Missing Drywall under sink and other issues

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moeronn

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I'm potentially buying a house that is generally in good condition, but has some issues that I think are relatively minor. The house did have a home inspection and these are some of the things he called out as needing more attention. I just wanted to get some opinions as to how serious some of these are.

1. Under the kitchen sink, which was renovated, there is a good chunk of drywall missing, so the piping is exposed. The rest of the cabinets have backing, so you can't see if there is drywall there. This is and exterior wall (roughly 6 feet), so I know there could be some heating/cooling issues, but being in Southern California, there's no freezing to worry about. Placing new drywall would be fairly difficult because of the stud locations. Is this something to be overly concerned about?

2. The bathroom vent "exhausts" into the attic. I know that is not proper and I was reading some of the bathroom vent threads for options of venting it properly. The bathroom does have a window, so that would be used at least until the venting issue is taken care of. Sound okay?

3. While most of the electrical looked good, some of it is a bit mickey-moused while some just seemed unusual. The dryer is actually hard-wired into a junction box - something I've never seen or heard of (not that I am an electrician or handyman, just a semi-handy DIYer).

I think the house is in good condition overall and most of these things can be addressed fairly easily, but I'm just hoping for a little reassuance - or a swift kick in the rear to get my head out of it. Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
 

V1rtu0s1ty

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Here is my 2cents.

I also bought my first house back in 2003. I looked at different houses and we saw different problems. There were 2 houses that we really fell in love with but both had issues.

House A - Hardwood flooring on first floor. Finished basement but air ducts are all rusting. Water dripping from airduct. Bottom ptw was rotting.

House B - Finished basement. Carpets on first floor with some stains.

We chose house B since we had plans on changing it with hardwood. On house A, even if it was beautiful, we were worried about our health. Sure it can be fixed but it would cost us around 5-7k to fix that problem. Oh, and one more, both me and my wife said that this is "IT" on house B. It's the IT thing! :D

If you really like the house, go for it. If you feel something unusual about it, talk to your partner again about it. Make sure that have that great excitement to the point you want to move the next day, you want to drive by to see the house again. That's how we were back then. You know what I'm talking about. :)
 

Cookie

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Venting into the attic can cause mold. Not good. I would want that fixed before I closed on the deal. The drywall under the sink, unless, the plumbing is bad would not be a concern to me. The dryer should be on a dedicated circuit and if the inspector thought the electrical looked shaky I would have this addressed most certainly. You really need to know more details of it before you close. What looks shaky and why.

You should talk again to the home inspector maybe, for your own sake get another.
 

FloridaOrange

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1. Under the kitchen sink, which was renovated, there is a good chunk of drywall missing....

2. The bathroom vent "exhausts" into the attic.....

3. While most of the electrical looked good, some of it is a bit mickey-moused while some just seemed unusual.....

1. Easy fix. Doesn't even have to be pretty, don't be afraid of drywall and mud.

2. Probaby the "hardest fix" and that isn't too hard to vent through the roof if you take your time and do it right so you don't have any leaks.

3. Relatively easy fix as long as the dryer hardwire is the biggest deal with the electrical. The thing I would worry about, if the previous owner messed with that connection, what else did he do. Electrical issues can be hard to detect until you are living in the house and maybe circuits continue to pop, lights constantly blow out. On this issue I would hire an electrician to give the house a good once over. Some inspectors only look for the obvious and may miss "hidden" issues (if the power was off, did he turn it on for the inspection?).
 

Jimbo

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Every one of the issues you mentioned, to me raises the red flag. NOT TO SAY you shouldn't buy it. All of those items are moderately easy DIY fix, or inexpensive to hire out.

At this point, I strongly recommend that you DO NOT negotiate to get these fixed. Inevitably, they turn that punch list over to some mutt handyman with instructions to "make it all look good". Meaning "slap something together quick and cheap".


Instead, I believe these items and others ( I suspect this is not the entire inspection report)....you have ammunition to negotiate a much better deal.

The undersink area is mainly cosmetic, possibly health issue. Was there a leak? Is there mold?

Vent in the attic can lead to mold. Did inspector look for mold?

Check on our electrical forum to see if hard wiring the dryer is allowed per code.

By the way, if you even whisper the "M" word, but indicate you are still open to a deal, the sellers should kiss your feet and throw money at you!
 

moeronn

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Thank you all for the information and suggestions. Individually, none of the items called out in the inspection was very significant, but collectively they do raise some concens.

1. I think the missing drywall was the result of replumbing with copper and getting lazy to finish it off since it was hidden. I don't believe there was any water damage.

2. This is something that I'll probably do myself afterwards, as I prefer not having a window open while showering.

3. I will have an electrician come out and take a look at the place just to make sure the minor items are just that. I don't want to find out that the whole place is wired improperly.

There are a few other things that I will ask them to take care of, but most things we will be asking credit for. We kind of have to balance things out a bit since they did agree to leave us a fairly nice counter depth refrigerator that fits perfectly in the space.

Thanks again for the responses. I'm sure I'll be asking for more advice as I decide to tackle small projects around the house, though it is generally fairly well upgraded already.
 
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