his job steadily, we had the cash to replace it. And he did. With a 90% AFUE Janitrol. No problems after that. OTOH, the condensing unit was a peach. Never an issue with it and it cooled a 1580 sq ft home easily.
Then mom and dad sold out and moved to FL where dad resides in a home constructed by General Finance, right next to Club Med. No, he is not a member.
Which brings me full circle to my home now. I am interested in home construction in general mainly because of all the crap I had to deal with living in that POS trailer in the 70's and 80's. When mom and dad bought the sectional, I made sure I researched every nail, screw, shingle, etc to make sure we were getting something decent. It really was a good home.
For the first time in about 37 years, I am sort of back to where I started. Only the home I have now is certainly smaller than that little National we once owned, it's on a slab. Plumbing is also in the slab (Pex I believe) but my HVAC ductwork is up in the attic area. Not knocking it in the least; millions of homes all over are on a slab but it kind of brings back memories of my childhood. Obviously this one is constructed with modern, albeit builder grade components. I plan on being here for a long time so I try to take care of it as best I can.
In my time, as an able bodied male child, I was called upon to help fix things. And fix we did. From ripping out aluminum 14/2 and replacing it with copper to ripping out galvanized pipes and replacing them with PVC to replacing a 20 gal WH with a 50 GAL, I've done a lot. I dug septic leach beds by hand. I pulled submersible pumps and replaced check valves.
And I worked with a friend of my uncle for a while who did new home construction and remodels. So I am familiar with what goes into a home, what makes a good home vs a barely assembled grab bag of junk.
That's where I developed an interest in home construction types.
Being the tinkerer that I am as well as curious how things are made, I thought back to the homes I lived in over the years with my family.
One that comes to mind was in a town called Mooresville in the early to mid 70's which were some of the happiest times of my life. We lived in a 3br 1 bath unit that was constructed in 1958. It is still standing but with some exterior changes.
We lived in a cul-de-sac and the entire northern part of town were all National Homes. Based in W. Lafayette Indiana, the churned out pre-fab homes at a dizzying pace. All were on a slab and as was our home, the ductwork for the gas heat was also in the slab. The 1 car garage had been converted to a family room of sorts with the last 6 feet or so left unfinished and we referred to it as the "backroom". Located in there was the 60 amp fuse box and a JC Penney chest freezer along with mom's harvest gold GE dryer.
Being a kid, I had no clue what model it was so I did some research and found a site that has a floorplan that matched ours. I don't recall the sq ft but I am pretty sure our model was referred to as the Colonial "Fairwood" (the brochure does not easily identify which is which).
I dimly remember the single pane wooden windows with removable screens and storms. There was no central AC, we got by with a JC Penney window unit that ran in the kitchen for a while then the family room. Lakewood P25 box fans did the rest. I don't recall the furnace make either except is was natural gas. There were no closet doors, literally a curtain sufficed as the door, even in the master bedroom.
You can see how National cut costs by running the bathroom plumbing right behind the kitchen to eliminate long runs in the slab. The kitchen also has a place for a washer and mom did in fact have one for a year until it broke. Then we did all our stuff at the laundry mat using huge boxes of Bold 3. No, I don't recall the washer she had nor does dad. Nor do I recall what machines were at the laundry mat either. Hopefully Speed Queens!
The "hallway" that led to the bathroom also housed the electric water heater and furnace and I recall those had some strange accordion doors. Dad had a water softener installed a couple of years before we moved out.
The attic has darn near NO insulation. I know this because when we did sell, the inspection at the buyer request revealed that. Thus in order to sell, we I should say me and dad put insulation in the attic area.
We moved out in 1977 to a god forsaken patch of ground in a rural area of same county. Our abode for 15 years was a Sunrise Park 14x70 trailer. Built in 1974 before HUD codes became law, it was a five star POS in every sense of the word. Incredibly, Intertherm, the joke of an outfit that made the POS oil furnace that came with the POS trailer is still in business as a division of Nortek aka Nordyne. During our 15 years in housing purgatory, we ended up with a wood stove because we not not afford to heat with oil. IN addition, the furnace was constantly being repaired. One of the happiest moments I recall was when my uncle who had his own HVAC biz in Seymour came out and replaced it with a much more reliable electric unit. Naturally REMC loved us when we turned it on which was rarely. We depended on wood all those years. I took my frustration out on that furnace by emptying not 1 but 2 full boxes of 12 ga hi brass 5 shot until that POS furnace looked like the Russian army marched over it on their way to Berlin. Both my dad and uncle, former military men, thought I was losing it.
We then got a sectional built by Carrolton homes of Goshen, IN. Finally we had room and much more comfort and a far better built home. The Coleman/Evcon furnace was also a POS but now with dad working his job steadily, we had the cash to replace it. And he did. With a 90% AFUE Janitrol. No problems after that. OTOH, the condensing unit was a peach. Never an issue with it and it cooled a 1580 sq ft home easily.
Then mom and dad sold out and moved to FL where dad resides in a home constructed by General Finance, right next to Club Med. No, he is not a member.
Which brings me full circle to my home now. I am interested in home construction in general mainly because of all the crap I had to deal with living in that POS trailer in the 70's and 80's. When mom and dad bought the sectional, I made sure I researched every nail, screw, shingle, etc to make sure we were getting something decent. It really was a good home.
For the first time in about 37 years, I am sort of back to where I started. Only the home I have now is certainly smaller than that little National we once owned, it's on a slab. Plumbing is also in the slab (Pex I believe) but my HVAC ductwork is up in the attic area. Not knocking it in the least; millions of homes all over are on a slab but it kind of brings back memories of my childhood. Obviously this one is constructed with modern, albeit builder grade components. I plan on being here for a long time so I try to take care of it as best I can.
In my time, as an able bodied male child, I was called upon to help fix things. And fix we did. From ripping out aluminum 14/2 and replacing it with copper to ripping out galvanized pipes and replacing them with PVC to replacing a 20 gal WH with a 50 GAL, I've done a lot. I dug septic leach beds by hand. I pulled submersible pumps and replaced check valves.
And I worked with a friend of my uncle for a while who did new home construction and remodels. So I am familiar with what goes into a home, what makes a good home vs a barely assembled grab bag of junk.
That's where I developed an interest in home construction types.
I built houses for a huge company in Houston for a while in 2001. I watched the second plane hit the twin towers live while pouring a slab on I think my second house, I had just started. The foundation foreman had a tv in his truck and called me Over to watch something crazy going on.. Anyway, you don't realize what materials are really what until you see any kind of aging and use and perspective for that matter. The one we built didn't leave much time to contemplate better choices, which we had no control Over anyway and most stuff looks so pretty when it's all fresh and new. I drive by that neighborhood every once In a while and am shocked at how shabby and run down it all is compared to how clean and neat each house was at move in time. And it is a huge north Houston suburb. Anyway, I learned quick the importance of not only having a really strong square slab but solid roof decking! Nothing makes a house look junky like saggy roof decking. The plumbing nowadays with the flexible pipes is a no brainer but no HVAC is going to be great unless it's a fortune and a half. The rest is either good or bad layout and details. But a home is everything 
