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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    DE
    Posts
    1,210
    Quote Originally Posted by indysteel View Post
    They found the same thing when they replaced my roof at my former house. It's a wonder my roof hadn't cave in. The decking, which was rotted in spots, dated back to the late 1800s. My home inspector absolutely should have caught it, but didn't. .
    In fairness to the inspector, he can only inspect what he can see. If there was no access to the attic, or if the attic was finished, there is no way he could see the holes in the sheathing underneath the shingles. He MIGHT have been able to tell if there was one or two layers of shingles on the roof, but frankly the only way to find these holes is to remove the shingles, or to see them from below. If you couldn't see them, neither could he.

    If he had walked the roof and noted spongy spots, that's a clue, as is any evidence of leaks - water spots in your ceilings. Any of those conditions would be a red flag.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Between the Blue Ridge and the Chesapeake Bay
    Posts
    5,203
    The inspector on my house walked all over the roof, in the attic, etc. He missed a bunch of stuff--roof, furnace, basement, plumbing, electric...I didn't know what to look for, that's why I was paying HIM.

    A year later, the real estate agent called and asked if I had any problems stemming from the inspection. I listed off the whole ream. She said he had made many mistakes on other houses, too, and that she was sorry. Sorry big whoop, I'm 5-figures in the hole because of him. I would not have bought the house if I had known that the roof was bad, the furnace was improperly installed and unsafe and unusable, the hot water heater was corroded nearly through, there was no washing machine hookup (I should have caught that one on my own), the electric and the plumbing were not up to code.

    Lesson learned. The house before this one had an excellent inspector who caught every little thing, including how many years left on certain appliances and features and estimated repair and replacement costs. I thought they were all like that one! Doh!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    209
    Tulip, love the backsplash! Is that glass tile?

    Just saw the pictures of your house exterior before and after. What a great touch of the red color just inside the window frames. Very stylish

    dt

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    6,034
    Quote Originally Posted by Desert Tortoise View Post
    Tulip, love the backsplash! Is that glass tile?

    Just saw the pictures of your house exterior before and after. What a great touch of the red color just inside the window frames. Very stylish

    dt
    Oooooh, I just so those pictures for the first time, too (I'm not sure why, but I didn't really follow this thread previously). What a charming house and lot! I love older homes--despite the fact that they're money pits.
    Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Continue to learn. Appreciate your friends. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.

    --Mary Anne Radmacher

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Hillsboro, OR
    Posts
    5,023
    The tile looks great, Tulip! Great color choice!!
    My new non-farm blog: Finding Freedom

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Flagstaff AZ
    Posts
    2,516
    Beautiful Kitchen Tulip. I love all of of it.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    Your kitchen looks awesome. You are a saint to do all of that yourself!
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
    Specialized Oura

    2011 Guru Praemio
    Specialized Oura
    2017 Specialized Ariel Sport

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Central Indiana
    Posts
    6,034
    Quote Originally Posted by withm View Post
    In fairness to the inspector, he can only inspect what he can see. If there was no access to the attic, or if the attic was finished, there is no way he could see the holes in the sheathing underneath the shingles. He MIGHT have been able to tell if there was one or two layers of shingles on the roof, but frankly the only way to find these holes is to remove the shingles, or to see them from below. If you couldn't see them, neither could he.

    If he had walked the roof and noted spongy spots, that's a clue, as is any evidence of leaks - water spots in your ceilings. Any of those conditions would be a red flag.
    He had attic access and could have, and should have, seen that the decking was rotted in parts. This was just one of two VERY obvious issues that he should have caught that ultimately cost be a total of $12k, but thanks for suggesting that I was unfairly blaming him.
    Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Continue to learn. Appreciate your friends. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.

    --Mary Anne Radmacher

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    DE
    Posts
    1,210
    No need to get like that. I have no idea what your inspector had access to or what he might have seen and your first note did not elaborate. Not all houses have attic access unless you start cutting holes in the ceiling. An inspector won't do that. Sounds like you got ripped off and that's a shame.

    There can be many hidden conditions in older houses that would/could never be observed in a 2-3 hour home inspection. If you like the house enough to buy it, then you have to deal with the eventuality of making major repairs - that just goes with home ownership - and new homes and older homes alike are just as prone to have major problems.

    His liability is probably limited to the amount charged for the inspection so he has little to lose if he misses anything.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Jacksonville area of NC
    Posts
    821
    The house we just bought (repainting several rooms) actually had two inspections before we bought it. One we paid for (very good inspector and he found a bunch of stuff) and a VA inspection. We got a VA approved loan so that requires them to do an inspection as well. Thankfully we got one of the good inspectors they have and she also found a bunch of stuff, mainly the same things our inspector found. Also in getting a VA inspection anything they find the seller is required to fix or no sale. There are a few things we will need to fix though. Like the gate for the fenced in back yard needs new hinges.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    4,516
    Quote Originally Posted by withm View Post
    His liability is probably limited to the amount charged for the inspection so he has little to lose if he misses anything.
    This depends on the state, and the contract with the inspector. It's not necessarily true.
    Most days in life don't stand out, But life's about those days that will...

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    the dry side
    Posts
    4,365
    Bump.
    So who's got house projects going on right now?
    We looked for a new place to accomodate our need for a shop ( more garage space) and office for DH. To make a long story short, we decided to add on. Much cheaper since we were paid off, and we get to stay in our neighborhood.

    Before: 1979 Daylight Rancher, in sore need of updating.



    We decided to bump out on the side, adding another 15 x 40 shop bay (the garage is double deep anyway) and an office ( 15 x 28) with an entrance on the side. The shop now has 8' doors instead of 7'. We also put in a new furnace, AC which we finally got to use today!, more insulation, LAN, and a few other updates. We hired an excellent contractor who's been doing a terrific job.

    Almost done



    LOTS of photos here, with more description of the work and so on.
    https://picasaweb.google.com/penny.schwyn/Addition
    2015 Liv Intrigue 2
    Pro Mongoose Titanium Singlespeed
    2012 Trek Madone 4.6 Compact SRAM

  13. #13
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    northern Virginia
    Posts
    5,897
    Wow. Very nice.

    I've been getting ready to have most of my condo painted, then rip up the wall-to-wall and have the floors replaced. But there's some uncertainty in my job right now so I'm holding off for a few more months at least. In the meantime I'm still doing small projects like finding better ways to organize things and declutter, replacing doorknobs, locks and hinges, and cleaning out a big closet. I have boxes and boxes of old photos, many with duplicates, that I need to sort through.

    - Gray 2010 carbon WSD road bike, Rivet Independence saddle
    - Red hardtail 26" aluminum mountain bike, Bontrager Evoke WSD saddle
    - Royal blue 2018 aluminum gravel bike, Rivet Pearl saddle

    Gone but not forgotten:
    - Silver 2003 aluminum road bike
    - Two awesome worn out Juliana saddles

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    471
    Awesome! I love it.

    My current house is great, but it's on the wet side of Oregon. We've been spending so much time biking on the dry side of the state, we just bought a townhouse and closed on it today over there...no more driving to the wet side exhausted and sweaty. My favorite single track begins less than a quarter mile from my townhouse front door

 

 

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