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Buying an Old Property, Floors Checklist
By arlene | November 22, 2008
Floors: If the house has wooden floors and you are restoring rather than modernizing, you will obviously want to be sure they are sound. Suspended floors are not necessarily sprung floors — unless you are buying an expensively constructed old house with its own ballroom! A sound wooden floor should be just that: firm to the tread with no ‘give’ and no sag.
When you are inspecting the building for purchase, jump on the floors and check for bounces and creaking. If you are unsure how good they are, ask for access to the foundations through the inspection trap. Check the joists for rot, sagging and, most important of all, beetle infestation.
Most Deed of Sale or Offer to Purchase forms contain a standard clause which is binding on the seller to have the timbers in the accessible parts of the property inspected for notifiable beetle and infestedreplaced at his own expense. This requirement is, however, not binding by law as there is no such thing as notifiable beetle any more and in any case, it only ever covered certain types of non-indigenous borer beetles. parts
The common furniture beetle can do as much damage to a floor and floor supports as the Italian beetle or European house borer ever did to roof timbers. Signs of beetlefloors are tiny holes in the wood about the size of a pin head or smaller and in more extreme cases lace-like indentations on the surface of the timber. Skirting boards are one of the first places to be attacked by furniture borer and these should be checked carefully. Wood-destroying insects attack the underside of timber before they break the surface, so a hollow skirting will almost certainly be proof of the presence of beetle. Like boat buyers, no house buyer should go shopping without a small penknife. A small nick with the knife will tell you how solid the skirting boards are. Once borer beetle is in the skirtings, it will advance into the floors and joists and eventually attack your furniture so it must be eradicated. infestation in
If you are unsure whether the house is infested with beetle, remember that the standard ‘beetle free certificate’ means only that the house is free from the two species of beetle which used to be notifiable, or that timbers found to be infested by these insects have been replaced. It is no guarantee against a host of other wood destructive insects or against reinfestation by the one which was found. The best way to get around this hurdle is to make your purchase subject to a full report from a recognized pest eradication company which indicates the presence of any wood-destructive insect. The cost of replacing severely damaged timber and eradication of the pest should then be borne by the seller. But this is not legislated for, so be sure it is stipulated in your Deed of Sale. Alternatively, ask your attorney to draft a clause providing for mutual agreement on the splitting of the costs.
Floors, if not too seriously damaged, can be saved by sanding, injecting with poison and flooding with a substance which will prevent reinfestation. Badly damaged joists should, however, be replaced with timber pretreated against beetle. New building timber has to be pretreated by law but old wood should also be treated before being installed.
Any timber infested with Italian beetle Hylotrupes bajulus should be ripped out and replaced. The Italian beetle is one of the most destructive of the borer beetles and bores tunnels the diameter of a cigarette through wooden roof rafters and fascia boards.
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November 23rd, 2008 at 5:46 am
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November 23rd, 2008 at 6:41 am
The appraisers’ expertise will seek to determine the value of the property by analyzing historical and current data to ultimately help the appraiser in arriving at a fair market value for the KY home. … Gathers Montana Foreclosure Data
January 15th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Great points. Anytime an investor is purchasing an older property, the floors are one of those aspects that are too often over-looked. But they are a very critical element to any home.
Thanks for the info.