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<blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 9632851" data-attributes="member: 50987">Oh the roof was a mess, y'all.&nbsp; It still had the original roof in place, buried underneath two layers of composite shingles.&nbsp; And if that sounds bad, you don't know the half of it:&nbsp; this house was built in 1896!&nbsp; The original roof was cedar shake built over lathe, and I don't want to deal with the potential nightmare of having to replace it in a few years.&nbsp; So the seller agreed to do a full rip-and-replace, all the way down to the rafters, and rebuild it with proper decking, insulation, membrane, and all.&nbsp; And since they're going that far, I also want them to take the abandoned brick chimney down to below the roof line.&nbsp; It's probably a $50k job.I don't want to talk smack about the house, though.&nbsp; She's an old girl, but she's got good bones:&nbsp; the foundation was built properly back in the day, and the whole structure has settled less than a quarter-inch in the last 130 years.&nbsp; It's all sturdy, solid-wood construction with plaster and lathe, no particle board or gluon.&nbsp; The house had been updated several times over the decades (centuries?), too, most recently in 2011 when a 930ft[SUP]2[/SUP] addition was added.&nbsp; To meet permit requirements for the new structure, they had to bring everything up to code so the iron water plumbing was all redone with PEX, the cast iron sewer plumbing was all replaced with PVC, the asbestos siding was removed, and the old &quot;knob and tube&quot; wiring was replaced with code-compliant NMB wiring.There are a couple of other concessions that we are still haggling about.&nbsp; They are going to need an electrician; one of the outlets in the kitchen isn't grounded, and other outlet doesn't work at all, and they daisy-chained three GFI outlets together for some reason.&nbsp; The wall-to-wall carpet in the upstairs bedrooms wasn't installed properly so it's all worn and wrinkled and loose; it's got to go.&nbsp; And those window AC units and baseboard heaters are getting replaced with a more efficient four-zone heat pump system.But we love the house, we love the kooky wall angles and classical moldings and antique leaded glass windows and all of the other little &quot;they don't build them like that anymore&quot; touches.&nbsp; She's an antique, she's one of a kind, and thanks to the unstable economy the seller is highly-motivated.&nbsp; (It also helps that I'm a civil engineer and a construction inspector--both the seller's agent and the inspector groaned audibly when they read my business card.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CleverNickName, post: 9632851, member: 50987"] Oh the roof was a mess, y'all. It still had the original roof in place, buried underneath two layers of composite shingles. And if that sounds bad, you don't know the half of it: this house was built in 1896! The original roof was cedar shake built over lathe, and I don't want to deal with the potential nightmare of having to replace it in a few years. So the seller agreed to do a full rip-and-replace, all the way down to the rafters, and rebuild it with proper decking, insulation, membrane, and all. And since they're going that far, I also want them to take the abandoned brick chimney down to below the roof line. It's probably a $50k job. I don't want to talk smack about the house, though. She's an old girl, but she's got good bones: the foundation was built properly back in the day, and the whole structure has settled less than a quarter-inch in the last 130 years. It's all sturdy, solid-wood construction with plaster and lathe, no particle board or gluon. The house had been updated several times over the decades (centuries?), too, most recently in 2011 when a 930ft[SUP]2[/SUP] addition was added. To meet permit requirements for the new structure, they had to bring everything up to code so the iron water plumbing was all redone with PEX, the cast iron sewer plumbing was all replaced with PVC, the asbestos siding was removed, and the old "knob and tube" wiring was replaced with code-compliant NMB wiring. There are a couple of other concessions that we are still haggling about. They are going to need an electrician; one of the outlets in the kitchen isn't grounded, and other outlet doesn't work at all, and they daisy-chained three GFI outlets together for some reason. The wall-to-wall carpet in the upstairs bedrooms wasn't installed properly so it's all worn and wrinkled and loose; it's got to go. And those window AC units and baseboard heaters are getting replaced with a more efficient four-zone heat pump system. But we love the house, we love the kooky wall angles and classical moldings and antique leaded glass windows and all of the other little "they don't build them like that anymore" touches. She's an antique, she's one of a kind, and thanks to the unstable economy the seller is highly-motivated. (It also helps that I'm a civil engineer and a construction inspector--both the seller's agent and the inspector groaned audibly when they read my business card.) [/QUOTE]

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