bought an old house (90 years old)

[leza wang]

water coming form the basement and the basement need for sure waterproofing treatment. the house sold as is (power sale) and i am not sure if the plumming working fine because i have not moved yet (i live in toronto). i have found that the attic need insulation as well, crapet upstair need to be changed, the the roofing shanquel need to be replace soo. The front of the house is not bring but they made it look like it is bring (they put something look like brong but it is very thin, i do not know the name). and some other minor stuff need to be done inside the house like painting, windows cleaning or replacing etc.

Could you please advise me what I should do first (priority wise). I do not want to do something first and then do the next thing and then find that I have to undo what I did first to finsh the second task.

Thanks a lot

[Nate Nagel]

if you're serious...

roof and dampness in basement are 1st priorities. everything else is secondary. make the thing weathertight first.

nate

[Michael B]

What is bring and brong?

[leza wang]

sorry for my spelling mistake. i meant brick

[hrhofmann]

Please repost with clearer spelling, there were so many words that didn't make sense that it was impossible to figure out what were your problems.

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, Hired a house inspector? Ican cost a lot of money or not so much of it depending on the over all condition of the house. If water in the basement, you have to ind to cause and apply proper remedy just water proofing can mean nothing much. Your house keeping lesson number one is beginning

[Ed Pawlowski]

? "Nate Nagel" wrote

Agree. Next is plumbing and electrical. You want to be safe; if unsafe correct, if safe but you want better services, skip and go to the next step, then come back at your convenience. . Next is check out the heat and insulation. Biggest savings and fastest payback is insulating.

[hallerb]

Do all the outside stuff first, new roof, point & check chimney, the fake brick may be insulbrick. best to reside home and replace windows or repair. and check condition of vents thru roof. Then worry about wet basement.

Secure the outdoors first before doing anything inside. Cause outdoor troubles like roof leaks can ruin new indoor stuff fast

[leza wang]

sorry for that. i am reposting it here again. thanks =3D=3D Hi I just bought as is home and I noticed that there is water leakage in the basement. There is like 5 inch crack in the drywall (wet). The basement needs for sure waterproofing treatment. The house sold as is (power sale) and i am not sure if the pluming working fine because i have not moved yet (i live in Toronto, Ontario). I also have found the following:

1) The attic need insulation as well. 2) The carpet upstairs needs to be changed 3) The roofing shingle needs to be replaced so. 4) The front of the house is not bring but they made it look like it is brick wall (they put something to make it look like brick but it is very thin tiny stuff connected by cement, i do not know the name). 5) Some other of minor stuff need to be done inside the house like painting, windows cleaning or replacing etc. Could you please advise me what I should do first (priority wise). I do not want to do something first and then do the next thing and then find that I have to undo what I did first to finish the second task.

[leza wang]

thanks but i already bought the house, it was low price that is why i did not hire inspector. what the inspector would have told me? there is a crak in the basment?! i knew that so why i pay for something i can see it and know how much will cost me. we heard many stories home owners hired inspectors but they miss this or that

[hrhofmann]

Fix the roof first. Is the crack in the basement an outside or inside wall? What is a roofing shanquel? You said a crack in the basement drywall, but drywall is not normally on an outside basement wall.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 1/15/2011 7:33 PM hr(bob) [e-mail] spake thus:

C'mon, man, can't you fill in the blanks? I think "shingle" would fit nicely here.

[aemeijers]

First priority- condition of foundation, aside from the moisture problem. No point fixing anything else if the foundation CAN'T be realistically fixed. If previous owner walked away, there may be a good reason. Second priority- roof. Is it currently leaking, or is it just going to need a tearoff and replacement 'soon' ? (On a 90 year old house, unless it has had a full replacement in last 20 years, you want it ALL off, so they can check the roof structure and repair as needed.) Note that basement moisture problems are often related to roof and gutter problems- fixing what is on top can often help what is down below. Third priority- fix basement moisture problem. No point bringing new material inside a damp house. It may be expensive, it may be as simple as fixing gutters and repairing basement window wells, and regrading the yard a little. Yards get taller over time, and can sometimes develop low spots near foundation where water collects and leaks in. Anybody 'in the business' can quickly eyeball the situation and tell you likely places to look. If the first words out of their mouth are 'interior french drains', throw them out. While sometimes a (last resort) solution, there are usually much cheaper cures.

These first 3 items are close in priority- everything else can be done as budget allows, other than maybe any electric and plumbing issues needed to make the place safe/legal to live in. You can remove the skanky carpets and such whenever it is convenient. If house is damp, they probably reek. I'd live with bare floors till all the other work is done.

If you are not in the immediate area to supervise repair work until you can move, recommend hiring a good general contractor to assist you. Even if you are in the area, if you have never done any of this and don't have the skills, bring a pro in early to inspect, and develop a list of what needs to be done in what order. You want somebody like that Mike Holmes guy from TV, that won't BS you. Any good contractor with rehab experience understands things need to be done in phases sometimes.

[Michael B]

I have an acquaintance that is getting ready to do a massive amount of waterproofing. Already has contracts signed. I visited him a few days and he mentioned it. My response was that his deck is the problem.

He has had the place for 20 years, when he got the place the original deck was there, he just kept it in good repair.

When grass gets cut, decays, becomes compost, becomes dirt, the ground height rises. But not where the deck keeps grass from growing. So without even measuring, I told him that the ground was low next to his foundation, and any rain that went through the deck had nowhere to go except towards the foundation to show up at the basement sump pump.

Well, he wanted me to be wrong, and used a string level to measure. No surprise, I was right. The ground below the door from the deck was nearly 3 inches lower than at the stairs to the deck. The deck is 15x30, that's almost 500 square feet of collecting area with a predictable drainage path.

All structures need a positive slope away from the structure. Just reminding.

And what I suggested is a different story.

[mm]

I can't remember what they used for foundation walls 90 years ago, but drywall is sheet-rock or fibre board or gypsum sandwiched between paper. It's definitly not the cinderblock or brick wall that separates your basement from the dirt outside. Unless the drywall dries out soon, you probalby have to rip it out to find the real wall underneath. Or at least make a hole in it to look in and start planning what to do next.

In your situation, where I assume you expect to spend quite a bit to waterprrof the basement for many years to come, this might not be helpful, but waterproof paint, such as by UGL, can do an incredible amount, considering it's only paint, takes little time and little money, to waterproof a basement. You should also check downspouts to see that the rain water is directed away from the house, and earth "gradiing". I had a little dip right next to my wall, where the downspout water washed away some dirt, the water pooled there and went down and seeped into my cinderblock foundation.

A friend had a sump and a sumppump, but the output hose only went 6 inches from her house, so as soon as her pump pumped the water out, it came right back.

[FatterDumber& Happier Moe]

A lot of this so much depends on your standards for a house if you want to modernize it or keep it original, if you intend to live in it (and a woman is involved) or you bought it to fix and sell and what part of the country it's located. I bought the old house I'm living in about

25 years ago. It's probably about 100 years old now. A little dirt work might do wonders for the water in the basement. Make sure surface water drains away from the house. Next how level are the floors? Depending on the soil and the foundation you might need to give that some attention, maybe a lot of attention. The roof must be in good shape, no leaks allowed! The wiring, if it is knob and tube then you need to address that, and you won't be able to do much insulating in the attic until you do, do not cover knob and tube wiring with insulation. The electrical service for our town is now a minimum of 200 amps and that might be required when you get into the wiring upgrade. The plumbing is probably the easiest in some ways, just replace the old water lines. Everything I've done to this house I did with repairs in mind. Any major work, best get square with code enforcement, they might have something to say about the way you do things. Windows? You might be surprised how tight an old set of wood windows properly repaired and sealed can be. Depending on where you live lead paint might be an issue and a very expensive issue. I have a feeling you are going to learn a whole lot about old houses before you are through with this. If you bought it to fix an sell keep in mind what the lending agencies require before they will loan money to a buyer. Good luck

[aemeijers]

Was the deck built when the house was? Many decks, especially the ones within a couple feet of ground level, have the original concrete patio buried underneath them. And as we have discussed many times on here, concrete patios love to frost heave, so that they actually tilt toward the house. Put a deck over that heaved concrete (plus do like my idiot previous owner did and put a raised flower bed around the deck), and you have created a situation where there is almost always a giant mosquito breeding pond trapped against the top of foundation.

[Larry W]

1st thing, hire a translator.

[leza wang]

thanks a lot for your reply. i am very scared now. so you think the previous owner walked away because there is no way to fix the brack in the basement!! wow that is so scary thought and i really hope not. i saw a hole beside the outside basement window and i right away though that the water must be coming from there.

i do not have an experience with repairing old houses and i wish i can find some honest contracter like what you mention Mike Holmes but how to find that person? Do you recomend anyone? do you know anyone? I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. thanks a lot once again

[leza wang]

i do not have deck