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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    alberta
    Posts
    31

    Default Hello, trying to gather information for mold, fire restoration.

    I am hoping to gather fire restoration information as I am considering the purchase of a house which has seen better days.
    A city building inspector flagged the home in 2014 for 'deteriorating envelope', as it has sat untouched since the fire in late 2009.
    There seems to be a few 'issues' with the property in that the neighbour seems to think alot of work was done to the property before the fire, the work he believes was not done with proper building permits in place.
    I have yet to get a definitive answer as to the truth of what he says, research at the city may allow for one to gather whether or not the property has ever had building permits issued?
    The main issue seems to be whether mold has permeated the property, coupled with the fact about sixteen floor joists have been damaged, many completely burned through but the fire seems to have been confined to one room in the basement, growop, burned though before the growop became functional, therefore meaning the mold may not have been allowed?
    The main beam, girder?, spanning the room has been substantially burned on the one side, to the side of the room which has had the fire.
    I am hoping to find out how one repairs or replaces such fire damage, joists and likely partial replacement of the girder?
    The joists did not seem to burn all the way to the outside wall sill, leaving about a foot and a half of good beam away from the sill, evidencing therefore a lack of damage to the sill?
    The present owner of the property acquired the property through a death in the family and they are not interested in restoration and are selling the property as 'land only' with a city order already in place to either get permits to remediate and restore or demolish by Oct 15/14 which has obviously come and gone.
    The lawyer I originally had all but called the realtors crooks, as the owners have not abided by the order and have not safety fenced or demolished by the ordered date.
    I've been told I may be crazy for even considering attempting to remediate and restore the 1970 bi-level.

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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Capistrano Beach, CA
    Posts
    1,510

    Default

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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Plano, Texas
    Posts
    4,245

    Default Re: Hello, trying to gather information for mold, fire restoration.

    Hire a local inspector and possibly a contractor. This is not a "how to" nor "DIY" site. There is no way we could possibly give any accurate information based on the limited information given.
    Contact your municipality directly as to their position on the property since it is obvious they current owners have ignored the directives from the city. It may be it is already scheduled for demolition and any money spent to research the property will be wasted.
    Restoring a burned / condemned building is not for the novice nor the faint of heart.

    Jim Luttrall
    www.MrInspector.net
    Plano, Texas

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    alberta
    Posts
    31

    Default Re: Hello, trying to gather information for mold, fire restoration.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Luttrall View Post
    Hire a local inspector and possibly a contractor. This is not a "how to" nor "DIY" site. There is no way we could possibly give any accurate information based on the limited information given.
    Contact your municipality directly as to their position on the property since it is obvious they current owners have ignored the directives from the city. It may be it is already scheduled for demolition and any money spent to research the property will be wasted.
    Restoring a burned / condemned building is not for the novice nor the faint of heart.

    Thanks Jim, the problem being the owners' intermediary responded that the house has a permit in place for demolition and he isn't about to allow anyone into the property to assess if the house actually is worth restoring. He said it is being sold as 'land only' and so I'm SOL when it comes to the building inspector or contractor giving me any help in identifying whether or not the property is restorable. The city has no record of any building permits, just got back, issued since 1980 so one can surmise the two additions were completed without any input from the city. Therein would lie now another rub, whether the work was done by a competent journeyman and then the renovations may just have to be brought up to code. One might wonder why one would want to attempt this type of project, but unless one realises it is to be a HOME and not a 'project' for flipping or realising anything 'out of it' but a somewhat decent place to live. Pictures were taken by a Hazmat guy for a woman comtemplating the same project but she pulled out because of the 'faintness of heart' one might suppose.
    This is not my first crappy house to live in, old graineries come to mind, so the whole deal revolves around how much to have it restored, since it was a growop it has to be done by 'certified growop remediators', and the ballpark quote from them was '70,000' to get it to stage 3 which is safety checked and then anyone can do the 'renovations' as long as the Hazmat guy keeps an 'eye open' for anything not to code. So, I believe sixteen floor joists, replaced, and most likely the subfloor above them. My mortgage broker BALKED to the Hazmat guy saying 'you seem to be lowballing this poor bast....', 'a bathroom remodel costs 40,000' he says. I was just trying to barter the mortgage for ONLY the land and not the restoration and here the mortgage guy was arguing with my Hazmat guy.


  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    alberta
    Posts
    31

    Default Re: Hello, trying to gather information for mold, fire restoration.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Hennessy View Post
    Thanks Jim, the problem being the owners' intermediary responded that the house has a permit in place for demolition and he isn't about to allow anyone into the property to assess if the house actually is worth restoring. He said it is being sold as 'land only' and so I'm SOL when it comes to the building inspector or contractor giving me any help in identifying whether or not the property is restorable. The city has no record of any building permits, just got back, issued since 1980 so one can surmise the two additions were completed without any input from the city. Therein would lie now another rub, whether the work was done by a competent journeyman and then the renovations may just have to be brought up to code. One might wonder why one would want to attempt this type of project, but unless one realises it is to be a HOME and not a 'project' for flipping or realising anything 'out of it' but a somewhat decent place to live. Pictures were taken by a Hazmat guy for a woman comtemplating the same project but she pulled out because of the 'faintness of heart' one might suppose.
    This is not my first crappy house to live in, old graineries come to mind, so the whole deal revolves around how much to have it restored, since it was a growop it has to be done by 'certified growop remediators', and the ballpark quote from them was '70,000' to get it to stage 3 which is safety checked and then anyone can do the 'renovations' as long as the Hazmat guy keeps an 'eye open' for anything not to code. So, I believe sixteen floor joists, replaced, and most likely the subfloor above them. My mortgage broker BALKED to the Hazmat guy saying 'you seem to be lowballing this poor bast....', 'a bathroom remodel costs 40,000' he says. I was just trying to barter the mortgage for ONLY the land and not the restoration and here the mortgage guy was arguing with my Hazmat guy.

    Looking at the house you should see why I became interested, I noticed it while driving to another house, expensive, I was going to look at.
    3403 33 ST SE - MLS® # C3633429


  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Fletcher, NC
    Posts
    28,032

    Default Re: Hello, trying to gather information for mold, fire restoration.

    If you want the house and it is being sold for the land value only, buy the land.

    Then, you as the owner, can bring in a structural engineer to assess the structure.

    When you buy land with a structure on it which needs to be demolished, the land value is diminished by the cost of demolition and the cost to clear any and all debris from the site, leaving the land cleaned up.

    After all, if you decide you can't save the structure, you will need to demolish the structure and clear the lot to either rebuild or sell the lot to someone else.

    Jerry Peck
    Construction/Litigation/Code Consultant - Retired
    www.AskCodeMan.com

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