re:lief (again)

phew! we passed framing and insulation inspection first thing this morning! sheetrock starts today!

re:formulate

we have had some disappointing setbacks this week and it looks like we won't be getting sheetrock done and floors refinished by the end of the month, and therefore will not be able to move in.

we couldn't get our framing inspection until the plumbing, electrical and HVAC inspections passed. there was a delay on the electrical inspection, and that finally passed mid-week, so we requested our framing inspection. the framing inspection was friday and failed because they used the wrong hurricane ties, and because the inspections happen in the afternoon and you have to fax in a request for inspection before noon, that means we can't fax in our request until monday, which means they won't inspect until tuesday. then after framing we have to get an insulation inspection (huh?), the request for which also has to be faxed in by noon for inspection the following day. who knows when that inspection will occur with thanksgiving this week. and they can't start closing in the walls with sheetrock until all these inspections are passed. so, failing the framing inspection on a friday afternoon has set us back at least a week. *sigh*

so, now we will work to get in around mid-december.

re:quirement

we have the building permit!!

anthony took the drawings down to the permit office today. we were nervous because we've heard conflicting experiences of it taking anywhere from a week and a half to eight weeks to get a building permit. so, anthony went down there today and walked it through and we had our permit in two hours!

here is our permit set of dwgs (click to view larger):





ready to go on the big stuff - hopefully all of our subs can start next week! yay!

re:gard

we got the appraisal report back, and the appraiser valued the house at $12k more than we are paying for it. that's a good thing because it means we can still get our loan approved, but it all evens out since that $12k difference is close to the same amount we got off the contract price of the house to put on a new roof and repair the damage to the sills around the perimeter.

our second CL-100 went better than the first. we were on-site while the guy crawled under the house, and he was under there for quite a while. he took some pictures and came out and explained the condition of the structure, which is not as bad as the previous CL-100 inspector (who didn't go under the house) led us to believe. essentially, the only repairs we have to make are those already described by our building inspector and that we've already gotten off the price of the house. we do have to ventilate the crawl space better and treat for active wood-borers, but those are easy remedies. there are no active termites or mold. phew.

re:inspect

the seller's agent is ordering a new CL-100 and paying for it herself. now we can feel more confident about the termite findings. we're feeling more comfortable with being able to increase the ventilation to the crawl space and remedy the moisture problem. now we just wait to make sure the new CL-100 doesn't turn up anything unexpected, and we'll proceed towards closing.

re:lieve

i talked to a structural inspector - a guy who does inspections specifically looking at the structure - and explained to him all of our findings from our building inspector and CL-100 inspector. he suggested that the building inspector would have noted if there were any other additional repairs needed to the structure due to the moisture, so the structure may not be as far gone as we'd feared and perhaps what we need is a moisture control expert to help us find the source(s) of the excessive moisture and determine how to remedy the problem before any damage is done to the structure. he's sending us some referrals for moisture control experts.

re:port

oh boy. we got the CL-100 today. for one, the guy didn't even go into the crawl space, but just poked his head in and looked around with a flashlight - because it was too wet. nice. i'm feeling really good about his findings. he reported no visible evidence of wood-destroying insects, while our inspector found visible evidence of previous wood borer damage....

if you'll refer to the photo of the house below, you'll see that the entire crawl space is enclosed with bricks. that means it's getting no ventilation, so there's excessive moisture under there. very excessive. the CL-100 guy reports active and inactive wood-destroying fungi. i'm not sure, but does that mean mold? just from looking at the wood, he reported >28% moisture content in the wood - which is very bad. it's hard to know the extent of how bad it is - since he didn't get moisture readings from multiple locations under the house, but worst case scenario it means having to replace/repair the entire floor structure & subfloor. for certain, if we go through with buying this house - we'll have to remove the infill brick between the piers to let that crawl space ventilate so everything can dry out.

i think we'll have to get a contractor and/or a structural engineer out there to look at it.

re:negotiate

we got the inspection back, and there were some issues that we weren't planning on redoing anyway (specifically structural issues and a new roof), so we're trying to renegotiate the contract. still working on drawings in the meantime, and hope to have them posted here within a week or so.

| update |
the seller has agreed to our concession, so we're getting about half the cost of the repairs off the price of the house. yay! now we have to see what the CL-100 (termite report) has to say...