Brownstone nightmares pt.1
Hello All, I would like to first thank all of you for help in advance. So I will paint the picture for you, we are in the process of buying an 1899 brownstone in Bedford Stuyvesant. The house has every single bit of original detail however the house has had little updating, which can be…
Hello All,
I would like to first thank all of you for help in advance.
So I will paint the picture for you, we are in the process of buying an 1899 brownstone in Bedford Stuyvesant. The house has every single bit of original detail however the house has had little updating, which can be seen as good or bad. This weekend we had our inspection that lasted 4 hours (the inspector was AMAZING and THOROUGH) and there were so many things that were brought to our attention which brings me here.
Our dreams of refinishing the hardwood floors may not be possible, we were told that we MAY have asbestos in the vinyl flooring. From what we can tell the vinyl flooring covers the entire area of the home. We have read articles about just using it as subfloor and also read articles about some brave people removing it themselves. I would like to get it tested and even hire someone to remove it but I know that can get up in the thousands of dollars that we don’t have. Suggestions ????
Based on the home, it has a high probability that it has lead based paint on the walls and around the window areas. I know a lot of you have homes build around the same time. What can we do if some walls have cracks that need to be repaired ? Can we just paint over and it call it a day ?
Please advise
From what I know, and everybody has a differing opinion, flooring materials are non-friable asbestos and are not regulated at the federal level. In so far as NY State is concerned, non-friable asbestos can be treated as construction debris – so long as it is not ground or made friable.
Just as someone suggests, wet the tiles during removal. not a lot of water, just enough to hold a little dust down. Wear a mask if you wish.
Also, one way to get these tiles off the floor is to place dry ice on them, let it sit a minute and then lift the tiles with an ice scraper. I lifted 900 sq. ft of these tiles and it took less than 25 lbs of dry ice (about $25.00 worth) and about 5 hours work. When I ordered the dry ice I had them cut it in to a few flat pieces and just kept pushing the pieces along on the floor and lifting tiles as I moved the stuff. Be careful handling dry ice.
Getting the glue residue off the wood is going to be another issue. Again, dry ice will harden the glue and allow you to scrape it.
Steve
http://www.thetinkerswagon.com
Re: Asbestos removal
I think it’s easier to just assume the flooring has asbestos in it. Get a P100 Respirator that fits your face well and a spray bottle. Keep the material misted with water as you remove it to keep airborne particles down. Double-bag the waste so that it doesn’t become the garbage man’s problem too. Vacuum thoroughly with a shop vac with a hepa filter. Toss your clothes.
Re: water damage
If the garden level subfloor has water damage, check the joists beneath the subfloor for damage as well, and check the main beam in the basement. If the basement has been hastily sheetrocked… assume the worst.
Definitely get a separate termite inspection. Termites love water.
Respectfully seconding that you might want to take a big step back and consider whether owning a brownstone is right for you.
The problems you list are small potatoes. The amount of capital, time and ingenuity required to renovate is hard to quantify. No matter how thorough your inspector was, he doesn’t have X-Ray vision. He missed at least one huge, expensive problem. Probably more.
I am certain that even those of us on this forum who are completely secure in our decision to buy a house occasionally feel kinda stupid for doing so. I know I do.
If you can’t look at this list, breathe a cautious sigh of relief and start renegotiating the asking price so that you have some capital to deal with what you’ve bought, then you really might prefer to be in a condo or co-op. That’s not a reflection on anything but your sanity and priorities. This really isn’t for everybody.
we are pretty sure we had asbestos adhesive holding down the marmoleum floor in the kitchen (found several cans of asbestos adhesive in the basement). We carefully peeled up the floor and threw down a new thin plywood subfloor on top. It was just going to be too much hassle bring up the asbestos safely while we are living in the house with a cat and a puppy (everything goes in his mouth). We are lucky because the floor is *extremely* level, so can just put the floating cork floor right over. If your floor is not perfectly level (or close to it), it might be harder to lay new floor over it and using the existing floor as the subfloor.
The lead paint thing is that not a big deal. We used an infrared heat gun (silent paint remover) to remove (probably) lead paint from the woodwork and just painted right over the plaster walls. If your walls are in really bad shape, you can get a skim coat put on top. We had a few cracks in the plaster, and I just went over them with fiberglass tape and joint compound and patched them myself.
If you are worried about these issues, which are fairly common in houses of this age, you might be in over your head. Asbestos and lead are pretty much guaranteed in all of these older houses.
If it’s really old sheet goods you’re probably o.k.
The inspector information is
John @ Precise Home Inspection Services
718.514.3393
I think I will send the samples for testing just to be sure. Now that I think about it I don’t remember it being vinyl tiles, I remember it being vinyl sheet flooring.
If I was in your shoes I would get it tested first before jumping to conclusions. Just take a few samples from each kind of floor and have it done anonymously without your address listed. It can be dropped off or done through the mail. There is also the chance that your roof has asbestos. I would throw the flooring in the dumpster with the roofing demo (Are they recomending a complete tear off? )
Same with the paint from a few doors walls/trim and windows.
If you have friable asbestos in your basement Con Ed will not do any work.
Cha-ching, cha-ching, welcome to this old house ownership.
Not worth the fine not to mention the health hazard. It is asbestos afterall.
Do you mind posting who your inspector was? We’re about to put an offer in on a place and I’d love to have an inpsector that spends 4 hours going through everything!
Thanks.