Land we rent sold

[AlanB]

Looks like fun!!

Do you know what caused the water damage to the floor? The walls look freshly painted. Is there any chance they are hiding something? Always follow the water damage and make that your number one priority.

I'd just knock down those sheds in the back and get rid of them. They don't look like they are work salvaging. Most of them in that condition will cost more to fix than to replace.

The driveway looks a little on the low side. Is it the picture, or will it become a creek when it warms up and rains?

For the price, it looks like a fantastic deal with tons of potential!!!!

Eddie

Floor damage was the window, needs to be changed.
Walls are not freshly painted, they were not hiding anything, not sure when they were last painted, but several years ago I would say, will probably all get a fresh coat prior to move in.

The sheds are definetely dozer food, but at the moment, low on the priority list to get done, I will use them to stuff things in to keep it somewhat out of the weather, and will do some minimalistic patching like nailing on scrap tin, and just use them till I have more time (as if that ever happens)

The one spot on the drive is a bit low, but should not go under water (although being there a year would tell. A triax load of gravel will be top dressed on the existing part, probably crusher run there, and 3 or 4 Triax loads of 2" to make the drive work in the back after the dozer takes off the top soil, etc.

All in all, there is a bunch of work to do, but the house looks pretty solid to start with.

Thoughts that came up in todays adventure.

Swap out Elec panel, the maker of the current panel is out of business and parts are scarce and expensive... Good time to just swap it out.

Plastic gutters are junk, pull them things off, get some one piece ones up there, probably go ahead and trim the soffits etc with vinyl while I am at it and be done.

The rafters are on 16" centers, that is nice.

Man did I buy in too a bunch of work....

Oh well, here we go....

 

[EddieWalker]

Alan,

The pictures of the block wall with the mold on it really makes me think that the wall is leaking from the outside in. It's not something I have any experience in, so there's a good chance I'm totaly wrong, but it sure looks like you need to dig out the dirt and seal it from the outside. Hope I'm wrong.

Eddie

 

[AlanB]

I would like to say you are wrong Eddie, but probably right. And the "right" fix is definetely a backhoe, and couple coats or tar, and parchment etc.

However, it has been that way for the last 40 years and is holding pretty solid, I bet I get rid of the mold, seal it from the inside, paint it with mildewcide expanding sealer, and run a big dehumidifier and things will go along another couple of years.

 

[gemini5362]

I was just reading this post so I have not had a chance to look it up yet but there is a company around here that I believe is an international company. They sell double pane windows for 180.00 installed no matter what size window it is up to a certain size and I believe that size is a 4.0 window
they offer a seperate warranty that will give a lifetime replacement to anything happening to the window that is not covered by home insurance (for instance if hail breaks it home owners insurance covers it and that is not covered. If your child throws a baseball through it that is not covered by home owners insurance so the warranty will cover it. If you want me to I will try to find out the name of the company that makes those windows.

 

[gemini5362]

Alan I would have that mold tested to see what kind of mold it is. It looked black to me and from what little bit I know the one that you have to worry about is a type of black mold. It probably is not anything to worry about but I would check it out. Other than that the house does not look bad. The electrical panel I am not sure what you mean by not getting parts for it. Is it one that you cannot buy breakers for anymore? Usually panels do not go bad just the breakers sometimes do. The wood floor can probably be sanded. You can rent the sanders they are not that expensive and resand then restain it. I did that on my house when I first bought it and it was not that hard.

 

[AlanB]

Yes, I would be interested in the name of the window company, we will probably do it ourselves, but I need to check all my options, sometimes, doing it myself is not the smart way.

I have another post going on the mold on this forum. Really it just boils down to me and in my opinion, that YES, there is mold (as you will find in probably every basement in this area) and yes, it is worse then most, as it has been sitting, unchecked, longer then it should.

I can spend the money on someone to come in and tell me it is mold (good, bad or indifferent) or I can spend the money and remediate it myself. I am just choosing to spend the money on getting rid of it, and treating it to hopefully slow it's return, if not prevent it altogether. (but again, that is a tough deal in this neck of the wood)

On the Electrical panel, I will need to do some additions etc to the box for the welders, Air Compressor etc. The breakers are not readilly available (although I could track them down) for this brand / vintage of box. A contractor pack 200 amp box from GE or Square D is about $125 from Lowes. So for probably around $200 I can have all the materials to update this box to todays standard. I called in a favor and the electrician will be there at the house, 0700 March 4th to change it out for me.

Also, after 40 years of home additions, scabbed in wiring, pulled wiring, patches and other crap, the box is about beat and looks like a bowl of spaghetti wiring in there. Sometimes too me on these projects, it is best to kind of beat down to the good stuff and start clean,,, unfortunately on this one, in my opinion at least the good stuff of the electrical panel is the plywood that it is mounted on At least it is all copper wire. My buddy the electrician said several of the large jobs they are doing now are going back to Aluminum... He said the ridiculous price of copper is changing the way they are doing some things.

Oh, and I hope my meter has a removable seal tag on the darn thing, or you will see me handling some wires VERY gently Then again, I may just cut off the seal, and if it ever gets questioned, just give that stupid look I often get, and say it must of been the buy before me...... Wonder how long I can get by with that...

 

[BTDT]

If you're gonna get windows anyway, might let the wife pick her out some nice garden type windows. Might come in handy later when you need tractor implement, (but honey, you got new garden windows!).

 

[rox]

You are right on target about the dehumidifier. That right there is going to help a whole lot. Hopefully there is a way to drain the dehumidifier into the sump pump. remebering to go down the basement and empty the dehumidifier bucket gets old, I loved running it into a floor drain n one side of the basement and into the sump pump on the other side fo the basement.
About the windows, I always wished that I would have had at least one of those windows that bump out and you put in shelves for plants. I never had one but have always liked them.

 

[rox]

Alan, I missed seeing the mold pics and just now looked at them.
Taht thick line of mold where the basement wall meets the floor that reminds me of a sump pump not working. Is there a sump pump there? Befoer we sold our last house we carpeted the basement but the realtor warned us that people woudl think we were hiding a bad floor. so I got the best basement inspector in Milwaukee to come in and inspect before we put int he carpet. he found that our sump pump was set wrong, and had been for 12 years so we had moisture that was detectable with a moisture meter. he fixed the sump pump setting and amazingly in just 5 days there was no moisture in that crack where the wall met the floor. I bought a moisture meter for like $15 at the hardware store adn when it hit zero reading I had him come back, re-inspect and he updated his report showing it dry. You might want to get a moisture meter and start taking readings, especialy once you work on a sump pump and put in de-humidfiers. You will want to scientifically measure the decrease in moisture with each remediation you put in. the land looks beautiful, I think you got your moneys worht jsut in the value of the land, without even the hosue. Sure it will take some sweat equity but it is brck and sits on a beautiful parcel. ove a guy with a can-do attitude.

has your wife seent he hosue yet?

 

[AlanB]

And my Saga continues,,,

I cannot decide if god is steering me away from deals, or if when I meet him he will tell me he sent two lifeboats and a Helicopter, why did'nt I get on.....

Anyway, called from the bank today, appraiser was out there, and apparently the ratio between the value of the land to the value of the home will not be "right" to finance it with a home loan.... But,,, NO PROBLEM, they will help me out with a Land / commercial loan,,,,,,, oh, at 8.5% instead of 6.125 and yadda yadda yadda......Oh, and oh, yeah, the payback time will need to be probably 10 years instead of 30...... I think that may make the payments jump just a bit...

The official paperwork is not done and in, and not positive what it will come out, but it is turning my stomach just thinking about it. My realtor just said, oh, buy it on the commercial loan, improve the house, then refi on a home loan when the house is worth the 60 to 70 percent of value. Of course that would mean I get to pay an extra 5K or so of closing costs etc.....

Oh, and Rox, no, she has just seen pictures, and there is no sump pump in the basement.

Just have to see what the numbers work out too be, and see what the bank says,,,, somehow, I get this feeling of an extra "fee" or "insurance" or some other nifty name to get additional cash out of my pocket while they decide if they are underwriting my loan or not.