Engineers and Plumbers and HVAC, Oh My!

The structural engineer/foundation guy came out yesterday and the plumber and A/C guy today. As always there seems to be good news and bad news.

Foundation:
The foundation is in decent shape but there has been some settling. You can see it if you look at the living room floor. It looks a little wavy. Also concrete footers WERE poured for the new addition. Unfortunately they are not large enough to be within code. So, if I want to replace ALL the piers, the cross beams, have the floor leveled and the stucco repaired it will cost me $18,500 plus about $2,000 to have the sheet rock repaired that will inevitably crack from the leveling. $20,000 is better than $80,000 and it doesn't need to be done anytime soon. However, when I do it, it will take a month and make a huge mess. Not to mention it will mean the interior will need to be repainted. So suck it up, find the money and do it now? Or wait 5 years when I don't have a laundry list of other expenses? A realtor friend of mine (not the one I'm currently working with) told me that people expect old houses to be outside of code and if it's not broke, not to fix it. But paying money to resurface the interior walls and painting now, just to have to do it again later sux. Although in five years I may want to change the colors anyway... Decisions, decisions.

Plumbing:
The hydrostatic test confirmed there were NO leaks. Yeah! Also, if I were to replace all the old galvanized pipe, there is only one place where the wall may need to be opened--the hall bath. There is already copper in the kitchen and PVC in the master bath. If I wanted to replace all the cast iron and galvanized pipe now it will cost me $8,000. But my contractor friend has offered to help and told me that it's not hard to change the pipes under the house. Maybe I'll just have that sewer line replaced now...

A/C:
Well the thieves were definitely trying to take the A/C unit. They took all the freon ($200-$300 worth). In addition the slab below the unit has cracked (damn tree root) and needs to be replaced. I'm waiting for the quote with the full cost of repair to come in.

Replacing the stolen goods:
The previous owner, let's just call her "she of questionable taste," was in default for 7 months which means the insurance hadn't been paid either. No insurance, no replacement check for the stolen items. On top of that it doesn't look like a police report was even filed. My realtor is going to go to the bank and ask for a discount but it's not looking good. The cost to replace everything stolen? About $5,000.