Harnia Real Estate Properties Investment Solutions

Is it termites again?

Last year I had termites and it was evident by holes on the wall and pellets on the floor. Now I am finding tiny holes in the wall that were not there before. They are perfect circles and usually show up in three’s but I dont see any pellet or things like wings that would classify it as termite damage. ANy other bug or environmental condition would cause this?
Well the termite damage was on the window sill and door frames. The holes I have now are on the bedroom walls.

flooring in bedroom buckled?

water damage caused hardwood floors to buckle. the subfloor was eaten up with termites and big holes and dark coloring on the subfloor. landlord’s friends came in to fix it. they are only going to patch the subfloor with the holes and then lay carpet. don’t they have to put flooring under the subfloor. if they put carpet under the subfloor, i would get bugs, etc. coming from the plywood. is this legal.

FHA legal recourse? What can I do?

Examples of conditions that still require automatic inspection, but not limited to:
Standing water against foundation, or excessively wet basement
Hazardous materials on site
Faulty mechanical systems: electrical, plumbing, or heating
Structural failure: settlement or bulging foundation walls
Examples of conditions that may be of risk to health and safety of occupants or soundness of property that continue to require automatic repair, but are not limited to:
Inadequate access/egress from bedrooms to exterior of home
Leaking or worn out roofs
Structural problems such as foundation damage caused by settlement
Defective paint surfaces in homes built before 1978
Defective exterior paint on homes built after 1978 where finish is unprotected
A. TOPOGRAPHY

(3-2)

Proper topography and site grading can be important elements

in preventing wet basements, damp crawl spaces, erosion of

soils, and overflowing sewage disposal systems. To ensure

proper protection, the appraiser must analyze the

relationship of street grades, floor elevations, and lot

grades. If the foundation or its bearing soils may be

affected by seepage or frost, the dwelling is unacceptable

unless the surface and subsurface water is diverted from the

structures to ensure positive drainage away from the

foundation.

2. Hazards

The property must be free of all known hazards and

adverse conditions that:

o may affect the health and safety of the occupants

o may affect the structural soundness of the

improvements

o may impair the customary use and enjoyment of the

property

These hazards include toxic chemicals, radioactive

materials, other pollution, hazardous activities,

potential damage from soil or other differential ground

movements, ground water, inadequate surface drainage,

flood, erosion, excessive noise and other hazards on or

off site.

4. Drainage

The site must be graded to provide positive drainage

away from the perimeter walls of the dwelling and to

prevent standing water on the site. Signs of

inadequate draining include standing water proximate to

the structure and no mitigation measures such as

gutters or downspouts.

8. Defective Conditions

A property with defective conditions is unacceptable

until the defects or conditions have been remedied and

the probability of further damage eliminated.

Defective conditions include:

o defective construction

o poor workmanship

o evidence of continuing settlement

o excessive dampness

o leakage

o decay

o termites

o other readily observable conditions that impair

the safety, sanitation

The items outlined in VC-7: Structural Conditions, are

meant to alert the appraiser and the lender to the

possibility of defective conditions. These items are

readily identifiable characteristics that could

indicate one of the defective conditions.

9. Ventilation

Natural ventilation of structural space – such as

10. Foundations

All foundations must be adequate to withstand all

normal loads imposed. Stone and brick foundations are

acceptable if they are in good condition. The

appraiser must review the conditions in VC-8 for

evidence of conditions that could indicate safety or

structural deficiencies that may require repair.

12. Roof

The covering must prevent moisture from entering and

must provide reasonable future utility, durability and

economy of maintenance.

14. Heating

Heating must be adequate for healthful and comfortable

The appraiser must note and make a repair requirement

for any health or safety deficiencies as they relate to

the subject property, including:

o broken windows, doors or steps

Peeling interior paint and broken or seriously cracked

plaster or sheetrock require repair and repainting

These are the FHA appraisal rules that I have looked up. This is a long story I don’t have the time to tell but I can prove they lied to me about a bunch of stuff.
The issues here are I have a flooding basement coming in from the foundation. I have seriously damaged plaster walls. I have broken unsafe cement oustide. I do not have gutters. My furnace vent pipe was red tagged my eletric is not up to code. (60 amps maxed out before I got here.) My hot water heater broke withiin 3 months dunno if i Can do anything about that. Therefore I have no hot water or heat. I had a room full of fiberglass pipes and two bats among other oddities from floor to ceiling in the basement when I got here. They did not show me this room when showing me the house and I didn’t see it bc of lighting in basement. There is evidence of continuing settlement as my doors don’t even shut because the doorways are so crooked and the floors as well. The wood is coming up in the kitchen underneath thetile. Just a lot of stuff the l
Oh and my roof had a piece on the ground the day I moved in when they told me i had a good 10 to 20 years left on it HA!

Where would we be without insects?

For example:

the spider taught us how to weave

the ant taught us how to design hills and build tunnels

the cricket taught us how to play the castonets

the centipede taught us how to tap dance

the termite influenced us to make wood glue to repair damage caused by them

the fly influenced us to go fly fishing with sticky paper

the firefly became useful in power outages

bees are the first species to have a honey

Can you think of any?
There really isn’t a category for this kind of stuff, so I put it here.

Wouldn’t it be fun to see the following?

Termites and carpenter ants are known to be wood damaging insects.
Just suppose that the carpenter ants do what carpenters do, and that is repair the damaged wood caused by the termites.
Or, maybe they try to, but we don’t know for sure.

Have fun with this one
This question doesn’t really belong in Home and Garden, so it is here. Have fun.

eaves and joist have termites need to replace; how?

the roof was replaced 5 years ago and now we have termites in about 8 to 10 boards 7 of which are joist. i dont want to damage or compromise warrenty of roof. is there any way to replace the entire board or section without damaging the roof if not what is the easiest way to repair.

Home inspector coming next week! is this considered a repaired?

Hi everyone. We just got a really good offer on our house and the only thing we are waiting on is the inspection. Our house has had termite damage before, which we disclosed to our realtor. When I was touching up trim around the house i noticed a few areas that had been hit by the termites. I spackled over it and repainted it. I have read on the net that spackling is considered a repair for cosmetic areas of the home. Is this true? Is it considered repaired for the trim on the house if i spackled it? We have replaced the load bearing beams in the home. Just wondering if i need to call my realtor and inform her of the trim that i fixed? Or if i need a new peice of trim? Please only people that really know! I don’t want to lie to the future buyer, but if this is considered fix then i will let it go.

How do I find out about previous termite inspection?

I bought a house for the first time two years ago. I’m putting it back on the market now. My selling realtor tells me termite inspections are MANDATORY and I should have gotten an inspection certificate when I bought the house, yet I can’t find one in my records anywhere. I’ve just recently found some damage in the house that I think is termite related, and now I want to find out if in fact a termite inspection was done two years ago as supposedly required. Do I call the old agent I used to buy the house two years ago, the one that listed the house for sale two years ago, my closing attorney, or what? Do I have any legal recourse to help me? Such as, if my house turns out to be infested and it’s obvious the damage is more than two years old, am I stuck with paying for the repairs myself? I feel my old realtor who sold me the house really did me wrong in a couple significant ways, but I suppose any statute of limitations has probably run its course already. Any thoughts?

How to repair heavy scratches and scraps for autos?

THINGS TO UNDESTAND BEFORE ANY ADVICE

Hey, so I’m really frustrated right now, I am a financially struggling college student with the summer off, I cannot find a job in Southern CA, so I have to work out on the reservation in AZ, for my aunt and grandma at their property, I love my grandma more than anything but my aunt I never got along with

Well today I was driving on their property and it’s just dirt roads and I’m a city person, and still beginning driver I was only in 2nd gear going maybe 30mph, in my aunts truck and I hit a gopher hole and the hole threw the truck off balance and bounced it and I left my seat and I lost control for a moment and hit a barb wire fence post, I took out two wooden fence posts that held the barbwire and there was no denting since the truck is a workhorse and has many dinks and scratches on it, but it had major scraps and deep stratches from the barb wire on the hood and barely on the driver side of the truck, well my aunt got pissed and said I have to pay for it, and I kept telling her I don’t have a job that’s why I’m out here to earn money and I only have a little over $400 in the bank for fall semester and my car insurance, well she is mad and wants to take it into town to get it estimated and wants me to pay for it, I can’t afford to pay for it, I throughly checked any damage on the truck, and it’s only deep stratches on the hood, no dents since the poles were made of wood that was termite softened, and no tire or any other damage, so it’s only deep scrapes, similiar to a car keying, is there anything I can do to to fill the scratches myself or ways to be able to paint over them decently, that will help me out a lot

Please help, really I’ve just had a bunch off bad things thrown on me, from my ex-girlfriend who I still love now has another guy, a lot of family problems, and I just moved out of my house due to the family problems with no roomates from the help of some family members and I know the super of the apartments, this car damage money just can’t happen to me now, really when it’s only just scratches on a truck that’s already beat and an aunt who is stubborn and never liked me and I know she just won’t help me out, please what can I do about the stratches?
Oh and I’m not a guy to make excuses or complain, it’s honestly I can not afford to pay for this slight damage now, when I had to come out to this place to earn money just so I can live a little more comforatably

how to repair sheetrock (Drywall) when chalk layer is showing?

i had termites eat away the paper layers of the sheetrock on my kitchen wall and exposing the chalk layer. I do not want to cut out the damaged area. I tried putting adhesive netting spackle tape on the area to then apply joint compound but the tape won’t stick because it is the chalk layer. Painters putting is no good either. Am i missing something?