Friday, June 30, 2006
More About That Move
We bought our current house on a Sunday in late 2001, choosing to make the offer rather quickly since we knew someone else was likely going to make an offer. Frustratingly, the street out front has proven to be busy enough to not be a good place for the boys. No bike riding, no street hockey, no games of chicken. Since then more houses have been built up the road, and since it is the only way out, thsat means more traffic. I've gotten into shouting matches with jackasses who don't know how to slow down when children are walking on the road (I see I neglected to mention the lack of sidewalks), and I often step out in front of speeding cars, which so far has proven more effective at slowing them down than, say, killing me.
When we bought our house, the locals were all singing the praises of pressurised wood foundations (PWF), which of course we have. Cheaper to heat the basement, among other things. Since then, however, a number of PWF houses have been having problems. We brought in a structural engineer who reported that the clay soil structure was slowly flowing around the house, and he showed us how all of the basement walls were bowed in, both top to bottom and side to side. But we're lucky in that this house is basically a box, and so a state of equilibrium has been reached. The house, he figures, should be good for at least ten more years.
But a house up around the corner wasn't so lucky (well, the owners, but you know what I mean). Their house was also given a passing grade, but some digging found that the foundation was rotting, that the wrong nails were used and that they were rusting to nothing, and that the wrong size wood was used. Now, the engineer told us that fixing these foundations was currently running at about $14,000. A lot of money, and we decided we wanted out before this became a priority. Today, talking with the owners of the other house, I found that $14K was no longer the going rate. These folks paid FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS to redo their foundation, and they were given a deal since the prices are going up again.
We're more happy than ever to be getting out.
The new house has a concrete foundation and is at the end of a quiet cul de sac - walking by yesterday there were kids playing basketball on the street, where they had drawn the court with chalk. It's larger than our current house, has a separate dining room, sliding doors that access a deck at ground level out back (currently we have to go out a side door and then through a gate to get to our deck, a major pain), a two car garage instead of a car port, main level laundry coupled with a great mud room, a gorgeous and kid-friendly back yard, and more. I'll get some pictures up when we're in.
We bought our current house on a Sunday in late 2001, choosing to make the offer rather quickly since we knew someone else was likely going to make an offer. Frustratingly, the street out front has proven to be busy enough to not be a good place for the boys. No bike riding, no street hockey, no games of chicken. Since then more houses have been built up the road, and since it is the only way out, thsat means more traffic. I've gotten into shouting matches with jackasses who don't know how to slow down when children are walking on the road (I see I neglected to mention the lack of sidewalks), and I often step out in front of speeding cars, which so far has proven more effective at slowing them down than, say, killing me.
When we bought our house, the locals were all singing the praises of pressurised wood foundations (PWF), which of course we have. Cheaper to heat the basement, among other things. Since then, however, a number of PWF houses have been having problems. We brought in a structural engineer who reported that the clay soil structure was slowly flowing around the house, and he showed us how all of the basement walls were bowed in, both top to bottom and side to side. But we're lucky in that this house is basically a box, and so a state of equilibrium has been reached. The house, he figures, should be good for at least ten more years.
But a house up around the corner wasn't so lucky (well, the owners, but you know what I mean). Their house was also given a passing grade, but some digging found that the foundation was rotting, that the wrong nails were used and that they were rusting to nothing, and that the wrong size wood was used. Now, the engineer told us that fixing these foundations was currently running at about $14,000. A lot of money, and we decided we wanted out before this became a priority. Today, talking with the owners of the other house, I found that $14K was no longer the going rate. These folks paid FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS to redo their foundation, and they were given a deal since the prices are going up again.
We're more happy than ever to be getting out.
The new house has a concrete foundation and is at the end of a quiet cul de sac - walking by yesterday there were kids playing basketball on the street, where they had drawn the court with chalk. It's larger than our current house, has a separate dining room, sliding doors that access a deck at ground level out back (currently we have to go out a side door and then through a gate to get to our deck, a major pain), a two car garage instead of a car port, main level laundry coupled with a great mud room, a gorgeous and kid-friendly back yard, and more. I'll get some pictures up when we're in.
// posted by Derryl Murphy @ 5:16 PM 
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