In the middle of negotiating for a 2 story house to renovate. The price is good, and have made an offer, and there is a counter. The place needs a lot of work, but its doable imo.
The house was built in 1910, so is about 110 years old.
Now comes the problem.
A friend came over to look at the place, and pointed out that the floors all have slopes to them. There is a relatively steep rise to the bedroom, and a slope down to an inner wall. A kitchen that is a step up. Some repaired floors. In addition to this, the basement floor- although there are no visible cracks, isn't flat in the least.
There are a couple other concerns.
Someone had bought the house cheap a few years ago, and had put in all new windows, a new roof, and new doors. They then bailed out and put it up for sale. The going story is, they were renovating a number of houses and ran out of money. Certainly plausible.
But the front and back doors- newly installed- have a lot of trouble closing. Now, that could be because they were put in carelessly, or it could be because the house has settled SINCE they were put in. Also in the front room, the ceiling is bowed slightly down in the center. Who knows why.
Now before everyone says, "Run!"..... I want to point a few things out.
First, there are no visible cracks in the walls anywhere, or around the new windows. The basement foundation, although the floor is uneven, is brick/cement pillars and the brick foundation walls look okay and straight. The basement walls don't have any visible cracks either (although there is a false wall in one corner, which could have been an attempt to renovate, or could be covering something).
The uneven basement floor could be because it was originally a dirt floor, and someone came in and dumped bags of cement and did a very amateur job of closing it in.
Its true that you're going to find few 110 year old houses that don't have settling of one kind or another.
I had a plumber come in for an estimate for some work, and for what that its worth, he thinks the house looks fine. He seemed reasonably honest.
This settling is obviously a deal breaker. Is there some kind of 'specialist', who can be called who can tell you if the house is sinking, or if it just settled and is going nowhere? I planned to renovate this to rent out, not flip, so I would like to know if it is safe long term. And I don't have a whole lot of money to buy a perfect house.
Any thoughts??
The house was built in 1910, so is about 110 years old.
Now comes the problem.
A friend came over to look at the place, and pointed out that the floors all have slopes to them. There is a relatively steep rise to the bedroom, and a slope down to an inner wall. A kitchen that is a step up. Some repaired floors. In addition to this, the basement floor- although there are no visible cracks, isn't flat in the least.
There are a couple other concerns.
Someone had bought the house cheap a few years ago, and had put in all new windows, a new roof, and new doors. They then bailed out and put it up for sale. The going story is, they were renovating a number of houses and ran out of money. Certainly plausible.
But the front and back doors- newly installed- have a lot of trouble closing. Now, that could be because they were put in carelessly, or it could be because the house has settled SINCE they were put in. Also in the front room, the ceiling is bowed slightly down in the center. Who knows why.
Now before everyone says, "Run!"..... I want to point a few things out.
First, there are no visible cracks in the walls anywhere, or around the new windows. The basement foundation, although the floor is uneven, is brick/cement pillars and the brick foundation walls look okay and straight. The basement walls don't have any visible cracks either (although there is a false wall in one corner, which could have been an attempt to renovate, or could be covering something).
The uneven basement floor could be because it was originally a dirt floor, and someone came in and dumped bags of cement and did a very amateur job of closing it in.
Its true that you're going to find few 110 year old houses that don't have settling of one kind or another.
I had a plumber come in for an estimate for some work, and for what that its worth, he thinks the house looks fine. He seemed reasonably honest.
This settling is obviously a deal breaker. Is there some kind of 'specialist', who can be called who can tell you if the house is sinking, or if it just settled and is going nowhere? I planned to renovate this to rent out, not flip, so I would like to know if it is safe long term. And I don't have a whole lot of money to buy a perfect house.
Any thoughts??
Last edited:
to the forum.
