Brad Pitt built dozens of homes in New Orleans after Katrina. Now they're falling apart...

[OnlinePoker]

...and residents are suing.

NEW ORLEANS — Kamaria Allen had no plans to return to the Lower 9th Ward after losing everything in Hurricane Katrina. But then she saw the new houses.

Billed as flood-safe and futuristic, the Make It Right homes towered over vacant lots in pops of teal, lemon and lavender. Houses like that just didn’t exist in the working-class, mostly black section of New Orleans that Allen’s family had called home for four generations — and definitely not for $130,000.

“I called it my Mardi Gras float,” Allen says of 1826 Reynes Street, the roof deck-topped home that now sits abandoned — mushrooms growing from its split siding, wooden boards propping up its sagging roof. Allen bought the house in 2011 from the Make It Right Foundation, a charity formed by Brad Pitt to help Lower 9th Ward residents return home after the hurricane.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/brad-pitt-built-dozens-homes-new-orleans-after-katrina-now-n908651

[WhiteTara]

1. To be fair, the only construction he would know is

Hollywood props. Too bad for the people. I would hope they have insurance.

[maxsolomon]

9. IIRC, he comes from a Contractor family in Missouri

its one of the reasons he got involved.

[WhiteTara]

13. Oops for him!

[sandensea]

2. I don't doubt Pitt meant well - but if you're going to do this, you had better not half-ass it.

That may have worked in his acting career - but certainly not here.

[dhol82]

3. Yeah, seriously think that Pitt had only good intentions

[nolabear]

4. Well fuck. Is there nothing good anywhere any more?

I saw those places while and after they were built. They looked funny but nice. I wonder if they used the cheap Chinese drywall and steel that screwed so much reconstruction.

*sigh*

[maxsolomon]

11. It has nothing to do with the steel or drywall

Its the detailing and/or the workmanship. Moisture got in.

[cynatnite]

5. Mike Holmes was in on this, too. n/t

[appleannie1943]

6. Here is a picture from google map. Someone is living there.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/1826+Reynes+St,+New+Orleans,+LA+70117/@29.9703091,-90.0197047,3a,75y,287.04h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sovf0Y2OeRMpMnbRq4bB4XA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dovf0Y2OeRMpMnbRq4bB4XA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D287.03976%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x8620a7de47eafd99:0x38c63aa1cc0890ef!8m2!3d29.9703708!4d-90.0198765


Doesn't look like it is falling apart either.

[OnDoutside]

7. The upstairs looks dodgy though....wooden cross supports added to keep the roof up.

[brer cat]

10. There is tape all around it

kind of like crime scene tape. I'm not at all sure someone is living there based on that photo.

[joshcryer]

14. The wood on those steps doesn't appear like it was ever treated.

[maxsolomon]

8. Contract documents, Contractor, Inspections

Sagging roof is under-engineered or rotting.

Mushrooms growing out of the siding is definitely rot.

It's quite likely that details intended to control moisture (from both inside and outside the home) didn't exist, were skipped or done improperly.

In a humid climate, that's going to bite you in the ass fast.

[onethatcares]

12. you got that right

good rough equals a good finish.

Nowadays contractors are using osb sheathing over studs and if the osb gets wet prior to dry in it becomes a sponge. Hell, they use it on roofs here in west central floriduh and sometimes the roofs sit for two weeks prior to stick um covering.

It's all in the name of cost cutting and maximizing profit. That and workers that don't really understand flashings and waterproofing.

That's just my overview after 45 years in the industry.

[Demovictory9]

15. cute homes... from a distance

[kacekwl]

16. Hopefully there is more to the story. I

can't believe he would knowingly build lousy homes on purpose. We'll see I guess.

[VOX]

17. Pitt is a decent soul. I'm betting that he'll address this PDQ.

And not simply to avoid a publicity "black eye." His Make It Right Foundation is doing some good. Check here: http://makeitright.org/

If anything was built in a slipshod or substandard fashion, I have faith it'll be taken care of.