All Forum Posts by: Jeff Schemmel

@Michael Gessner yeah fair points.  I don't think termites are a common thing here, but I do get boxelder bugs sometimes.  I think the issue is the foundation ends just above grade so the siding is there out of necessity at this point since it's a pretty old house.  I probably won't do anything about it, although you're certainly right it's not ideal.

@John Teachout Thanks for stopping to mention this.  I haven't seen much of it, but I know of other properties with this arrangement.  I don't think it should stop someone from buying a house, but this thread has been educational on what else I will look for when viewing a property like this in the future.

@Carini Rochester makes sense.  I may get a quote for re-locating the furnace to the basement - there's plenty of room, but i imagine that's quite expensive.  The unit stays pretty warm so as long as it's not creating terrible long-term issues i'm fine just taking mitigating measures for now.

@Wade Germann you're the man, thank you so much for this.  Sorry to hear you learned the hard way, my friend.  I will definitely be making some changes and modifying my fall "pre-winter inspection" list.

@Wade Germann this is big. Thanks for the lesson, here. I'll need to check on the soffit from the inside, because all looks OK from outside. There's a good possibility the blown insulation could be covering it. Can you explain an ice dam for me? How do I know it when I see it

@Russell W. thanks, I wasn't aware of this.  I think i'm going to run the downspout to the front of the house, do some french drain as @John Underwood recommended and look into this heat-trace cabling.  the trifecta should help even in the summer rains.  Thanks very much for the feedback!

@Jennifer Rogers Mr.@Samuel J Claeson can probably give you some guidance here. He's managing STRs now.

in the 1st photo, this is the area where the water is hitting the ground.  the siding doesn't reveal the foundation on this side, which is not typical.  It also does have a slight negative grade towards the house which definitely isn't helping here.  In the su

2nd photo (see bottom right) is the location where this happens, from another angle.  but I wanted to show it for added context.

I have an up/down duplex in St. Paul, the upper unit's furnace is in the attic, and blows air down through the ceiling.  It's tucked under the corner of the south side of my roof as you can see in the photo.  This is causing a few things to happen, leading to ice build-up, drooping gutters, and water in my basement in the dead of winter.  It should be noted, this property was built in 1905, so there's a limestone foundation - water in the basement is fairly common and I can probably trace lines on the floor exactly where the water always flows.  Historically it hasn't been an issue but large snow melts exacerbate this and are causing water to pool around the base of my two electric water heaters.

Basically, the sun heats up the snow on the shingles, snow melts really fast and creates what is basically heavy rainfall down the south slope of my house, catches my gutters (which are full of snow/ice, and water pools over the side like a waterfall, coming down and creating a slushy/icy spot, causing water to freeze to the siding and create a large pocket of ice along the side of the house.  It's been warm the last few days and instead of staying ice it was all slush and the ground soaked up the water and it all went into my basement.  I've got dehumidifiers running to try and clear it up as quickly as possible.

The big question: what can I do to stop this? There's nothing else in the attic, except blow insulation, and the furnace is fully-wrapped and insulated.  A thought I had was to pay an HVAC contractor to shift the furnace to the center of the room, but it's directly over the intake, which is currently in the living room.  I'm not sure if that would even help.  Anyone with experience here?

Hey Jem, always down for beer or coffee, just hit me up.

I'll give a few things here from experience that I routinely look for when first observing a property.  There are realtors/investors here more seasoned than me who could probably give some others from experience, but here's a stab at your question. 

1.) land grading around the house.  A big portion of the multi-families in the city are older 1900ish time-frame turn-of-the-century builds.  they're commonly built on limestone foundations and limestone is really porous.  As a result, any negative grading will let water flow towards the house into the foundation which means degradation of the foundation and water in the basement.  humidity is also a thing, it's common to see dehumidifiers in a lot of these older basements to keep the crumbling and dampness to a minimum.

2.) read up on 4D and Section 8, so you're aware of what's involved when properties are participating in those programs.

3.) st. paul calls their rental license a COO - certificate of occupancy; maintained by the fire dept. Minneapolis has rental licenses, but there's a grading system for each, and that can often give some insight into the level of care taken by a current owner.
4.) read the TISH report, which is required for anything under a 3-unit.  that will tell you what the city found hazardous, or below minimum with the property when they inspected it as it was listed for sale.

Regarding inspections, I always recommend a general inspector as well as a sewer scope; especially for the older properties.  lots of the older homes used clay piping and it's just laid in underground with gaps between the pipes in a lot of cases and that allows tree-roots to grow between the pipes.  no bueno.  if it's really bad, you'll have to have the pipes rooted every couple of years to keep them from clogging and causing a backup.  best-case, the sewer has been updated to ABS and tree roots are not a concern.  It's rare to hear anything about the sewer until you inspect it yourself - costs ~175 bucks to do a scope and it could save you a $15,000 headache.  Beyond that, I usually let the general inspector call out any red flags and if he/she recommends an HVAC inspection, we can make some recommendations; those are usually ~200-250.

lastly, you'll see a lot of boiler heating.  don't be freaked-out by this if you haven't rented with boilers.  they can be more efficient than modern high-efficiency furnaces in some cases but they take a bit of maintenance and the radiators can be cumbersome in the rooms.