I just had a pipe burst but the damage was isolated to beneath the house.

Problem is demoing out plaster and lath is so time consuming and expensive, and then you have stud walls that need to be shimmed because they didn't bother making them straight when it was going to be plastered.

If it is an older home in the "Rose District" and has a crawl space, I'd probably find a GC to take a look to lift and shim as needed.

This would be my plan:Get your pension in 8 years.In the mean time live beneath your means and save as much as you can.

This dirt compacted very hard under minimal water sprinkling and had standing water for 5+ hours in full sun 85 degree weather (beneath the standing water, the dirt was relatively dry - so it was holding water, not draining at all).  

This dirt compacted very hard under minimal water sprinkling and had standing water for 5+ hours in full sun 85 degree weather (beneath the standing water, the dirt was relatively dry - so it was holding water, not draining at all).  

Beneath all that hidden charm there can be some hidden nightmares but as always there is money to be made.As far your comment on there not being modern units, I'm not sure where you heard that information.

It essentially involves discoloration of the walls and vaulted ceiling that highlights the framing of the house beneath the sheet rock.Well, I have the walls and ceiling scheduled to be repainted but now my tenants are claiming the issue is mold related and threatening to contact an attorney.

I would not take up the floor beneath it.  

But this is not what I was asking about.I just need to know what we can do to be able to go through with this deal withoit testing/fixing now, before sale and still be be protected legally - short of buying the house, testing, finding there is some lead somewhere beneath the many layers of paint this house must have collected since the 20's (it will be for sure), kicking the renter out to fix the problem by paying a lead cert contractor to strip off all the paint (large expense).We cannot do this now - or maybe not even later.The seller (current owner of this house) bought in 2014 without testing and simply disclosed "I don't know".