Inherited a house with sudden damage and no idea what to do
Sudden home damage often leaves people completely unequipped to identify whether they are dealing with rot, termites, or structural failure, or who to contact for repairs. This lack of knowledge makes it hard to know what to look at or how to respond, especially when emergency funds are wiped out and homeowners are left struggling to digest the mess by themselves.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1hiring professionals for deep inspections
- 2searching locally for home dry rot repair contractors
- 3Trying to visually inspect the damage independently
- 4Hoping that the underlying issue is minor
- 5installing rubber shingles
- 6driving hail damaged cars for a couple more years
- 7negotiating with insurance companies to buy back totaled vehicles
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I have no idea what's happening here, or what to even do about it? I'm just really worried that this is going to be major issue.”source ↗
“Not sure if rot or termites, or both. I'm not educated on homes at all, I simply inherited the mess and now I'm having to clean it up.”source ↗
“our emergency fund has all but been wiped out for these replacements.”source ↗
“Really, I'm still digesting this all and trying to get perspective. Any advice would be really appreciated.”source ↗
“Who would I contact to do that? I'm really unsure of anything in regards to this sort of stuff.”source ↗
“When I was taking out the rubbish this morning, I noticed a wood panel had fallen off from the front of the house that connects to the master bedroom.”source ↗
“This house is always having problems, and this is just the latest in a long list of bullshit that's going on. But I have no idea what I'm even looking at, or what I can do about it?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 8Water damage in a brand new construction house
- 4HOA tore up my lawn and left it damaged
- 15Unexplained holes or damage inside the house
- 30How to get a contractor to fix damage they caused
- 11How to fix laminate floor damage before moving out without losing deposit
- 15Why does my puppy keep peeing on the sofa and bed?