Walls not flat?! (Houston: townhouse, buying, inspector) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

lbc0815 · 08-13-2016, 11:45 AM

One of the rooms in the house I want to buy look curved/warped instead of flat. The sellers (who didn't do an inspection according to the disclosure papers) said the walls were already like that when the builders sold the house to them and since it doesn't bother them, they didn't ask to have them fixed.

What causes warped/non flat walls? I don't remember seeing walls that looked like that before. Could this be a sign of a major problem or is it just cosmetic? Would it bother you? I personally don't care as long as it's juts a cosmetic problem but I worry that some buyers might make it an issue at resale.

Rip808 · 08-13-2016, 12:10 PM

If you saw it as an issue, others for sure will. I would have the wall opened up and see what is causing that issue. Walls are supposed to be FLAT.

HookTheBrotherUp · 08-13-2016, 12:57 PM

Often the framers get lazy, they put a 2x4 slightly out of alignment, usually 1/8 won't show up too much, but 1/4 could if it is the only one.

I think you are right to ignore it, it is no big deal and like the previous owners, you will always know, but over time, it won't matter much at all. Besides that one wall, if you like it, you should not let that stop you. It probably costs more than it is worth to fix.

TrapperL · 08-13-2016, 01:54 PM

Take a look at the pics at the end of this post. Be familiar with wall ghosting. It's caused mostly by the light coming into the room. Drywall is not flat. Drywall has tapered edges. This allows for the tape and float which is a human applied product and it requires a lot of technique to apply it where ghosting is not an issue when the light comes across it. Drywallers do not sand a house to make the walls perfect. Any cosmetic irregularities are governed by standing in the middle of the room, can you see the imperfection. That's the industry standard. Considering it's Houston area, I'm not surprised the walls are an issue. Some of the worst houses I've seen were in Houston.
https://www.google.com/search?q=wall...HRhfDd0QsAQIKg

Depending on the plan and where the issue is, assess if putting up drapes that would cut the light out, help with the issue. If possible, look at the house at night and see if the walls appear straight. If they look straight at night, ghosting is the issue, not crooked studs.

Svensk08 · 08-13-2016, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lbc0815

One of the rooms in the house I want to buy look curved/warped instead of flat. The sellers (who didn't do an inspection according to the disclosure papers) said the walls were already like that when the builders sold the house to them and since it doesn't bother them, they didn't ask to have them fixed.

What causes warped/non flat walls? I don't remember seeing walls that looked like that before. Could this be a sign of a major problem or is it just cosmetic? Would it bother you? I personally don't care as long as it's juts a cosmetic problem but I worry that some buyers might make it an issue at resale.

Since the sellers didn't have the property inspected, you should have it done! It's money well spent.

WRM20 · 08-13-2016, 03:55 PM

WE bought a new townhouse in 1998. Many of the walls were not flat, because the drywall people did a crappy job of taping and floating. Other walls weren't flat because a stud was out of line. All of the issues were cosmetic, but it took the builder several months to fix, and involved a lot of new drywall. In one spot, after the sheetrock was removed, there was a note written in black marker "Fix this before sheet rock".

Our inspector said there were no structural issues, it just all looked bad.

lbc0815 · 08-13-2016, 04:12 PM

I appreciate the replies. I just realized that I wrote "the room looks curved" when what I meant is the walls look curved but I know everyone figured that out

. Actually, they don't just "look" curved, they are in fact curved.

I know it's not just ghosting because the warping is very noticeable. It has a horizontal crown molding in the center and even it is curved too. If you slide your hand from top to bottom of the wall, you will definitely feel the "bump" in the middle part. If this was a result of lazy framing, would it even be possible to put a straight crown molding on a non flat wall?

The owners still live there so I don't think they will be happy if someone were to open a wall in their home or even make a cut on it. There are 2 walls in the same room that are warped in the center.

I could not find a picture on the internet that looks anything like what I described, so I altered a photo of a perfectly flat wall in Photoshop to make it look like the walls at the house I'm buying

. The curvature looks a lot like this.

HookTheBrotherUp · 08-13-2016, 07:03 PM

That is hilarious. 'But is it really that deformed? If so, yes, it would bother the hell out of me. I'd get bids on fixing it, then ask them to deduct that much from the price. If it is indeed as bad as you make it to be, others are going to wonder what the heck is wrong.

WRM20 · 08-13-2016, 09:07 PM

That's pretty much what our walls in the townhouse looked like before the builder fixed them. If a stud is nailed out of line, and not fixed, that's what happens. Or, some studs aren't very straight, and you get a curve.

elnina · 08-13-2016, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Svensk08

Since the sellers didn't have the property inspected, you should have it done! It's money well spent.

^^^ This! You are just about to make a biggest purchase in your life, and you absolutely need to know what you are buying. Get an independent inspector and let him check the whole house. You need to know everything about it BEFORE the purchase.
BTW: I don't trust seller inspections.