Building and Construction - Cement/cinder block problem with home inspector. What to do?

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Cement/cinder block problem with home inspector. What to do?

Bee bumble

2006-07-14, 8:25 pm

Hi. After many months of being on the sale market my condo has
finally got a buyer BUT we found we are not 'home free" yet in that the
inspection done this week left the potential buyer with questions about
our cinder block exterior.

Apparently it was "sealed" when it was first built 7 years ago but has
never been sealed since. The twin building next door was sealed this
year at a cost of $10,000.00 (special assessmemt.) Our building chose
to do tuckpointing instead as the tuckpointer told the XXX'n. that
sealing is a waste of money.

We have had no moisture problems from the cinder blocks but we have had
some wind swept water come in on the side through the window frames
which have been re-done.

Can you think of anything we can do to reassure this would-be buyer
that our cement/cinder block side wall construction (6 flat) is ok? As
the whole cinder block construction as it is a "common element" -
therefore we can't make promises for the condo XXX'n. as we are only
one unit among six.

Thanks very, very much for any advice as we are totally worn out and
don't know what to do at this point when we thought we had a sale and
now it may be slipping away.

mrsgator88

2006-07-16, 1:25 pm

"Bee bumble" <tlesh@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:1152923593.371438.124640@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Hi. After many months of being on the sale market my condo has
> finally got a buyer BUT we found we are not 'home free" yet in that the
> inspection done this week left the potential buyer with questions about
> our cinder block exterior.
....
> Can you think of anything we can do to reassure this would-be buyer
> that our cement/cinder block side wall construction (6 flat) is ok? As
> the whole cinder block construction as it is a "common element" -
> therefore we can't make promises for the condo XXX'n. as we are only
> one unit among six.

Are you dealing with a realtor or directly with the buyer? All you can do
is keep pressing your contact (be it realtor or buyer) that there is no
problem and that the building doesn't need to be sealed. You may wish to
contact a couple of people in the building trades, like an architect or
structural engineer who can attest to this.

I'm surprised the buyers realtor isn't pressing them on this (or maybe
he/she is). I didn't realize this type of construction was supposed to be
sealed - or is it?

S

bill allemann

2006-07-16, 1:25 pm

If you are in a cold climate, I would think that sealing the exterior would
be a negative, similar to the Dryvit problems.
The interior humidity would be trapped inside the structural wall.

Bill

"Bee bumble" <tlesh@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:1152923593.371438.124640@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Hi. After many months of being on the sale market my condo has
> finally got a buyer BUT we found we are not 'home free" yet in that the
> inspection done this week left the potential buyer with questions about
> our cinder block exterior.
>
> Apparently it was "sealed" when it was first built 7 years ago but has
> never been sealed since. The twin building next door was sealed this
> year at a cost of $10,000.00 (special assessmemt.) Our building chose
> to do tuckpointing instead as the tuckpointer told the XXX'n. that
> sealing is a waste of money.
>
> We have had no moisture problems from the cinder blocks but we have had
> some wind swept water come in on the side through the window frames
> which have been re-done.
>
> Can you think of anything we can do to reassure this would-be buyer
> that our cement/cinder block side wall construction (6 flat) is ok? As
> the whole cinder block construction as it is a "common element" -
> therefore we can't make promises for the condo XXX'n. as we are only
> one unit among six.
>
> Thanks very, very much for any advice as we are totally worn out and
> don't know what to do at this point when we thought we had a sale and
> now it may be slipping away.
>

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