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Home Repair - - If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Otherwise look here.
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Posted by cshenk on September 5, 2008, 1:20 pm
The house Mom is planning to go see soon (not yet visually inspected in
person) has a little more detail from a realtor.
Aluminum siding. Appears in good shape, just needs washing. I take it that
the stuff will be hot in summer and cold in winter, but fairly durable at
least.
Loose floorboards. No better description except the house is habitable
right now, so I take it not too radical. Any guesses on what to anticipate
there or causes to look for that might mean trouble later? (Omit termites,
got that info covered for Mom).
My guesses at this stage is the house wasnt heated this past winter (empty,
slow market) and dampness from the crawlspace underneath may have built up
enough for a little warpage. Treatment if so seems to dehumidify, possibly
add insulation under floor in crawlsace with vapor barrier, let settle, then
re-nail what needs re-nailing. If any are seriously warped, replace.
Any other ideas?
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Posted by Joe on September 5, 2008, 2:03 pm
> The house Mom is planning to go see soon (not yet visually inspected in
> person) has a little more detail from a realtor.
>
> Aluminum siding. =A0Appears in good shape, just needs washing. =A0I take =
it that
> the stuff will be hot in summer and cold in winter, but fairly durable at
> least.
>
> Loose floorboards.
=A0>snip<
Floorboards or flooring? If the former, it sounds like a sloppily
built cabin in the woods. If the latter, serious damage has occurred.
Hardwood (the usual type) won't take to renailing at all well. Try as
you will, it will never look right so waste as little time on it as
possible. Cover it up with Pergo or carpet and get on with the other
major problems you are sure to find...sub-standard electricals,
decrepit roofing, tired plumbing, etc. Get inspection help if you feel
the need. But if the price and location are that important, then best
of luck.
Joe
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Posted by cshenk on September 6, 2008, 9:55 am
"Joe" wrote
>> The house Mom is planning to go see soon (not yet visually inspected in
>> person) has a little more detail from a realtor.
>> Loose floorboards.
>snip<
>Floorboards or flooring? If the former, it sounds like a sloppily
>built cabin in the woods. If the latter, serious damage has occurred.
Wording was 'floorboards' and house was built 1901. Sorry to be so
non-specific and I realize this prevents any solid answers. Mom plans to go
down there and look it over sometime soonish.
> Hardwood (the usual type) won't take to renailing at all well. Try as
>you will, it will never look right so waste as little time on it as
>possible. Cover it up with Pergo or carpet and get on with the other
Ok, sounds reasonable. I think she wants to put down some large area rugs
over the floor so hopefully the 'loose floorboards' arent too bad or are
just in a few spots.
>major problems you are sure to find...sub-standard electricals,
>decrepit roofing, tired plumbing, etc. Get inspection help if you feel
>the need. But if the price and location are that important, then best
>of luck.
She'll have the place professionally inspected before making any offers for
sure, but there's lots of things she can check herself due to experience.
I'm helping nibble at the ones she's not that experienced with. She's
never actually refinished a wood floor (that was my job the 2 times we had
to do it) nor had 'loose floorboard' to deal with. Loose exterior decking
boards yes, she knows that one. She gets to repair the one I built her 25
years ago every now and again (grin).
Possible causes are the main concern. If it's just a little dampness
(without wood rot or termites) then it seems workable. If it's just a few
boards that have curled a bit, I can replace'em once I locate a 'real wood
yard' that can match the size right, then refinish.
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Posted by DerbyDad03 on September 5, 2008, 2:16 pm
> The house Mom is planning to go see soon (not yet visually inspected in
> person) has a little more detail from a realtor.
>
> Aluminum siding. =A0Appears in good shape, just needs washing. =A0I take =
it that
> the stuff will be hot in summer and cold in winter, but fairly durable at
> least.
>
> Loose floorboards. =A0No better description except the house is habitable
> right now, so I take it not too radical. =A0Any guesses on what to antici=
pate
> there or causes to look for that might mean trouble later? (Omit termites=
,
> got that info covered for Mom).
>
> My guesses at this stage is the house wasnt heated this past winter (empt=
y,
> slow market) and dampness from the crawlspace underneath may have built u=
p
> enough for a little warpage. =A0Treatment if so seems to dehumidify, poss=
ibly
> add insulation under floor in crawlsace with vapor barrier, let settle, t=
hen
> re-nail what needs re-nailing. =A0If any are seriously warped, replace.
>
> Any other ideas?
re: Loose floorboards.
What does that mean?
Squeaky hardwood over sub-floor?
Squeaks under carpet - don't know what's underneath?
Squeaks under carpet, you know there's is/is no hardwood underneath?
Actual subfloor - (Plywood? Tonque & Groove?) - flopping around?
Loose floorboards doesn't tell us much.
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Posted by cshenk on September 6, 2008, 10:03 am
"DerbyDad03" wrote
>> The house Mom is planning to go see soon (not yet visually inspected in
>> person) has a little more detail from a realtor.
>> Loose floorboards. No better description except the house is habitable
>> right now, so I take it not too radical. Any guesses on what to
>> anticipate
>> there or causes to look for that might mean trouble later? (Omit
>> termites,
> Loose floorboards doesn't tell us much.
Sorry. I'm a bad girl. I can't say more yet til she actually looks at the
place. Given date of construction, it should be fairly wide (5-6 inch?)
thick boards of hardwood. There may be plywood under them then the beams
then below that, crawlspace. May be a layer of tar paper someplace
(especially if no plywood).
Recent settling unlikely. Dampness seems main likelyhood? If so, have to
fix the cause before fixing the floor or it would just come back.
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