Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

trymypi t1_jacud86 wrote

Reply to comment by jabbadarth in Considerations when moving into a Row Home by taqtotheback

To add, even if it has been renovated in the last 30 years, be diligent about whether the work was DIY, professional but not to code (or just weird generally), or high quality professional. My house is actually kind of a mix, so it's not always the same throughout.

7

jabbadarth t1_jacxdgo wrote

Yeah even with some of the "professional" jobs you have to keep an eye out for cover ups.

My old house was a full gut rehab by charm city builders back when they had a different name (I think t and d development maybe). They did a good job overall but we had a framing inspection scheduled before sheetrock was up where we found a few shortcuts on floor joists not being set properly in the brick. They likely would have been fine as they were structurally sound vertically they just left an inch of wiggle room around them that needed to be mortared in. I also got in to wire speakers while they were still building and saw a guy split a 100 year old beam with a carriage bolt because he didn't pre drill a hole for it. Told the builder to fix it and they sent me a photo of the area sheetrocked in. I had to insist they remove the sheetrock and show me the repair which ended up being a bunch of 2x4s bolted all around the split beam.

Thing is even the best companies employ contractors and they can't keep an eye on every person in the house all day.

3