The contractor took a step back.... fireplace foundation
#21
you are in for lots of stuff you can't believe if you want to be a home inspector. I have seen houses get moved with fireplaces in place and not much more supporting them once in place in SF. I would like to say it is uncommon but based on experience I can't
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#22
don't tell the Texas Move and Flip guys that a fireplace might survive a move, they'll try it
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#23
Snipe Hunter said:


Those are the things home inspectors get sued for. Or at least the buyer tries to sue.

I can't believe anybody tried something that risky.




I (of course) did the inspection with the inspector- he found plenty and before closing the sellers ended up putting in over 10% of the home price into fixes (new roof, new electrical panel, new service pole, new water aerator/filter for hydrogen sulfide...and on closing day the doozy- it failed septic and perc test so they had to put in a new hump septic system (waay away from the house to the tune of $17K) The sellers are still local and are still friends- he's quite a woodworker too.

I also understand that the inspector didn't have x-ray vision/ couldn't see through sheetrock (the peepholes were sheetrocked over with new layers...)

I'm sure some folks try to sue, but for me an inspection is no more than a way to find the obvious, a negotiating tool for the house purchase and a place to start my "to do" list. It just comes with the territory when buying a 60-year old house which was moved on site 50 years ago, sitting on a piece of property with outbuildings built when the island settlement was young and VERY sparsely populated

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#24
It's not the best way to support that fireplace but it was actually stronger than if it had been bricked. You could have parked a few busses on that. I don't see any problems for removing it just start at the top and work down. It wasn't going anywhere..

What scares me is how they build in canada. Above a garage on wood framing they will put a cinder block wall. What it's for I haven't a clue but I really don't like that weight supported like that and there is no need for the wall.

Also good that the fireplace is gone as you can put the tv much lower so you don't get a crick in your neck lookong way up at the TV.
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#25
I wish I could get rid of my fireplace, it's just an annoyance at this point. Local masons are too busy to do any work on them or even return calls
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#26
get yourself one of these and an air compressor.



build yourself a beautiful patio with the leftovers
Phydeaux said "Loving your enemy and doing good for those that hurt you does not preclude killing them if they make that necessary."


Phil Thien

women have trouble understanding Trump's MAGA theme because they had so little involvement in making America great the first time around.

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#27
EricU said:


I wish I could get rid of my fireplace, it's just an annoyance at this point. Local masons are too busy to do any work on them or even return calls




They were a must have in houses here in the 70s to early 90s then pretty much have faded away. They make a house very inefficient in winter when using them and in summer when trying to keep the heat out.
Fortunately many of them from the 80s on were just a fire box with a steel flue so all the rest was conventional framing which is much easier to remove.

Unless it's a stove or other enclosed unit or pellett I don't want one. Also the fire places were usually where you would put a tv in a living room and that doesn't work. Putting it over the fireplace is a bad idea from a heat standpoint and it's just too high to watch comfortably unless you are standing up all the time.
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#28
I don't think LOML would go for getting rid of the fireplace. I should trade, she wants a new kitchen.
Ours is built for a stove, so it's much taller than a normal fireplace. It always makes the house colder though. Leaks horribly. It would be nice to have a place for the TV, I've thought of just putting the TV in front of it, it's unused since we discovered my son had asthma.
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#29
On the other side of the coin, I'm going to add a fireplace of some kind to a 2007 house that current doesn't have one.

Why? Backup heat. Its a rural house, all electric. I'll also consider propane as a backup source, but I'll add something wood burning regardless. Probably a pellet stove.

Edit: Pellet requires electricity, so I need to figure out the best solution.
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#30


Per code: A fireplace requires it's own foundation/footers, isolated from the house.

I think they missed it on that one.
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