All Forum Posts by: Lynn Harrison

Anyone have experience with old redwood houses? I will hopefully be looking closely at one soon, built around 1930. It's in bad shape but roofline is still straight and looks re-buildable. Not much water damage I'd guess.

I don't know anything about redwood. This is not necessarily old growth- 1930s, cheaply built house probably built by a logger. From what I've seen of old redwood lumber it gets very light weight- like balsa wood. How much strength is left when it gets light? Should I be concerned the framing might not hold up if the wood is light? Re-enforce it?

I anticipate some carpenter ant damage, but am wondering about lumber with no damage.

Thanks much Dan. Glad to know! Don't like working with oils & haven't painted over oils in years. Hopefully will have a chance to soon.

Beth, I am like you- have done a multitude of things and never been licensed. I am hopefully going to be doing my first own home inspection this month on an old house. You're in Pittsburgh, so I imagine many of the houses you might look at may be older than 1970"s. I grew up on the east coast and remember seeing some very scary old farmhouse foundations... One two story one actually had a stream running through what was left of a crumbling basement for a while. I was afraid for the young couple who had just bought it and were going to fix it themselves.

I've done some floor leveling, post and pier replacement, floor underlayment, sill and wall stud jacking and replacement with my late partner and learned a lot- but not enough. I just spent the last 2 days doing nothing but watching videos of floor header joist and sill replacements and how to jack and brace single story buildings at foundation level and roof rafter/top sill level. I can probably replace a longer rotted section myself now by hiring and working with one general labor person. Next, I'll look at foundations and see if there is anything I can or want to do. If so, I'd save a lot of money.

While this may not be something you want to do, if you understand how it's done you'll be in a better position with any contractor. Floor joist, sill rot and sometimes lower wall stud rot are very very common in older houses or poorly built houses. Knowing what to look for in those cases can make a big difference between enjoying what you do and having nightmares, especially in houses that are more than one story. 

I would NOT however recommend fixing these issues as a career in itself ... Seems miserable.

Hello Dan. Thanks for all this info. I have a question for you. If a weathered exterior has a lot of old paint- probably including oil based from the 1950's or earlier, and it's been scraped... Does one have to use an oil based primer and paint or can one use some other primer in order to then paint latex over it.

Contact a tenant's union. They can tell you the rights in your state and advise.

I would go to the dept in charge of environmental concerns in the county. In person. Here it is called "County Environmental Health" and they deal with wells, septic and environmental pollutions likely to seep into the water table. Pull the file on the property and ask who specifically might have OTHER files- like the state. Go to that dept or those depts and pull the files or call if you can get the name of the case worker who dealt with it. personally. Be thorough with any dept who might have files on that property. Sometimes things get overlooked.

Also, talk to the inspector *beforehand* and ask if there will be future monitoring form ANY agency. If not, get some sort of permanent OK from the state or county on the property in writing before buying the property. If you can't get get that you are taking your chances and it could be high risk if you don't have experience with contaminated properties.

Oh, Charlie, sorry, missed the gist of that. Out here they are 3 to 5 year and not too many interest only loans anymore.

OK, here's a partial answer for anyone listening in. PLC is compounded differently.

PLC  10K at 10% paid off in 5 years is 250 pr month

Mortgage 10K at 10% paid off in 5 years is 212.47

If the interest rate of the mortgage is increased to 16%, then it would be equal to the payments of a 10% PLC.  HM points maybe $500 for 10K, yearly PLC fees a little over $50. So, PLC total payments 14, 432 plus $50 yearly fees = 14,682 , HMoney 12,748 + 500 = 13, 248.

Looks like it's not practical unless the PLC interest is a lot lower.

Thanks Charlie, but I'm looking to move a mobile home. Once it's been moved, AFAIK it can not be refinanced. So I'm looking at what it would cost financed with a line of credit. May not be practical.

Make sure you go down to building and planning, and whoever oversees environmental health and pull the files before you sign anything. Make sure there are no red tags or hook up fees etc needed. Also, do a title search before signing ANYTHING unless you are using an agent and have contingencies. I would use a real estate lawyer, myself... That money would be very well spent.