Monday was our home inspection. It lasted for about two hours. The inspector was really great, he checked everything. Our agent seemed to think most of his finds were nit-picky. We got the full report yesterday and quite a bit was small stuff we can do ourselves but there are a few things that really need fixed before they become a big problem.

The house has a brick foundation and while its in fairly good shape, it does have some deterioration. There are some missing bricks in the right back corner of the house where water is getting into the crawspace/basement and wetting the support beams and joists. Then all around the foundation of the home there is holes where the motar has worn out. Some of the bricks near the front porch have no mortar left around them, they are just sitting there. So, basically he said we need to hire a masonary guy to come and re-mortar a lot and replace loose or missing bricks. That could be quite expensive but its really necassary. He said the cheapest way to do it would be to have somebody just seal up the brick foundation with stucko. I hate the look of stucko but we have to pay for it I guess it is an option. We really can’t afford to fix something like that, not for quite a while. We’ll ask the seller to fix it even though our agent does not think the seller will agree to fix anything.

Then there is a plumbing problem that has been going on for a while. There is a leak in the laudry room but you can not see it inside the house. If you go outside and look there is water running down the bottom of the siding and down the bricks…That is what caused the missing bricks and mortar deterioration in the back right corner of the house. There is a leak under the sink when you run water, the dishwasher leaks, the shower leaks, the hot water heater leaks (and does not get hot!), plumbing pipes in the roof are not secured or sealed and have no vent roof boots, and so on. Actually the inspector said the dishwasher needs to be replaced because it leaks because there is no seal on it anymore, the springs on the door are broken off, and the racks are rusted and missing there wheels. The only thing we want the seller to fix though is the leak in the laundry room that is destroying the foundation back there and the hot water heater. It is 31 years old, leaks, and will not get hot so we want the hot water heater replaced. We also want the plumbing pipes in the attic secured, sealed, and vent roof boots added.

The bathroom ventillation fan is not properly installed. It just blows into the attic. The attic floor is all just 10 inch fiberglass insullation so having the bathroom fan vent into the attic is a serious health hazard due to mold growth. We want the seller to fix that so it vents out through the roof.

The furnace fan mode does not work. The inspector said we might want to add a second oil line too because there is only one line. There is also an old receptical above the funace/hot water heater the is tripped but still has power running to it. So we are supposed to have that outlet replaced. The sump pump should be covered. The basement is all dirt which is keeping moisture in and can cause mold and etc so that should be leveled out and covered with plastic or concrete. The wooden support beams are stuck in the dirt so the moisture will start to rot those. The support beams are treated wood though so the inspector said they should last for a while yet but we should try to fix that. We are just going to ask the seller to fix the fan mode on the furnace.

Some of the structure beams were replaced and some were sistered. So we were supposed to ask the sister why there were replaced and reinforced beams because that may mean there was, at least at one time, a structure problem. Jeremy told our agent to find out and instead she just assured him that the seller did that when they remodeled the home. Sounds weird to me. How the hell does she know anyway. She isn’t the seller and did not ask him so how can she answer that off the top of her head! I don’t buy that. The inspector said there is some structural sagging but that it is normal for a house so old.

The roof leaks in two spots but its really minor. A tab is missing and there is some bricks missing in the chimey where water gets in. The inpector did find buckets placed in the attic though so he said we should ask the seller if there is a problem with the roof. The roof is old. He said it will need replaced in a few years which will cost somewhere in the thousands. That is expected though. Its funny though, the inspector noticed that the shingles on the roof were recently replaced in a few spots but that they were replaced with old roofing that already showed deterioration. Morons!

The gutters need to be replaced soon too and covers installed. They also need to drain farther away from the house’s foundation. The gutters need to be better secured to the house in the back too. The grading of the property is too flat and needs to fixed. Since it so flat all the water just sits in the yard. Some of the really soggy spots they covered with hay. So we should pour top soil all over the yard and have it so that it has a downgrade of so many inches per foot. We have a decent sized yard so I don’t know if that will be expensive or not. It most likely means we won’t be able to have a garden until we fix it or all our plants and stuff will constantly be water logged. That really pisses me off because I was so happy to finally have a fucking yard with a large garden. Thats our damn luck.

Then there were pages of minor stuff. Like re-caulking the bathroom, door frames in the basement, and etc. The furnace pipe that goes into the wall needs sealed around the pipe because there is a big gap. The faucets outside the house for a hose need to be secured to the house and are missing handles and caps. Some of the plumbing pipes are old will probably need replaced within the next few years. We need to install looks on the basement door outside and install a better lock on the basement door that goes into the house. We should insulate the floors above the basement to prevent heat loss and shit. He recommended installing new locks on the front and back door as well. Some of the windows do not lock and one will not stay up when you open it. The stove needs a new cook top soon because its all scratched to hell. And a bunch of other really small stuff.

So we told our realtor what we wanted fixed, plumbing, foundation, fan mode on the furnace, bathroom fan vent, and the hot water heater replaced. So she said she really doubts the seller will fix that stuff because he supposedly is in the hole already with the house. So we should not be “nit-picky” about repairs. Which I think is crap because when we asked about why he remodeled the house just to sell it she said there was a fire in the house a few months prior. She said the home only suffered minor smoke damage but the seller used the insurance money to go ahead and redue the whole house. Now she claims he used his own funds to fix up the house and so he most likely won’t want to put anymore into it. I really dislike her. She is weird and seems to only care about getting her commission. She is really going to be pissed when she finds out we are refusing to buy the house if the seller won’t fix those 5 things before closing. Too fucking bad though. I think the foundation, plumbing and health hazards from the bathroom fan vent are serious fucking problems that need to be fixed. The inspector agreed and she did not seem to care for that.

The seller has five days to decide though so we should know by the 24th or 25th what he will fix or not fix. Also, we should know by tomarrow what the results of the radon test were. It takes three days to get a proper reading I guess. So today some time the inspector should go back to the house to check the reading and let us know tomarrow sometime.

So, that is the results of the home inspection. We will see what happens…

I really hope the seller agrees to fix everything though because our lease is up on June 30th and we told them we would be out by then. If we do not take the house I guess we will either have to renew for a year and not get a house or pay $800 a month to rent on a month to month basis. Well, actually we could just move somewhere else for 6 months or so but only really ghetto cockroach infested apartments offer those short leases. Or really expensive places we can not afford.

Well, we will see what happens…Thats all for now.