House structural question's

Status
Not open for further replies.
How slanty is slanty?

I litigated a case a while back where a builder botched the foundation really, really, bad on a really, really, expensive custom build. An architect determined it needed about 36 pier jacks to keep it from running down the hill it was built on. Around $36K for all of it, IIRC, You would not be looking at much money to jack up that little place. Make the seller pay for it.

A house that old may have leaky water pipes. Some soils expand / contract as they wet / dry. Worth taking a look at.

There may be only one opening to the crawl space. House next door to my office was converted to a commercial application. Has only one crawl space entry that needs to be dug out for someone to get into. So, look hard for the entry. May need a probe.
 
I looked at the roof line in person and had a friend go there yesterday since I'm out of town the roof line is straight except where the garage was you can see where they transition but from the edge of the garage on is straight at the top and the bottom and looks perfectly fine. I think the picture throw that off it definitely looks different in the picture. Not sure if its the angle it's taken it the shadowing or what .
 
Originally Posted by ram_man
have an engineer look at it


Just call someone like Ram jack for an estimate.
 
Originally Posted by Win
Originally Posted by ram_man
have an engineer look at it


Just call someone like Ram jack for an estimate.

The problem is, this is not necessarily earthquake alley. Whatever occurred, is likely to continually occur. There is no reason I can think of that it will not.
 
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by Win
Originally Posted by ram_man
have an engineer look at it


Just call someone like Ram jack for an estimate.

The problem is, this is not necessarily earthquake alley. Whatever occurred, is likely to continually occur. There is no reason I can think of that it will not.


They run the piers to bedrock. It doesn't happen again. This is not rocket science or drama territory.
 
We do have alot of small earthquakes and being a cave state we have that to deal with as well. Maybe that is a contributing factor?
 
Originally Posted by SHOZ

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.
frown.gif


I wonder where that drain goes if it's apparently making things worse.

Assuming the problem can't be fixed by diverting water away on the outside of the house/yard, maybe install a french drain in the crawlspace. Probably would need a sump pump to then send the water away after the pipe collects it.
 
Originally Posted by SHOZ
... 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.
frown.gif



That doesn't sound right. Do you have any municipal water reservoirs nearby or even big distribution lines? My neighborhood had a sudden influx of water problems. House ruining, driveway busting problems. Turned out the ancient water reservoir nearby was leaking. Bad.
 
I'm not sure I'd want to put up with it. I mean, if you have the sweat equity to put in, fine, but in that case you should already know if it's in your scope of ability or not.
 
Keep looking for a better quality house. Ask some of the neighbors what they know about houses in the neighborhood. Sometimes you can glean valuable insight into houses you are considering by asking around the neighborhood.
 
Originally Posted by Win
Originally Posted by SHOZ
... 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.
frown.gif



That doesn't sound right. Do you have any municipal water reservoirs nearby or even big distribution lines? My neighborhood had a sudden influx of water problems. House ruining, driveway busting problems. Turned out the ancient water reservoir nearby was leaking. Bad.

The drain is connected to the foundation tile. It goes off to a pond. But the river floods so the water just comes up the pipe.
 
Originally Posted by 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.
frown.gif



I have a sump pump in my crawl space. Does wonders for keeping the moisture down.
 
This isn't a large home so it might not take that much to solve the issues. Rather than "run" as many say, get an opinion on the amount of work to make it right. Then do a cost analysis. You might have a steal on your hands.....or something to walk away from. People that say run are people that don't have a clue. Money can be made going after these types properties.....if you do your homework.
 
Originally Posted by philipp10
This isn't a large home so it might not take that much to solve the issues. Rather than "run" as many say, get an opinion on the amount of work to make it right. Then do a cost analysis. You might have a steal on your hands.....or something to walk away from. People that say run are people that don't have a clue. Money can be made going after these types properties.....if you do your homework.

The house OP is looking at, unless they compromise heavily on the price, is neither larger, nor nicer, nor in a better neighborhood than similarly priced homes in that locale. It just doesn't seem worth investing in.
 
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by philipp10
This isn't a large home so it might not take that much to solve the issues. Rather than "run" as many say, get an opinion on the amount of work to make it right. Then do a cost analysis. You might have a steal on your hands.....or something to walk away from. People that say run are people that don't have a clue. Money can be made going after these types properties.....if you do your homework.

The house OP is looking at, unless they compromise heavily on the price, is neither larger, nor nicer, nor in a better neighborhood than similarly priced homes in that locale. It just doesn't seem worth investing in.

must be cheap down there. 80k wouldn't buy me an out house up in Minnesota. But that wasn't my point. My point was until you know what's wrong you really cannot evaluate if it is a deal or not.
 
Last edited:
Absolutely! And yes it's crazy how much the price differs for things in different areas. Here a really really elaborate house can be bought for 180k-250k and I mean elaborate big nice house. 75-150 is can get a decent average regular no special frills home.
 
Originally Posted by philipp10
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by philipp10
This isn't a large home so it might not take that much to solve the issues. Rather than "run" as many say, get an opinion on the amount of work to make it right. Then do a cost analysis. You might have a steal on your hands.....or something to walk away from. People that say run are people that don't have a clue. Money can be made going after these types properties.....if you do your homework.

The house OP is looking at, unless they compromise heavily on the price, is neither larger, nor nicer, nor in a better neighborhood than similarly priced homes in that locale. It just doesn't seem worth investing in.

must be cheap down there. 80k wouldn't buy me an out house up in Minnesota. But that wasn't my point. My point was until you know what's wrong you really cannot evaluate if it is a deal or not.

Considering there are other houses for 80K without visual immediate issues, I'd say it's not a deal, regardless.
 
What immediate issues are you speaking of? We aren't sure it has any. I found old pictures before the remodel which answered the question of the little hump in the middle of the house. The hall way having a slant I am unsure of the reason but will know more once I get under the house.
 
Originally Posted by Mr Nice
Look for another house that's in your budget.

My guess is any house he finds for $80K is going to have some issues. He just needs to decide which problems he's OK living with or addressing.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top