For every magnificent up, there’s usually a sickening down…
Just got back from my home inspection, done by a very thorough, straightforward man named Philip Preston. He found some “issues” with the house.
First is the grade. The house is on a completely flat plot, and there’s not grade away from the house, so water will naturally tend to pool around it. Thankfully, he said the crawlspace was very dry, despite being poorly vented. (It has fewer vents than current code requires, but it’s per code for 7 years ago).
He said that the main beam under the South end of the house was improperly shimmed using folded metal pieces, and these compressed, causing a squeak in the floor under what will be Joey’s room. Nothing serious, and he said I could fix this by installing a proper, unfolded metal shim.
The big thing is the roof. He said the attic spaces hadn’t been allowed adequate ventilation, so the shingles had essentially cooked over the past 7 years, halving the life of the roof. So, I’m facing roof replacement in 4 years rather than 14 years. In other words, I WILL be replacing the roof on the house. There goes the vacation fund…
The contrace I have on the property is written with a CONTINGENT UPON INSPECTION clause, so I’m weighing my options. I could do nothing, obviously, but since my offer on the house ($122k) was on a house in working order with a good roof. Now I’m looking at a paint job, new roof, and numerous cosmetic repairs.
Tough stuff…I’ll know more when I get the full report this afternoon.
On the BRIGHT side…no termites.