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Bryan3300
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2018 09:04pm
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I stopped and looked at a cabin today that I am interested in purchasing. Everything looked solid but I have some reservations about the post foundation. The post are directly buried and appear to be old barn beams, not pressure treated lumber like I would expect to see. I thought they may be sitting on concrete footers but they were buried. The upper ends of the post appeared to have been treated with creosote but I dug a little around some of them and they didn’t appear to be treated below the surface. I’m pretty amateur when it comes to these types of foundations but was curious of others opinions before I make an offer and have it inspected by a professional.
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2018 11:07pm
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Well, I would say they are going to be trouble. The upside, its still looks solid enough and enough room in there to get in there and replace one post at a time the proper way. I would use treated timbers and cemented in place on a footer.
Its going to be labor and materials cost, so if you like it, figure that in on your offering price.
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cspot
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2018 11:37pm
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Just a couple of observations/questions. Some of this is tough to tell from a couple of pics.
1. It is tough to tell from the picture but those posts seems spaced really far apart. Maybe it is an optical illusion.
2. What is the post to beam connection? It looks like maybe their is a bracket that lags into the bottom? I realize that this looks like a middle beam but I would be worried about the beam rolling off of the post.
3. Are the floor joists one continuous board or are they spliced? It looks like to me in the 1st picture that the floor joists are not continuous but the joint is not over the beam which I think it should be. They are not properly spliced either from what I am seeing.
4. Was this cabin recently built?
5. Posts do not typically rot below the ground surface. The reason is they don't get enough oxygen to rot. Usually they rot right at the ground surface where there is moisture and oxygen.
Like Toyota said you could replace the posts without alot of issue but it would be some cost and be a pain in the butt. If some of my observations above are actually correct then I would also worry how some of the rest of the cabin is constructed. How did the rest of it look? Many of these issues could be corrected if you can get the place for the right price.
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Bryan3300
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2018 06:48am
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You know I was so caught up with how the post were sunk into the ground I wasn’t paying attention to your other points. I’m guessing the post are about 8’ apart. The floor joist are not continuous, the joint is over the beam but as you said they are not spliced. You are correct about the post to beam connection. It is a steel “L†bracket lagged into the bottom. The center- fowardmost post did not have a bracket and had shifted off the post a bit. All other post had a bracket. The cabin was built in 2015. It’s just a shell, exterior sheathing is covered with house wrap, sheathing was still solid. As you said though now I’m concerned with some of the other construction. Thanks for the input.
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Bryan3300
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2018 06:58am
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I attached some additional pictures of the cabin.
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Bryan3300
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2018 10:12am
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Also I asked the realtor today, the owners stated the post are treated railroad ties.
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cspot
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2018 10:40am
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I would agree that they are treated railroad ties for the posts. Since the building is still a shell then it wouldn't be hard to correct some of the issues. I would ask the realtor to ask the owners if the posts are setting on concrete or are just sunk in the ground. Like Toyota said it wouldn't be hard to jack up and replace a post at a time. You could also improve the beam to post connection to prevent it from sliding or rolling off. I would add some hurricane straps from the beam to floor joists connections as well especially on the 2 outside beams. As far as the post spacing you would need to look at a span calculator and see what size beam that is for your area and snow load to see if it is adequate.
I should specify when I say it wouldn't be hard, it actually will be alot of manual labor to do it. With it being a shell you should be able to see how the construction was in the rest of the cabin.
If it was me, I would go take another look at it and make a list of everything you can find on the building that isn't up to snuff. Take a level, square, and tape measure and see how far off the building is. One thing I see from the new pictures is the post in the middle under the porch doesn't look close to plumb.
This may make negotiations better since you can really downplay the value of the building.
If you like the place and property though I wouldn't be too scared from the pictures to deal with what is there. If I was making an offer though I think I would start with an offer that didn't include any value for the building or very little. When I made the offer, I would include the list of everything with the building that wasn't right and say by the time you fix everything, it might be just as cheap to start over. Also since this is a shell you are still going to have alot of money to put siding on and finish the interior.
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cspot
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2018 10:43am
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Another thing to check is to make sure the floor joist and also the celing rafter sizing is correct for the span and snow loads. If those are undersized then you have serious issues as you would basically almost have to start over. Actually then I probably would start over and would just try and salvage some of the material from the building.
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Borrego
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2018 10:56am
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Why not just leave the posts as they are, and add some spot footings as needed? You are probably ok with those posts anyway, but as the others are saying, a lot depends on the price you can negotiate. It is an easy fix regardless of which path you take, looks like a nice cabin......
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Bryan3300
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2018 12:00pm
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Thank you all for the input. I do like the cabin and love the area it’s in. Cspot that’s a solid plan to make a list of everything that isn’t correct and include that in the offer. It was just put on the market so I’d assume they will wait for more offers. I’m not in a big hurry anyway. Thanks again for all of the input.
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cspot
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2018 01:27pm
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Quoting: Bryan3300 Thank you all for the input. I do like the cabin and love the area it’s in. Cspot that’s a solid plan to make a list of everything that isn’t correct and include that in the offer. It was just put on the market so I’d assume they will wait for more offers. I’m not in a big hurry anyway. Thanks again for all of the input.
You never know about that. The property were our cabin is located was new on the market when we bought it. It literally took less than an hour of some back and forth phone calls between the realtor and him to settle on the price. The final price was between 75 to 80% of the original asking price and that was about 5 days after it was listed. He was wanting to sell the property. It was a little similar to this property in that it had a camper on it. The camper had some leaks that you could see. My original offer was to buy the land without the camper because I said I didn't want it and it was essentially worthless. He didn't want to move it out so ultimately I got it with the property, but essentially got it for free. We used it for about 1.5 years until the cabin was ready to move into and then I did sell it and get some money back out of it.
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