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I don't see a single thing that was done properly there. I doubt there is a way to make that right without major, major tear outs. Anything else you do is just buying time. Did you get that place inspected before you bought it? Because just from those few pictures I'm seeing a dozen pages of material defects.
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Dec 14, 2020 16:14
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Epitope posted:Thank you. No one else will say this. Everyone just talks about how great the house is. Very crazy making The original house very well may be. The layout of the addition might be nice as well. But based on the little I've seen I would guess it would take me under 45 minutes to inspect and determine that the cheapest way to make that place right would be to tear off the addition and start over. So again, did you have this place inspected before buying it? If so what did the inspection report say?
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Dec 14, 2020 16:41
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Uhhh, you don't call anyone next. Not right now anyway. We're in the middle of a global pandemic, there are material shortages because the supply chain is hosed and contractors are charging a premium because so many people are sitting at home with last summer's vacation money unspent going "you know, we really should finally get to remodeling this room......." But when this is over you need a good GC who does remodels. Someone with references. Someone who can show you other local work they have done. If you call a roofer every problem you have will be "solved" within the bounds of roofing. This is typical for any trade. So what you need is the kind of person who manages lots of remodel jobs. Now that's if you're trying to fix it right. What's this house worth and what's your repair/remodel budget? One or both of those may make it not feasible to do this "all the way." You may need to bite the bullet and put up some electric ice dam poo poo while the same roofer goes through half a roll of flashing to attempt to get water off of that roof in some meaningful way while the addition and the original house continue to move in different directions. FYI, that's what it looks like is happening here in part - and it could be foundation issues, it could be that the addition is simply rotting away at an accelerated pace.
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Dec 14, 2020 17:19
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Epitope posted:The what's it worth what's your budget question is key. There's some funds available, but when would it be throwing good money after bad? It depends entirely on the scope of the job, the value of the house, and what comparable homes are selling for per square foot. There is no reality in which you don't lose money on this. The only question is exactly how much.
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Dec 14, 2020 18:08
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Epitope posted:Oh right, thank you for reminding me. They added a ridge vent in 2015. However, they did not run it the whole length, there is still a section that is unvented. The section they didn't vent includes the very same rafter channel that is full of frost at the bottom The soffit vents you've shown so far aren't likely to be anywhere near adequate for a ridge vent. Also, your ridge vent may be too large, too small or just right. We don't know. That takes measurements and math. A few points on this: - You can absolutely have too much ridge vent. - You really can't have too much soffit vent, but you sure can have too little. - The fact that your ridge vent doesn't span the entire ridge isn't useful information without knowing other things. It's entirely possible that some of your ice damming is due to lack of insulation. It's equally as possible some of it is due to too much/improperly installed insulation. I like to see soffit vent baffles installed in any place with a ridge vent to make sure the airflow is working and will remain working even if someone goes up in the attic and does stupid poo poo kicking insulation around: 
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Dec 14, 2020 22:56
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Epitope posted:There's no attic so I don't know really what it looks like in there. The "mouse hole" is as I understand it the vent between the soffit and the insulated run to the ridge. How much insulation and how much air space I can't guess. Are there other cross members? Did they get mouse holes? Dunno. I would bet there's not a ton of airflow between channels, but I highly doubt they're sealed from each other. Still, I have very little confidence the ventilation is correctly balanced anywhere, let alone in the problem spot. But point well taken, I won't start cutting more ridge vent as soon as it's above 40 Why is there no attic? Is this all cathedral ceiling inside? Or is there an attic that just doesn't have any access? I see that "loft" thing in your photos, and perhaps that's the spot you're talking about now? It's really difficult to understand just what exactly we're talking about when you get into specifics after I've given you generalities.
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Dec 14, 2020 23:37
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Mr. Powers posted:Thanks for posting this. I have to install baffles in my attic but didn't know what they were called. There are a ton of different styles. If you are retrofitting them in make sure you find something that makes your life/that job easy as there are absolutely some that are meant to be installed in new construction that will be a huge pain in the rear end for rework. There's an entirely plastic type I've seen that attach up high around the joists that are great for retros. There are even better/easier options if you're doing this with the rood decking off. I doubt that's the case but I'm gonna mention it just in case you're replacing your roof anyway......it's SO much easier that way. Also, depending on where you are in the world you might hear other names for this including "rafter vent". Epitope posted:Vaulted cathedral ceilings, no attic anywhere. There are a couple closets with flat ceilings, so small dead spaces above those I guess Yeah, that sucks. Because you can't even tell what you've got until the roof decking is up or you're tearing out drywall. This is another one in the "tear off the addition and start over" column.
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Dec 15, 2020 00:09
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You are brave Tezer. You also sound like you really know what the hell you are talking about. But yeah.....this is well beyond what is useful to someone in this position. This is a homeowner, not another contractor you are talking with.
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Dec 15, 2020 03:36
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Elviscat posted:Also those nearly-flat skylights are the worst loving idea in snow country. There were so many other things I didn't even get to this part but yeah......if this isn't a tear down those are like the first loving thing that needs to go.
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Dec 15, 2020 04:18
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So this "trim" you keep talking about taking off is - around the windows? I'm not sure what you're trying to show us there other than the cheapest thing you can use in place of "millwork" that has been shoddily installed which is probably indicative of the quality of the entire addition.
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Dec 16, 2020 16:16
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Yeah, I'm not sure what you're expecting to find other than poorly insulated windows. Evaluating what's happening in that house is well beyond removing some trim. I'd start with a Flir camera and be ready with a sawzall for where that directed me.
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Dec 16, 2020 16:33
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I really don't know what you're looking for here. The addition is hosed. I have a hard time believing that there was "six figures" of work done on it, as that's probably enough to tear it off and start over. You're being cagy about what the house is worth so it's impossible to suggest when amount of work would be reasonable. Understanding what you've already been told and that there are no easy or magic answers, what exactly are you hoping to accomplish with this thread?
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Dec 16, 2020 22:14
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Epitope posted:I don't understand why the house's value is all that relevant. You're not familiar with the term "throwing good money after bad"? Fixing this correctly is drat near a certainty of tearing off the addition, which means a $100k+ bill. If that is a significant percentage of the value of your home it is 100% not worth it. If this is a million dollar home it's the easiest decision in the world to just do it right. Now, once that direction is established it defines how you proceed with investigating the details of the problem. That is why it matters. In fact, it's the very first thing that matters. You're saying things like "we don't want to move" but it's entirely possible that you might not be able to afford not to move. The more you actually know about these problems the more you have to disclose. Sometimes just getting a sense of it and remaining willfully ignorant before doing the paperwork to unload the place is the best move. Now if you're independently wealthy and none of this matters then do whatever the hell you want, but I'd suggest hiring the kind of person we've already discussed and telling them "be ready to start work in the spring, we'll be moving out for 30 days while you complete the job."
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Dec 17, 2020 00:17
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Epitope posted:I'm gonna focus on the science and engineering until I'm out of rabbit holes to explore. Except you don't know enough about any of that to matter. You're just wasting time here.
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Dec 17, 2020 01:51
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Elviscat posted:The thing about "corking it up" is that improperly installed windows are just a water pathway begging for a chance to leak, they will gently caress you over and over, because the fundamental mechanics of moisture intrusion prevention require redundant barriers in case one leaks, and with the windows in place the beat you can do is exactly one moisture barrier (caulk). This is a good way to have the windows rot out in the next several years. First of all, those windows don't look to be very high quality. Secondly, to do even this part of the job right requires you to know what you've got under there to begin with. My guess is "someone put a window in a hole made of 2x6s" and nothing else. Simply caulking the poo poo out of them, especially on the exterior, runs a real risk of water intrusion that can't drain. Optimally this is something repaired with the siding off. But at least the window coming out would be advisable. Which creates it's own problems because these are probably new construction windows. So again we're back to the "this is just wasting time" part. This isn't the issue that's going to make the house uninhabitable first. It's not even close to the top of that list. It risks breaking things that aren't already broken and making the entire situation worse.
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Dec 17, 2020 17:02
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Epitope posted:I mean without disturbing the windows or existing vapor barrier. Again, fixing this right is an entire teardown. Perhaps you can save some lumber/windows/siding. But it's impossible to say if that the teardown is financially viable. Based on your responses it's pretty clear that it isn't. Which makes the best course of action getting the gently caress out of that property and doing a better job of buying someplace else.
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Dec 17, 2020 22:32
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Epitope posted:It may be clear to you but it is not clear to me. Are you applying to be my project manager and or financial advisor? Because I'm not sharing my financial details publicly You're the one asking for advice, and you don't even understand what is relevant to give you that advice. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors with your material defect home.
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Dec 18, 2020 03:17
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Earth posted:My suggestion would be to get your insurance adjustor out to your house to check things out. So you start with ME being the problem and then give him a suggestion that 100% will get him dropped from his homeowner's insurance. Very interesting.
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Dec 18, 2020 03:51
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Earth posted:Another example of you being the only person that can be correct, even though I provided a tangible example of difference. Insurance didn't drop my friends who had problems way worse than this. Your suggestion relies entirely on this person having the money to do the job properly. Once you call your homeowner's insurance company's attention to an issue like this you are on the clock and the incident is entered into CLUE so you won't be able to get underwritten by anyone else either. Recall that insurance is a requirement of a mortgage. This puts their entire housing situation in jeopardy. There is no one to go after here unless it can be proven that the disclosure was fraudulent. And it would take years of civil suits to get any money out of them that way if it ever happens.
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Dec 18, 2020 04:12
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