The state electrical inspector signs-off on the new mast, meter, and service panel. It feels like progress, but the house still has so many building code violations.
Month: December 2013
Cold weather problems
Our dining room is freezing cold, and the two heat registers in the floor are barely working. I have no idea why. There is no access to the dining room foundation, so I can’t diagnose the problem. It’s so cold that the room is unusable.
Cold weather also makes some things contract or settle. This means things will work differently in summer vs winter. Case in point, the bedroom doors will not close because they don’t fit inside their door frames. This indicates that the flipper installed these doors without the proper clearance.
Listing company collusion
I make several phone calls to Bridge Realty, the property listing company, to get their contact information for the Seller. Both the listing agent and the owner / broker are utterly un-helpful and refuse to give me the Seller’s basic contact information. This leads me to believe that they are in collusion with the Seller. I report this to the Anoka County Investigator assigned to my case.
New drains, joist repair, closet repair
The flipper had ignored all building codes and created a plumbing nightmare, with a piecemeal zig-zag of improper unions, a covered floor drain, backwards Y-unions, pipes cemented into the cleanout, and no drain vents whatsoever.
Today, my plumber laid new underground drain pipes and properly connects them to the main sewer. He includes a new cleanout, a new floor drain in an accessible location, and new vents for the entire system.
Building code says that a joist becomes too weak if it is cut more than 1/3rd of the way through, and ideally the hole should be in the center of the joist. In this case, the upstairs bathtub drain pipe needed to go through a joist, but the flipper cut away 2/3rds of the joist, severely weakening it!
I repaired the weakened joist by reinforcing it on both sides with plywood. Each piece had to be carefully cut to fit exactly around the pipes and provide as much structure as possible.
Earlier, the plumber needed to stop the leaks inside the walls of the upstairs bathroom. He did this by cutting some access holes on the backside of the wall, which happened to be inside of a linen closet.
I made new cover panels for these plumbing access holes inside the linen closet. I also gave the closet a fresh coat of paint and re-lined the shelves. ($37.26)
Underground plumbing work passes inspection
The city building inspector signs-off on the underground portion of the work done by the plumber. I back-fill the trenches with dirt.
Vapor barrier repairs
My wife repairs the torn vapor barrier in the downstairs bathroom and laundry room while I begin cutting new studs to reframe the laundry room wall. ($74.54)
Dishwasher keeps shutting off
Our dishwasher has been installed without a proper countertop mounting plate causing the door be misaligned. During heavy loads where dishes are jostling around, this misalignment sometimes causes a sensor to think the door is open, and it shuts down the dishwasher completely. I uninstall the dishwasher, build a new mounting plate, adjust the feet, and reinstall it correctly. ($13.86)
Cleaning up the underground P-trap
The basement bathtub’s underground is in a hole that is eroding, causing the P-trap to shift to a concerning angle. I clear dirt and concrete that has filled in the hole and snugly repositioned the P-trap.
New drain pipes installed
The plumber adds drain pipes for the laundry room and bathroom vanity.
He also adds venting to all of the new drain pipes and correctly connects them to the legacy vent stack.
