I recently bought a 100-year-old rowhome in Philadelphia as part of an estate sale. My original goal was to fix and rent. It's detached - the city knocked down the home on one side in 2018 and a private individual knocked down the home on the other side in 2022. This is very common in Philly as there’s a lot of older homes and the city is working to gentrify certain neighborhoods. As far as I know, there are no plans to build on either lot any time soon.

At the start of the renovation, we replaced the roof. Later, we stripped off the old patterned wallpaper inside the house and saw that the walls were covered in water stains. My GC primed and painted over them a few times thinking they were just old, stubborn stains that needed extra product, but they kept coming back after each rainfall.

I hired a water intrusion detection company to help me pinpoint the problem - they said the new roof seemed solid and that based on infrared and temperature readings, the moisture is coming in from the partition walls. I then got assessments from several masonry contractors who all said the same thing. They also said they see this problem ALL the time in Philly… when the city or a private individual knocks down a rowhome, they are responsible for treating the exposed partition wall of the next door property to protect it from the elements. Apparently they should be brick pointing with lime mortar, but instead, they said the city will just plaster over the historical materials (original brick and lime mortar) with Portland cement because it's cheaper, faster and easier than working with more delicate, temperature sensitive lime mortar. Several of the masonry contractors said they can’t believe the city gets away with this because it's a known issue that these materials don't mix and it will eventually cause problems like water intrusion that can be very costly for the owner to fix.

I’ve gotten quotes ranging from $6,500-$12k to repair and waterproof the exterior walls, plus there's the added cost of repairing and repainting the inside walls. I contacted the city and they are telling me it's "been too long" since they plastered the wall on their side (2018) so it's basically not their problem. I haven’t contacted the private individual yet about the wall on their side. I’m now way over budget on this project and have now listed the property for sale while I also work on the repairs.

I’m considering hiring a lawyer to try and recover the cost of the repairs and potentially my extended holding costs. Has anyone else come across this issue and if so, how did you remedy it? Any other tips, recommendations, etc are most welcome. (Also, if anyone is interested in acquiring a Brewerytown rowhome, hit me up! It's competitively priced and the section 8 rent - if you choose to go that route - is very strong.) Thanks, all!

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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