House of Horrors

As a Home Inspector, I come across the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to properties. Sometimes they are simple and can only take me an hour to inspect everything. Sometimes, it can take me more than three hours. The house I am going to talk about today is a property that was so bad I could not stay in the home for more than 15 minutes the smell was very bad. This was in my top five of worst houses I've Inspected.

The story goes that an older couple had a mentally disabled daughter who needed a home to live in. She had to leave the place she was living and didn't have anywhere else to go. So, the parents took her in and gave her their current house moved into another house. All was well at the start and everyone was happy.

Six years later the parent had to remove her from the house and sell it. The daughter had over 40 cats inside of the 1,000 square foot house. She also allowed people off the streets, who did not have her best interest in mind, to stay in the home and on the property.

Exterior 

 

During the inspection, a woman walked onto the property and said the two trailers in the backyard were hers. There was a massive amount of trash and personal items in the backyard. The eave, fascia, and soffit trim had peeling paint and needed maintenance. The front gate was badly damaged and needed to be repaired. A window at the front, sides and rear of the home was severely damaged. Two windows in the back of the house were damaged and need to be replaced. I also noticed the Stucco covering the exterior walls had areas of severe damage. Which could allow moisture to enter into the wall assembly.

Electrical

The house contained an older electrical system. The markings on the panel were illegible and I wasn't able to confirm proper rating. The service panel label listed the panel rating at 30 amps. A 30 amp service is considered obsolete and a potential fire hazard. Also, there was damaged wiring visible in the panel and has to be repaired. Inside the house, it was seen to have exposed the wiring. I also saw badly damaged outlets and exposed wiring that was live. The home also did not have any GFCI and or AFCI outlets.

Plumbing

During the inspection I was unable to locate a clean-out for the main sewer pipe. Generally-accepted modern standards mandate that a full-size clean-out be located within 5 feet of the foundation in line with the building drain and sewer. Because it appeared the plumbing hasn't been used for a long time, I advised my client to have plumber get a camera down and into the pipes. Old material in the pipes can become corrosive and cause leaks. Also the water heater was past its design life and I advised the water heater to be replaced.

Bathroom

Everything was a defect in the bathroom. At the time of the inspection, wood floors in the main floor hallway bathroom were severely damaged and needed to be replaced. Walls in the main floor hallway bathroom exhibited severe damage or deterioration at the time of the inspection. The ceilings were also severely damaged. Electrical was defective and the bathroom did not have a ventilation.

Kitchen

The kitchen was also another area that was damaged beyond repair and would have to be torn out and rebuilt. The Wood floors in the kitchen were severely damaged and needed to be replaced. The walls and ceiling in the kitchen exhibited severe damage or deterioration.

Well, those are the highlights. My client wasn't able to buy this as someone outbid him. Typically, you can renovate this homes without tearing them down. Yet, the company really has to know what they are doing. Please give this an upvote if you would like to see more post like this. Also if you like to know about a house that you could not pay me enough to go back into.