Well we thought we were going to buy a new house, but it turns out that is all it was. Friday after work we had the home inspection completed. At first, it wasn't so bad. Some minor problems you'd expect, a slightly more serious one that none of the external outlets were on GFCI circuits... and then we got to the attic.
Holy Cow. We actually spent a lot of time up there because the inspector had that many photos to take. The first major issue was that some of the structural supports that should have been 2x8's were really a 2x4 attached to a 2x6, 2 extra inches of support right? Whatever. The next major issue was that about half the roof rafters were cut anywhere from 1-3 inches short and scrap lumber was used to scab it all together to reach the ridge line. No kidding, one rafter even had a piece of wood wedged in between the end of the rafter and the ridge for those extra couple inches to nail to the ridge. Then the last major problem was that the actual ridge board was cracked across 3/4 of the house. And a no joke crack I probably could have put my pinkie finger through in places. I know this house survived Ike, but if I lived there I'd be worried every time the wind blew.
So whew! Best $425 we've invested in anything. The inspector we used was the same one from our first house and obviously we think pretty highly of the guy. As he is only a home inspector, per protocol he recommended we "get a structural engineering inspection" in his report. Totally doesn't matter though, we've both been 'engineers' long enough to know what's wrong with the construction and really you don't need to be an engineer to figure that out. So anyone buying a house in H-town and needs an inspector, do we have the guy for you.
Well now, this is the reason we didn't yet have our current house on the market. We are pretty tired of going to look at houses that only half meet our criteria and have decided to participate in the recession by staying in our current home for now instead. Maybe we should have a house 'reheating party' for our current place.
13 years ago
6 comments:
Holy crow! Glad you found all that out before you made the big purchase. I'm all for a "reheating" party :).
Bummer on not being able to get the house, but so glad you guys found that problem now rather than when you were like "hey honey, where'd the roof go?"
Actually I am not surprised given what passes for construction in Houston. NO wonder houses don't appreciate much.
Due to your guys' efforts, now other potential homeowners will have the ability to see that info up front (at least if the laws are similar to WA)...no doubt the current homeowners are going to have a very difficult time trying to sell that house without dumping in the $$ to get the roof fixed (or rather, rebuilt it sounds like)...
Hey Nujoud,
Becca sent me the link to this post. My fiance and I are building a house in Magnolia Creek and once they start building we want to have an inspector look at it a couple times during the build process. I'd love a recommendation since you liked yours...
Just to make sure, we ended up sending the inspection report to the listing agent and the homeowner. They are now legally obligated to provide the report to the next buyers... unless the listing lapses and you go to a new agent who knows nothing about an unfavorable report. There is always a way to game the system even if it is illegal, hopefully, these people won't.
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