.. blems?The house we are considering buying is about $125,000.00 It has 4 bdrms 1 bath built in 1910. 2,330 sqf. The basement has crumbling cement in the half and dark paneling in the other half. Those are the only problems with the house. are these doable to fix? tear down the cement and re cement, is it expensive, or painting or putting dry wall over the paneling. what do you think?
We've turned our house around and we had the same problems you did and more! It took 2 years, but our house was built in 1820. We had to put up vinyl, raise ceiling about a foot, level the house, un crumble the cement basement, and rip half the bathroom out to make the living room bigger. But yes very doable, and you will be getting compliments from your friends and neighbors on how you turned the place around.
if the concrete basement walls are not structurally sound, repairs can get really expensive really fast. on the other hand, if the surface is spalling (flaking off small amounts) and the concrete is still structurally sound, I believe there are remedies that can be effective. as for the paneling, that is relatively easy. sheetrock looks better if a professional does it than a first time DIY person, but with patience a DIY can do a reasonable job of it. you can also paint paneling, but if it's a slick finish, then you will need to do some prep work. clean it well, and then scuff the surface with fine sandpaper, or use a high dollar primer, or both, and then the paint should stay on reasonably well.
I think you should get an independent home inspector (not one the seller's or broker recommends) and have him check out how bad the cement is in addition to any other problems with the house. You will find that a house where one thing has obviously not been taken care of (the cement) will have many other things also having been neglected. And then the cost of the house becomes irrelevant as the repairs start to cost more than the house is worth.
As a warning some sellers, altho your bid must be presented by law, will be advised not to take the bid until you can qualify your condition. Arranging for an engineer to enter the premises with you at yours and the current owners earliest convience is important here.
Cement should have an indeterminate life; it shouldn't, under normal conditions, be falling apart after 100 years. Unless, of course, it is bulging because the earth behind it is pushing on it, or because it is now, or has previously, gotten wet. Unless you understand WHY the cement is crumbling, I wouldn't buy the house. (If you learn that there was a leak 40 years ago but it has since been plugged and the area is dry, then OK, but if it's still damp and crumbling, well, that's a problem.) The paneling question is dependent on whether the paneling was nailed or glued, and how long ago. If it was nailed, and is over drywall, no problem. If it was glued to drywall, then it's a major hassle to remove. If it was nailed to studs, then it's relatively simple to remove ... but you'll have to re-wall the basement. You can put drywall over paneling, but you need to be quite sure that the walls themselves are flat. And in all honesty, you'll be nailing the drywall through the paneling to the studs, and that's a lot more nailing effort. Finally, one bathroom for 4 bedrooms seems undesirable. You will regret not having a 2nd or 3rd bathroom. I would rethink this.
