we have just been thru almost the same thing - we found a home in the school district we want, in a nice neighborhood where homes dont come up for sale all that often. however it is a contemporary style home (which I donÂt love) and itÂs got a vertical crack in the corner of the foundation and there is some sagging of floors and some drywall cracks. neighborhood scuttlebutt about the house was really scary, it was falling off the hill, one estimate for repairs was reported to be $80K, in a prior foreclosure the house had been virtually destroyed by the POs, rumour rumour etc however, the house was priced in the 160s in a neighborhood of 200+K homes. we made an offer on the house and negotiated a lower price. we were not afraid at all to do this because our contract had a contingency clause that required the home/structural inspection to be satisfactory to us. we were candid with the sellers, that if the structural insp was ugly, we would use that clause. we found a structural inspector ( actually, I knew him personally bc I had tutored his kid for ACT and SAT) but anyway he had a great reputation and was highly qualified. by this I mean: he has a masters in engineering from stanford. he is licensed and registered in 5 states he teaches the classes in which home inspectors get certified he worked for the army corps of engineers for many years on big projects heÂs has done almost 10,000 home and structural inspections heÂs a nationally recognized expert - teaches and testifies on "foundation and structure movement and repairs - their recognition, causes and cures." heÂs an active member in several professional societies like the NatÂl Society for Professional Engineers and the American Society for Home Inspectors some other things I find charming about him: he likes puzzles. some realtors are irritated by him because he uncovers stuff they would rather he didnÂt, and **included in his services are return site visits while and after the work is done - he will provide a final letter, with professional engineer stamp, certifying that the repairs have been performed as recommended and the structure is now structurally stable.*** Love him!! IÂm sorry if this sounds like spam, IÂm just a big fan. I get this enthusiastic about Mike Holmes on Holmes on Homes too!! if you choose a structural inspector, make sure he's qualified! it turned out that there were actually 2 problems causing the visible problems. the front foundation wall of the garage was being moved by the soil pressure - the fix is actually suprisingly low cost. the buttress that resists the hill should have been around 5 feet thick, it was only 1 foot thick. The fix is to cut slots in the garage wall, fill them with rebar and cement, creating piers. Then they will make the wall stable by adhering a carbon fiber mesh to the wall that keeps the wall from flexing. Lastly they will put 3 helical tie-backs thru the wall into the soil (anchors). The second issue is that there is insufficient support for a couple of loadbearing walls, causing the sagging in hte floor and some cracks in the drywall. So, we have to add 2 beams in the ceiling of the garage and one beam in the basement. we didn't know before the inspection what to expect in terms of costs, we were thinking it was probably somewhere between $20 and $80K to fix, depending on what they found. The cost for all this work is estimated to be $16K not the rumoured 80K. It helps the cost that the work can be done from the garage and basement, not inside the home. no excavation. We insisted the seller come down on the cost in the amount of the repairs and she came pretty close (within $3000 of it). We are aware that we are assuming a risk - that something unforseen may turn out to be very expensive. But we have done what we can to minimize the risk. i think you can put in an offer with the contingency clause without fear. then you have time to do the structural inspection with a skilled engineer and worst case scenario you are out the money you spent on the inspection. then, fully informed, you can be completely anxious about the next bit ;) for us, we feel that the low price of the home (we are paying 30%less than recent appraisal) and paying 40% less than most other homes in the neighborhood - is an offset for the risk also, since it's a desirable neighborhood with good resale, we feel that we can invest some $ and not price ourselves out of resale value also, the estimates for the repairs came back suprisingly low. our lowest estimate was $12K, but we have better references for the $16K contractors, so we're going with them. i am wondering how much more cracking and shifting will happen when the beams are put in, since the house may be slowly readjusted, but we know that it may happen. we may also have to live with a small amount of sagging - the house most likely cannot be returned to itÂs original alignment, but the cracking in walls will be arrested. HTH - sorry for the wordiness, IÂm just house-obsessed right now. we should close at the end of the month, and the structural work will start immediately - so I can report back when itÂs done and let you know what the rest of the experience has been like :) Good luck with your decision!

Thanks for your advice! The concrete was actually my idea (haha). The contractor suggested putting flashing around the foundation and then adding soil to grade away from foundation. I asked about the concrete because it seemed like a more permanent and waterproof solution. He's coming back today for a second look to finalize plans and I will ask him about just doing the flashing/grading and possibly a drain around the back perimeter (which sounds like a good idea, anyway). I feel we have to remove the deck and fill in that room because it's so horribly constructed (a deck constructed on top of an open hole in our basement, with just foam insulation separating our house from everything outside? insane! there's no door between our house and the basement, btw). The deck is also rotting from being exposed to so much rain and never being cared for, so it's an eyesore anyway. We've had two other companies come out-- there aren't many options around here. One were total shysters who just wanted to put plastic sheeting on the inside of our BRICK foundation and force the water to run behind it into an interior drain (while growing mold and ruining the foundation)---SO stupid, and for almost the same amount of money as actually fixing the problem. The other could only do a vapor barrier in the crawlspace and install a drain outside. The one we're working with now can do anything we need and is the only company like it around here. Switching to flashing/grading on the sides sounds great (while keeping the concrete patio)-- I'll ask him about that today. It would be really nice if we can get the cost to $5,000.

Thanks! I did see that thread and immediately thought, repaint it! I do have to work with the stuff I have now. So a dark chocolate brown couch and loveseat, a couple of no so fab tables, and 90ish contemporary lamps. Lamps and tables will go asap. A few years ago, my DH was horsing around with my DD one day and fell backwards into the matching coffee table and it broke. I was tempted to push him into each of the end tables too! ;-) I'm actually quite fond of the furniture, but I don't think it really works in this room. I already took the big chair for the set up to my bedroom. As for color, I think I've settled on BM Soleil. It's light and fairly neutral without being beige. Sort of a pale yellow cream. I have a sample jar sitting on the table, I just need to get it onto some posterboard so I can see it in a larger format. I think my biggest decision is going to be the trim, especially matching the old and new trim. We have enough old door trim to trim out the two missing doorways on the LR side, so we'll use that, but the door casings will be new pine, the new doors - 2 sets of double 10 lite pocket doors, plus 2 hinged 15 light doors, all are unfinished clear pine, and I have the tops of the windows that hadn't been striped and stained with the rest of the trim to match. I'll paint, try to match the stain, then see how it looks. If it's awful, I'll strip the lot, and restain darker. In someways this is more of an old house thread, than a home decorating one. I think I'll cross post there too. My biggest challenge furnishing-wise is the seating arrangement! How do I get the focus of the room on the big picture window and fireplace, and still have good flow in the room to the Library and DR? DH is the line all the furniture up on the walls kind, but we've done that for years and quite frankly it looked bad. I liked the loveseat under the big window, mainly because it's the brightest natural light spots in thr room, so it makes a good reading perch. Even though I really shouldn't buy furniture, especially accessories, for the room until we're much closer to ready, I do have a serious lust for the photographer's tripod lamp at Pottery Barn. Both my DH and DD hate it, but I don't care! I think it's awesome. I might get it as a birthday present to me next month! I have a large file of "house stuff". I think I'll go through it and put some of the ideas in my photo album, so we can talk styles a bit better. Always ;-) Hunzi Here is a link that might be useful: Stuff Hunzi Loves

I have to say, I grew up with a stove that had no counter on one side and no one was ever burned due to reaching up to it. If you have children that would be likely to put their hands up on the stovetop, though, consider induction: the pans get hot, but the burner itself does not.