Roof siding?

miamicuse

This property I am considering for purchase has a flat roof. The normal exterior concrete block wall with coral rock fascade goes up 8', then there is a vertical section about 4' tall covered with what looks like wood sidings.

The sidings are in pretty bad shape and rotted in many places. Property is vacant and in foreclosure I would imagine being in Miami probably has rodents, lizard, snakes and other pets living in there.

Are these sidings just wood panels that is nailed/screwed directly onto the roof trusses? Or are there typically other layers beneath them?

I am concerned whether these moisture damages may have propagated to the structural members behind.

AndyWRS

I would suspect damage to the structual members based on pic 2 and 3. It appears to have not been maintained for a long period of time.

Based on those pics, i would also be quite concerned about the flat roof. It too probably needs to be torn off, new sheathing installed and then a new roof. Looks like a can of worms, but at least you can see its bad...the question is haw far does the damage go.

I would expect the siding is nailed to the wall studs with hopefully some kind of felt paper or house wrap between the siding and studs.

miamicuse

There is no wall studs up there.

The structure is basically exterior concrete block walls up till 8'.

Above that is the sidings, which basically defines the space of the attic. Only instead of a traditional sloped attic, it is rectangular and vertical. Instead of triangular trusses, I imagine those are rectangular trusses. I don't see any felt paper, but that could have been torn off by animals.

Guess I need to climb up there on a ladder and poke inside to see if the wood is damaged. Possibly termites as well.

jagans

The roof on this place has probably been leaking at the perimeter for some time, due to its configuaration. You should get a comprehensive assessment done by a qualified roof consultant preferably an RCI Registered roof consultant. You could be in for some serious expense on this one if you go in without information.

__________________
" A lot of men build things, and a lot of things fall down "

joecaption

Looks like a money pit to me.

jagans

Yeah this has really been severely neglected. You need a very in-depth evaluation.

__________________
" A lot of men build things, and a lot of things fall down "

miamicuse

For sure.

It all comes down to the price. Right now it's in foreclosure and I am doing a worse case scenerio assessment, on what I need to do and what it would cost me, then I'll figure out whether the numbers work for me.

If they accept my offer I still have an inspection clause for a better evaluation which allows me to back out of the deal. I am pretty confident on what I am working with, but the wood behind the sidings are not easy to evaluate at this point.

Another note, the ceilings on the inside, has been stained, so I know there is water intrusion from the roof. Minimum work is new roof (deck and membrane), rip down all ceilings, new insulation, new ceiling, new sidings, very likely require mold remediation, termite tenting, and whatever damages to the roof trusses which is the part I am not sure about.

747

By those pics This property is going to be bust out another thousand on everything.

joecaption

Find out what land is selling for in that area, then call a company that that tares down buildings and cleans up properys, subtract that price from what there asking.
That's what I would be offering. They already know what shape it's in and know it's going to cost more to tear down then it's worth.

miamicuse

LOL.

It's a 500K property, properties around it are in the 450K to 800K ranges today. Someone was crazy enough to pay 950K for it in 2006, sheer madness.

In its current conditions it would cost me probably 68K to fix what I need to fix.

The bones are still good. 4 bedrooms 4 baths 2 kitchens swimming pool hot tub and the works. If I can get it for less than 250K cash I'm jumping in.

GBrackins

I thought it was a commercial property, didn't realize it was residential

__________________
Gary

"You get what you pay for, and sometimes free costs more!"

747

Oh well now. There might be money here. 250k and make sure you have a fat contingency set aside for cost overruns. You say 68k i'm thinking change this to 100k

harrymontana

I don't know but here before we buy something we always have some third party engineer making a technical report of the state of the house. With this report the buyer knows what he buys and the seller is refrained from claims that he 'should have told' the buyer. This is my advise