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Buying and Selling Homes

Buying house with 'sagging beams and joists'?

13 years ago

Hello,

My husband and I offered on a 4,000 sqft house that was priced well for the area and build. The home appeared very nice and we debated on even getting an inspection because it is new- 2006. A structural engineer inspected home several months ago when someone else had made offer on home and found some very frightening sounding problems though:

Crawl space conditions judged to be damp across entire west side of house.

Fungal growth and deteriorated lumber at entire west side

multiple sagging beams and joists under center of home.

significant differential foundation movements along entire perimeter and much of interior. Foundation is pier and beam.

I assume this is why the home is priced approx 100,000 less than comparables in the area?? I am inquiring about the seriousness of these issues- do they have a solution at all?? The wood floors in the house are cupping and buckled in one room, which I guess should have tipped us off. Any advice or thoughts are greatly appreciated.

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Comments (13)

redcurls
13 years ago
i would politely RUN .... and thank my lucky stars I had that inspection.
larke
13 years ago
The solution would be to tear down the house and start over - in another location!
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Since these joists are going to have "memories" of this sagging shape, I think it will be hard to jack it up into position. Since you want to maintain headroom in the basement I would put a main beam in the middle of the floor engineered for the span. Maybe two LVL's around a 1/2" steel flitch plate, bolted together. You would cut out a gap down the middle of all the floor joists. Insert the LVL sandwich and jack it into the height you want. Attach the individual joists to the LVL sandwich. This will require temporary support walls, jacking into position both sides of the bisected joists and a few other issues. If there's a second floor involved, it's more complicated due to the extra loads involved. Depending on the depth of sag, expect to patch walls and possible rehang doors. The size of the beam would need to be spec'ed out by someone who knows what they're doing. This is not a "best guess" project. Ron
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"Does anyone have experience with using steel beams to support sagging joists?" Yes. They're a great way to accomplish load bearing in a small package vs. wood. Your GC MAY have all the experience and expertise required to accomplish your minimally described situation.... But, I wouldn't support the beams without additional footers (as pointed out by Brickeyee) without seeing the existing structure, which may permit it. I assume you mean rectangular tube, two webs vs. one for I or H beams. Unless the former has price advantage, I'd use the latter. Leaving aside AHJ and engineering issues, why doesn't the GC address the bathroom floor alone?
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it depends on what was used for the joist and if any have broken/rotted. since you have a 4ft crawlspace it would not be that difficult to get a contractor in to check it out and tell you what you need to do. my stepdads childhood home(he still has it as a 2nd home) did the same thing a few years back. turned out some sort of bettle(NOT termites) was eating the joists and he had to have 3/4 of teh joists replaced in teh house. a couple areas they simply braced up and resupported from below. but most of the house was so bad they were amazed the floor had not collapsed.
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That has got to be one of the most hillbilly window installations I've ever seen. You can't do it like that. You need a header, not a sill plate, to transfer the load from the ceiling joists to jack and king studs to the foundation. Maybe you can find an engineer willing to stamp a steel header that would fit. If not, the window will have to be lowered to accommodate a wood header.
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rafor
13 years ago
When I first read the headline of your post, I thought you were talking about a very old house so not an unexpected issue. When I read the post and found out you were only talking about a house that is 4 years old, I thought to myself NO WAY WOULD I BUY THAT!!!
creek_side
13 years ago
Sounds like a poorly built spec house thrown up at the height of the housing boom with little regard to site preparation, drainage, or a suitable foundation for the site.

Anything can be fixed, given enough time, money, and willing authorities. Doing it without taking a financial bath in this case is highly doubtful.

Given what you have already found, there is a virtual certainty that there are other serious issues waiting to be discovered.

In a word, don't.
brickeyee
13 years ago
Sounds like a candidate fro the knock down pile.

An old house might have age issues and be worth salvaging for its other details.

A house this new is a money pit.
rafor
13 years ago
My house is 230 years old and doesn't have the issues the house you are considering does. If you can see these problems after only 4 years, just imagine how poorly it was built. "Run Forrest, run!!"
Carol_from_ny
13 years ago
I've got a old house (180 yrs) and tho my floors may have settled some they do not having sagging beams or joist.
If I were you I'd run from that house while you still have money in your pocket and your sanity intack!
eal51
13 years ago
Forget the offer!!!!!!! Run, Run, Run away!

The only solution to this is a wrecking ball! Way too many serious problems for a four year old house.

Enjoy the journey,
eal51 in western CT
nancylouise5me
13 years ago
This is a tear down. Even if you purchased the house for a $100,000 less then comparables, you would end up spending that and probably a lot more just to get the house in livable condition. Walk away from this or you will be buying a money pit. NancyLouise
dees_1
13 years ago
Sounds like the house may have been built on swampy land that might not have been correctly filled. This would result in improper drainage/standing water and could be the direct cause of the foundation shifts.

Concur with everyone else. Don't walk; run.
stolenidentity
13 years ago
Really??? You should run as others suggested. It is never a good idea to not have an inspection done. You are lucky that the structual engineer one done before was disclosed at all since you were debating having one done on your own. Good luck!
sue36
13 years ago
Nothing a gallon of gas and a match can't fix.
brickeyee
13 years ago
"It is never a good idea to not have an inspection done."

It lets folks who know how to inspect and purchase without ANY contingencies quickly get a house under contract.

Sellers are often shocked when I purchase investment houses without a single contingency.

No appraisal, no financing, no inspection.

A 'clean' contract often with a very short settlement date, and a healthy earnest money deposit.

The only thing that has annoyed a few was the 12 hour acceptance deadline.

I do not want the offer 'shopped.'

I have also been purchasing and renovating for almost 30 years now.

Only a very few ties have costs gone over what I anticipated.
I held those houses as rentals until the value increased enough to sell them.

One even went as lease with an option to purchase.
He took care of the place as well as I would have if it was my residence, and purchased it and still living there over 10 years latter.

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