My Buying a House PSA

PSA stands for Public Service Announcement, by the way.

Don't buy a house from a general contractor. If you find out that ANY of the previous owners was a general contractor, run far far away from that house. Far far far away.

We knew that the owner before the previous owner was a general contractor. We knew he was the one that did the addition on the house, who put in the "pool", who re-did the kitchen.

Now we know that he used faulty wiring in two of the ceiling fans and one of the wall light units. We know he didn't put a big enough pump onto the "pool" and dug the hole weird so the vacuum doesn't work right. We now know that he used interior paint on the exterior of the house, that he didn't hook the hot water heater up correctly, and that he used an off brand, no longer made garage door.

Most recently, as in today, we found out that he didn't properly seal the toilet to the floor so it's been leaking under the floor. Now luckily he also grouted all around the toilet so the water didn't get under the tile, that could have been a huge expensive mess.

Instead, our toilet backed up on Saturday. And then again yesterday. Only yesterday no amount of plunging by me or Hubs could get it to flush all the way. A plumber came out today and snaked it, both him and I fully expecting to find some toy Grant had flushed. It didn't do any good, but he did pull up some roots. Roots indicated he needed to remove the toilet. When he did that, there were roots all over the wax seal (which is what attaches the toilet to the floor) and a few dangling over the edge. He starts pulling them up, and pulling, and pulling, and pulling, until he's pulled up a "rope" of roots that is taller than him and probably 5 inches in diameter, with poop and toilet paper mixed in. Obviously the roots have been growing for a while, which indicates the toilet has been leaking for a while. Like since the guy improperly sealed it, 8 or so years ago.

He later confided that he has never in his career seen so many roots in one drain. The painter said the same thing about interior paint on the exterior. The electrician said the same thing about the ceiling fans. The pool repair guy said the same thing about the pool pump. The garage door guy said the same thing about the off brand garage door. And the house inspector said the same thing about the hot water heater hook up.

We need to move. We can't afford this previous general contractor any more.