Hi guys,
I have a bit of a complicated question so any help or advice would be very much appreciated. I'll try to make this as brief as possible...
Basically, I bought a house in 2010 that was a bit of a handyman's special. I figured I would save on rent during grad school and could even rent out the other bedrooms - this has worked so far, I have roommates and their rent really helps with expenses. I have done a lot of work on the place - finishing the floors, plumbing, painting, exterior work, etc. However I'm going to be really, really busy for the next few years and the basement - the last area I really need to fix - is kind of beyond my experience and equipment level.
Essentially the walls are "moist" - the previous owner(s) clearly tried to make things look better with a layer of waterproof paint (or several), but this just made the walls bubble and a lot of the mortar is disintegrating due to the dampness within the walls. I've made an effort to dry the place out by running a dehumidifier consistently and scraping the old paint off of the walls. The wall along the front side of the house is bowing slightly, as are those along the side, and there are some "stair case" cracks in the wall (which is cinder block).
Basically, I would like to leave the house in better condition than I found it, but the time I can devote to it personally is limited - and I plan to use my time to finish redoing the kitchen, backyard fences, etc. I had Everdry waterproofing out today, and the sales rep recommended their fanciest "Multi-Step" service (of course), which would involve exterior and interior work and some steel beams for the worst bowing, at a cost of about $9500. This was significantly less than they quoted me last year but it's almost half of what I spent on the house itself. Recent sale values of houses in my neighborhood are in the $30-40k range, and although I don't care about making a profit per se, I really don't know how much this improvement would add to the value of the house. Does anyone here have advice? I was planning on hiring someone for this job regardless of the approach I take...
I have a bit of a complicated question so any help or advice would be very much appreciated. I'll try to make this as brief as possible...
Basically, I bought a house in 2010 that was a bit of a handyman's special. I figured I would save on rent during grad school and could even rent out the other bedrooms - this has worked so far, I have roommates and their rent really helps with expenses. I have done a lot of work on the place - finishing the floors, plumbing, painting, exterior work, etc. However I'm going to be really, really busy for the next few years and the basement - the last area I really need to fix - is kind of beyond my experience and equipment level.
Essentially the walls are "moist" - the previous owner(s) clearly tried to make things look better with a layer of waterproof paint (or several), but this just made the walls bubble and a lot of the mortar is disintegrating due to the dampness within the walls. I've made an effort to dry the place out by running a dehumidifier consistently and scraping the old paint off of the walls. The wall along the front side of the house is bowing slightly, as are those along the side, and there are some "stair case" cracks in the wall (which is cinder block).
Basically, I would like to leave the house in better condition than I found it, but the time I can devote to it personally is limited - and I plan to use my time to finish redoing the kitchen, backyard fences, etc. I had Everdry waterproofing out today, and the sales rep recommended their fanciest "Multi-Step" service (of course), which would involve exterior and interior work and some steel beams for the worst bowing, at a cost of about $9500. This was significantly less than they quoted me last year but it's almost half of what I spent on the house itself. Recent sale values of houses in my neighborhood are in the $30-40k range, and although I don't care about making a profit per se, I really don't know how much this improvement would add to the value of the house. Does anyone here have advice? I was planning on hiring someone for this job regardless of the approach I take...