We fixed our sloping floors by having the tile guy pour some sort of self leveling concrete on them. Other parts of the house we just ignored and you can feel a hump as you walk, but whatever. However, we are a rancher on a slab, so no real structural issues. Anecdotes!
Post by SusanBAnthony on Feb 18, 2020 6:58:12 GMT -5
We lived in a town where at least half of the older houses had sloping floors. My H is super risk averse and was like Nope to any sloping house. Our realtor and myself thought he was crazy and we no doubt passed over many lovely and perfectly fine houses because of it.
It's tricky because most sloping floors are fine, but if they aren't it can easily be $$$$$$$ and you often don't really know until you start doing destructive things.
Even if they need to go into your kitchen & bath, it’s not like you’d need new appliances, fixtures, toilet, etc. Shouldn’t they be able to carefully remove cabinets so they can be reinstalled? I mean, people donate old cabinets. Same with stuff in bathroom. There will be labor costs but I don’t think that you’re necessarily looking at another $50k or whatever to redo your kitchen
Post by wanderlustmom on Feb 18, 2020 8:55:27 GMT -5
I’m so sorry you are going through this!
I agree with the others that I wouldn’t have necessarily known to have a structural engineer do an assessment before buying an older house but I see now that’s a good idea.
I hope that once you have a plan, it will feel better going forward. Houses are always so much stress no matter what. And the good news is that when it’s done, it’s done and you won’t have to worry as much. But I would have been upset too
Oh I am so sorry you are dealing with this. We bought our home in December--we went to it a handful of times, had it inspected, etc. But not until we moved in did we notice that the floors are uneven and SO squeaky. I want to have that addressed down the road, but it was not something we had in our budget when we bought the house--because we simply didn't notice it.
Want to hear a real horror story though about buying a new house?? This is awful.
My sister and BIL saved up for YEARS to buy their first home. They found a house and had it inspected--no one was living in it; a company had purchased this row house and fixed it up and sold it. When they had it inspected, water and such was turned on, etc.
4 days after moving in and using the water heavily, the main water supply line burst at the top of the home--on the third floor. Flooded gushing water three floors down. They had emergency plumbers come out and rip out the wall to find the burst and apparently the people who flipped the house had seen a leak and COVERED IT WITH DUCT TAPE. But no one would have known that if they did not open up the walls. And when they tested the water during the inspection it was for like an hour, not 3 days.
It cost my sister and BIL 60K to fix...fortunately home owners insurance covered most of it, but they still had to come up with 10K to pay their deductible. And it took about 6 months of work on all 3 floors, making their BRAND NEW HOME unlivable for that time.
They have been looking to sue the company that flipped the house, but they cannot really afford lawyer fees at this rate. It has been pure hell for them :/
Even if they need to go into your kitchen & bath, it’s not like you’d need new appliances, fixtures, toilet, etc. Shouldn’t they be able to carefully remove cabinets so they can be reinstalled? I mean, people donate old cabinets. Same with stuff in bathroom. There will be labor costs but I don’t think that you’re necessarily looking at another $50k or whatever to redo your kitchen
Unless the cabinets were installed for the sloping floor. That happened to a couple that bought my husband's family farmstead. There is no leveling the slope so they had to retrofit the cabinets to be level.
We fixed our sloping floors by having the tile guy pour some sort of self leveling concrete on them. Other parts of the house we just ignored and you can feel a hump as you walk, but whatever. However, we are a rancher on a slab, so no real structural issues. Anecdotes!
Slab homes can still have structural issues. The joke here is that there are 2 types of homes: ones who have had foundation problems and ones that will have foundation problems. The vast majority of homes in our area are a slab foundation.
We lucked out, we are the one street in our neighborhood that a higher end custom builder built and our house has pilings below it so we have a lower than typical chance of having foundation issues.
Oh I am so sorry you are dealing with this. We bought our home in December--we went to it a handful of times, had it inspected, etc. But not until we moved in did we notice that the floors are uneven and SO squeaky. I want to have that addressed down the road, but it was not something we had in our budget when we bought the house--because we simply didn't notice it.
Want to hear a real horror story though about buying a new house?? This is awful.
My sister and BIL saved up for YEARS to buy their first home. They found a house and had it inspected--no one was living in it; a company had purchased this row house and fixed it up and sold it. When they had it inspected, water and such was turned on, etc.
4 days after moving in and using the water heavily, the main water supply line burst at the top of the home--on the third floor. Flooded gushing water three floors down. They had emergency plumbers come out and rip out the wall to find the burst and apparently the people who flipped the house had seen a leak and COVERED IT WITH DUCT TAPE. But no one would have known that if they did not open up the walls. And when they tested the water during the inspection it was for like an hour, not 3 days.
It cost my sister and BIL 60K to fix...fortunately home owners insurance covered most of it, but they still had to come up with 10K to pay their deductible. And it took about 6 months of work on all 3 floors, making their BRAND NEW HOME unlivable for that time.
They have been looking to sue the company that flipped the house, but they cannot really afford lawyer fees at this rate. It has been pure hell for them :/
How awful for your sister and BIL! They might be able to find a lawyer to take a case like that on contingency. The lawyer takes a percent of the judgement rather than an hourly fee. So if your sister/BIL lose the lawsuit they are not out any money. For that type of damage it is worth looking for a lawyer/firm who accepts cases on contingency.
Oh I am so sorry you are dealing with this. We bought our home in December--we went to it a handful of times, had it inspected, etc. But not until we moved in did we notice that the floors are uneven and SO squeaky. I want to have that addressed down the road, but it was not something we had in our budget when we bought the house--because we simply didn't notice it.
Want to hear a real horror story though about buying a new house?? This is awful.
My sister and BIL saved up for YEARS to buy their first home. They found a house and had it inspected--no one was living in it; a company had purchased this row house and fixed it up and sold it. When they had it inspected, water and such was turned on, etc.
4 days after moving in and using the water heavily, the main water supply line burst at the top of the home--on the third floor. Flooded gushing water three floors down. They had emergency plumbers come out and rip out the wall to find the burst and apparently the people who flipped the house had seen a leak and COVERED IT WITH DUCT TAPE. But no one would have known that if they did not open up the walls. And when they tested the water during the inspection it was for like an hour, not 3 days.
It cost my sister and BIL 60K to fix...fortunately home owners insurance covered most of it, but they still had to come up with 10K to pay their deductible. And it took about 6 months of work on all 3 floors, making their BRAND NEW HOME unlivable for that time.
They have been looking to sue the company that flipped the house, but they cannot really afford lawyer fees at this rate. It has been pure hell for them :/
How awful for your sister and BIL! They might be able to find a lawyer to take a case like that on contingency. The lawyer takes a percent of the judgement rather than an hourly fee. So if your sister/BIL lose the lawsuit they are not out any money. For that type of damage it is worth looking for a lawyer/firm who accepts cases on contingency.
I think they have looked into it a bit but at this point they are just tired of dealing with it. And I do not blame them!
I don't know anything about structural engineering or that that would even be a thing to consider before buying. I don't think it is OPs fault for not knowing to pursue getting it evaluated if the inspector or realtor didn't suggest doing that.
OP I'm sorry, that sucks so much. I hope it ends up being less expensive than it sounds.
How awful for your sister and BIL! They might be able to find a lawyer to take a case like that on contingency. The lawyer takes a percent of the judgement rather than an hourly fee. So if your sister/BIL lose the lawsuit they are not out any money. For that type of damage it is worth looking for a lawyer/firm who accepts cases on contingency.
I think they have looked into it a bit but at this point they are just tired of dealing with it. And I do not blame them!
I get that, but man would I want to make them pay. That is fucked up. They would most assuredly win their case if they have proof of the "fix" and can force the company to show that they made modifications inside the walls. How awful.
I don't know anything about structural engineering or that that would even be a thing to consider before buying. I don't think it is OPs fault for not knowing to pursue getting it evaluated if the inspector or realtor didn't suggest doing that.
OP I'm sorry, that sucks so much. I hope it ends up being less expensive than it sounds.
Well, now you do. So if you ever get into a home and see major cracking (especially any horizontal cracking on walls, vertical cracks often aren't such a big deal), unevenness, or anything that just doesn't feel solid, it's worth the peace of mind to hire a structural engineer to check on those concerns.
Well, now you do. So if you ever get into a home and see major cracking (especially any horizontal cracking on walls, vertical cracks often aren't such a big deal), unevenness, or anything that just doesn't feel solid, it's worth the peace of mind to hire a structural engineer to check on those concerns.
Likely b/c I live on a swamp? Lol, people are very conscious of foundation issues here. My last home was a two story that was originally a one story. They extended the living space downstairs and added a 2nd floor, so there were lots of concerns.
The area we live in now went through a major drought several years back and it really did a number on the houses in the area. The one we bought had some cracking on the patio and driveway slabs, but thankfully the house itself seems to be fine. But there was one we were going to look at that is a fucking nightmare. Something happened with the walls in the basement and they basically had a wall that broke open and allowed all this soil to pour in. The people who own it bought it from someone else (so they're not the original owner) and did a ridiculous amount of work to try to fix it. It had been on the market for months and they had to disclose all of this information. I should go look it up and see if it ever sold. We got the disclosure paperwork before our appointment to look at it and immediately cancelled. It looked like a fucking nightmare.
I don't know anything about structural engineering or that that would even be a thing to consider before buying. I don't think it is OPs fault for not knowing to pursue getting it evaluated if the inspector or realtor didn't suggest doing that.
OP I'm sorry, that sucks so much. I hope it ends up being less expensive than it sounds.
Well, now you do. So if you ever get into a home and see major cracking (especially any horizontal cracking on walls, vertical cracks often aren't such a big deal), unevenness, or anything that just doesn't feel solid, it's worth the peace of mind to hire a structural engineer to check on those concerns.
Buying a house sounds scary lol. We are hoping to buy something this summer and I hope our realtor is really knowledgeable because neither of us knows much of anything about houses.
Well, now you do. So if you ever get into a home and see major cracking (especially any horizontal cracking on walls, vertical cracks often aren't such a big deal), unevenness, or anything that just doesn't feel solid, it's worth the peace of mind to hire a structural engineer to check on those concerns.
Buying a house sounds scary lol. We are hoping to buy something this summer and I hope our realtor is really knowledgeable because neither of us knows much of anything about houses.
I think my most all-inclusive advice is that house inspections will not uncover many concerning things in homes. They have limits because they are not going in walls or digging in the foundation. Google things you can look for yourselves that are harbingers for bigger problems. Signs of water damage, cracks in the basement walls, etc. Do not count on your inspection or realtor to find these issues for you. They all have very different interests in your home purchase than you.
Buying a home is a huge amount of money for most people, Go about it carefully and thoughtfully but while knowing the limits of what you can know pre-purchase. Don’t rush in. Plan to have money to fix issues that crop up quickly after settlement because of course that will be the time things fail.
Good luck. I made this all sound daunting so I’m sorry. Haha.
shauni27, that is absolutely awful. Speaking of home horror stories, my H's cousin was under contract on a flip house and for whatever reason the inspector took off a wall register and found a small stash of meth and a pipe hidden there. They had the house tested and found high levels of contamination from a meth lab. It was only happenstance that the inspector found it, there was no other way to tell. The couple that flipped the house had no way of knowing when they bought it, and after cousin walked away they had to disclose it to all future buyers.
shauni27 , that is absolutely awful. Speaking of home horror stories, my H's cousin was under contract on a flip house and for whatever reason the inspector took off a wall register and found a small stash of meth and a pipe hidden there. They had the house tested and found high levels of contamination from a meth lab. It was only happenstance that the inspector found it, there was no other way to tell. The couple that flipped the house had no way of knowing when they bought it, and after cousin walked away they had to disclose it to all future buyers.
I was juuuuust coming in to say this. I think a different OP would have gotten much different responses.
I admittedly did not even look at who the OP was...(I suck and usually just glance for a familiar avitar)...based on a quick glance at OPs history is this based on their questionable decision making? Or is there something bigger that I just missed?
Post by litskispeciality on Feb 18, 2020 13:45:19 GMT -5
OP in hindsight I think your realtor or the inspector, or someone should have warned you to maybe look elsewhere as this type of issue could happen/at least be bigger than they said. Obviously the seller wasn't going to investigate this or pay $13K unless they had to to move the property.
shauni27 , that is absolutely awful. Speaking of home horror stories, my H's cousin was under contract on a flip house and for whatever reason the inspector took off a wall register and found a small stash of meth and a pipe hidden there. They had the house tested and found high levels of contamination from a meth lab. It was only happenstance that the inspector found it, there was no other way to tell. The couple that flipped the house had no way of knowing when they bought it, and after cousin walked away they had to disclose it to all future buyers.
I was juuuuust coming in to say this. I think a different OP would have gotten much different responses.
I admittedly did not even look at who the OP was...(I suck and usually just glance for a familiar avitar)...based on a quick glance at OPs history is this based on their questionable decision making? Or is there something bigger that I just missed?
Awhile back she talked about a sister and BIL (I think that was the relation) who were openly racist and if I'm remembering correctly, didn't address how she was handling that or if she was distancing herself from them or not. I don't remember if she actually dug in defensively about it or not. She has now said that she cut off contact with them, but ML never forgets, lol. In general, though, I think she has rubbed people the wrong way in the past and so everything she posts now will be viewed through that lens.
Well, now you do. So if you ever get into a home and see major cracking (especially any horizontal cracking on walls, vertical cracks often aren't such a big deal), unevenness, or anything that just doesn't feel solid, it's worth the peace of mind to hire a structural engineer to check on those concerns.
Buying a house sounds scary lol. We are hoping to buy something this summer and I hope our realtor is really knowledgeable because neither of us knows much of anything about houses.
An experienced realtor will help guide you, but you should also try to find a good home inspector. They can help make good recommendations for further, more specialized inspections, if necessary.
Like a PPer said, go in eyes wide open and ready to ask lots of questions, but also be aware that you just can't catch everything. Be prepared and have some cash set aside for repairs. Be prepared to build up that fund so that you don't get stuck when major repairs pop up. We just spent $300 to repair a plumbing issue and ceiling because whoever installed the tub drain did it incorrectly. Thankfully, the damage was minimal and it was a very easy fix, but things like that are hidden in walls and ceilings and they can get really bad before they're discovered.
Buying a house sounds scary lol. We are hoping to buy something this summer and I hope our realtor is really knowledgeable because neither of us knows much of anything about houses.
An experienced realtor will help guide you, but you should also try to find a good home inspector. They can help make good recommendations for further, more specialized inspections, if necessary.
Like a PPer said, go in eyes wide open and ready to ask lots of questions, but also be aware that you just can't catch everything. Be prepared and have some cash set aside for repairs. Be prepared to build up that fund so that you don't get stuck when major repairs pop up. We just spent $300 to repair a plumbing issue and ceiling because whoever installed the tub drain did it incorrectly. Thankfully, the damage was minimal and it was a very easy fix, but things like that are hidden in walls and ceilings and they can get really bad before they're discovered.
Also, be willing to pay for a good inspector who will be very thorough and provide a detailed report, and set aside cash for any additional inspections you might want based on the findings. Based on some concerns from our initial inspection report we had an electrician inspect the wiring, and also had testing for mold and radon. We also had the HVAC inspected and serviced but we made the sellers pay for that.