House Update

Well, I did meet the people (the siblings) who own the house. They were very plesant, but clueless, rose-colored glasses kind of way. They see this as the old homestead and come and stay once or twice a year there and haven't done much if any maitenance on their visits. I did find out a little more history on the house though. Their parents bought the house when it was around thirty years old when the youngest of the four siblings was born. The addition on the back of the house was actually a screened porch they closed in. The upstairs has plumbing run to put another bathroom in the house. The mystery closed in windows in the living room have always been that way. The backyard was at one time terraced but has become overgrown and eroded. There is a pecan tree in the yard. There are hardwoods throughout and the hideous tile in the kitchen is supposed to be spanish/mission inspired and was added after the parents traveled to Spain.

That was all good to know and then there was the house inspection which was more than I really wanted to know. The good news is the inspector was really thurough, he spent almost four hours at the house. There are a lot more issues that need to be attended to than we originally thought.

The biggies are the chimney has no flue and no cap and the furnace is vented through it. Which means that carbon monoxide is potentially leaking through the mortar and whenever it rains it comes right in the chimney deteriorating the mortar and wetting the carpet in the livingroom. There is some old termite damage that needs to be repaired and some active termites in an exterior door frame that need to be treated. There is water leaking through the tub to the basement and the tile is cracked so it needs to be torn out and replaced with a one piece fibeglass tub/shower combo.

There are other things besides that, a good number of which will be repaired with a new roof and gutter system. Another big chunk can be classified under updating the electrical. Mostly the issues are related to the age of the house, neglect, and botched home handyman work.

Right now we're having a couple of contractors quote on repairs and then we plan on re-negotiating the price. More on this when we get some estimates back.