Re: OT: House crap and life

On Jun 7, 7:38 am, "off kilter quil...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
<larisav...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
OK...a month or so ago, we had high winds and lost several shingles
off our roof - which revealed the fact that there wasn't even felt
paper under the shingles, just plywood. Well, one thing led to
another and we ended up where we are now. I called the previous owner
to find out who had done the roof, and he snapped at me that there
didn'[t need to be any felt paper under the shingles....MAJOR BELLS
AND WARNINGS went off.

I called the office of buildings and permits and discovered that the
previous owner had self contracted to have the roof done, that the 2nd
story (added in 2000/2001) had never had a final inspection, that the
garage (added in 2003) had never had a framing inspection or anything
else, other than the footers looked at. SO......we engaged the
services of an attorney and have been working on this for about 3
weeks now.

Here is what we learned yesterday thanks to a courtesy visit from the
county inspector:

The upstairs bathroom is basically illegal because they never applied
for a plumbing permit and never had any of the work inspected.
The outlet in the illegal bathroom is the incorrect type and needs to
be replaced
The bedrooms are all supposed to have smoke detectors in them
The wiring from the main house into the garage is shoddily done and
improperly connected (loosely wrapped electrical tape, no caps twisted
on the ends of the wires)
The garage needs to have sheetrock removed (we installed it because we
had assumed that the inspections had been done)
The framing needs to be inspected for use of proper materials and
proper construction of the door headers - problem with this is that
the siding and flashing has already been installed around the main
garage door, and would have to be removed in order for the inspectors
to see it
In order for the 2nd story to pass inspection, we would have to
sheetrock the wall shared in common by the house and the garage as
well as the ceiling of the garage (effetively making them separate
units in case of fire)
Any stairs that we put in the garage (currently using an extension
ladder to get to the bonus room when we have to) have to be fire
rated...we were thinking of just a drop down set, only to be used as
an additional fire escape route)

So......in reading the house contract, the previous owner definitely
violated the law, willfully and knowingly withheld information that
would have affected the sale of the house, and basically committed
fraud in the misrepresentation of material fact. Our attorney wants
to file paperwork by June 26th, asking for a court date of August 21st
to give us time to get estimates and to gather all receipts together.

Can we say "Major stress this week??" All this is hitting at the same
time DNiece is getting ready to move in (will be here Sunday evening
if things go well), I'm trying to get the house cleaned up, doing
summer school with the children, trying to get things ready for a trip
to WIlliamsburg, a later trip to WVa to go camping/fishing/horesback
riding, DH wants to spend a weekend in DC going to the SMithsonian
(promised DS a visit to the AIr and Space Museum), Mother is driving
me insane because she wants to do an hour-by-hour itinerary for the
Williamsburg trip, my grandfather (Mother's dad) is in the VA hospital
and may lose his legs (diabetic who doesn't take care of himself) -
nobody knows how long he has really been there because none of the
children were notified when he was first moved there...nobody knows
exactly what is going on with him because they can't get the full
story from the doctors.....oh, and to get DNiece, DH has to drive 12
hours 1 way, stay the night and drive 12 hours back....BIL (NOT dear
right now) refuses to meet DH anywhere along the way, and SIL let me
know that it was because BIL wanted the entire family to come down so
that we could all spend time with FIL...who is doing better, does NOT
have cancer anymore, and has not bothered returning our
calls......ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I'm not getting anything done really. I might take down a couple
pieces of the sheetrock that need to be removed, vacuum the main level
of the house, straighten the sewing room (which is where DN will be
staying), scrub down the bathrooms, get laundry finished for the road
trip to Williamsburg, and then just collapse from exhaustion (oh,
somewhere in there I will be doing schoolwork with the children and
our daily reading time).

I think there will be a quilt in this somewhere, but I just can't even
begin to design or play with fabric or anything......

Larisa, off to do................something

That is so crummy. A house is a major investment, and there should be
things in place that prevent you from buying unaware. Sounds like some
safety issues, too. I hope your attorney finds some recourse for you.I
remember
the first time we bought a house. I felt like lambs being led to the
slaughter.

Sherry

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