What the hell is going on here?

Today was a new experience. The place was in Monroe. This house was the new breed of fixer, the type where a someone buys a totally thrashed repo'ed house and does a bit of work to it and flips it for what seems like a bargain price. One in Tukwila last week was purchased for 84, and they turned it over for 199. This particular house was bought at about 100 and flipped over at 220 after painting and roof and remodeling the inside. Typically these flips are done by non-professionals, and it shows. Just like the flippers in the go-go years, flippers are notorious for poor quality work, general lack of construction knowledge, and, hate to say it, but maybe some cover up here and there too.

It was a rambler. The external perimeter walls inside had horizontal drywall cracks 18 inches up, some more visible than others. I had no idea why these cracks were everywhere, but not on the interior walls. Drywall comes in four foot high sheets, therefore the first break is at four feet. What drywall finisher wants to bend over at 18 inches and finish a joint, then finish another at five and half feet?

Built in 1972 my first thought was maybe it had aluminum wiring and was completely rewired, since the receptacle boxes were all at 19 inches (as typical). Nope. I opened up the old panel and it was all original copper, plus the interior walls were not touched. Then I saw the water heater, down two steps in the garage. The tank was new in 2006, but the tank after only four years was rusting all along the casing seams. After only four years! How is that?

Then it hit us. This house had flooded! I pulled a cover plate on a TV cable on an outside wall and saw new insulation below, and old above. I then pulled a cover plate on an interior wall. No insulation, but full of a black colored mold. The very ethical real estate agent made a beeline for the neighbor's to find out the truth that wasn't being told in the disclosure. Neighbors are always very good at that. My client then turned to me and said, "OK we're done". I never got into the crawlspace for the rest of the story.

The presumption is that the internal walls were not insulated, so after the flood the owner didn't think it was necessary to remove the drywall. Insulation held moisture at the outer walls so they cut in and removed it. The water heater was trashed by the flood of 2006 when it was brand new. Water got into the lining and the tank insulation held the moisture, which rusted it out.