Second Quarter 2014

Willis Sinclair Homes

The Lowcountry’s Premier Custom Home Builder”


Thinking about building or remodeling? You need an excellent builder. Read a few of the reasons why Willis Sinclair Homes is an excellent choice inside.

 

24 Gabriel Road

Lodge, South Carolina 29082

Happy 4th of July!

www.WillisSinclair.com

Sales@WillisSinclair.com



843 846 2500

Second Quarter 2014


Happy 238th Birthday, America!



In just a few days, we will be celebrating our country’s 238th birthday. By most measuring sticks, The United States is the greatest nation in the history of the world.

As with many great nations, age seems to be an enemy. Once most great nations reach our nation’s age, serious problems start to develop.

We certainly have some serious problems in our country today. The problems can be solved, but not by our politicians.

We do need good leaders, but we need more than that. We need to hold those leaders accountable. They need to follow the law, the same laws we are required to follow.

I have been reading a book written by the legendary Chuck Norris: Black Belt Patriotism. In it he outlines eight critical areas we have to address as a nation:

1. We have to remember (learn) our history. America is unique among nations.

2. We have to get our country’s spending under control.

3. We have to get our borders under control. A nation without borders is not a nation.

4. We have lost our moral compass. Without a sense of “right” and “wrong,” everything eases into the “okay” category.

5. We don’t value human life. Maybe we are conditioned by the news where we can watch hundreds or thousands being killed on a daily basis. Maybe we just don’t care. Maybe we should care.

6. There is no future for our children and grandchildren. Do you remember the “American Dream”? Where has it gone?

7. What has happened to our traditional family values? For that matter what has happened to our families? Strong families make a strong nation. We desperately need strong families today.

8. Apathy might be our biggest challenge. Far too many of us don’t care. As long as we have a full tummy, some cool ones in the refrigerator and good entertainment on tap we are fine. Our founders put literally everything they had on the line. In the process of winning our freedom, many of our founders lost everything.

Freedom is not free, but it is worth a fight. The fight starts with America’s families. Enlist today.

God Bless America!


Willis Sinclair Homes: the best choice you can make.

Snack time! Wire insulation tastes good!

There are many builders and service people working here in the South Carolina Lowcountry, so why do we say we are the best?

For starters, our end goal is for you to be happy. We are in this for the long run and not just a quick profit. We will work with you and/or your architect or designer as you plan a new home or remodel to make sure you get exactly what you want.

Once you are happy with your design, we will be happy to give you a price. We want to make sure you understand how much your project will cost because we don’t like bad surprises anymore than you do.

Once we begin construction, we constantly monitor the work. We are on site every day to check to see that things are done well. We expect excellence from our subs just as you should expect excellence from your builder.


This is the crawlspace of a home we did not build.

If there is a problem with workmanship, our sub gets our two word speech: “Fix it.” (If we have to give this two word speech to a sub too many times, the sub gets our other two word speech: “Good Bye.” We will not hire subs that cannot or will not do top quality work.

We keep our work areas and your home neat and clean. We even care about your crawlspace and other places in your home that you might not see. This photo is of a home we did not build, but did begin to maintain. You may wonder why wires on the ground is such a big deal. If so, take a look at this little guy we caught having a snack.

This photo also illustrates why it is important to make sure your crawlspace is tight and critter free.

Here is an “after” photo of the same crawlspace. This is how crawlspaces look on homes we build.


Here is what a crawlspace looks when we build a house. The plastic sheeting is not down yet and you can see an extension cord on the ground for our light.

There are some things you can do to make your house more substantial for very little additional cost. You should really consider them.

The building code requires ½” plywood on your roof. We use ⅝” because for just a few cents per square foot, you can increase the strength of your roof by 25%. The reason you might consider this is that all roofs sag between the rafters. Obviously, ⅝ will sag much less than ½” plywood. When you are looking at houses, look for roof sags between the rafters especially on heavy (shingle) roofs.

Typical wall strapping beside each window.

We also use plywood instead of OSB (Oriented Strand Board). OSB is less expensive than plywood and just as strong, so why would Willis Sinclair not use it? One of the main reasons we don’t use OSB is a phenomenon called “nail blowout.”

Nail blowout sometimes occurs when a nail is driven into OSB. Instead of piercing the panel as it should, the nail pierces part of the panel and chips off part of the panel. Anyone who has used OSB has seen this. Once the inside of the panel is chipped or blown off, the holding power of the nail is very low. Nail blowouts don’t happen all of the time or even often, but how many times do you want it to happen in your house?

Another problem with OSB is water. If plywood get wets, often it will dry with no problem. If OSB gets wet, it will sometimes swell and become weak in the wet area. It does not get better after it dries. Mold and mildew seem to love wet OSB also. Once mold or mildew starts, it is difficult to stop.

Building code requires a builder to use ⅝” gypsum board (sheet rock) on the ceiling of a garage if there is an inhabited space above the garage. This is because ⅝” sheet rock is fire rated and will provide extra time for the occupants to escape should there be a fire.

We routinely use ⅝” sheet rock in all garages we build. We use ⅝” on the walls as well as the ceiling. Automobile fires do happen occasionally and we want our clients to have the best possible protection.

Another area where we do things a bit differently is our hurricane ties. Often builders use steel straps nailed to the framing members beneath the plywood sheathing. That works, however there are some drawbacks.

If you look at the drawing, the blue represents the opening where a window is to be installed. The gold color is the framing. The red represents straps to hold the house together in case of high winds. With steel straps so close to the window, it becomes difficult to attach and seal the window properly. It is also difficult to nail on the exterior window trim because you have to try to drive nails through the steel straps.

Although nails are not shown on this simplified drawing, many, many nails are required to hold the straps in place. It is not unusual for the lumber to split because of the number of nails. Having tie down straps often becomes a hollow victory.

We use steel rods (or cables) to hold your house in place. These are inside the wall, so no lumps or bumps will be created by straps. (We still use a few straps where required on rafters, et cetera.)

Another reason Willis Sinclair Homes is a good choice is our limited lifetime warranty. Some builders drive the last nail, collect the last check and disappear. We want to make sure you are very happy you chose us even after the project is complete.

Don’t settle for any builder when you can have Willis Sinclair Homes build your new home or do your remodeling.

Willis Sinclair Homes

We will never knowingly disappoint you!

Call Us

843 846 2500

info@willissinclair.com

www.willissinclair.com

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