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The house hunting thread
23 February 2024, 02:50 PM
Steve MillerThe house hunting thread
Second house looks nice too. Beautiful setting.
Would wildfires be a concern?
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
23 February 2024, 03:27 PM
ShiroKuropique, lots to like about both of those properties!
I don't have any advice, but good luck!
23 February 2024, 03:33 PM
piquéquote:
Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Second house looks nice too. Beautiful setting.
Would wildfires be a concern?
always, around here. the house is in a wildfire mitigation zone, and it looks like it has been developed to have a "defensive space." something to explore when we tour the property, for sure.
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fear is the thief of dreams
23 February 2024, 08:50 PM
piquéJust saw the Virginia Lane house. The property is a dream! The house is just okay but workable. It's been very nicely maintained.
It has a crawl space, which we hate dealing with. The three small bedrooms are all crowded together and there is no en suite bath. But the workshop is really nice and could even be my office until I build myself a little cabin across the ditch. Could see us really happy there.
We also heard back on the house with the septic issue--the sellers are willing to put in a brand new permitted septic system, done by licensed contractors before we close, if we are willing to pay the $668k they are asking.
I like this house a lot better, but the property isn't as nice and the location isn't as quiet.
We're jumping in the car tomorrow morning to go look at both, in person.
There's already an offer on Virginia Lane and two more coming in.
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fear is the thief of dreams
23 February 2024, 09:52 PM
ShiroKuroOmg piqué, good luck!!
23 February 2024, 11:49 PM
Steve MillerPique- I thought it was funny when the listing included “ditch” as one of the features. We normally fill those in.
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
24 February 2024, 12:07 AM
piquéi really like having a ditch. the sound of the water is soothing. there are irrigation canals all over the place. unfortunately they are not safe for the animals to drink out of. another consideration when checking both places out tomorrow. the west central house also has a running ditch, but it runs along the street in front, so I won't be sitting by that!
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fear is the thief of dreams
24 February 2024, 12:09 AM
Steve MillerLots of those here. Terrifying to drive along at night.
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
24 February 2024, 02:23 PM
ShiroKuroSo, any thoughts about the pros and cons of a house on a slab versus a house on a crawl space?
My sense is that crawl spaces need more maintenance?
24 February 2024, 03:58 PM
Steve Millerquote:
Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
So, any thoughts about the pros and cons of a house on a slab versus a house on a crawl space?
My sense is that crawl spaces need more maintenance?
Interesting question.
The only advantage to a crawl space I can think of is that it makes it a bit easier to do remodeling if you decide to move drain lines.
This assumes the slab foundation is properly installed and doesn’t crack, and some idiot hasn’t installed plumbing in it.
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Life is short. Play with your dog.
24 February 2024, 05:32 PM
wtgIf it's dirt or gravel then it's possible the crawl can get crazy damp. Plastic sheeting can be installed to mitigate that.
If the crawl has a poured floor it's really just a short basement.
I think unless you have a heated floor, a slab will always make the floor feel colder in the winter. You can control temperature and humidity in a crawl but not with a slab.
We had a four foot deep crawl with a poured floor in our vacation home. The house was on the lakefront and built in the middle of a cedar forest. Lots of moisture. We had a dehumidifier down there to keep humidity levels in check.
And Steve is right, a crawl might make it easier run pipes and/or wires on the first floor.
What maintenance were you thinking a crawl needs?
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When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
24 February 2024, 07:11 PM
ShiroKuroquote:
some idiot hasn’t installed plumbing in it.
Do people actually do that??
quote:
If it's dirt or gravel then it's possible the crawl can get crazy damp. Plastic sheeting can be installed to mitigate that.
When we bought our house, which had a walkout basement but the back half was a crawl space, the crawl space was dirt. As it happens, the room where the piano was was over the crawl space. And yes, humidity was an issue. We had the crawl space "encapsulated" with white sheeting, installed a sump pump and whole house dehumidifier down there. It made a huge difference!
quote:
What maintenance were you thinking a crawl needs?
So actually, I guess I was thinking about our house, and it wasn't that maintenance of the crawl space was needed, but that periodically Mr. SK had to go in there for other things.
And of course, I was thinking about the work we did in the crawl space, which I guess you could call maintenance, but it was a one-and-done sort of thing.
24 February 2024, 07:12 PM
ShiroKuroSo, with a house on a slab, usually there's a walk way and steps up into the house, so what's between the ground, the slab, and the floor?
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When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier
24 February 2024, 07:23 PM
ShiroKuroThanks WTG.
So, in addition to the site you linked, I'm googling around and the thing about pipes with slab foundations comes up a lot
quote:
Another notable downside of a slab foundation is that plumbing pipes are all encased in the concrete. Even a small leak may require that you jackhammer the slab to fix it. This can create a huge mess that may also be expensive to fix. Also, it may be hard to detect a plumbing leak until you notice that your water bill is high.
Wow.
So, that alone would make me want to avoid a slab... I wonder if newer houses do that. There's a development with all new construction, we went to their model house. All the houses are built on slabs, I wonder where the plumbing is in those homes.
What about walkout basements, aren't they essentially (sunken) slabs? Or is that the wrong way to think about it?