House structural question's

[Fawteen]

Originally Posted by AZjeff
Originally Posted by Fawteen
There's only one way to know for certain-hire a structural engineer and have them make an assessment. .


What would that cost?

Depends on where you live. The structural engineer that I used before I retired had been working with me on a number of projects and an initial assessment on a property that small would be about $150 for a couple hours worth of inspection and consultation.

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted by Miller88
As someone who bought a saggy house on a crawlspace, I have one word: Run.

It's not worth it. 3 years later I've jacked part of the house 8 inches in one corner and 4 inches in another spot. Center of the house is still sagged. And I have replaced almost all of the joists on the first floor. Just too much work.

Let it go to someone who does that as primary employment as a flip / rental or something.

Yep. Look for another house.

 

[spasm3]

If you were buying for a rental property its one thing. But with the single wide trailer beside it, its resale is limited. I'd pass for that reason alone.

If you look at pic 7, with the range installed, the right hand floor cabinets will be useless, also where does the refrigerator go? Kitchen cabinet layout is poorly done.

 

[ram_man]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think what we will do is get a good visual of under the house and then if it looks ok make and offer and have an engineer look at it

 

[Food Scientist]

On Zillow it shows the house was sold back in March for $41k (asking $80k now). I'd try to find the old listing (for the photos) to see what was done and what the real condition of the house was before some lipstick was put on.

 

[ram_man]

Originally Posted by SVTCobra
On Zillow it shows the house was sold back in March for $41k (asking $80k now). I'd try to find the old listing (for the photos) to see what was done and what the real condition of the house was before some lipstick was put on.



How would I go about finding the old listing

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by ram_man
Originally Posted by SVTCobra
On Zillow it shows the house was sold back in March for $41k (asking $80k now). I'd try to find the old listing (for the photos) to see what was done and what the real condition of the house was before some lipstick was put on.



How would I go about finding the old listing


Are you using a realtor? They can usually look up the old listings. Ours goes back a very long time.

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by Fawteen
Originally Posted by AZjeff
Originally Posted by Fawteen
There's only one way to know for certain-hire a structural engineer and have them make an assessment. .


What would that cost?

Depends on where you live. The structural engineer that I used before I retired had been working with me on a number of projects and an initial assessment on a property that small would be about $150 for a couple hours worth of inspection and consultation.
Engineer for 50-$75 an hour? Are your rental properties in India?

If you're not a carpenter, you probably should look elsewhere. Someone has already taken it apart completely and did not fix it, that does not bode well.

 

[Propflux01]

Originally Posted by ram_man
A lot of houses around here have no vents at all which just amazes me but yea. It has vents in the rear 4 of them I believe and then a couple on the side.


Do those homes have basements?

 

[Cujet]

A little off topic, but somehow relevant.

I built my FL house using various subcontractors. Fantastic experience, superb result. Less cost than the alternatives and certainly less than existing homes. I paid $157K for the construction of the house. An absolute bargain.

I've been looking at homes for sale up in the North East. OMG despite the stratospheric prices, the homes nearly all have black mold and mildew, cracked or wildly substandard plumbing, sagging rotted floors, radon gas, it's too much for me. I don't want somebody else's problems. And I don't want to live in squalor.

We as a society really need to understand that WE DO NOT HAVE centuries of experience with aging modern homes. Mold gets in, wood rots, 40 years of steaming showers ruin bathrooms right down to the outer walls, improperly compacted foundations settle, ground water rises and falls, decade after decade, the poured concrete basement degrades and the result is not pretty. I'm finding that very few people properly maintain a home. Fewer still have a properly engineered and constructed home. And that many so called "affordable" homes are nothing of the sort.

It's in your interest to keep looking, despite the incredible amount of time required. Your health and in fact your very life may hinge on your choices.

It's no surprise to me that some locations seem to be, for example, brain cancer hot spots. Those are "sick" homes and it shows.


I rented a log home in PA. Place looked great at first, considered purchasing it (at first) but it was halfway up a hillside and the water ran down under the surface. The result was noticeable movement! The poor site engineering doomed a very well constructed home.

 

[PimTac]

It should get a home inspection prior to sale. That's standard. The inspector needs to get under to check it out.

That driveway is really busted up. Is there evidence of a tree that might have been there before and has been removed? That same tree might have caused problems elsewhere in the foundation and underneath. A slow walk around the house is my suggestion to look for cracks or signs of shifting.

Even at that price you should get a reduction for that driveway. I'm thinking too that the end used to be a garage but was converted to living space.

Fresh paint can hide a lot. Look for signs of patched cracks in the walls. Check the corners. Open all the doors and windows to see if they open smoothly or stick.

A good home inspector will pick all this up but it's good for you to do your own inspection.

 

[ram_man]

A lot of the homes do not have basements and do not have vents around here it's probably half and half. The drive way is for sure busted up but ill also be honest that i see that often around here to. I assumed it was either a tree or ground shifting as much of our state is a cave underneath.

 

[DejaVue]

Originally Posted by SHOZ
Crawl space with no vents is trouble unless you live in the desert.

It's common practice over the past decades to enclose crawlspaces. Time has showed venting a crawlspace often creates more problems than it solves.

 

[ram_man]

I've read about this and that is interesting to me. Not sure which way is best to be honest.

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted by DejaVue
Originally Posted by SHOZ
Crawl space with no vents is trouble unless you live in the desert.

It's common practice over the past decades to enclose crawlspaces. Time has showed venting a crawlspace often creates more problems than it solves.


Enclosing is perfectly fine however access is desireable otherwise you are buying a potentially expensive mystery below your feet.

 

[SHOZ]

Originally Posted by madRiver
Originally Posted by DejaVue
Originally Posted by SHOZ
Crawl space with no vents is trouble unless you live in the desert.

It's common practice over the past decades to enclose crawlspaces. Time has showed venting a crawlspace often creates more problems than it solves.


Enclosing is perfectly fine however access is desireable otherwise you are buying a potentially expensive mystery below your feet.

My crawl space has a dirt floor with plastic over it. But the ground water level gets so high (from river flooding) sometime the water comes up through the dirt. It has a drain that the water comes up through. But the last flood I blocked it off and the water still came in, through the dirt. Takes about 6 months to dry it out using a window fan in the entrance opening and two block vents. It's rusted out the heat ducts again.

 

[Ws6]

Nothing about that house looks good, man. How about this? Since you're coming to us on BITOG, and are posting on other forums about this as well: You obviously value our opinion. What don't you save this photo, go in MS Paint, draw us a circle around the area you're willing to search, and g ive us a budget, and let us BITOG'ers have a field day throwing houses at you. It's free, right?

My test for my house? Man, I brought a nickel with me when I looked at the house and stood it up on the hardwood floors, and that [censored] better not roll, or fall over, in any room of the house with hard flooring surfaces. It didn't, which pleased me and ruled that as a "no go" out. I suggest similarly stringent standards to any home buyer. You're already buying a home, and you WILL have papercut costs, like new laundry room equipment, or maybe a new bed, or whatever, but that crap WILL add up, and you don't want to ALSO be hiring someone to mess with the foundation or footing for thousands on TOP of that. Just don't go down that path.


Also, man, look at the roof-line of that house! It looks like a drunk guy drew it. That house has Problems with a capital P.

 

[Ws6]

Originally Posted by DejaVue
Originally Posted by SHOZ
Crawl space with no vents is trouble unless you live in the desert.

It's common practice over the past decades to enclose crawlspaces. Time has showed venting a crawlspace often creates more problems than it solves.



Home inspector recommended ADDITIONAL venting to my crawl space. Interesting. (Yes, additional venting was installed).

 

[Ws6]

OP, check this out:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/75-E-Washington-St-Sullivan-MO-63080/67531261_zpid/

I noticed in one of the pix near the doorway in one of the rooms some "odd" "wrinkles" to either side of the door, but they may well be nothing of import. I'd check it out. It's not in a trailer park, it doesn't have obvious terrible issues (to me anyways, but others might see?), and you can likely negotiate with the bank selling it mayhap.

 

[SHOZ]

Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by DejaVue
Originally Posted by SHOZ
Crawl space with no vents is trouble unless you live in the desert.

It's common practice over the past decades to enclose crawlspaces. Time has showed venting a crawlspace often creates more problems than it solves.



Home inspector recommended ADDITIONAL venting to my crawl space. Interesting. (Yes, additional venting was installed).


New construction around me would require flood gate type vents that allow water to flow through the crawlspace when the river is running wild.