When a house is labelled a “flip”, it has a negative connotation. Most people are immediately turned off by the idea of buying a “flipped” house. This is because most people have heard the horror stories, or seen the horrors for themselves when I house is improperly updated, and the problems are inherited by the new owners. Being a “flipper” myself, I know that this is a case of a few bad apples spoiling the bunch. Many people who renovate homes professionally do care about the product they are putting out. I know that whenever I work on a house, I do it to a standard that I would be proud to move my own family into. I also know that there are many flips which fall well short of what anyone would deem acceptable, so I don’t blame most folks for having their apprehension. This list is going to call out a few small ways to identify a cheaply done flip either with poor materials, or bad workmanship. Keep in mind though that most of what you can expect for quality is directly related to the location of the house. Lower home values make it harder to justify doing much more than the bare minimum when the cost to renovate greatly outpaces the value it adds to a home. This is especially true in northeast Ohio.
1. MDF and particleboard
MDF or medium-density fiberboard is a building material used to make a lot of modern finishes. Most of the time this is suitable when a house needs brought up to standard on a budget. Once you reach a certain home value threshold, the more responsible choice is to invest in longer lasting and more durable materials. If you are spending over $200,000 on a house in northeast Ohio, I would expect to find mid grade material in at least a few areas of the home. MDF and particle board are known to degrade quickly when exposed to moisture. Here are some areas to inspect:
- Cabinets: Cheap big box store cabinets are often constructed with MDF and are poorly constructed. Look inside the cabinets to find a board edge to confirm. Also look for spots where the laminate is starting to peel, usually from moisture damage.
- Subfloor: Perhaps the worst place to find particle board. There aren’t many worse things than a house with extensive subfloor damage from moisture. Many manufactured homes constructed with particle board subfloor are often ruined beyond repair when the subfloor is subjected to even moderate moisture penetration.
- Trim: MDF baseboard is cheap and easy to work with. But the moment is absorbs water it can swell and become ruined. I personally never install MDF trim, I always stick to wood or PVC. It is hard to distinguish MDF trim from regular pine trim, especially after it has been installed and painted.
2. Thin Acrylic Bath/Shower Fixtures
Many bathtubs, showers and surrounds are manufactured with thin acrylic and sold as the cheapest options on the market. I try to install tubs that are at least fiberglass reinforced with an integrated flange. Flimsy thin acrylic tubs are known to crack when too much pressure is applied to the top edge. I also install them in mortar beds as well as on ledger boards, although this can be hard to tell from inspecting. If the bath/shower has an access panel, pull it off to inspect. While you are there, you can look for the next item on the list.
3. Poor Waterproofing
This is difficult to tell once the bath or shower tile has been completed, but if there is an access panel you can at least glean some insight into the materials used. Look for the backerboard to be some kind of cement board or Hardiebacker. Most importantly you don’t want to see drywall. Although it is code to install green board drywall with a waterproof membrane over it like redgard in Ohio, it is not recommended. The last thing you want to see is that the tile was installed over plain drywall, with no visible waterproof membrane of any kind.
4. Amateur Plumbing
This can be hard to identify, especially if you are unfamiliar with plumbing systems. Here is a list of things to be on the lookout for:
- Excessive use of shark bite fittings. Shark bites are a convenient means of transitioning from one pipe material to another, but they are more expensive then traditional fittings. This means that if you see a number of them being used, then the installer probably didn’t know any other way. Although there is nothing improper about using shark bites, they are more likely to be problematic in the future. The seal relies on a rubber O-right, and rubber deteriorates over time.
- Crimp rings on a shower valve. PEX B requires the use of a crimp ring or cinch clamp that goes around the pipe and seals it down onto a brass fitting. The restriction of the pipe’s inner diameter can decrease water pressure. This is usually manageable, but not when it occurs on the shower valve’s outlets. In plain language, if you see a crimp ring on the pipe leading to the shower head or the pipe leading to the tub spout, this can be problematic for water pressure and the proper function of the bath faucet.
- Unconventional P-trap assemblies. This is usually pretty easy to spot. The main giveaways are when there are a lot of unnecessary p trap pieces, or the pieces are installed in the wrong way (the back of the bag shows you how they are meant to be installed). These features are usually accompanied by some degree of leaking when the faucet is running. If you really want to test the trap assembly, fill the sink with water then release the drain stopper. This flood of water will expose any leak in the system pretty quickly.
5. Outdated Electrical
Modern homes have higher demands for electricity then a lot of outdated electrical systems can safely provide. This is especially true in kitchens. If you notice that the kitchen has too few outlets, this would be a sign that the flipped house has not had appropriate updates made to the electrical. This is even more obvious when you see older almond colored switches and receptacles throughout the house. This is an indication that no attempt was made at all to modernize the electrical. That doesn’t mean the electrical is bad, it may function perfectly fine. It may also have been replaced with new almond colored devices, but that’s not very common. It’s more likely that they ignored any electrical work at all, and just did cosmetic work, because it is all they are equipped to do. Switches and outlets are so cheap and easy to update, that it’s concerning when someone would opt not to do so. That suggests they don’t understand enough about electrical to do even the most basic task. One step further with this logic means they are not capable in anyway to assess the condition of the electrical they may have come across during the process of the renovation. How can they know that what they see is safe or appropriate if they ignore the electrical aspect altogether. Ignorance is no excuse when you take on the responsibility of a whole home remodel.
6. Feeling The Floor
Floating floor systems are so common now, that its expected to see it at least one area of the house with new LVP or laminate in a flip. That’s because it is very easy to install, and there are very affordable options. There are a few factors to consider when walking across a new laminate or LVP floor.
- Feel for bubbles. This would mean the floor wasn’t properly levelled or “flattened” before the flooring was laid. A bubble in the floor can lead to a failure in the groove of the plank later on down the road.
- Look for separation. Any flooring planks that have already separated from an adjacent piece is a sure sign of a short lived floor. Broken tongues or grooves can lead to this occurrence, along with the aforementioned unlevel floor.
- Feel for texture. Textured planks are a sign of a higher quality floor. They are also more slip resistant when they get wet, which really matters when you have babies or toddlers.
- Check the thickness. If you get the chance, pull a vent cover off the floor and check the thickness of the floor. Thickness will indicate quality based on the material of the floor. Vinyl is often thinner and denser than laminate, for example.