How old is my property?

We all know that room sizes are “rounded up” in a real estate listing…a 9’1” x 7’2” room is 10’x8’.

What about the age of the property?  I was called to inspect a townhouse in Lincoln Park, which was built in the 1980s.  We noticed a lot of floor sloping and cracking, to a degree unusual for a property from recent decades.

The home was built in the 80’s all right…in the 1880’s.  A small hatch in the pantry, led to an underground crawlspace…showing that in the 1980s a new floor structure was built over an older floor structure…without the foundation being replaced or upgraded.

This happened several times at homes in the suburbs too.  I get called to inspect a 5 year old home….and I find the foundation of the old house.  And the walls.  And the floors.