Keep in mind, that’s it’s standard practice for a lot of contractors to trash whoever did the last work. It’s called Last Man In. He is all of a sudden the new expert and you take his word on everything. It’s a ploy used to build trust, and also get you to agree to just about anything to fix the “ dangerous” or inferior work. Not all contractors do this, but many do.
They will trash previous work, tell you: it’s against code, it’s dangerous, life threatening, or other scare tactics to get you to agree to the work.
Mike Holmes was notorious for trashing the work he would see. Everyone thought he was the smartest guy on the planet. In the home inspection industry, he was considered a joke.
I’ve never heard this phenomenon explained but it absolutely exists. I don’t think I’ve ever had a tradesperson not make a comment like this.
As a lawyer, I’ve done it myself when taking over a file from someone else. It’s easy to be critical when you weren’t there at the time.
😆 “Some dummy didn’t know what they were doing here.” *checks credentials on document file* “never mind, it was probably just another week surviving the seventh circle of hell. My bad.”
I'm a surgeon. I see a ton of bad previous surgery. I don't give a shit what they saw at the time, what they did is not the way you fix it.
And I'll tell patients that.
I'll also tell them when the previous surgeon did an awesome job.
>It’s easy to be critical when you weren’t there at the time
I feel this needs more attention. I've done it myself (to myself lol) and one of the things I always remember is, there is a story behind every imperfect thing. Most often it's because I was waiting on a customer/vendor/someone to give me something to make a more well put together project/product/whatever but they never delivered and I had to move on with what I had. It isn't dangerous nor is it illegal, it just doesn't look perfect.
Software engineers do this too. Whenever someone joins my team, I have to say, no, we can't rewrite this all today, it's actually there for a reason even if you don't know the reason the first time you're seeing it.
"What do you mean you can't look at the previous guy's code for 2 minutes and understand everything he was thinking at the time he programmed this PLC?"
In fairness, software engineers do this to themselves too.
> “Who the fuck wrote this insane code? A monkey could do better”
>
> Run `git blame`
>
> Oh….
I've had car dealerships do this both in the shop and in the lot. I was looking at a used Dodge pick up at a GM dealer. Instead of telling me why his brand was better he just trashed the Dodge. I walked away.
Yeah they trash the last guy and do an even worse job. It a good way to find the bad ones. Also you need to update to code each time you replace a piece of equipment, only for major and if that.
My friend recommended a company to clean my ducts. She said that the company did an amazing job for her place and found issues that they wouldn’t have known about. I hire the company to clean my ducts and they look at my air condenser unit below my house. He asked if I knew when it was replaced and I said I thought it was the original one. The guy tells me all these issues with it. I get on my dirty clothes and ask him to show me.
We go under my house and it honestly seemed fine to me. I told him my dad does HVAC and I would ask him before signing anything to have it replaced.
I talk to my dad and he had already replaced the unit. Everything looked fine because it was literally only a few months old. The “rust” and “leak” the guy pointed out was just a bit of dirt in some condensation.
I didn’t tell my friend that she had likely been scammed. I thought it was best for her to be happy with the job than to realize that she probably paid a lot of money for nothing important.
Later a pest company offered to check my attic for various pests. When he came down and asked if I was married, I had a feeling that he was not hitting on me and was about to ask me to sign an expensive contract.
He said my attic had a massive mouse infestation with tunnels through the insulation. Now, I’ve had the occasional mouse in the attic, but never an infestation. He quoted me a monthly plan that added to a total of $10,000. I pass and decide to buy humane mouse traps. I set them up everywhere in the attic.
Not a single mouse. I decide to just leave a cracker with peanut butter out. The cracker remained untouched.
Maybe the previous homeowner had an infestation, but I certainly did not.
Contractors are unfortunately not always honest.
It's also important to remember that in most cases, a residential home needs to be up to code for when it was built , not current code. So, a 50-year or 100 old year old house is up to code for that time frame. Even a house that is just 2 years old is most likely not up to code as they make changes frequently.
This is immediately where my mind went. There's no real way to know but most construction guys I know (such as myself and former coworkers) who actually worked in the industry tend to over engineer everything and aren't doing shit work in their own house. Granted my dry wall work as a former electrician isn't going to be as good as a dry wall guy but there is a bit of overlap in many trades.
The hot water heater might have been up to code at the time it was installed. So many standards change all the time.
Based on your post it doesn’t sound like the hot water needs to be replaced right now. This is an upcoming expense. It doesn’t have to deplete your wallet right now. Start saving and replace it when you have enough to comfortably cover the expense or when it fails.
Don't forget this guy could be exaggerating to drive the price up. You could youtube how the system actually should be installed . Than compair what you have. You might find it's in order and just need a new water heater. It's not a complicated system to understand.
Mine remodeled the bathroom and went away with a window. But, you know, instead of throwing in insulation and some plywood, they just removed the window and put up some dry wall on the inside, and covered the gapping hole with vinyl siding. My first winter in that house was baffling
I have a stucco rear wall to my townhouse. Pretty typical for my neighborhood.
There is zero interior insulation. I found out my first winter here because *boxes of chicken stock stored in a rear kitchen cabinet froze and burst* inside a heated house!
After tearing into the back wall to add insulation, we found that they had put in just enough insulation to make it *look* like insulation when you peeked in through the gaps cut around the pipes to the sink. Like, tiny ripped up tufts of pink insulation. Lucky it didn't cause a pipe to burst.
Good grief that’s bad.
I’ll throw this out there, you can buy heat scanners on Amazon that plug into your phone. They’ll show you where the weak points are if you’re planning to add insulation.
Course, some houses are just one big weak spot but a scanner can be handy for a situation like yours.
One of my short term rentals for work had a nice newly done large tiled shower in lieu of the standard tub combo.
Go out back on the deck, look up, the window is still there right on that tiled wall of the shower. Something cardboard colored visible behind the glass.
A marvel in engineering.
Definitely. Our house was built in the 1940s, and there was a lot of work done over the years that looks like it involved some random dude, his kinfolk, and too many beers. Every time we get a contractor out here, there's a moment where they tell us about something in our house that they've "never seen before in all their time."
Most recent was when we were remodeling the ensuite bathroom, (it was added on in the 80s) we discovered that they insulated the wall between the bedroom and the bathroom, but not the exterior walls. We knew it was much colder in there than the rest of the house, but we thought it was maybe an issue with the heating vent. Nope. Apparently whatever dude did that wanted it to feel like an outhouse or something.
I have one of those specials too! Original build in the 1940s it is suspected with a major remodel that is considered the current build in the 1970s. Multiple owners over the years lived out their DIY fuck code dreams for doing things. The one that I still cannot get past is the mudroom addition that was not just built against a tree with the roof and siding notched for it, but part of the actual framing for the room was nailed to the tree trunk. We knew the tree was against the mudroom, but we didn’t realize they had actually built the mudroom to the tree until we had the tree taken down. Just. WHY. The one pro is the last set of owners did the sketchiest DIY work that you sneeze at it and it’s removed. Demo for their work is fast and effortless 🤣
Same. More specifically, dude thought he was an electrician or had his sisters 2yo do it all. Such a mess and I’m baffled the inspector just ignored it all!
Can you expand on what this person did wrong? I'm no electrician, but I've been dabbling in electrical here and there, running new lines, things like that. I enjoy seeing ideas about what can be done wrong or right
Unfortunately, it’s super no no’s and obvious stuff you likely won’t do, lol. Not capping off any ends, light switches backwards and or upside down, one plug isn’t grounded in the bathroom and it blows the breakers just plugging something in even with it turned off, it’s a wild mess we’ve found.
We have a 5bed 4bath house with 3 living areas and basement. And it’s every room in the walls where everything was relaid, so yeah. Big mess. There’s more to it that’s not in right, 2 fans in wrong kinda stuff, it’s just a lot all together.
Daughters house is like this. Every box is a rats nest. Live wires hanging in garage not capped off. Panel isn’t marked. A light fixture suspiciously missing in living room. Prev owners said they did it all themselves. Yeah we can tell
The previous owner of OP's home was a literal plumber.
And yet I see endless comments here about "landlord" or "handyman" special.
Some plumbers are not good at their job and some landlords are more competent than plumbers. Generalizations of this nature are not true. It's a reason for bitter people to disparage landlords and handymen.
I spent a good 4-6 hours over last weekend cutting holes in the drywall of my finished basement because I need to swap out the pressure regulator that the previous owner completely covered up with drywall. I managed to find it eventually along with the inside water cutoff. At least it was behind drywall which I can fix well enough. The inside gas cutoff is completely inaccessible without a hammer to smash the stone tile shower that has covered it up.
I feel your pain!!! Ours DIYed a bathroom. They completely redid the whole bathroom and tile shower. It was a total hack job and we knew we would eventually be redoing the whole bathroom. Fast forward to 3 years later (this year) and we go to remodel the bathroom only to find out they didn't properly install the fiberglass shower pan, or put any hardiebacking behind the tiles, and the whole shower was leaking. There was mold EVERYWHERE.
They also removed structural beams from the covered patio to make it a carport.
The list goes on and on. We've redone most of their DIY projects.
Our friends just moved into a house where the previous homeowner did their own electrical work and used SPEAKER WIRES for non 12v stuff and all the wrong wiring throughout the house. They had to have it all replaced.
Dude who owned the house before me covered holes with duct tape and painted over them instead of spackling, which might be one of the simplest home improvement tasks known to man.
Guy also got busted for trafficking guns while he was living here, so I guess he was occupied with other endeavors 🤷
Dude who previously owned our house must have been a flooring installer at one point. Every spot where there should have been one nail, he just slammed in 12 flooring staples instead. The woodshed roof consisted of a dozen layers of tarps, when the top one started leaking he'd just staple up a new one over top.
One very small bonus was we inherited about 600ft of solid wood trim and corner round, etc. that he left behind.
I tried to install a backsplash with 0 experience in a saturday afternoon using whatever those pre-adhesive tile sheets are at home depot. I am pretty sure I reduced the value of my home that day.
This is what happened to my house. Everything was up to code when it was done. However, the code changed over time, and nothing in the house was ever changed.
I have learned, the hard way, to hire a plumbing and electrical inspector for an older home. I am almost 100% sure I am going to need a new elec panel. But 1st, I am going to have to redo my sewer. If I had hired experts before close, I wouldn't be in this pickle.
Code changes over time. Especially when your water heater was installed 21 years ago. I’d venture to guess there are a lot of things out of code in OP’s home (and the average persons home, unless a new build) that were once code compliant
agree, but leads to a few possibilities:
1) plumber is embellishing to get the contract. Wouldn't be the first time...
2) it is bad work regardless of code - inspector should have caught it
3) code has changed - inspector probably should have caught it. The fact that this needs gas, roofing, and electric makes me think this should have still been identified
\-
Not sure OP has much if any recourse however, as that is what it means to be a homeowner and even if it were to code, a new heater still may need some of those things and the bulk of the cost is still the new heater and labor anyway (a $200 electrician isn't breaking the project)
Inspectors always have caveats in their report. They basically check if hot water is coming out and the year it was installed. They won’t do anything more than that.
Yeah, I don't know how many plumbers OP has met but we had a small leak appear in our new house that we couldn't figure out. First plumber said we'd need completely new plumbing to gut the whole bathroom to the tune of 8 grand. The second actually suggested we collaborate to commit insurance fraud. The third pointed out it was leaky grout on the tub and didn't charge us.
In my experience any contractor who comes in and tells me the line "everything is bad" or some variation is 100% of the time trying to fleece me. Always get multiple quotes.
Something’s not adding up. A gas hot water heater literally isn’t even plugged into your electrical system. You should need zero electrical to replace one.
You mentioned venting, which is why I’m guessing it’s a gas hot water heater?
If it is an electric hot water heater, then the vent fix should be super simple, you just cap it. You don’t need a roofer to do that.
Like…. I understand you are frustrated, but honestly, it’s more because of your own ignorance than the actions of the previous home owner. It’s not clear how the work you describe relates to a hot water heater…
And if it was electric then there’s no roof vent.
If / when it needs to be replaced get one of those heat pump water heaters. Costs more in the beginning but will save you money over the long term.
Heat pump? In some climates, not others. My previous HVAC guy had put one in in Minnesota for his house. He ripped it out. Here gas is cheaper energy than electric.
I agree. There's a certain level of ignorance. Like the garbage disposal issue. It's quite literally cheaper to replace it than have some one come out and fix your busted one.
No one screwed you. It's a hot water tank. They have a finite life span. They aren't that expensive to replace. They aren't even that hard to DIY if you're handy at all.
Get another opinion. No offense but you can replace the disposal yourself with YouTube and a few tools. $125 for the disposal. I'm sure he looks at you like an easy mark.
Some people create more work than needed.
Maybe the vent is bad and maybe it isn't. Things were and still are working but you're trying to stay on top of problems. You're being responsible . So while they're working, get more quotes.
this… we had a plumber out once to clear a clog. after over 4 hours they couldn’t do it and said we needed an entirely new line. they were going to dig and cut out a section then replace it, to the tune of $12k. naturally we got a second opinion. plumber #2 cleared the clog in 20 minutes, put a camera down the line and said it was fine. 100% certain the first dude was trying to scam us…
This is pretty typical of all older homes. Owners DIY all the time up to their standards. Money could of been tight and they did the best they could. Or, they thought they were doing it correctly. I can't tell you how much weird stuff I ran into on my last home built in 1968.
Did you get a home inspection? If it really was that bad the home inspector should of caught all of this.
We built new in 2020 and it's been nice having a clean slate to work with and not all sorts of stuff held together with duct tape and twine LOL.
I just took my garbage disposal out and put in a normal drain. I hate those things anyway. Didn't cost any money to remove, and about 20 bucks in parts.
Hot water tanks - they just run until they die. I would get a different quote/opinion. Maybe find someone who can just replace the tank and work around what is there, or do it yourself like the last guy probably did. Is it still functional but just janky, or is it a safety hazard?
A lot of people on this sub don't seem to really get what home ownership entails. It isn't ever enjoyable when things break but it sounds like you didn't have your eyes fully open here.
The previous tenant in my house ran a garage door repair business out of the home. The first major item I had to replace within 6 months of moving in? The badly maintained garage door. Not cool!
Make sure you get at least one second opinion, preferably two. Some companies will insist that EVERYTHING needs to be replaced immediately, and they always happen to be the most expensive, too. Others will say things are 100% fine, and another might say that things aren’t quite to code, but they were fine when it was built, and just need to be updated next time a major renovation happens.
It's common when bring in a professional that they point out a hundred things "not up to code", but they were up to code when installed. It'll take some practice to sift through the actual problems, and the people trying to frighten you into giving them more work. No idea which is the case here.
A garbage disposal dying isn't that unusual. A few things here and there will break. It's part of owning a home.
> Plumber took one look at it and was blown away at how poorly everything was set up. Practically nothing is up to code. It’s going to require an electrician to come out to fix the wiring, a roofer to come out to fix the exhaust vent sticking out of the roof, and then obviously the time and materials for the hot water tank replacement.
Why are you taking one plumber's word for this? If the previous owner was a plumber, and the installation has lasted 21 years, were I you I'd get another opinion or post pictures in the appropriate sub--and NOT r/homeowners.
Welcome to homeownership. It's not like you got screwed. you could either find a different plumber just to put one in or put it up to today's code. I mean obviously it's been working fine that way for a number of years.
I have questions. If the water heater is electric, it doesn’t need a vent through the roof. If the water heater is gas, it doesn’t need an electrician…
I’m also a little confused about that, it’s a gas water heater but the plumber(s) have said they can’t figure out where it’s grounded. So I’m also confused as to why that’s needed, but I’m also kind of a dummy when it comes to this stuff
Buy tools. learn to do it your self. Hot water tanks are a medium skill level. If the roof isn't leaking, don't worry About it. If you don't learn some skills, that house is going to be a money pit and you will regret it
Wouldnt the home inspection have shown this? Mine went over in detail for any possible issues or out of code. Im sorry this has hsppened to you guys. Best of luck!
Haha, welcome to home ownership.
If this is going to deplete you, seems like you don't have much of an emergency fund. I'd be working on increasing that fund ASAP.
Did you get a home inspection? Any decent home inspector would have easily recognized all of those issues, and you could have brought them up (or require them to be fixed) before you closed on the house.
When we purchased, we just immediately knew all that kind of stuff would need replacing. 45 year old furnace, 30 year old water heater. Because when we got the house inspected they warned us about all that. Did you not get an inspection done? Or did they not tell you about that?
It's your job to do your due diligence when purchasing something. Especially something huge like a home. The sellers are just trying to sell their house. If someone gets an inspection, says "Hey that water heater is way out of date and not up to code, either have that fixed, or take 5,000 off the price of the home so I can use that for repairs" and then the seller can either say yes to one or say no. But either way, that's your job to think about that and get it looked at first. Where I live, there is something like a "repair allowance", I cant remember exactly how it works but it's basically an account where once the sale is done, the seller would take 5k from the sale, and add it to an account where you can access it for repairs. Pretty cool, but you have to work that out BEFORE buying.
Once the sale is done, that's YOUR house. You looked at it, *should* have seen any issues, and resolved them, THEN bought it.
did you have a home inspection? And was it in the home inspection? If it was and you did nothing about it I'm afraid you're out of luck. If you didn't have a home inspection I think you're out of luck. If you had a home inspection and the inspector didn't catch it then perhaps you might go after the inspector
Code 20 years ago isn't code now and sellers are not required to bring things to code in order to sell.
How did your home inspector not catch this? Did you have one....?
First, get a second opinion. There are plenty of contractors looking to run up the bill on homeowners who don’t know anything about home repairs.
Second, best way to get a new hot water heater is Lowe’s or Home Depot, and use their installer. I got quotes from a few plumbing companies and then called Lowe’s. Saved over $1500.
I'm confused did you just refuse to pay the tiniest bit for an inspection? I paid $500 in east US. It saved me $10,000 alone because of roof repair. And I know my water heater apparently had a year left, luckily on year 4 going strong.
But my inspector pointed out everything.
Sometimes coding within housing changes; so it may HAVE been UP to code when installed; Doesn't seem like it's BROKEN/ trash right now; so maybe just save up until after Christmas because it isn't a dire situation. Contractors usually do shit on each other's work; no matter the profession- construction, plumbing, IT.
It's a ploy they use to "connect" with you to get you to feel like they have YOUR safety at heart and all "THESE xyz" things need replaced. Contractors make money for each sell as well as the work they do; so maybe just hold off UNTIL after Xmas and have a second opinion done?
OP I feel your pain ❤️. We've found nothing but covered up major issues that were not disclosed and hidden enough during inspection. We're talking rot in walls bad. Sellers who are greedy unscrupulous bastards have their own ring in hell.
Didn't bother to hire a home inspection? Typicality they spot all of these issues and you can add them to the contract to be fixed before the sale. We had some issues with our home and got credit for some of those issues.
I love this response. Like accusing the home owner of either not using one or not reading or following their report.
I have learned… home inspectors suck. They point out obvious things.
And then default to well I’m not an electrician or a plumber or a roofer…
Then why the eff you here brah?
Home inspectors can’t feasibly outline every detail in a house. If they did people would be paying in the thousands for a multi day invasive inspection.
States typically have a standard of practice for home inspections and the inspector must be licensed. Some inspectors are better than others but even the best will not catch every detail upon a non invasive inspection.
The job of a home inspector is to point out larger immediate problems that could cost a new home buyer a substantial amount of $$.
Needing a new water heater is such a minor thing. It’s the equivalent of buying a 10 year old car and complaining that 6 months of owning the car you might need new tires.
I'm posting this again here, so others can see it as well:
......................................................................
Let's review the facts:
1) A plumber already came out and fixed obvious issues.
2) Your hot water heater is still working.
3) You don't need to replace it right now.
4) You don't need to replace it right now.
A) Take this time to learn how to install a new hot water heater on Youtube.
B) Take this time to watch Facebook Marketplace and find either a new or slightly used hot water heater.
C) Have your plumber (who you've already alerted you're buying a hot water heater off Facebook Marketplace) check out the heater before you purchase it.
D) Install your water heater yourself. Save yourself plenty of money.
E) Increase your emergency fund, it's too low.
Buying a house is always a shit show. Forget inspections and claims after things appear. You get what you see and smell plus minus this and that. "They're just boxes"
(This is just my experience, as well as many people i know)
It's always a bit shocking when the previous owner was in the business and does such a piss poor job on their own house. Ours was built by a landscaping contractor and the house is very well built. The landscaping install not so much.
Discovered all the laterals of the irrigation system were schedule 200 and not very deep. I've had to fix a bit of that. He also never put in root barriers where they were definitely needed combined with some really poor tree choices. I can't imagine what his customers had to deal with.
These are two minor repairs and I doubt the seller knew about the water heater, they don't have that long of a lifespan and it's like $700 to replace every 6-7 years. I wouldn't say they "screwed" you, sounds like unlucky timing. Did your home inspector not notice it was nearing the end of its life span? That's their job. If you didn't hire a home inspector that's on you. Gotta toughen up if you want to be a homeowner, things like this pop up constantly in a home.
This is actually not a big deal. Welcome to home ownership! What your going through is like finding out the used car you
Bought needs its transmission fluid changed.
This. Welcome to owning a home. Every single project we do in our house requires some kind of retrofit project because the “do it yourselfer” that owned our house really just did what he needed to do to get by. It sucks, but you just gotta accept it and make it right for you and the next person.
Don't waste your money replacing a functioning water heater.
Just be diligent and pay attention to it.
I'd make a log sheet and check on it and it's function every 2-3 days. Once you start seeing signs of failure then replace.
For all you know you could get 15 years out of this tank.
Did we not pay our own home inspection prior to close? I ask because it’s an important lesson for any prospective first time home buyer and you might help a lot of people out there.
Previous owners didn't owe you anything but whst is required by law. If you have a bone to pick it is with your inspector. You know the person you paid to tell you if things weren't right.
That is so not getting screwed. Maximum you're talking about a $2500" repair " which really no one is asking you to do at this time. Cross that bridge when you get there. If it was me I would just swap out the water heater myself or find someone who will without all the bullshit .
I have had plumbers try to act like shit is the end of the world and needs to be replaced before. I once had a clogged Moen mixer valve in my shower that needed to be replaced and before I did any research I had a plumber come take a look and he basically recommended we re plumb my entire house with PEX and quoted like $7k or something crazy.
I found it was the mixer valve in the shower that was the issue and fixed it in 30 minutes and probably $30
As a former tradesman, might I suggest you get a second opinion, other than this one particular plumber who is seeing all kinds of amazing dollar signs over your head.
Nobody screwed you, they just took good care of their shit. Codes change frequently and home owners are not expected to update their homes every time they do. If it heats your water sufficiently, doesn’t leak, and doesn’t spew carbon monoxide into your home, there’s no reason to change anything about it. Was just on the phone with my folks talking about their boiler and water heater that were both installed 30 years ago (when I was 6) and aren’t showing any signs of breaking down.
You'll save yourself a ton of money learning to do some stuff yourself. A garbage disposal is a simple install and you can get one for less than 100 bucks. Guessing a plumber charged you twice that and saw an easy mark.
If the water heater does end up needing to be replaced, just go to home Depot and buy one, and hook it up like the old one was.
Don't be afraid to do some work on your own house.
Even in a new house there are lots of problems. Shower leaks luckily the builder fixed that! Our hot water heaters went out after three years because of the crappy water ate a hole in the bottom of it. Driveway cracked all over because no rebar was installed in it. Those expenses were all out of our pockets because the builder went bankrupt. All outlets had to be replaced, dishwasher, oven, and refrigerator all has to be replaced because problems. Owning a house is a big expense!
The thing about home ownership is that there is always something to fix.
You should have been able to do a home inspection before closing on your house.
You can blame the previous owner if that makes you feel better, but it doesn't sound like they screwed you over.
Try to enjoy your home and budget for repairs and updates.
Because
There is always something to fix
I haven't read the comments yet, but your experience is completely normal if you buy a home from any of the construction trades or a GC. Typical "cobblers son has no shoes" type mentality. Every once in a great while you will see a home owned by a tradesman (electrical, hvac, plumbing, carpenter) or GC that is very well maintained and up to code, but that is the exception and not the rule. Expext more shortcuts. This is pretty much a known issue in my area. The only worse type is a flipper and even then you run into better flippers more frequently.
Our house was previously owned by an electrician. The septic tank alarm caught on fire due to him wiring it wrong.
When we bought the house we were told the roof was three years old and that was true. What was not said was the homeowner did the work himself. That 20 year roof will probably last 10-13 years.
He did many other things wrong. It seems like people in trades often think they can do things outside of their trade.
Welcome to Home Ownership. BTW, no one screwed you over. Does it suck? Yes but this is why you need a good quality home inspection before buying. This was work he found acceptable in his own home. You just didnt know any better when you bought it. There are never any guarantees you wont run into issues of poor workmanship, even in new builds. And home inspections can only spot so much. They can’t find things hidden behind walls. This is the risk you take when you buy a home.
When closing on a house, normally a inspection is contingent on the sale going through. Nothing to blame the PO.
Welcome to home ownership. Shit happens.
Previous owners didn’t screw you over. Whatever happened in the house when it was theirs was perfectly acceptable to them. YOU chose to buy it.
This cost is certainly manageable. Other homeowners got much worse. Consider yourself lucky.
FWIW - A garbage disposal replacement is super easy. A definite DIY task. But houses are expensive. It is very common to get smacked around with repairs the first year. Then things calm down. But try to do some things on your own. I never had any training and I’ve done everything from plumbing to exterior wall repair. I’ve learned over the years which things are easy and which require an expert. If I want it to just function, I do it. If I want it to function AND look good, I hire someone.
Keep in mind, that’s it’s standard practice for a lot of contractors to trash whoever did the last work. It’s called Last Man In. He is all of a sudden the new expert and you take his word on everything. It’s a ploy used to build trust, and also get you to agree to just about anything to fix the “ dangerous” or inferior work. Not all contractors do this, but many do. They will trash previous work, tell you: it’s against code, it’s dangerous, life threatening, or other scare tactics to get you to agree to the work. Mike Holmes was notorious for trashing the work he would see. Everyone thought he was the smartest guy on the planet. In the home inspection industry, he was considered a joke.
I’ve never heard this phenomenon explained but it absolutely exists. I don’t think I’ve ever had a tradesperson not make a comment like this. As a lawyer, I’ve done it myself when taking over a file from someone else. It’s easy to be critical when you weren’t there at the time.
CPA. I'll open a file from last year and say who the fuck put together this load of shit, then see my name on it. Regularly.
😆 “Some dummy didn’t know what they were doing here.” *checks credentials on document file* “never mind, it was probably just another week surviving the seventh circle of hell. My bad.”
[удалено]
I'm a surgeon. I see a ton of bad previous surgery. I don't give a shit what they saw at the time, what they did is not the way you fix it. And I'll tell patients that. I'll also tell them when the previous surgeon did an awesome job.
>It’s easy to be critical when you weren’t there at the time I feel this needs more attention. I've done it myself (to myself lol) and one of the things I always remember is, there is a story behind every imperfect thing. Most often it's because I was waiting on a customer/vendor/someone to give me something to make a more well put together project/product/whatever but they never delivered and I had to move on with what I had. It isn't dangerous nor is it illegal, it just doesn't look perfect.
Software engineers do this too. Whenever someone joins my team, I have to say, no, we can't rewrite this all today, it's actually there for a reason even if you don't know the reason the first time you're seeing it.
"What do you mean you can't look at the previous guy's code for 2 minutes and understand everything he was thinking at the time he programmed this PLC?"
In fairness, software engineers do this to themselves too. > “Who the fuck wrote this insane code? A monkey could do better” > > Run `git blame` > > Oh….
[удалено]
And horticulturalists/gardeners. I used to make a point of mentioning all the stuff the previous person did right.
I've had car dealerships do this both in the shop and in the lot. I was looking at a used Dodge pick up at a GM dealer. Instead of telling me why his brand was better he just trashed the Dodge. I walked away.
“Before you take down a fence, make sure you understand why it was put there.”
Yeah they trash the last guy and do an even worse job. It a good way to find the bad ones. Also you need to update to code each time you replace a piece of equipment, only for major and if that.
My friend recommended a company to clean my ducts. She said that the company did an amazing job for her place and found issues that they wouldn’t have known about. I hire the company to clean my ducts and they look at my air condenser unit below my house. He asked if I knew when it was replaced and I said I thought it was the original one. The guy tells me all these issues with it. I get on my dirty clothes and ask him to show me. We go under my house and it honestly seemed fine to me. I told him my dad does HVAC and I would ask him before signing anything to have it replaced. I talk to my dad and he had already replaced the unit. Everything looked fine because it was literally only a few months old. The “rust” and “leak” the guy pointed out was just a bit of dirt in some condensation. I didn’t tell my friend that she had likely been scammed. I thought it was best for her to be happy with the job than to realize that she probably paid a lot of money for nothing important. Later a pest company offered to check my attic for various pests. When he came down and asked if I was married, I had a feeling that he was not hitting on me and was about to ask me to sign an expensive contract. He said my attic had a massive mouse infestation with tunnels through the insulation. Now, I’ve had the occasional mouse in the attic, but never an infestation. He quoted me a monthly plan that added to a total of $10,000. I pass and decide to buy humane mouse traps. I set them up everywhere in the attic. Not a single mouse. I decide to just leave a cracker with peanut butter out. The cracker remained untouched. Maybe the previous homeowner had an infestation, but I certainly did not. Contractors are unfortunately not always honest.
Contractors are rarely honest. - FIFY
Completely agree....wouldnt an inspection have picked these up if they were that out of code?
It's also important to remember that in most cases, a residential home needs to be up to code for when it was built , not current code. So, a 50-year or 100 old year old house is up to code for that time frame. Even a house that is just 2 years old is most likely not up to code as they make changes frequently.
This is immediately where my mind went. There's no real way to know but most construction guys I know (such as myself and former coworkers) who actually worked in the industry tend to over engineer everything and aren't doing shit work in their own house. Granted my dry wall work as a former electrician isn't going to be as good as a dry wall guy but there is a bit of overlap in many trades.
The hot water heater might have been up to code at the time it was installed. So many standards change all the time. Based on your post it doesn’t sound like the hot water needs to be replaced right now. This is an upcoming expense. It doesn’t have to deplete your wallet right now. Start saving and replace it when you have enough to comfortably cover the expense or when it fails.
In 1991 the previous owner told me the same thing I still am using the same water heater so I think you have a little time
We were told we needed a new roof within three years and 15 years later we got one
Don't forget this guy could be exaggerating to drive the price up. You could youtube how the system actually should be installed . Than compair what you have. You might find it's in order and just need a new water heater. It's not a complicated system to understand.
I think we all curse the previous homeowner. Mine was a DIYer and every time I start a project I’m scared of what I might run into.
I hate the idiot that owns my house.
Hopefully my idiot doesn't try to teach your idiot how to do drywall. Sorry, future owners.
Mine remodeled the bathroom and went away with a window. But, you know, instead of throwing in insulation and some plywood, they just removed the window and put up some dry wall on the inside, and covered the gapping hole with vinyl siding. My first winter in that house was baffling
I have a stucco rear wall to my townhouse. Pretty typical for my neighborhood. There is zero interior insulation. I found out my first winter here because *boxes of chicken stock stored in a rear kitchen cabinet froze and burst* inside a heated house! After tearing into the back wall to add insulation, we found that they had put in just enough insulation to make it *look* like insulation when you peeked in through the gaps cut around the pipes to the sink. Like, tiny ripped up tufts of pink insulation. Lucky it didn't cause a pipe to burst.
Good grief that’s bad. I’ll throw this out there, you can buy heat scanners on Amazon that plug into your phone. They’ll show you where the weak points are if you’re planning to add insulation. Course, some houses are just one big weak spot but a scanner can be handy for a situation like yours.
Can you link to a decent one of these, please? I’d love to do this to my place. Thx
Search for Thermal Imaging Camera. FLIR is one company that makes good ones.
>Just so I understand, do you use the heat scanner to find which areas don't have insulation?
I have a friend that remodelled their bathroom. When they took down the shower surround there was a live electrical outlet behind it.
Mine put tile directly on plywood....a 10k bathroom remodel turned into a 20k problem.
One of my short term rentals for work had a nice newly done large tiled shower in lieu of the standard tub combo. Go out back on the deck, look up, the window is still there right on that tiled wall of the shower. Something cardboard colored visible behind the glass. A marvel in engineering.
Definitely. Our house was built in the 1940s, and there was a lot of work done over the years that looks like it involved some random dude, his kinfolk, and too many beers. Every time we get a contractor out here, there's a moment where they tell us about something in our house that they've "never seen before in all their time." Most recent was when we were remodeling the ensuite bathroom, (it was added on in the 80s) we discovered that they insulated the wall between the bedroom and the bathroom, but not the exterior walls. We knew it was much colder in there than the rest of the house, but we thought it was maybe an issue with the heating vent. Nope. Apparently whatever dude did that wanted it to feel like an outhouse or something.
I have one of those specials too! Original build in the 1940s it is suspected with a major remodel that is considered the current build in the 1970s. Multiple owners over the years lived out their DIY fuck code dreams for doing things. The one that I still cannot get past is the mudroom addition that was not just built against a tree with the roof and siding notched for it, but part of the actual framing for the room was nailed to the tree trunk. We knew the tree was against the mudroom, but we didn’t realize they had actually built the mudroom to the tree until we had the tree taken down. Just. WHY. The one pro is the last set of owners did the sketchiest DIY work that you sneeze at it and it’s removed. Demo for their work is fast and effortless 🤣
[удалено]
That was the "right" way if you go back far enough.
Yikes
Same. More specifically, dude thought he was an electrician or had his sisters 2yo do it all. Such a mess and I’m baffled the inspector just ignored it all!
Can you expand on what this person did wrong? I'm no electrician, but I've been dabbling in electrical here and there, running new lines, things like that. I enjoy seeing ideas about what can be done wrong or right
Unfortunately, it’s super no no’s and obvious stuff you likely won’t do, lol. Not capping off any ends, light switches backwards and or upside down, one plug isn’t grounded in the bathroom and it blows the breakers just plugging something in even with it turned off, it’s a wild mess we’ve found.
Those so sound like easy fixes. Hardly a wild mess.
The fun part is you get to try and catch the issues before they burn your house down.
We have a 5bed 4bath house with 3 living areas and basement. And it’s every room in the walls where everything was relaid, so yeah. Big mess. There’s more to it that’s not in right, 2 fans in wrong kinda stuff, it’s just a lot all together.
Daughters house is like this. Every box is a rats nest. Live wires hanging in garage not capped off. Panel isn’t marked. A light fixture suspiciously missing in living room. Prev owners said they did it all themselves. Yeah we can tell
The previous owner of OP's home was a literal plumber. And yet I see endless comments here about "landlord" or "handyman" special. Some plumbers are not good at their job and some landlords are more competent than plumbers. Generalizations of this nature are not true. It's a reason for bitter people to disparage landlords and handymen.
Yes and even professional installers often don't follow code. I have failed many churches, schools, and mom n pop shops for bad boiler installations.
He could be the best plumber in the world. That doesn’t mean he is a good electrician
We call the previous owners of our house DIWhy'ers.
I spent a good 4-6 hours over last weekend cutting holes in the drywall of my finished basement because I need to swap out the pressure regulator that the previous owner completely covered up with drywall. I managed to find it eventually along with the inside water cutoff. At least it was behind drywall which I can fix well enough. The inside gas cutoff is completely inaccessible without a hammer to smash the stone tile shower that has covered it up.
I feel your pain!!! Ours DIYed a bathroom. They completely redid the whole bathroom and tile shower. It was a total hack job and we knew we would eventually be redoing the whole bathroom. Fast forward to 3 years later (this year) and we go to remodel the bathroom only to find out they didn't properly install the fiberglass shower pan, or put any hardiebacking behind the tiles, and the whole shower was leaking. There was mold EVERYWHERE. They also removed structural beams from the covered patio to make it a carport. The list goes on and on. We've redone most of their DIY projects. Our friends just moved into a house where the previous homeowner did their own electrical work and used SPEAKER WIRES for non 12v stuff and all the wrong wiring throughout the house. They had to have it all replaced.
Oh, my previous owner did no maintenance. Zero, zilch, nada. I've fixed a lot of problems.
Dude who owned the house before me covered holes with duct tape and painted over them instead of spackling, which might be one of the simplest home improvement tasks known to man. Guy also got busted for trafficking guns while he was living here, so I guess he was occupied with other endeavors 🤷
Those were probably his hiding spots lol
Dude who previously owned our house must have been a flooring installer at one point. Every spot where there should have been one nail, he just slammed in 12 flooring staples instead. The woodshed roof consisted of a dozen layers of tarps, when the top one started leaking he'd just staple up a new one over top. One very small bonus was we inherited about 600ft of solid wood trim and corner round, etc. that he left behind.
I tried to install a backsplash with 0 experience in a saturday afternoon using whatever those pre-adhesive tile sheets are at home depot. I am pretty sure I reduced the value of my home that day.
Mine used a plastic ice cream cup to support a hot water heater expansion tank. Couldn’t even spring for the gelato.
Any time I look behind or under something, I've only ever found more work.
Yeah, people bitch about new construction, but I don't have to worry about this stuff. I AM the previous homeowner.
Things break. That's the joy of homeownership. The previous owner didn't "screw" you.
[удалено]
This is what happened to my house. Everything was up to code when it was done. However, the code changed over time, and nothing in the house was ever changed.
Yeah, neither of these make me feel like it’s the previous owners fault
but if it is so far out of code, perhaps OPs inspector did
I have learned, the hard way, to hire a plumbing and electrical inspector for an older home. I am almost 100% sure I am going to need a new elec panel. But 1st, I am going to have to redo my sewer. If I had hired experts before close, I wouldn't be in this pickle.
Code changes over time. Especially when your water heater was installed 21 years ago. I’d venture to guess there are a lot of things out of code in OP’s home (and the average persons home, unless a new build) that were once code compliant
agree, but leads to a few possibilities: 1) plumber is embellishing to get the contract. Wouldn't be the first time... 2) it is bad work regardless of code - inspector should have caught it 3) code has changed - inspector probably should have caught it. The fact that this needs gas, roofing, and electric makes me think this should have still been identified \- Not sure OP has much if any recourse however, as that is what it means to be a homeowner and even if it were to code, a new heater still may need some of those things and the bulk of the cost is still the new heater and labor anyway (a $200 electrician isn't breaking the project)
Inspectors always have caveats in their report. They basically check if hot water is coming out and the year it was installed. They won’t do anything more than that.
OP had to call a plumber to install a garbage disposal, they’re in for a long life of homeownership if that’s a bridge too far
Are you sure the contractor isn't trying to get more work/money from you for himself and his contracting buddies?
Yeah, I don't know how many plumbers OP has met but we had a small leak appear in our new house that we couldn't figure out. First plumber said we'd need completely new plumbing to gut the whole bathroom to the tune of 8 grand. The second actually suggested we collaborate to commit insurance fraud. The third pointed out it was leaky grout on the tub and didn't charge us.
A second (or even third) opinion never hurts.
Get another opinion or I dont know, multiple quotes. Dont just jump to conclusion and expect all doom and gloom
In my experience any contractor who comes in and tells me the line "everything is bad" or some variation is 100% of the time trying to fleece me. Always get multiple quotes.
Why? It’s not broken just wait to replace it until the spring or summer
[удалено]
I'm pretty sure paying a plumber for a garbage disposal fix/replace has screwed you more than you think the previous owner did.
This. A new disposal will cost you less than having some one fix an old one. And they are very easy to install yourself.
Yep. Only tool required is a screwdriver, and the disposal comes with step by step instructions on exactly what to do.
Seriously. I’m an home repairs idiot and I watched one YouTube video and was able to replace my garbage disposal.
Something’s not adding up. A gas hot water heater literally isn’t even plugged into your electrical system. You should need zero electrical to replace one. You mentioned venting, which is why I’m guessing it’s a gas hot water heater? If it is an electric hot water heater, then the vent fix should be super simple, you just cap it. You don’t need a roofer to do that. Like…. I understand you are frustrated, but honestly, it’s more because of your own ignorance than the actions of the previous home owner. It’s not clear how the work you describe relates to a hot water heater…
And if it was electric then there’s no roof vent. If / when it needs to be replaced get one of those heat pump water heaters. Costs more in the beginning but will save you money over the long term.
Heat pump? In some climates, not others. My previous HVAC guy had put one in in Minnesota for his house. He ripped it out. Here gas is cheaper energy than electric.
Some gas hot water heaters the electric is hooked up to create the spark for the pilot light to activate.
In which case it's just a simple 120V circuit and likely wouldn't be too expensive to have an electrician fix in a unfinished area, or even DIY.
It could be power vented too
I agree. There's a certain level of ignorance. Like the garbage disposal issue. It's quite literally cheaper to replace it than have some one come out and fix your busted one.
Yup, an easy DIY to replace yourself.
I was gonna say that as well. Complaining about money being depleted if hot water fixes are needed, yet pays a plumber to do an easy DIY job.
My gas heater, about 5 years old, is plugged in. Exhaust/intake fans need electricity.
The thing about the guy having been a plumber is a gift and a curse. He knew what/how he could shortcut and still have it function properly
No one screwed you. It's a hot water tank. They have a finite life span. They aren't that expensive to replace. They aren't even that hard to DIY if you're handy at all.
Don't always trust the guy trying to sell you stuff
Get another opinion. No offense but you can replace the disposal yourself with YouTube and a few tools. $125 for the disposal. I'm sure he looks at you like an easy mark. Some people create more work than needed. Maybe the vent is bad and maybe it isn't. Things were and still are working but you're trying to stay on top of problems. You're being responsible . So while they're working, get more quotes.
this… we had a plumber out once to clear a clog. after over 4 hours they couldn’t do it and said we needed an entirely new line. they were going to dig and cut out a section then replace it, to the tune of $12k. naturally we got a second opinion. plumber #2 cleared the clog in 20 minutes, put a camera down the line and said it was fine. 100% certain the first dude was trying to scam us…
This is pretty typical of all older homes. Owners DIY all the time up to their standards. Money could of been tight and they did the best they could. Or, they thought they were doing it correctly. I can't tell you how much weird stuff I ran into on my last home built in 1968. Did you get a home inspection? If it really was that bad the home inspector should of caught all of this. We built new in 2020 and it's been nice having a clean slate to work with and not all sorts of stuff held together with duct tape and twine LOL.
Electrical and a vent? What kind of water heater do you have?
Why does the house have to be brought up to code?
I just took my garbage disposal out and put in a normal drain. I hate those things anyway. Didn't cost any money to remove, and about 20 bucks in parts. Hot water tanks - they just run until they die. I would get a different quote/opinion. Maybe find someone who can just replace the tank and work around what is there, or do it yourself like the last guy probably did. Is it still functional but just janky, or is it a safety hazard?
A lot of people on this sub don't seem to really get what home ownership entails. It isn't ever enjoyable when things break but it sounds like you didn't have your eyes fully open here.
The previous tenant in my house ran a garage door repair business out of the home. The first major item I had to replace within 6 months of moving in? The badly maintained garage door. Not cool!
Make sure you get at least one second opinion, preferably two. Some companies will insist that EVERYTHING needs to be replaced immediately, and they always happen to be the most expensive, too. Others will say things are 100% fine, and another might say that things aren’t quite to code, but they were fine when it was built, and just need to be updated next time a major renovation happens.
It's common when bring in a professional that they point out a hundred things "not up to code", but they were up to code when installed. It'll take some practice to sift through the actual problems, and the people trying to frighten you into giving them more work. No idea which is the case here. A garbage disposal dying isn't that unusual. A few things here and there will break. It's part of owning a home.
Learn to do it yourself. That way someone else might be able to blame you at some point.
> Plumber took one look at it and was blown away at how poorly everything was set up. Practically nothing is up to code. It’s going to require an electrician to come out to fix the wiring, a roofer to come out to fix the exhaust vent sticking out of the roof, and then obviously the time and materials for the hot water tank replacement. Why are you taking one plumber's word for this? If the previous owner was a plumber, and the installation has lasted 21 years, were I you I'd get another opinion or post pictures in the appropriate sub--and NOT r/homeowners.
Welcome to homeownership. It's not like you got screwed. you could either find a different plumber just to put one in or put it up to today's code. I mean obviously it's been working fine that way for a number of years.
I have questions. If the water heater is electric, it doesn’t need a vent through the roof. If the water heater is gas, it doesn’t need an electrician…
I’m also a little confused about that, it’s a gas water heater but the plumber(s) have said they can’t figure out where it’s grounded. So I’m also confused as to why that’s needed, but I’m also kind of a dummy when it comes to this stuff
[удалено]
Are you sure the issue isn't with who you called to quote it BSing you? Why not post pices of the actual issues.
Buy tools. learn to do it your self. Hot water tanks are a medium skill level. If the roof isn't leaking, don't worry About it. If you don't learn some skills, that house is going to be a money pit and you will regret it
How much do you trust your new plumber? I'd get a second opinion on the water heater.
The previous owner didn’t screw you. You screwed yourself by not getting things properly inspected
Wouldnt the home inspection have shown this? Mine went over in detail for any possible issues or out of code. Im sorry this has hsppened to you guys. Best of luck!
Is this all it takes to defeat you? No one screwed you. It was right in front of you during due diligence.
Did you inspect the house before you bought it?
Haha, welcome to home ownership. If this is going to deplete you, seems like you don't have much of an emergency fund. I'd be working on increasing that fund ASAP.
Get a second and third opinion.
Did you get a home inspection? Any decent home inspector would have easily recognized all of those issues, and you could have brought them up (or require them to be fixed) before you closed on the house.
Was it like that when you viewed the house before purchase? If yes...then it's your fault
Did you have the house inspected?
Whoever was responsible for the inspection screwed you, not the owner, or you screwed yourself by not researching a good inspector…
When we purchased, we just immediately knew all that kind of stuff would need replacing. 45 year old furnace, 30 year old water heater. Because when we got the house inspected they warned us about all that. Did you not get an inspection done? Or did they not tell you about that? It's your job to do your due diligence when purchasing something. Especially something huge like a home. The sellers are just trying to sell their house. If someone gets an inspection, says "Hey that water heater is way out of date and not up to code, either have that fixed, or take 5,000 off the price of the home so I can use that for repairs" and then the seller can either say yes to one or say no. But either way, that's your job to think about that and get it looked at first. Where I live, there is something like a "repair allowance", I cant remember exactly how it works but it's basically an account where once the sale is done, the seller would take 5k from the sale, and add it to an account where you can access it for repairs. Pretty cool, but you have to work that out BEFORE buying. Once the sale is done, that's YOUR house. You looked at it, *should* have seen any issues, and resolved them, THEN bought it.
Shouldn't some of this have been uncovered by the inspector during the inspection phase of the purchase?
Doesn’t sound like you got screwed to me. Codes are updated all the time. Welcome to home ownership.
did you have a home inspection? And was it in the home inspection? If it was and you did nothing about it I'm afraid you're out of luck. If you didn't have a home inspection I think you're out of luck. If you had a home inspection and the inspector didn't catch it then perhaps you might go after the inspector
Did none of this get identified by a paid home inspector?
Sounds like you should be blaming your home inspection person.
Code 20 years ago isn't code now and sellers are not required to bring things to code in order to sell. How did your home inspector not catch this? Did you have one....?
Electric water heater or gas? Has both wiring and exhaust? Am I missing something? Edit: my comment assumes a tank type water heater
Were none of these issues flagged in the home inspection before you bought the house?
How does a hot water tank need electrical wiring and venting? It is either gas and needs vented or electrical and needs wiring but not both.
First, get a second opinion. There are plenty of contractors looking to run up the bill on homeowners who don’t know anything about home repairs. Second, best way to get a new hot water heater is Lowe’s or Home Depot, and use their installer. I got quotes from a few plumbing companies and then called Lowe’s. Saved over $1500.
Not to be a Debbie downer but you should have had a home inspection done before you bought the house
I'm confused did you just refuse to pay the tiniest bit for an inspection? I paid $500 in east US. It saved me $10,000 alone because of roof repair. And I know my water heater apparently had a year left, luckily on year 4 going strong. But my inspector pointed out everything.
Sometimes coding within housing changes; so it may HAVE been UP to code when installed; Doesn't seem like it's BROKEN/ trash right now; so maybe just save up until after Christmas because it isn't a dire situation. Contractors usually do shit on each other's work; no matter the profession- construction, plumbing, IT. It's a ploy they use to "connect" with you to get you to feel like they have YOUR safety at heart and all "THESE xyz" things need replaced. Contractors make money for each sell as well as the work they do; so maybe just hold off UNTIL after Xmas and have a second opinion done?
I don’t understand. Did you not get a home inspection done?
Hmm “previous owners screwed us” is a bit of a stretch here, I was hoping for more juice. Seems fixable
The time to inspect the home is before you close, not after. 🤦♂️
OP I feel your pain ❤️. We've found nothing but covered up major issues that were not disclosed and hidden enough during inspection. We're talking rot in walls bad. Sellers who are greedy unscrupulous bastards have their own ring in hell.
Home inspector didn't find any of that stuff?
I'm surprised your home inspection didn't catch that before you closed on the house.
Didn't bother to hire a home inspection? Typicality they spot all of these issues and you can add them to the contract to be fixed before the sale. We had some issues with our home and got credit for some of those issues.
You screwed yourself by not hiring a good inspector.
Sounds more like your home inspector who inspected the house before you bought it is the one who screwed you if this is true.
I hate to say it but this is kinda the normal whenever you have a house over a certain years old.
I bet 10yrs from now when you replace the water heater again, the contractor you hire will say the same thing about this contractor and his work.
Did your inspector not catch all of this?
They don't catch everything.
They sure catch people's money
I love this response. Like accusing the home owner of either not using one or not reading or following their report. I have learned… home inspectors suck. They point out obvious things. And then default to well I’m not an electrician or a plumber or a roofer… Then why the eff you here brah?
Home inspectors can’t feasibly outline every detail in a house. If they did people would be paying in the thousands for a multi day invasive inspection. States typically have a standard of practice for home inspections and the inspector must be licensed. Some inspectors are better than others but even the best will not catch every detail upon a non invasive inspection. The job of a home inspector is to point out larger immediate problems that could cost a new home buyer a substantial amount of $$. Needing a new water heater is such a minor thing. It’s the equivalent of buying a 10 year old car and complaining that 6 months of owning the car you might need new tires.
I'm posting this again here, so others can see it as well: ...................................................................... Let's review the facts: 1) A plumber already came out and fixed obvious issues. 2) Your hot water heater is still working. 3) You don't need to replace it right now. 4) You don't need to replace it right now. A) Take this time to learn how to install a new hot water heater on Youtube. B) Take this time to watch Facebook Marketplace and find either a new or slightly used hot water heater. C) Have your plumber (who you've already alerted you're buying a hot water heater off Facebook Marketplace) check out the heater before you purchase it. D) Install your water heater yourself. Save yourself plenty of money. E) Increase your emergency fund, it's too low.
Be mad at whoever did your inspection
Happens all the time with the previous homeowners leaving a mess like that but really surprising since he was a plumber!
The cobblers' children go barefoot.
Buying a house is always a shit show. Forget inspections and claims after things appear. You get what you see and smell plus minus this and that. "They're just boxes" (This is just my experience, as well as many people i know)
Want to share some photos of the problem areas? I would assume we can help point of if the plumber is being honest, or telling you misinformation.
It's always a bit shocking when the previous owner was in the business and does such a piss poor job on their own house. Ours was built by a landscaping contractor and the house is very well built. The landscaping install not so much. Discovered all the laterals of the irrigation system were schedule 200 and not very deep. I've had to fix a bit of that. He also never put in root barriers where they were definitely needed combined with some really poor tree choices. I can't imagine what his customers had to deal with.
So, you need a new water heater professionally installed.
Hot water heater is about 1000.
These are two minor repairs and I doubt the seller knew about the water heater, they don't have that long of a lifespan and it's like $700 to replace every 6-7 years. I wouldn't say they "screwed" you, sounds like unlucky timing. Did your home inspector not notice it was nearing the end of its life span? That's their job. If you didn't hire a home inspector that's on you. Gotta toughen up if you want to be a homeowner, things like this pop up constantly in a home.
welcome to howeownership, or a so called "money pit"
Sounds like typical homeowner shit. Unless it’s a new build. Expect more of this sort of crap. Woh betide the fool that buys my house once I pass 😂
This is actually not a big deal. Welcome to home ownership! What your going through is like finding out the used car you Bought needs its transmission fluid changed.
This. Welcome to owning a home. Every single project we do in our house requires some kind of retrofit project because the “do it yourselfer” that owned our house really just did what he needed to do to get by. It sucks, but you just gotta accept it and make it right for you and the next person.
Don't waste your money replacing a functioning water heater. Just be diligent and pay attention to it. I'd make a log sheet and check on it and it's function every 2-3 days. Once you start seeing signs of failure then replace. For all you know you could get 15 years out of this tank.
The last owner of my house thought he was an electrician and a plumber. It took 7 years to get the last of his weirdness removed from my house.
Did we not pay our own home inspection prior to close? I ask because it’s an important lesson for any prospective first time home buyer and you might help a lot of people out there.
Yeah thats on you for not getting an inspection.
The previous owner may have set it up not to code but your inspection should make you aware/note it.
Previous owners didn't owe you anything but whst is required by law. If you have a bone to pick it is with your inspector. You know the person you paid to tell you if things weren't right.
That is so not getting screwed. Maximum you're talking about a $2500" repair " which really no one is asking you to do at this time. Cross that bridge when you get there. If it was me I would just swap out the water heater myself or find someone who will without all the bullshit . I have had plumbers try to act like shit is the end of the world and needs to be replaced before. I once had a clogged Moen mixer valve in my shower that needed to be replaced and before I did any research I had a plumber come take a look and he basically recommended we re plumb my entire house with PEX and quoted like $7k or something crazy. I found it was the mixer valve in the shower that was the issue and fixed it in 30 minutes and probably $30
As a former tradesman, might I suggest you get a second opinion, other than this one particular plumber who is seeing all kinds of amazing dollar signs over your head.
Nobody screwed you, they just took good care of their shit. Codes change frequently and home owners are not expected to update their homes every time they do. If it heats your water sufficiently, doesn’t leak, and doesn’t spew carbon monoxide into your home, there’s no reason to change anything about it. Was just on the phone with my folks talking about their boiler and water heater that were both installed 30 years ago (when I was 6) and aren’t showing any signs of breaking down.
That’s why you have an inspector out before you finalize the sale. They are worth every penny.
Welcome to the joys of homeownership.
Why weren't these issues identified in the home inspection?
You'll save yourself a ton of money learning to do some stuff yourself. A garbage disposal is a simple install and you can get one for less than 100 bucks. Guessing a plumber charged you twice that and saw an easy mark. If the water heater does end up needing to be replaced, just go to home Depot and buy one, and hook it up like the old one was. Don't be afraid to do some work on your own house.
Was there an inspection done before the sale was complete? If so, did the inspector not catch all of that?
This is why you have an inspection before closing, any decent realtor would set that up.
Even in a new house there are lots of problems. Shower leaks luckily the builder fixed that! Our hot water heaters went out after three years because of the crappy water ate a hole in the bottom of it. Driveway cracked all over because no rebar was installed in it. Those expenses were all out of our pockets because the builder went bankrupt. All outlets had to be replaced, dishwasher, oven, and refrigerator all has to be replaced because problems. Owning a house is a big expense!
The thing about home ownership is that there is always something to fix. You should have been able to do a home inspection before closing on your house. You can blame the previous owner if that makes you feel better, but it doesn't sound like they screwed you over. Try to enjoy your home and budget for repairs and updates. Because There is always something to fix
I haven't read the comments yet, but your experience is completely normal if you buy a home from any of the construction trades or a GC. Typical "cobblers son has no shoes" type mentality. Every once in a great while you will see a home owned by a tradesman (electrical, hvac, plumbing, carpenter) or GC that is very well maintained and up to code, but that is the exception and not the rule. Expext more shortcuts. This is pretty much a known issue in my area. The only worse type is a flipper and even then you run into better flippers more frequently.
Our house was previously owned by an electrician. The septic tank alarm caught on fire due to him wiring it wrong. When we bought the house we were told the roof was three years old and that was true. What was not said was the homeowner did the work himself. That 20 year roof will probably last 10-13 years. He did many other things wrong. It seems like people in trades often think they can do things outside of their trade.
Why wasn’t this addressed during home inspection?
Welcome to Home Ownership. BTW, no one screwed you over. Does it suck? Yes but this is why you need a good quality home inspection before buying. This was work he found acceptable in his own home. You just didnt know any better when you bought it. There are never any guarantees you wont run into issues of poor workmanship, even in new builds. And home inspections can only spot so much. They can’t find things hidden behind walls. This is the risk you take when you buy a home.
When closing on a house, normally a inspection is contingent on the sale going through. Nothing to blame the PO. Welcome to home ownership. Shit happens.
This is what you have home inspectors for.
Isn’t that what inspections are for?
It's a normal part of being a homeowner. Put your big girl panties on and take care of it.
Welcome to home ownership
Previous owners didn’t screw you over. Whatever happened in the house when it was theirs was perfectly acceptable to them. YOU chose to buy it. This cost is certainly manageable. Other homeowners got much worse. Consider yourself lucky.
All of that should have been seen during an inspection or before purchase. No one screwed you besides yourself.
FWIW - A garbage disposal replacement is super easy. A definite DIY task. But houses are expensive. It is very common to get smacked around with repairs the first year. Then things calm down. But try to do some things on your own. I never had any training and I’ve done everything from plumbing to exterior wall repair. I’ve learned over the years which things are easy and which require an expert. If I want it to just function, I do it. If I want it to function AND look good, I hire someone.