We bought our house a little over two years ago, not long after we moved in did we realize it had water problems. So much so that one room has been left untouched with a dehumidifier to hold over the room until we could do something about it. Recently my once a mechanic husband has been swapping services with a friend of his who is a general contractor, which means we got to take a closer look at what water problems the house really has for a very fair price. Initially we thought that a sliding door toward the back of our house put in by a previous owner was the main culprit so we went ahead and purchased a new sliding door.
Upon installing the door our contracting friend found out that the people who "harry-homemade" installing the old sliding door also messed up when putting on not only the roofing causing the water to not run away from the house, but also put on "town home" gutters that are not meant to take the load of water that runs off our single family home... and in addition to finding out we need new roof... the guys peeled back bits of our siding to reveal that there was no Tyvek put down to the plywood before adding the shingles, ergo our entire house not being wrapped in a nice blanket of Tyvek means that the water was rotting our house and this was, well... not okay.
SO yay! New roof, new siding and probably some other new things we are bound to find along the way of this soon to be redid home!
But I saved the best of this story for last. When my husband was helping the contractor remove the old sliding door, they found that the harry homemaker thought it was a good idea to rig the wiring under the door and not put a protective case around said wiring. Had the wire gotten "hot" on its own and touched any metal portion of the door the next person to touch that doors handle or any other metal part of the door, well that would be the last of them. SO not COOL! If anything, let this be a witness to people who try and do things to "improve" their home on their own. BE SAFE about it. The whole house could very well end up in a pile of ashes... so believe me when I say its worth the money to get someone to do it the RIGHT way, the FIRST time. :s
My wonderful husband is out today working on his buddy contractors vehicle again, and tomorrow we'll be going over what changes we are hoping for the house, and what we can budget. But I feel its important to share not only the message of when buying a house do all that is within your power to get a house inspection (we were sure the Broker/Realtor had this done for us, but had they, really, these issues among a few others would have been brought to light and (hopefully) rectified)... but ALSO to point out how God has been so faithful to us and not giving us more than we can handle. The 1st year it was our a/c/heater that went out on us and we had to replace the entire unit - but we were able to do it financially (thank God). I'm just so thankful we hadn't known about these other issues than or I think I might have been ridiculously overwhelmed at all that was needed... baby steps. And I realize, these are not first world problems in the least... we are blessed beyond what we even realize. And having house issues I'd say is better than having a health issue. Thank God, I do. But would also appreciate prayers during this time. So far, I haven't felt over whelmed but see this as an opportunity to change some things about the house that we've wanted to since moving in... creaky flooring, soft spots in theflooring, etc.
Anyone have some housing issue stories to share? Feel free! Would love to be in understanding company ;)
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♥ Dawn