Under recommendation, we had a professional inspector come to the house for a full checkup. We were worried at first that he would find major structural damage, as well as other catastrophic problems. Luckily, he did not, but there were problems, which can be expected on a 25 year old house. He said the foundation was good and solid, and the house is structurally sound.
The major problems include the air conditioner being “red tagged” by another inspector, stating that it needed to be cleaned. That’s easy enough, but there was a lot of rust on it, and the gas flames weren’t burning pure blue, which is a sign of a bad fuel-to-air mix. It also didn’t have a drip pan or drain for condensation collection. Luckily, the side of the little room it’s in is against one of the bathrooms so we should be able to put in a pan and run a drain line through the wall. The good news is the air conditioner works very well, and as anyone from Houston can tell you, you gotta have air conditioning. We will eventually have to replace the unit as it is also 25 years old, but that can come later. We’ll definitely have it cleaned, the air ducts cleaned and mounted correctly in the attic, and check the Freon level in the compressor.
The hot water heater is toast. Not good. Hello, Home Depot…we need a hot water heater. The pilot light won’t light, it’s very rusty all over, and the bleed drain is discharging into the garage instead of outside. This is something we will fix right away.
The garbage disposal is history. Oh, it turns on, but there is a gaping hole in it, so it’s basically not usable. Yep, Home Depot again. They’re gonna love us.
They left a refrigerator, which was nice, but it looks like they never cleaned it. We’ll roll it outside and hose it down, clean the coils and disinfect it. The good news is that it cools very well!
The stove is a gas stove, and the burners work, but the oven does not. I don’t like this cheap thing anyway, so that won’t be an issue for very long.
The main electrical breaker box will need replacing. Someone went in and did all the grounds incorrectly, and double-tapped one of the breakers with two lines. The brand of box is also notoriously bad and cheap, so once again, Home Depot and a professional electrician will be needed.
Someone installed, and very poorly, some outside motion-sensing floodlights. They’re large and ugly, and the wiring is exposed with screw-on wire nuts for the connection. What were these people thinking?
The house has two smoke detectors, and one of them doesn’t work. Luckily, they’re inexpensive, so we’ll be able to easily install one in every room. On all the windows around the house, the springs that hold the windows up are broken, so when you raise a window it will come slamming down immediately. We have no idea how to fix that, but Lawrence is good at figuring things out, so it will be fixed eventually. One day we hope to be able to install high quality double-pane insulated windows all around for better energy efficiency. We’ll have to save for those as they can be very expensive.
The roof has some issues as well. From a quick glance, it looks good, but closer inspection revealed that there are a number of loose shingles and some of the edges have loose or missing trim, probably from Hurricane Ike. The roof also has only one air vent on it, and there needs to be either more vents installed, or when they redo the roof install one of those top ridge vents that runs along the entire peak of the roof. The underside of the overhang has some loose boards that need to be secured and sealed, and the ventilation screens need to be replaced as well.
There were a few minor problems inside, but were mostly cosmetic and easily fixed.
So, overall, we’re in good shape. Luckily, we don’t need to do all the expensive things right away, but the minor stuff we can do easily and quickly. Our first project is to clean everything. The walls and ceiling need to be swept of dust, the baseboards cleaned, appliances cleaned or removed, a lot of things replaced or painted, and eventually we’ll replace the carpet and tile flooring. Those will be the very last things we do before we move any furniture in. We like wood flooring, but not sure where it would work in this house. We’ll see.
So, in the meantime, we wait. The deal is done, the paperwork has been sent to the bank for approval of the mortgage, and hopefully one day soon, we’ll have the keys to the house.
We’ve already shopped for all of the above mention items, but haven’t purchased anything. We’re gonna need buckets, cleaners, money, time and patience for this project, but we have a good feeling about it, and we’re ready to turn this abused and dirty renters bungalow into a beautiful showplace.
Stay tuned for pictures and video, and get the popcorn ready. It’s gonna be a show!
No comments:
Post a Comment