Chirky

First!

Ugh. I hate that you guys are having all these complications. It shouldn't be this difficult. Difficult - yes, but Hell on Earth - No.

I hate that you just don't sound excited by this house. You would hope that buying your first home would just be so damn exciting, ya know? Sad face :(

Le sigh. It's not that I'm not excited - I would actually be delighted to own this home. It's just that I've been so BEATEN DOWN by the entire house-hunting process. I'm just so OVER it.

Hmmm, at the risk of being hunted down my government people in dark suits and sunglasses... could you remove the popcorn yourself?

Hub-E and I are going to be doing that soon to our house. Hub-E has done it before and says you have to wet it down so it doesn't turn into dust and keep it wet. Wear a Tyvek suit that has a head covering with gloves and booties that is all disposable. Wear a face mask and goggles. And line the floor completely with disposal plastic material. When you're done scraping the ceiling that is wet and the material has fallen onto the floor plastic, wrap it all up and double bag it in heavy plastic bags and take it to a Hazmat disposal place.

It could be done. Right? I mean, sure it would be pain-staking work to stand on a ladder practically upside down scraping away 2,050 square feet of ceilings. But at least it'd be saving you money? Right?

If you reach 30 on the number of times you want to cry BEFORE you've even decided to buy the house....don't.

Uh, but don't listen to strangers on the internet either. Even if they just think the situation sucks and want you not to want to cry over it.

Good luck. I'm sorry it sucks right now.
-brid

ack! I posted twice. I hate when that happens. This friday seems like a monday more and more....

Brid: I actually went in and deleted the second comment just after you posted it! :)

Walk away dude... just walk away. I know you have looked and looked and this seems like the only option - but this is a mess. Do you really want to constantly wonder if they really cleaned up the way they were supposed to... you will always have that little voice that says "maybe this cold is really due to the crap in the walls that was never cleaned up right" - at least I would.

Just drywall over all of it. Seal that asbestosy goodness in! Then, after you've put a 1/2" layer of drywall on all walls and the ceiling, you can marvel over how you feel like you're a giant in a miniature house!

Seriously, though: if the location and the building are worth it, a little aggravation (and extra cash) won't mean a damn thing after you've paid for it for 25 (30?) years on a mortgage. You'll probably move out of it in 10 years anyway and get way, way more for it after your silly little economy recovers from this (oh no, don't say it) recession.

All I can say is I am right there with you! We're only under our first contract but we just had the inspection yesterday and there are A LOT of things that need work (it's a 1923 home). We are waiting to see if the seller will fix and at the same time I am also preparing myself to walk away from this house! (Sad, as I've already decorated in my mind!)

If this place has good everything else and you have the money to deal with the asbestos, I would do it.

I FEEL YOUR PAIN with the stress involved- and I thought this was supposed to be a BUYER'S market?!

UGH JES, let's just say it "that sucks". I know you're on the housing roller coaster and well it's been a lot more down hills than ups. Hey if you need a hazmat suit my dad has a few laying around from his old job. Sorry that's all I can offer!

It's been my experience that all those things that look awful to you when you buy a new house look fine when you have all your cool stuff in it.

PS. You should never say hello to cancer. It just gets its attention.

My husband just removed a ton of that awful popcorn stuff from our house. I don't think he even thought about asbestos. He did use the wetting down method (it makes it easier to remove anyway) but didn't take many other precautions. Now I'm nervous. So all I can think is if one thing doesn't get ya, another will, and go on my merry way now that it is already done.

Okay Jes - did you learn nothing from our hours upon hours of boring record keeping?! :) No asbestos - no way! I think it's time to walk again. Have you all considered building? In the time it has taken you to try to find another house that fits your needs, you could have probably built a new one! Of course you have to hit the suburbs to do that, but still! Hang in there girl - I'm sorry you are going through all of this drama but it will all be worth it in the end!

ok....try this... never fails -
take two pieces of equally sized paper. put buy on one and walk away on the other. fold them, put them in a hat (or bowl or whatever) and choose one.
If you are happy or relieved with the selection, you know what you really wanted. If you are displeased or still nausious, you still know what you want - just choose what is on the other paper.
This is what I did when deciding to move only Trev selected and we love our new digs!

This made me think of you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jThcc5lbfOs&feature=related

JES! What a nightmare. Unfortunately we ran into the same thing when we were househunting - everything in our initial price range was a dump. So we increased our range b/c we thought a)the amount of money we'd have to pour into the home would probably outweigh the savings on the dumpy house and b)our time/happiness was worth more than years of gradual fix-ups . maybe these difficulties are just a sign that this isn't the right house. It seems like a heap of trouble to me - asbestos or not! I'll be praying for ya!

popcorn ceiling is bad, but asbestos is worse. Seriously...do you want to be sitting in your house 15 years down the road dying from lung failure while laying on your death bed thinking, "Dude, I'm so glad we don't have popcorn ceilings anymore...cough-cough..."

Poor Jes. Since I actually deal with this problem on a daily basis at work, I feel more than qualified to sympathize. The good news: if you get a good abatement contractor and do the work before you move in, it doesn't have to be more than an annoyance. The bad news: EXPENSIVE annoyance. And everything else you've already outlined.

Personally, I would not recommend moving in and leaving the asbestos in place, unless you're planning to move out again in the short term: even if you only do non-ACM impact work now, eventually you will want to do *something*, and you don't want to deal with ACM when you're already living in the house.

Oh - one more piece of good news: if you're already knocking out drywall, doing major changes to the layout is now no longer an expense. So if you wanted to change the floor plans, maybe it's worth it to keep this house.

Oh - and one more thing - if you do buy the house and leave the asbestos, just remember: unless you actually disturb it (or have heavy rains that dislodge it, or use a jackhammer right outside, or whatever), your health is NOT in danger. Asbestos in place is not a hazard.

Jes, I'm SO sorry this is all so awful. :(

I would say the decision between walking from this one, and Enter! Hazmat Suits! depends mostly on how perfect the price is, and how much you two like/love/j'adore the house and the surrounding neighborhood.

That's how we would choose, I mean, if we were making such a decision. Or at least, that's how I would like to think we would decide, instead of just looking at the landscaping (what I do), and looking at the potential number of bathrooms (what Chris does), and realizing that, Oh God, we will be renting forever, amen.

I don't know how doable it is, but what about simply mudding/plastering over the popcorn? You'd lose like half an inch height-wise tops, and would no longer have to look at the popcorn.

OR, you could be the first people to try out my new invention: ceiling paper!