# Distressed House with Obliterated Drywalls...



## tk3000 (Nov 11, 2013)

Hello Folks, 
I have distressed house whose interior drywall was mostly obliterated. So I was wondering if I should simply buy new drywall of the same thickness (1/2) and grade and then cut it square and patch it, or maybe just remove the remains of the old drywall and install the whole thing anew. 

Also the previous owner managed to make a see through hole perforating not only the drywall but also the exterior wall sheathing albeit the hole is not visible from the exterior wall because of the siding. I am assuming the sheathing should be osb3 or plywood. What would be the approach to patch or repair that? 

Below are some pics that speak for themselves:






Drywall Destruction






Light pass through wall


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## Drywallinfo (Nov 11, 2013)

You can patch this, but perhaps it would be to your advantage to remove it all and start over if you think the walls need insulation or new electrical outlets.  See http://www.drywallinfo.com for help on taping and finishing. Looks like vandals have been in the home.


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## nealtw (Nov 11, 2013)

Remove and replace the worst of it and patch small holes if the rest of the wall is good. The simple patch for small hole is cut the new peice first slightly larger than the hole hold it over the hole and draw the lines to cut out the bad stuff. Slide a peice of wood into the hole a position  it and screw it in place and that will give something to screw the patch to.
The hole in the exterior wall is a bigger problem, likely he didn't install a header. Depending on whether there is a second floor or rafters land on this wall it might be serious.
Is there an upstairs? Do you want a window there? What kind of siding is out side this area? Is there a roof gutter directly above this opening?
Are the outside walls 2x4 or 2x6 framing?


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## bud16415 (Nov 12, 2013)

That amount of damage I would take it all off and start over. Good time as mentioned above to fix or add things in the walls.


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## tk3000 (Nov 12, 2013)

nealtw said:


> Remove and replace the worst of it and patch small holes if the rest of the wall is good. The simple patch for small hole is cut the new peice first slightly larger than the hole hold it over the hole and draw the lines to cut out the bad stuff. Slide a peice of wood into the hole a position  it and screw it in place and that will give something to screw the patch to.
> The hole in the exterior wall is a bigger problem, likely he didn't install a header. Depending on whether there is a second floor or rafters land on this wall it might be serious.
> Is there an upstairs? Do you want a window there? What kind of siding is out side this area? Is there a roof gutter directly above this opening?
> Are the outside walls 2x4 or 2x6 framing?



Thanks for your insights! I have patched drywall in the past (but mostly small holes). Back them I found that using a jigsaw was much faster than drywall saw, but produced too much dust all over. There is no second floor (a pic below). I can see light coming to the inside, but as far I a remember there is no visible hole on the outside sidings (I believe it is vinyl), so I believe that I has been protected by the sidings. The soffits, fascia and gutters are another big problem that I intend to tackle very soon (right now I am at different location,); basically there is no soffits, fascia cover or gutters (pic below). Sorry, but I don't know about the size of the outside walls. I do not believe that the house was exposed to the weather for a long time though (maybe 3 months). At first the soffits seemed larger than usual, but the fascia board seemed ok at first. The attic insulation probably need to be replaced.





(No soffits, fascia, or gutters present)





(house from the outset)






How bad is the prospect of recovery? Any insights are greatly appreciated!


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## tk3000 (Nov 12, 2013)

Drywallinfo said:


> You can patch this, but perhaps it would be to your advantage to remove it all and start over if you think the walls need insulation or new electrical outlets.  See http://www.drywallinfo.com for help on taping and finishing. Looks like vandals have been in the home.



Thanks, I will look into the link. Actually, it was not vandals; but the previous owner with a hammer who got around destroying everything. Even the toilet was put down into pieces.


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## nealtw (Nov 12, 2013)

Depending on the price of the house, the building looks to be alright from what we can see. So I think it can be saved but it will be a lot of work.


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## oldognewtrick (Nov 12, 2013)

If it were mine, I would strip all the existing drywall out and have an electrician come and give it a look over. With all the damage, who knows what kind of shape the electrician service is in. Cover up a problem and you can kill someone or burn the house down. 

Just my :2cents:


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## tk3000 (Nov 12, 2013)

oldognewtrick said:


> If it were mine, I would strip all the existing drywall out and have an electrician come and give it a look over. With all the damage, who knows what kind of shape the electrician service is in. Cover up a problem and you can kill someone or burn the house down.
> 
> Just my :2cents:



That is a good point. Apparently all the receptacles, switches and wires are intact. I don't have a problem rewiring everything to new circuit breaker switches if needed; but I really do not like to get close to the bus bar and all the wattage that it can unleash.


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## nealtw (Nov 12, 2013)

So hire a pro to look over your work and do the final connections.


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## bud16415 (Nov 13, 2013)

We just bought a home that was a short sale and not quite the same situation as yours not knowing the details of how or why the previous owner trashed the place to the extent they did, but it seems to be a trend when people lose a place they take out their frustrations on the house. In our case it wasn&#8217;t as much deliberate damage as walking away leaving everything a mess and doing nothing for several years. The bottom line is the same though, and that is how far do you go? 

The house you show looks to be structurally sound and has promise. The question always is how far do you go and where do you spend money and labor but not get into the situation where you are improving it beyond the market value. 

We selected the project house we are doing based around our labor is free to us and the repairs needed were high on labor low on materials. The house flippers were passing on our place because of location (depressed market) and the amount of labor. That kept the place on the market for a couple years and brought the cost way down. I suspect you got a great deal on this place for similar reasons. Drywall and mud is cheap and gives a big bang for the buck as long as you provide the labor. Demo is free if you provide the labor. Too many people don&#8217;t do the math first and have unrealistic opinions of their abilities and the time required to do all these tasks. I doubt you will need to rewire the house. You might want to add a few outlets or change the floor plan when you have it opened up. 

I started ours by making a detailed floor plan and also a project list in order of importance and assign some cost and time estimates. Projects have to be done in some order and depending on if you are planning to live there or flip it or rent it how quickly you need to be done etc. Cash flow is also a concern. The house we are doing is a testament to building on a shoestring and Craigslist shopping. On the other hand don&#8217;t get carried away with demolition and reuse and recycling can save you a lot of money. Contractors have a totally different set of factors governing how they have to work. As soon as you add labor cost there is no reason to reuse old materials most times at least it&#8217;s much different in terms of real cost. 

The house looks like a very good DIY project house IMO as its one story with a simple roof line that&#8217;s not steep. Basic construction, deck looks ok, etc. Zero landscaping and not the greatest curb appeal but has lots of opportunity to change that. How is the basement and roofing?


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## tk3000 (Nov 14, 2013)

bud16415 said:


> We just bought a home that was a short sale and not quite the same situation as yours not knowing the details of how or why the previous owner trashed the place to the extent they did, but it seems to be a trend when people lose a place they take out their frustrations on the house. In our case it wasnt as much deliberate damage as walking away leaving everything a mess and doing nothing for several years. The bottom line is the same though, and that is how far do you go?
> 
> The house you show looks to be structurally sound and has promise. The question always is how far do you go and where do you spend money and labor but not get into the situation where you are improving it beyond the market value.
> 
> ...



I have been living in a condo, and had bad experiences with neighbors. Sharing ownership and space can be very convoluted. That house has a 1 acre land and I can not even see a neighbor's house since it is surrounded by trees, and such type of environment did attract me the most. Besides the house was built in 1985, so it is not too old either. 

The basement was ok, needed copper pipes (since he broke some of them, so no water supply upfront), lacked water heater and furnace too; but other than that it was in very good shape. The roof seems uniform and intact too. 

Thanks a lot for your insights!


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## tk3000 (Nov 14, 2013)

I have condo in MI, so I have a place to live in the mean time. But gradually the plan was to fix up everything and then move in. I made an offer of US$18000, and it was accepted. I am mechanically inclined and have all tool and means to fix such things, but I certainly would undergo a learning process and experience. Besides I would cater the house to fit my own preferences and needs (floor, electrical, etc), so I could see lots of benefits. 

Closing was scheduled for 11/13/2013 (yesterday). The day before around at 9pm I received via email a copy of the HUD and instructions on how to wire the money. The place whereon the closing would take place is about 3 hours from my residence, and the house I was about to buy is about 2:30 hours. Once I received the HUD up front I detected errors (such as the amount I paid in earnest money), but the most outrageous thing (which I then assumed could not possibly be true were the property taxes, especially if you consider that Indiana has a very low property taxes overall compared to other States). It was clearly stated since the very first beginning that the property taxes for the property were US$917 p/ calendar year which actually is high for that area (you easily find home whose taxes are less $300), but since it was a 1 acre home I accepted the higher amount. Nonetheless on the HUD it was showing an outrageous amount of $4500, so I assumed it was another error; but it turned out that it was not. The buyers agent blamed the listing agent and the bank for providing the wrong information, and ultimately the deal feel through. Lots of distress and waste of time, but maybe it was better that way. 

Thanks to everybody who chimed in!


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## nealtw (Nov 14, 2013)

I don't know the prices there but the lumber alone in that house is worth $20,000, land for free still sounds like a bargen. Let us know when you start your next project.


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## bud16415 (Nov 15, 2013)

Sorry to hear about the problems. The good news is for you there are many such houses out there and don&#8217;t give up on the idea of owning a place clear of a mortgage and putting in the sweat equity to have what you want.

Last night I had an eye opening experience. We looked at two places in the town we are living one a short sale we ended up with and the other a foreclosure both being sold thru the same reality company different agents. The house we bought the short sale was listed around 60K as was the other both abandoned for several years. I did an inspection of the other and it would have taken 30K to make it right showed my report to the agent and said we would offer 20k for the house and was laughed at and not allowed to even submit my bid. The second agent on the short sale and the better house structurally with newer systems was just a mess of garbage and junk inside and required more labor than anything else. I did a similar review and we offered 22k and after 3 months of haggling and figuring out all the liens that had to be forgave or paid off we got it for 24K. 

Well last night more than a year after we made the offer on the first place and got laughed at it was up for auction and we stopped in to look at it again and see what it went for. We were there one nosey neighbor from next door and only one real buyer. That&#8217;s after advertising for a couple months. The auctioneer assessed he only had one buyer and said well make an offer. The guy said I&#8217;ll give you 7K the auctioneer said they won&#8217;t accept that they told me to take offers but not to sell for less than 20K. LOL was what I did I guess as he said is that funny and I said it is to me because I offered that 18 months ago and got laughed out the door. He looked down and said it would be funny if he didn&#8217;t hear that same story about twice a week on other places. The guy that bid went outside on his phone telling him he would find out what the highest they would go was came back in and said my boss said not a penny over 9K that&#8217;s the bottom line. The auctioneer grabbed a form and said lets submit it and see what they say or maybe they will sit on it another couple years. It&#8217;s been 4 years empty without heat and the mold problem was not to bad when we looked at it but was really getting bad now. 

I think you made the right move with those taxes in 10 years you would have outlaid 45 k in taxes. Around here taxes seem to be low on old houses ours being 1900 were like you said in the $600 range for all taxes including school tax. 

Keep looking and when you find one come back and let us know.


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