House inspection

Lots of stuff can go seriously wrong with basement underpinning if it isn't done properly. Yours may have been, or it may have not been. Personally I wouldn't take the risk, but others might.

Does he have the contractors name who did the work? They might have the details you want.

He didn't have the permit. He only gave me the name of the contractor (he owns many buildings and hires the same contractor all the time).

frederixx wrote: ↑He didn't have the permit. He only gave me the name of the contractor (he owns many buildings and hires the same contractor all the time).

If in Montreal a permit is required for that type of work you can check with the city to see if there was one issued and closed. If it was closed then maybe the city will have documents to satisfy your inspector. If there was no permit issued but required, buyer beware!

licenced wrote: ↑If in Montreal a permit is required for that type of work you can check with the city to see if there was one issued and closed. If it was closed then maybe the city will have documents to satisfy your inspector. If there was no permit issued but required, buyer beware!

It is required by the city and he did not have one. He says he does it all the time (as he owns many buildings)... Very unfortunate since i really like the house.

if there's some contractor going around underpinning/benching houses without a permit you should report him asap. i'm generally pretty relaxed when it comes to residential work, but digging out a foundation improperly is serious.

absolutely walk away from this if the work was done without a permit. in addition to not having any idea if the work was done correctly, it also means that an engineer hasn't checked things out to make sure the house won't collapse.

fisher44 wrote: ↑if there's some contractor going around underpinning/benching houses without a permit you should report him asap. i'm generally pretty relaxed when it comes to residential work, but digging out a foundation improperly is serious.

absolutely walk away from this if the work was done without a permit. in addition to not having any idea if the work was done correctly, it also means that an engineer hasn't checked things out to make sure the house won't collapse.

Report the owner of the house. There's never a case that I've been through where I don't get a permit for underpinning. If, one day, I do get a client that doesn't want a permit for underpinning, I would walkaway immediately.

Bathroom Read 1
Bathroom Read 2

fisher44 wrote: ↑if there's some contractor going around underpinning/benching houses without a permit you should report him asap. i'm generally pretty relaxed when it comes to residential work, but digging out a foundation improperly is serious.

absolutely walk away from this if the work was done without a permit. in addition to not having any idea if the work was done correctly, it also means that an engineer hasn't checked things out to make sure the house won't collapse.

I'm not sure he underpinned. From what the seller told me, it was already 8ft deep (not sure if true) and he only had to remove sand. It was a really old unfinished basement. Not sure it matters...

How old is the house?

frederixx wrote: ↑I'm not sure he underpinned. From what the seller told me, it was already 8ft deep (not sure if true) and he only had to remove sand. It was a really old unfinished basement. Not sure it matters...

Unless the average house in Montreal was built very differently or this was a custom build, only very large homes would have an 8ft basement, everything else would have had to have been raised and underpinned to achieve that height.

shabby wrote: ↑How old is the house?

+-1930

I would walk away from the deal. Why take on the risk that there is a problem with the foundation?

If you really like the house, would having the foundation inspected now help? Could the work be permitted after the fact? If so, have it do it.

cbr663 wrote: ↑I would walk away from the deal. Why take on the risk that there is a problem with the foundation?

If you really like the house, would having the foundation inspected now help? Could the work be permitted after the fact? If so, have it do it.

How can you have the foundations inspected without removing the walls and ceiling? Is that even possible

frederixx wrote: ↑+-1930

There are houses built now that don't have 8 foot tall basements, closer to 7.5', so for an 85 year old house to have 8' is a bit if a stretch. Is there any space in the basement that's unfinished like the furnace room or the space under the stairs?

Since i won't know for sure how it was renovated, i'll just cancel the offer. Maybe it was built as it should, but can't gamble on that much money.

Thanks everyone

Smart move! Cancel and run as fast as possible!!>

If it is not finished you could call in an underpinning expert and see if he would inspect it for you for 100$ or to 'give you a quote' if more work is needed. Then he might do it for free. There are plenty of basements that were done without a proper permits and houses are not falling down every day. Was it done a long time ago? Is that why he doesn't have the permit? If you sense something may be fishy then it is not worth having problems in the future and I would walk away if you can't get confirmation it was done properly. Or you could include a clause in the deal that the seller warrants the basement was done properly etc, and that the warranty does not expire. Even create a holdback of funds on closing if you want to get your own inspectors in there before or after close. There are lots of ways to handle this in the deal to make sure it was done properly...