My complaint:
This information is to escalate one of the active pending issues under DR Horton New home warranty, which is still not sorted. It’s been almost 2 years now and work is pending resolution. It is the noise – a humming, electrical, static noise generated by the ceiling fan on the first floor bedroom, traveling to the upstairs bedroom above and a bit to the upstairs hallway as well (sounds more like a condenser or transformer running). Also, there are serious drainage, concerns, not only to ourselves, but in the entire neighborhood, which we can discuss in another conversation as well to seek possible legal actions.
Here is some background for electrical issue:
Since the beginning, this house has been dealing with construction issues. For examples: D R Horton team forgot or overlooked putting a window in one of the bedrooms upstairs, metal railing grill support on the lower part of stairs, gas pipeline coming out to patio, HVAC not functioning, even some ceiling fans were missing and improper grading and drainage issues around the property to name a few. We had to deal with all these, repeatedly sending reminders to get them addressed when we paid for all the services during our home purchase plan. To shed some more light on background – from my understanding the person initially involved in the construction of this house was Mr. Martin. Someone who somehow managed to overlook construction basics on building of not only this house or others; but also their model home in Parks Edge as well which is why perhaps he might not be with DR Horton anymore.
In any event, all these experiences and things add up, which is why we have serious concerns of having electrical issues on the first floor bedroom, leading to the second floor, which is why we are stressing to get this resolved fully before any disaster hits.
Now back to the pending issue – I had reported this issue under homeowner’s one year warranty, offered by D R Horton. Initially, some loose connections within electric outlets and in the same room were observed which were also triggering some of the hallway and kitchen lights to go on/off – while turning the same fan on and off; but this was fixed by Electrician and at this point the pending item remains the humming noise, constant electrical/static noise traveling upstairs. As triage and troubleshooting, a couple of fans were swapped out to see if it eliminates the noise. As a result, the noise on the first floor bedroom has reduced significantly. However, the noise traveling to the bedroom above it on the second floor remains.
Until recently, together, DR Horton team and I were optimistic and patiently trying to understand and get to the bottom of the issue slowly but surely. We were even positive it will be resolved/taken care of. Their area manager Antonio also came over and mentioned a few fixes initially such as installing rubber mounts to prevent vibration and noise; but to me it seems it’s more of an electrical static noise then vibration. Hence since we could not come to an agreement – he decided he can bring Michael Hood who is their area construction manager – as a second opinion. Initially I was not comfortable having another of their team members come over and speak the same language – group convince me around but as a respect I allowed it.
as discussed there, area manager Antonio brought one of their construction managers (not sure of title), Michael Hood to observe the reported issue. I filled Michael in and we went to the issue location.
When he entered the room upstairs – he asked if the condenser is around the corner of this room. Clearly, he observed a noise right away which sounds like coming from a condenser and at that point I informed condenser is on the other side of the house and to eliminate any external factors further even the AC unit is off at this time. I also informed him this is the exact noise we are concerned about – a humming noise, an electric static noise being caused by ceiling fan downstairs needing resolution. It sounds like we are standing next to an electrical transformer on a street.
Unfortunately, towards the end of the conversation – ignoring the facts your team tried grouping up to say there is no problem. Quite surprising why a person – Michael Hood in this case will bring up ‘condenser noise’ right after entering the room if there was no problem or the noise caused by the fan is normal .?. Then later he does not want to hear his mentions.
Last week myself and Antonio verbally thought of going to look at the model home Lancaster to observe the noise coming from the fan and whether it’s normal or not where it travels to the second floor. I took time out and visited the model home Lancaster yesterday and there are not that many fans installed, so I observed the fan installed in the master bedroom and believe me there is no noise coming from the fan in the room or travelling elsewhere. During the visit from D R Horton Warranty team members Michael and Antonio, I offered the same – to go to a model house and look at it, but they both did not seem interested and kept insisting it is normal to hear such a noise. To my utter surprise, at this point I feel things are being taken lightly and brushed away absolutely! They don’t want to put efforts to resolve the matter and try to convince me the noise we hear is normal.
Within the last 10 days, I got the rooms inspected by multiple independent contractors (6-7 people) from different companies which included electricians, construction specialist contractors, insulation specialists, even air conditioning people. All of them on separate occasions have ed the noise traveling upstairs is not normal; raised concerns advising that the issue must be resolved and a couple of them even mentioned it gave them a headache after staying in the room upstairs for some time. This is the same problem I’ve been having when any guest comes over – it causes a headache after some time and the room is not in usable condition at this point. It is also embarrassing being a new construction home. I personally witnessed the same, but wanted to get an independent evaluation done to the problem. Fact is – there is an issue which is pending, but DR Horton warranty team is trying to brush it off. I have enough evidence to support the same. Under no event, it is normal for a fan motor to cause this much noise to travel to the second floor. As it gets quieter in the evenings, the noise is more obvious and bothersome, preventing sleep in the room which perhaps the room is meant for. To add supporting documents I can provide quote from insulation and electrical contractors.
Suggested solution:
The solution in a simpler manner could be to check and if needed conduct a panel tuneup, cross check connections, so they are not lose specially the ground and also install a brushless DC motor fan (which I can commit to purchase at my expense) and we hope this can eliminate the issue. If any loose connection is preventing proper current from flowing through the sockets and motor of the fan - it can also cause this humming noise. NoT Normal! These are notations from well trained technicians and no personal opinions so let's adhere to those. Insulation might also be needed and I have quotes for all these.
