The House That Jack Built

We loved our home when we first bought it and I guess for the most part, we still do, sort of. What's not to love? We have almost 3000 square feet of livable space. I have a front porch that, while lacking in real size and charm, we enjoy sitting out on. We have a decent enough sized back yard for O to play. We have a walk in pantry that has a ton of space. The rooms are all fairly large and we have lots of room to put up visitors. But that's where the love stops.

Have you ever seen the show 'Holmes on Homes'? If you haven't, it's worth taking a look at - especially if you own your own home. I wish I had a Mike Holmes.

Our house is a tract house. In case you don't know what that means..a tract house is one in a community of tract houses that were built from a few plans as quickly and cheaply as possible (read - very poorly made). I don't imagine all tract houses were made poorly, but ours certainly was. The first full winter we were in this house we noticed how cold our house felt and in particular, Bug's room. This house ooooozed cold air and our electric bills proved it. We spent close to $1500 during three of the peak winter months that first year! The windows are horrible (but look pretty from the outside). The insulation is questionable and there were gaps and holes around every door and window!
This only scratches the surface of my house woes but most of my woes pertain to the cosmetic aspects of the house and not the structure. Thankfully, we haven't been hit with anything major as of yet, but..I'm waiting. That's how confidently pessimistic I am on this one.

I get that builders are looking to make money. My town, during the big housing boom, was one of the fastest growing towns in Texas. You couldn't build houses fast enough at one point. But does that really negate building a home properly and with quality workmanship? I guess it did. Of course it's at no cost to them once the 1 year warranty expires. Even though our home had only been lived in a month prior to us purchasing it, there was no warranty and therefore the builder didn't have to fix any of the problems we found. Instead, we are the ones left fixing what they didn't or didn't care to do correctly in the first place.

How sad..