I agree that the rain won’t help matters. It’s been unusual for the season, so any unusual smells may multiply from the rain and moisture.
It’s a young couple so I’m assuming that maybe, within the next five years, a baby may be added. With rat residue that would be a big huge issue for sanitary conditions.
Would a dehumidifier help??? (I’m not in CA but we recently got one and I can’t believe how much better the basement smells and the amount of water we draw)
Cannot believe the seller/realtor thought they could get away without disclosing the house had been vacant for 10 years. This is a crazy real estate market.
Good luck, coralbrook! I can’t wait to see how this one progresses.
I don’t remember a specific section on the California disclosure forms, which are pages long, asking if house has been sitting vacant for X time. Most Sellers just fill out those forms and don’t disclose anything extra, unless asked a specific question by buyers. And I think the Seller (Woman) probably inherited the house and refused to let it go for some crazy sentimental reason. So they could claim they never lived in the house so did not know about the issues
@coralbrook, do you have an update for us?
Hoping the update includes a bit less pattern in the kitchen and a torn down rat pee ceiling.
The owner’s hired a pest company for attic clean out. It took them 1 1/2 days. The owner went up into the attic themselves to install screen over all the access points identified by the pest company (because pest company wanted $1,000 to do that). While up there she took pictures (yes, young wife had to do it because she was the SAP, smallest available person) because there is still rat poop up there not vacuumed up properly and small bits of insulation. We went up the next day to remove all the ducting and my guy took more pictures
When she sent pictures to pest company to ask that they come back and thoroughly vacuum they blamed it on the construction going on and said it all fell off the ducting. They are furious with pest company and I have no idea whether owner is going to go back up and finish the vacuuming. There are definitely large urine stains but the pest company convinced owners it had not soaked through drywall and it was OK. I do not see urine/water stains in ceiling where they are scraping off popcorn ceilings
Owners are responsible for scraping popcorn ceilings but they still are not done yet. Mostly because there are huge piles of dirt in every room in the house from trenching.
One of the key things that always happens is ‘We need to save money so we want to do a lot of work ourselves’. OK, here’s a list of tasks and the timeline. A lot of these things need to get done before X can happen.
They did do most of the demo themselves over the first weekend. But then work and life got in the way. They both work full time jobs and husband just got sent out of town unexpectedly by work. The ceilings were supposed to be scraped, mudded, sanded, primed and painted by now. Next week we may start laying flooring. Those ceilings really should be painted before we start work on flooring. They now think they will mud, sand and paint everything after they move in. That is going to be a disaster. It is going to cost them a bundle to lay Ram Board down over all the floors
Sigh. Fell off the ductwork!! What sort of a pest company is that!
Those ceilings are never going to get done ; )
The pest control company should not be paid.
Absolutely! My husband just painted all of the hallways leading to all of the remodeled bathrooms. He’s not into “details” and, the carpets and floors were trashed with paint. (Bought the wrong drop cloths.) Right now, I have the flooring guys installing new carpet- $15K in flooring to cover the hallways and master bedroom-just carpet!
It’s going to really cost them a lot in the end to do their own work. Not being experts, in the trades, will cost them time, money and peace of mind/marriage.
I get not having the money, but they’re going to have to figure out a way to pay the mortgage and fund their mis-steps with family loans or something.
Our costs, of the flood, were underestimated by 3 times the initial estimates-prices and delays in supplies were a hassle. Fortunately, we had a decent amount in our accounts to cover the costs. The contractors, plumbers, electricians, quartz and tile guys were all preferring cash payments and applied discounts when we paid by check. The flooring company is also asking for a check rather than a CC-and is applying a discount for the cash. They don’t want to pay the CC fees. I don’t blame them.
Yikes… $15k for carpet on hallways / master bedroom. I’m gonna be in for a shock when we replace our 1993 carpet (all original, except for family room carpet replaced years ago - did a lot of living with the kiddos in that room!).
I am rather enjoying this thread. Feel really bad for that young couple (and CB)…. but it reminds me that my minor complaints about existing house are really no biggie.
For example, every single ceiling in the house is in good shape… no popcorn surface, no holes, no rat poop ;).
Supplies and labor.
We had to go for “high end” carpet since a lot of the “middle of the road” carpet is on a container ship somewhere needing to land.
$134 a yard x 96 yards and its made in the USA, so I would rather support American workers.
We have Fabrica carpet and it’s performed very well. I think you will be happy with it.
Wow. We recarpeted the upper floor in this house… $6k for the whole deal (1200 sft of very nice, plush carpet) four years ago, and I thought that was pricy!
Supplies and labor are in very short supply.
I suspect that the budget for @Coralbrook’s remodel is going to be largely for the same supplies and labor.
No, the insurance company had nothing to do with the cost of the flooring. And, no, I don’t have the style that @coralbrook does, but it’s finally done!
Looks nice!
Lovely and finally done!! Wow it’s been 6 months since the flood??
Wow, I haven’t ever seen $124/yd carpet. Should have pinged me. I use a small dingy wholesale place that all the carpet installers use. The place is dirty and in bad part of town, but same stuff. They have about 20 choices that they keep in stock. I’m currently looking for outdoor or commercial carpet for my covered patio and I choked at the $35/yd special order stuff
I picked our carpets for House1 and House2 almost solely based on the names. “Frozen Pond” and “Waikiki Sand,” respectively. 
If the thing has a name, if might as well be a good one.
Yes, good to get the what/when you need… and support American goods and local workers. Looks great! Doesn’t it feel great to get a project Done?
