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Check out those door locks and ensure that they are of good qualityBy Leonard GildarieThis week we were supposed to continue examining some of the products available by suppliers and problems experienced by owners and others when using them. However, we received a number of requests to speak of poor quality materials and their impact.Now, this is a critical issue that even I can boast of having some authority to speak on.Many new home owners would speak of the painstaking work as well as the hardship and sacrifice of buying that panel door. It ranges from $15,000 for one from private furniture makers to $40,000-$50,000… depending where you are buying it from and the type of wood used. Purpleheart and crabwood tend to cost more.Two months later, the neatness is gone. It is all hanging wrong. There are spaces between the door frames.The problem was that it was built poorly in the first place. Not enough glue would have been used. Heat and moisture would cause shrinking and expanding, and a surprised home owner could be left wondering if he was given bad work by his contractor. In most cases it is the fault of makers and some blame can be attributed to the contractors. Also, as regards doors, you can use sanding sealer and lacquer to offer some kind of protection for the bad work given by the makers.It is the same thing with door locks. I spent over $40,000 in door locks last year while building. The sales clerk assured me that they were good. Almost seven months later, three of the locks are not working. Each cost over $5,000.I have wooden windows made from purpleheart and crabwood. We bought some quaint looking bolts – four of them for every window. Quite a few of the handles have fallen apart. I have to use a screw driver to lift the bolts now.My toilet, thank God, is good. But I have friends and families who have complained of being forced to change the internal parts after a few months. Many of the toilet sets that come have plastic parts. Some of the parts cost in excess of $2,500. In some cases the parts are not available, from even the store that sold the toilet sets in the first place.I am not even going to talk about the quality of padlocks.There have been complaints of the quality of tiles, the faucets, the shower head and the list goes on. So how do you solve these problems?Most of the home owners are working class folks who have taken a mortgage and as such would be working on a shoe-string budget. They, naturally, would want to save a few bucks and visit the hardware stores that have the deals.In the cases of door locks, for instance, a good contractor would know the ones with the inferior quality. But these will cost a few dollars more. It is your call. Do you want something cheap that will fall apart within months or go for a better quality that may cost more?While steel, roofing and other wooden materials, cement, blocks and sand will take a huge chunk of the budget, I believe it may be wise to make the sacrifice and buy a better quality in other critical items.Now this brings us back full circle to what I have been saying all the time. If you as a land-owner have applied for a mortgage, you would have had to submit to the bank an estimate for materials you would be using. This will include door locks and toilet bowls and fittings and all the other critical items.Spend the few dollars more to buy the quality stuff. It will eliminate you having to fix it a few months after moving in and finding them not working.Homes have literally thousands of pieces, and those pieces are assembled by people who sometimes make mistakes. There will be problems in practically every new home. Outlets and switches may not work, the roof might leak, settling may occur, and any number of dozens of other unpleasant things could occur. One of the most irritating and consistent problems reported is leakage from sinks and water pipes.With the water pipes, turning off the supply, drying ends and using a good paste will solve the problem. But the bathroom and kitchen sinks with leaks are a major irritant, because more than likely, the fittings are located in a dark place that makes it uncomfortable to work with.Other annoyances include persistently leaky gutters that even silicone or euro-band can’t fix. More than likely the gutters were not properly fitted. This can cause your gutter-boards to rot faster. Fix these problems early.The point is that when you are making this huge investment and need to buy the sinks and doors, pay a little more. Include these prices on the estimate for the bank.Much love. Remember, keep the emails coming to [email protected] or call us at 225-8491.