jmorgans, Picture is worth a thousand words.

Disclosures are required by law. The sellers, and possibly the agent/broker in some cases, are liable for known faults that they don't disclose. If it's former farmland there are possibly fewer geologic issues. I don't know enough to say what that disclosure might mean, but some possibilities include soil issues from fertilizers, contaminated ground water, and industrial waste, or materials used in the construction. Or it might be standard blather for butt-covering. If it's a listed disclosure you should be able to get details from the listing agent. It would really help to have a buyer's agent who really knows that area and knows what issues are prevalent. Subsidence is where the ground sinks under the house. It can be caused by underground water, saturated soil, earthquakes (especially combined with water), bad fill, etc. The earth around here moves and leaks. Everyone hears about the earthquakes, but water and slide are equally important. Riparian water is water that runs free. Does the lot drain correctly? Does the water run into other people's yards (needs to be corrected, if so). Does water and/or mud run into this house's yard? It really does rain in California, more than the soil can absorb, and the water has to go somewhere. These are the kinds of things a geologist looks for, as well as locating the nearest faults, etc. If you have good advice from an agent who has longterm knowledge of the area you might not really need this, especially if there are no hills, but it's really hard to know what's going on when you're coming from such a different part of the country. I'd want to know what caused the hole in the court, and what that trench across it with the manhole is all about. The bottom of the garage problem might just be dirt, etc., from where the border plantings were, or could be a problem.

Thank you, bbstx for the picture help. I think I have an photo account somewhere, but haven't used it for quite some time. Will have to investigate that. Green Iron soapstone is actually, at least ours, greener than what it shows on my monitor. The lighter parts have a slight aqua cast. The streaks are copper colored. (I bought a copper sink.) I think they are iron oxide, in other words, rust. I asked the man who actually did the cutting what he thought they were and he does not know. He said they were all different colors while he was working. I have not been able to find much information about Green Iron, but I think I read somewhere that it is harder than most soapstone, but I can't find that information. I do now have a remnant to play with and it does not scratch easily. The time it took from the time we found the soapstone to installation was determined more by the demolition and the cabinets than the fabricator. Once we found the soapstone at Pental, Kris, the owner of Natural Stone Interiors, put it on hold. They will hold a slab for seven days without a fabricator selected, but will hold it longer if you are working with a fabricator. Once our GC had a good idea of when the cabinet installation would be complete, we let Natural Stone Interiors know and they put us in the schedule. Templating took place on a Thursday and the countertop was installed 11 days later. I am not going to oil this. I like the lighter look. When I wet it down with water it is still pretty, but darker than I want. I can't speak to the cost, because I really don't know how it would compare to someone else. We did get some comparisons on a piece of granite from a couple different fabricators before we found the soapstone and those estimates were about the same as this soapstone. We ended up buying a fourth slab just so we could have two sets of bookended slabs. That is why the seams match up so perfectly.

Oh ! MY then you would love to have my kitchen , I started retroing it the minute the landlord told me to go for it ,and then when she told me the age of the house , I loved it even more , it's a 1920's Sears Craftsman home ,I love the the huge cabnets not, alot of space but I like it , it's still has the sink comeing out of the wall and of course the same windows with the weight in side, so far I stubled on a 1945 Gafflers and Staller stove , pressure wash it and got all the grills and stuff cleaned and the only thing I haven't gotten to yet is finding a clock for it , i've been all over the antique store's lucky me I live in Orange County and the orange circle is just brimming with retro items, on the mirowave I simply bought a red one from Target like 60 bucks and a red coffee pot, if you have any good wills in your area hit them up , cause alot of estate things go there , I've painted my kitchen red and yellow , took the rather large drawers and took some paint remover , and some elbow grease and a paint gun which just melts the paint off , painted them red and found some little rooster decals that I put on , went to the 99 store and food some checkered red and white contact paper and put them in the drawer some plactic deviders to . Because I'm into both the retro, feista and the older pyrex , you know the different colored one with the little lids, i found scores of them in the goodwill nd also the different color pyrex bowl set , for a grand total of five bucks ,it's got a door to that leads to the laundry room , so i took out the old glass and put some screen wear the glass was and painted the door red and then found some red and white checked curtains and it looks super , even still has those old looks with the knob to open the door , I'm still trying to find the perfect frigerator , I saw one on one ad and fell in love it's a kelvanator foodarama (SP). Know i have the Idea to pull up the linolim (SP) and see what he wood looks like, maybe sand it and do the red and white checker board my self or be lazy and find the red and white checker board myself , as for the kitchen counters I hate them the tile , but i want to go for the old soda pop look , red linolem , so far. as for the arctiure of the the house it's soild and and i love the wood detailing so i'm just going to get out my magic eraser and clean , the walls do need paint has a few cracks bit i figure to paint the walls a camel color so the cracks will give off a shadow , if you go to the 99 cent store you with find alot of red if that's your color and the good will you would be amazed , I found and old ceder wood cabnits that hold plates and glasses and I store my pyrex and feista wear in there , also at the good will I found not one but 9 chrome toaster with the cloth cord for 99 cents apiece still in the box to took them home shined up a little ,put them up on ebay for 50;00 a piece and all sold except the one I kept and still use , I don't know if alot of folks go to the good will but you can find lots of stuff , I'm fixin to paint my 1945 stove red , like i said i live in what i call antique town , I just got the universal knobs to the stove , because it has the stove on one side and the broiler on the other and has the griddle in the middle , I guess the floors are pretty stonge cause that thing took 4 good sized men to get in my kitchen oh and of course , i found some old cambells soup and vegatable ad that came out of the time life magazines painted some black frames and put them on the wall above the stove , I will have to take a picture although not all toghether yet I still love my kithen even if it is in the works. Take care