Have a home inspection sceduled

Avatar for susieyippin
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-07-2003
Have a home inspection sceduled
4
Thu, 07-07-2005 - 10:39am

Thought I would get my house inspected to see if there are any significant repairs that need to be made. I already know that our steps to the driveway need to be replaced, along with the retaining walls around the steps. I got an estimate for that last nigt-- around 4K, and that includes additional fill, hauling away the old rotted railroad ties that the walls are made of, labor, material, etc.

When we bought our house in 1990, we had it inspected then. The report (which I only recently found and read-- STBX hides things from me) said that our house needed to have addiitonal supports put into the roof rafters. This was never done. STBX evidently used this as a bargaining chip to get the sellers to lower the price, then didn't have the repair done. In 1990, the repair would have been $545. There is a note for a roofer in the papers saying the repair needed to be done, so the plywood wouldn't sag and become compromised.

I can't wait to see what the new inspection turns up. It's scheduled for July 25th.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-30-2004
Thu, 07-07-2005 - 12:46pm
You're smart to get stuff inspected now. I'm just now learning the degree of work that needs to be done underneath all the asthetic stuff.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 07-07-2005 - 2:22pm
Some home inspection companies are more thoruough than others. I would not wish to leave this to chance. Tell the inspector that you have been told the roof rafters are long past need of replacement, and that the roof membrane has probably been compromised by now.
Avatar for susieyippin
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-07-2003
Thu, 07-07-2005 - 6:02pm
I have a copy of the original report, which I will show them, and they already know about. The company have the appointment with is certified here in MA, and is well known. The roof shingles (not the joists or plywood) was completely replaced in 2001, so it's protected from the elements. I think it just needs to be strengthened from the inside of the attic with blocks between the joists, from what I understand inthe 1990 report. The other thing mentioned in the 1990 report that I found was the bathroom fans in the main and master baths were vented to the inside of the attic. The report said that the fans should be vented outside, and I had said to STBX (not kowing what it said in the report, and just going by what I'd seen on HGTV and This Old House ;-)) 2 years ago that maybe it would be a good idea to vent the fans to the outside, since we remodeled our bathrooms at the time. He said, "Nah, that doesn't need to be done, it's fine."
Avatar for susieyippin
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-07-2003
Thu, 07-07-2005 - 6:10pm
I saw (from a website on one of the cl-'s signatures) an article about what to do to prepare for divorce, and I thought it was a great idea. I think it is divorcemagazine.com. It also gave a list of what all your daily, weekly, monthly and yearly expenses are, which I made into a table, so I could keep track of how much we spend in any given month in the household. It was totally surprising, since STBX came up with "his" number, going by an average that his accountant gave to him, and I came up with a higher number, since I took into account the cost of school pictures (which I ususally pay for), membership dues, office supplies, clothes, pet costs, extracurricular activities for the kids, non-covered medical supplies, etc., which he'd forgotten about, or didn't think was important, since he didn't pay for them, I did.