Home buying thread

Intrinsic said:

Yeah every house I’ve had has been granite and never have we babied it or damaged it, my mom seals hers but we never have.

As I mentioned earlier, butcher block may not be as dirt cheap as you think. At least not nicer quality. You can get an 8’ soft rubber wood counter from Lowe’s for $20 sqft, but it’ll absolutely require way more babying than granite. Any decent white oak, maple, walnut butcher block is going to be like $80 sqft based on what we’ve seen since we were wanting butcher block for our pantry and mudroom. We’re $8,000 below our allowance on counter tops though.

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Yeah, some lighter colored granite should get the sealer 2x a year. Doesn't take long. Mine is stain colored, so I don't bother.

Not really worth getting cheap butcher block, IMO. I bet some of the cheaper stuff has a lifespan of single digit years. Mine is white oak, 12 years old, still looks fine.

I did butcher block over our laundry machines and laundry sink and over linen closet cabinets. It looks nice and has held up fine for 5 years but those are in light use areas

not sure I trust butcher block in high use areas.

Of all the things to ditch to save space, I'd think a dishwasher would be top of the list, yet they almost always find a way to keep one in.

Cad said:

Where do you store your dishes if not the dishwasher?

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My dishwasher can’t store dishes in it, in fact my dishwasher gets uppity when you refer to it as a dishwasher.

Intrinsic said:

I agree about the dishwasher thing but very dependent on circumstance. When single it was easy to wash one plate and use the same glass all day long, or just use paper plates. But I’m not about to try and stay on top of what three kids generate between two sets of bottles for the infants/toddlers, plus individual sets of bowls and plates for everyone for breakfast/lunch/dinner and snacks every hour, plus all the dishes pots and pans and cookie sheets the boys want to organize and use as props for their forts and games. It is ultimately a convenience, but a necessary one for us at the end of the day. I still hand wash a lot more than my wife does though.

For this baby we splurged and bought a Momcozy bottle washer (or maybe it is Dr. Brown?) and it has been a game changer for staying on top of bottles.

To tie this back to home buying / building, we actually had people suggest and saw a lot of examples of people putting in TWO dishwashers. One in the kitchen and one in the pantry. Even that was a WTF for me, though.

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Dude that Momcozy think might be the best $ I have ever spent other than taking my wife out on a first date.

I’ve heard a miniature countertop dishwasher is even better but I might wait to see if we have another kid to spring on that

looking to sell my home soon-ish. i've been here for ~17 years and it has a good bit of wear and tear. there's tile downstairs, the stairs and upstairs are carpet. the carpet is bad. the 2 upstairs bathrooms have linoleum and it is starting to peel in the corners. my plan that's always been pushed off was to do vinal plank. if i'm just trying to fix up to sell, should I just put in new carpet? just looking for best roi/expediting the sell

Cad said:

As someone who has worked hundreds of construction defect cases in commercial buildings, what you want to hire is a forensic engineer that goes behind and writes reports/does litigation against builders who fuck up. They know EXACTLY what to look for, and their job is to make sure it's done "right."

I've hired this guy on many projects and he's always done good work:

B. Andrew Hayes, AIA, LEED AP | Rimkus

Mr. Drew Hayes is a graduate of the Texas Tech University College of Architecture with a Master of Architecture degree. As a registered architect in the State of Texas, he has over 22 years of architectural building, site, planning, construction, remodel/adaptive reuse, and development design...

rimkus.com

I'm not saying hire that guy, but someone like that who does inspections and construction management. The "inspectors" that come to look for your $500 pre-purchase inspection or whatever basically makes sure the appliances work and there aren't catastrophic leaks or something. I remember watching the guy in my house and he was like temperature testing the oven to make sure the setting was reasonably accurate. I remember him saying something like "well it's accurate, so if your turkey is dry its your fault."

So helpful, thank you sir, I could never have done that myself.

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How much did it cost to retain their services? I am preparing to sue the seller of my home for failing to disclose significant moisture damage and several other problems, despite having raised pre-sale concerns and relying on professional representations before proceeding with the purchase to ensure we were making an educated, responsible decision.

• confirmed mold contamination,
• significant moisture intrusion,
• concealed deterioration,
• suspected foundational issues,
• and suspected roof/addition integration defects

Preliminary moisture analysis showed the walls of this new 'add-on' the sellers built appear to be 70% moist due to improper drainage. The interior walls, ceiling, and foundation are all soft and sinking. We removed the trim along the base of the wall, and there is black mold. The insulation looks 'fresh' on top, but it looks like the sellers put fresh insulation (1-2") over 8" of blackened, soupy insulation. My contractor began removing the old popcorn ceiling, and in the kitchen/living room area, the ceiling fell in.

Where we thought a 'crack' existed, turns out the walls were not joined together, either. They put a huge slice of tape up each side, plastered over it, and that held the walls together. The addition existed on the home for nearly two years. If this was permitted, we're going after the inspector (including ours) for not catching these things sooner on the roof and inside. If its non-permitted work, we're going to have a field day because they never disclosed non-permitted work. As our contractor removed more paint on the walls, we're seeing significant fracture in the walls that were remediated with quick cover-ups. They moved lights in the bathroom to avoid liquid falling onto them from the leaks in the roof, and we've had so much rain the past couple weeks in Lewisville, TX its pooled water all over the place, and brought this all into the forefront.

I'm trying to find a lawyer on contingency to take up the case after we finish gathering up information but what a hot mess this has been for first-time buying.

This is the ceiling just inside the kitchen/living room/additional room. Once the plaster was removed, all of it was rotted. The only thing holding it together was the plaster. The close-up corner in this photo is where the outside 'fascia' was soft but at the time it wasn't apparently. As we had more rain, the cover-up damage became clearer. They had injected silicone into the cracks and were aware there was moisture leaking/damage, and we're seeing several patch jobs like this across the entire house particularly in the upper ceiling in the living room.

In the bathroom, they had a couple patches that at first glance, you figure 'ok we just fix those' but they concealed more liquid damage; the sellers moved the light fixture like, a foot to the left, and patched the hole where the water was dripping, to avoid 'problems' - sigh.

This is one section of the ceiling that fell through after we removed the plaster. They put 'fresh' insulation on top, but the pipes are rusted and the wood is rotted in the framing. All the wood up in the attic is very touch and go from what our current contractor advised. We also had thermals done and the roof itself is compromised also, leading to water damage across the rest of the house which they covered up with this 'fresh' insulation.

Once we get the mold and moisture analysis back, a remediation team is coming to start ripping walls but we're already looking at having the sale reversed. If not, we're going after them for the cost of legal + all renovation fees, which right now is quoted at nearly $100k.

Damn dude, how is your health? A few years ago my wife was telling me about a girl she knows who had a new construction house where there was some kind of leak in the ducting and it basically ended up spewing mold all through the HVAC system for a while before they figured out what it was. But the whole family was getting weird illnesses they couldn't explain.

I can't walk in the home without having some sort of breathing issue after I leave. My lady is getting skin irritation even before the walls were exposed. I wasn't sure why until now.

Jesus.... that looks like a tear down to the studs is in order.