House of the Day: Lefferts Avenue 2-Family

I saw this house when it was first listed by Tanya. It's really beautiful, most of it has never been remuddled, except for the kitchens, bathrooms and two rooms upstairs.

However, it need a lot of work, including emergency repairs.

There were three sources of water damage I could see. In the small room above the stairs on the second floor the leak has been stopped and the wall repaired. There was/is a leak from the roof which appears to have run inside the back wall of the building, this has caused the plaster to separate from the lathe and has rusted out all the electical (BX cable) on that side. This is an immediate fire hazard. The stucco on the back of the building has also separated from the walls where water damage is most severe when seen from the inside. The foundation has not cracked yet, but if the stucco is not removed and the brick repointed. I don't think the brick is an emergency yet. While I would confirm with a structural engineer, it can maybe wait until next summer). The third source of water damage is the leaking fixtures in the first floor kitchen, this has caused the floor beams to rot over a 6'x20' section of the floor (this leak is longstanding). This can be seen most readily in the basement, but in the 1st floor kitchen you can also see a 3"-4" sag wherever something heavy is sitting on the floor. This needs to be repaired immediately to prevent collapse.

Aside from the water damage, much of the plumbing and electrical needs replacement. Obviously where water has flowed in the walls the electical is no longer safe, but there were also illegal and unsafe electrical work you could see and I'm sure more is hiding in the walls. The electrical appears to date from three distinct periods. The original work needs replacing due to it's great age (the plastic has come off the wires), the 50's work is probably salvagable, except where there was extensive water damage, and the 70's or 80's work was done unsafely, with unprotected wiring and potentially aluminum wire. The plumbing has several visible problems, poor drainage on the 2nd floor appears to be the cause of the unflushable toilet, and the extensive water damage in the 1st floor kitchen. This is not unexpected for an old house, but if it were my house I would replace all the plumbing. If you only had a few hundred thousand dollars for the repairs and had to economize, just the drainage pipes and the already leaking pipe[s] needs to be replaced soon.

The kitchens and bathrooms could use another renovation, they appear to have seen their last renovation in the 70's, but obviously this is not an emergency. Thankfully the clawfoots are still there on both floors :)

The good news is that many of the windows, especially on the second floor appear to be original; with nice old storm window inserts for a couple of them. Someone could restore the wood frames with epoxy and with all that original wood work and the gas lighting lines still there, they could really bring this building to it's original condition. With a very comfortable budget of course. There may be more problem I didn't notice, but that's why you hire an engineer to look at a house like this before closing.

I'm sorry to hear about the death of the owner, I didn't know about that. Oh, the older couple really is adorable! The woman reminds me of my grandmother.

Posted by: danielk at September 1, 2006 9:35 AM

No, but I am an engineer.

Although this should not be considered an engineering report and I take no responsibility for accuracy, completeness, etc. Hire a P.E. :)

I really liked the house though, it just needs extensive repairs relative to similarly priced buildings on the market.

Posted by: danielk at September 1, 2006 11:20 AM