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We are first-time home buyers who are under contract for a home in northern NJ. Our inspector found smoke-stained wood in the attic upon chipping away the flaking paint, to indicate a previous fire.
The sellers, who so far have appeared honest, responded by saying the inspecter they had in 2001 when purchasing the home did not find this. They said one "former neighbor" said "there may have been a fire" 5 years prior under the previous owner. Obviously this previous owner did not fully disclose to the current owner, and tried to mask the whole thing by painting the attic.
Our inspector says he would not be overly concerned, but that perhaps we should investigate with the town to see if a permit had been taken out for repair works. If we did find this, I don't know how this would affect matters.
Given all of this plus other items that I won't list, I feel that we may be overpaying for the house. In the future, when we went to sell the house, we would feel compelled to list the fire situation under Disclosures.
Does all of this seriously diminish the value of the home, given that there is no obvious sign of it in the main floors of the house? And what about our safety in terms of structure... any concern there?
You will have to disclose it when and if you sell. It could possibly have a "stigma" attached to it...kind of like a house having a fully repaired and warrantied foundation. A repaired foundation might be the strongest, most level result but some buyers (I have one now) will still overlook it. It could help to have a structural engineer check it out and give it a clean bill of health.
Its very common to spray a silver colored paint over charred wood. I think its to keep the smell down.
What is important is if there are any significantly damaged framing members in the attic.
Usually when there is a fire, the building dept checks it out and tells them what can stay.
I would check with the fire dept and the building dept to see what they have on file.
If you are concerned about structural issues hire an engineer to come out. I had a listing that I sold a couple of years ago where there had been a garage fire in the attic space. We had three buyers for it and none were freaked out by the old damage. A couple of the joists had some scorch marks but they were solid.
There is a big difference between scorch marks and charred timbers. What kind of damage do you have?
Thanks very much for the responses so far. Another note, apparently the roof is approximately 17 years old. I'm now guessing the roof was replaced at the time in response to the fire rather than age?
Silverfall, I believe the wood was solid, but it was hard to assess the extent of the damage with it being covered with all of the flaking paint.
manderly6, no, the inspector did not find any material damage other than the blackened wood that would be directly related to this fire (I think). Though there is a potential structural problem found in the basement related to how a beam rests on a column, but I'm doubting this would be related. Seller is bringing somebody in to look at that. This is our other main concern.
Obviously this previous owner did not fully disclose to the current owner, and tried to mask the whole thing by painting the attic.
Not so fast with your assumption. I do some fire damage remodeling and most insurance companies require that we spray all exposed framing areas after a fire with a shellac base product to rid the home of all smoke smells.
Ask the sellers to pull their Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange ( CLUE) Report for you. This is the historical data base that enables insurance companies to access consumer claims information when they are underwriting or rating an insurance policy. I believe the report goes back 7 years.
Not so fast with your assumption. I do some fire damage remodeling and most insurance companies require that we spray all exposed framing areas after a fire with a shellac base product to rid the home of all smoke smells.
busta
busta is correct. Coating all scorched areas are the correct way to repair fire damage. If you don't the smoke smell will remain for many, many years. The structure should be sound and doesn't need to be replaced, just treated for the smell.
Checking for past building permits maybe will help with finding when the fire happened.
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