anyone familiar with drivet on a house?

[marchmommy]

Hi there,

We are (still) looking for a house. One house we are considering hasn't sold, and so the price keeps dropping, because it doesn't have a basement and it's outside is covered in drivet. The lack of basement we can deal with, but the drivet is more of an unknown. (Drivet looks like stucco but is a different material). It seems drivet can lead to mold and structural problems. The seller has said they will reduce the price by the cost of replacing the drivet. It's a very nice house inside. I'm wondering if any of you have experience with this?? I could get an inspector to look at it, but will they catch everything (ie any structural damage??) Thanks so much for any advice, particularly from people with drivet experience!!!

[miki]

We had never heard of this imitation stucco but our real estate agent told us about it when we were looking at houses. She recommended to all her clients that they have it replaced as soon as possible and that it could cost as much as $30,000 for a large house. But she really recommended against buying one of these houses. The houses in our area with the fake stucco are already priced lower to account for replacing the exterior. HTH

[C99]

I know nothing about drivet, but I can tell you that a good inspector will catch structural damage. If there is structural damage and you're still interested, you should also have the property looked at by a structural engineer/inspector.

[Andrea S]

We looked at a house with drivet and our realtor said there was a lot of problems with mold under the drivet and it should be inspected (which this house was), but she said a lot of people stay away from it. My mom who is also a realtor (in a different area then we live) said not to look at house with drivet.

Andrea
mom to Andrew 8/14/02

[StaceyKim]

I have only heard bad things about houses built with drivet. I personally would stay away from buying this house even if they lower the price to cover replacing the drivet because you will still have to come up with the cash and it is just an extra hassle that you shouldn't have to deal with.

[janeybwild]

I heard that the problems with Drivet came when it first came on the market and was put up incorrectly, trapping moisture in between the house and the Drivet. Put up properly, it is absolutely fine, and is maintenance free (better than stucco which deteriorates and cracks). The only way to know for sure if there is a problem is to get a special Drivet inspection where they take moisture readings. If you suspect a problem, I would definitely ask for the seller to produce this report (can get pricey based on sq footage). A regular home inspector will be able to tell you if there might be a problem, but based on their willingness to comp money toward replacing, it sounds like they already know there is a problem. Good luck!