-
What's the flooring like in the area that's squishy? Could you hire someone to remove the flooring from that area so that you can look underneath and see what's wrong? If it's wood or linoleum that shouldn't be too hard. Tile would be tough. Maybe contractor 4 could do this if he comes back to look under the house? It could be something as simple as cracked or rotted subfloor or it could be a foundation issue.
To me, the fear that it could be the foundation would be good incentive to look at licensing options out of state and/or take another look at rental options in your area. In terms of rentals...have you asked friends and family if they know anyone with a rental that may work for you? Maybe put some feelers out and see if anything comes up. As others have said, now would be the best time to move on from a troublesome house since the market is so hot. Buyers may be willing to overlook issues that they won't in the future.
Also...I would never contact contractor #2 again since throwing out a figure like that w/out much info seems wrong to me.
-
I’m sorry to hear another problem has surfaced for you. I hate to see you spend more money trying to get your house up to standard. PP made sense in that people are so focused on getting into houses now that the usual due diligence is being rushed. A contractor could come buy your house, fix the problems and turn around to sell it for a huge profit. I can’t remember where you are but are there not apartment complexes in your area? Is the rent for those 3 or 4 times your mortgage?
-
I’m sorry to hear another problem has surfaced for you. I hate to see you spend more money trying to get your house up to standard. PP made sense in that people are so focused on getting into houses now that the usual due diligence is being rushed. A contractor could come buy your house, fix the problems and turn around to sell it for a huge profit. I can’t remember where you are but are there not apartment complexes in your area? Is the rent for those 3 or 4 times your mortgage?
-
I wonder if OP struggles with the same issue that I might struggle with. That is, it is so hard to get into a home that you don't really have the flexibility to leave and come back. I do wonder if it is possible to look at properties that are substantially different than what you are currently in? Maybe instead of buying a certain comparable size, you buy a much smaller but newer property? You might be happier!
-
House issues are so stressful.
I had a sink overflow in my house a few years ago. When the inspector came to check out damage, he was able to see the water still in the ceiling of the basement and where the water had flown down from the main floor. With that said, if it’s your patio door leaking, the next time it rains have someone with that type of camera (it just plugged into his iPhone) come scan the floors. That should rule out the patio door leaking.
If it’s the outside tap, use the outside tap a whole bunch - let it run for awhile and have someone use the cameras see if that’s the issue.
Maybe it’s a past issue - I assume you’re not the first owner of the house. Maybe the dry rot has been there longer than you’ve been in the house. A previous owner may have just put the flooring down and not dealt with it.
Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains
-
Thanks so much for the input. At this point, it is not going to work for me to leave the house either by renting or moving out of state. These are things I have thought of and researched, but its not going to work. If I went into every detail about what the issues are it would make sense to you, but it just doesn't make sense for me to go in to all those details. Suffice it to say that researching rentals and job/license related issues are something I am very good at and know I am covering my bases with; contractor/house repairs, I am not good at.
I will keep figuring out what to do about the contractors, so if there is any more advice about that I am all ears. The guy who said he might go under the house is playing phone tag with me and not sure if he is going to be willing to do it, wants to charge me or what. My plummer friend who has the injury (significant enough that she is not allowed to work) wants to come over this weekend and pull up part of my carpet to look. Not sure if she could put it back or if that will get us answers, so I need to discuss with her.
Riverrat, I have wondered if this is a long standing issue beyond the 6 years I have had the house...there was an inspection, of course, but dont know if it something they could have covered up? Doesnt really matter in some ways, I guess. The squishyness is definitely new. I do wonder if an inpsection company would make sense? I did google and research and seems they charge over $400 for an inspection. Dont know if they do concentrated areas.
-
A home inspection actually seems like a good use of money. But, they won't be able to look at anything beyond cosmetic/surface area things. They are good at spotting red flags but they won't knock holes in anything or check things that aren't readily visible or accessible. Then again, that has been my experience when buying a house and those inspectors might have different rules since you don't own the house yet so can't really authorize them to do more. But, an inspector will give you a list of concerns and suggestions for needed next steps. The inspection reports we have from our houses have been great manuals as well for just understanding the house.
You might ask around about structural engineers. They might be better equipped to determine water leaks.
-
Is the temperature of the squishy area significantly different than a close by non-squishy area? That might be something you could tell yourself. I could be wrong, but I think that’s a sign of a water leak.
Sent from my iPhone using Baby Bargains
-
Is the temperature of the squishy area significantly different than a close by non-squishy area? That might be something you could tell yourself. I could be wrong, but I think that’s a sign of a water leak.
-
It sounds like you really need a contractor or handyman/person that you can trust. I have one and he’s so valuable to me.
If the contractor recommended by your friend isn’t working out, can you ask her for another recommendation? Ask other friends too. Also if you are on any local FB groups ask for recommendations. That’s where I found my guy.
In the meantime I think it’s a great idea to pull up the carpet to see what’s happening underneath. You may not get all the answers you need but it’s a good first step.
Typically when I have a house problem I start googling bc I want to try to understand it before I call someone. I also try to fix problems myself if I can. YouTube is great for this - lots of helpful videos. For instance, I googled “squishy floors” and this video came up as a top link.
https://youtu.be/r0PjTe7pl2o
Even if you don’t ever want to do any repairs yourself I think it’s helpful to understand the potential issues so that you can have meaningful conversations with contractors about the damage and plans for repair.
Good luck!