Concrete block construction house

[Simon Stahl]

Hi there

I am looking at this house in Sacramento that could make a good flip candidate. I would have to add a master bedroom to the house though. The one thing that makes me a bit nervous is that the outer walls are built of concrete blocks and that does not seem to be very common around here. 

A few questions come up:

• Do buyers in this area (Sacramento, CA) like concrete block houses?
• Can everything be done as usual with this kind of walls? Electricity etc?
• Can I overlay them with sheetrock in the inside? Is that something you would do?
• We would have to knock out a wall for the addition. Is it a problem to mix concrete block walls with "normal" walls in the addition?
• Any general advice about the concrete block walls? Total no-go? Is it actually a good thing?

Mostly I would just like to hear from other investors if they thinks this kind of walls could be a problem or not.

Simon

[Manolo D.]

You can't put drywall over cmu directly. Block are hard to drill conduits and tubes, hence the recommendation for stud and drywall, if you want it. Doable, not cost friendly moving pipes and conduits if they are in the walls. Your addition has a plan to transition from cmu to stud, personally I don't think there is an issue, but only your building and safety can answer that.