RENOVATIONS: Former grow-op has high points, but beware

If you could buy a fixer-upper at a really good price, should you do it? What if that fixer-upper is a former marijuana grow-operation?

You can get former grow-ops at bargain-basement prices - sold off by banks or homeowners. They are available across the country, in almost every community, and they sure look like a good deal. But are they?

A former grow-op might look absolutely normal from the street. In fact, you might go through one at a real-estate open house and not be aware of its past, if it's been cleaned up superficially. But what you can't see is the structure, HVAC and electrical that might have been modified to the point where the house is dangerous.

Realtors and sellers are supposed to disclose the fact if they know the house was a grow-op. That's now the law pretty much everywhere. Every house that's a known grow-op has to have that history attached to all future sales. Vendors have to reveal that information, which makes sense - we don't want innocent homebuyers to end up with a can of worms.

But there are still houses out there that might have been used as grow-ops and there's no paper trail. Maybe the growers moved on before they were busted, so there's no police record of the address. Maybe they were grow-ops before the law required the seller to disclose. The damage to the house is still there. The visible evidence has probably been covered over, but who knows what might be behind those walls or in the attic?

What happens in a grow-op? Whyis it a problem for your house?

Thousands of marijuana seedlings and plants are set up everywhere - I mean everywhere - in the house. They are watered constantly and fed heavily and kept under strong grow lights to make them grow as quickly as possible.

Not only will the water do surface damage to all flooring, the huge amount of moisture in the air will inevitably cause condensation, which will lead to mould growth. This will be surface mould on the walls and ceilings, which can easily be seen - or covered up with a fresh coat of paint. Mould will also be behind the drywall or plaster on the studs and sheathing, and the only way to find that is to take down the drywall and look behind it. And the only way to get rid of it is to remediate - and that's a big job. If you don't do a mould remediation, you risk your health.

Apart from mould, there are probably electrical problems caused by overloaded circuits or bypassed meters used to run the grow lights. The excess moisture everywhere probably led to rotten wood somewhere in the structure and the HVAC system was likely compromised in order to vent the odours and condensation. There might even be excavations through the foundation walls to access hydro supply, crawl spaces or garages. Not to mention the environmental damage from chemical pesticides, fertilizers and fungicides that get flushed down the drain. The extent of the damage would depend on the size of the grow-op and on how long it operated.

Any of those problems taken alone is enough to keep you from buying a former grow-op. Now what if you had all of them? Would you be prepared to repair the problems before you could live in the house? You'd have to, in order to get an occupancy permit from the municipality, or to get house insurance.

Most municipalities are going to require you to have all kinds of testing done and documented before the house can be lived in, or sold. They need to be cleaned up and made safe for future owners - protecting both their health and their investment.

Would I buy a former grow-op? I would - but that's me. I'm a professional builder, with knowledge and experience. In a house, anything can be fixed - if you've got the money and the expertise. There's nothing to be afraid of. But that's not the same for the average homeowner.

Make sure the cost of fixing it up again doesn't add up to more than what you are "saving" in the purchase. A complete remediation might cost more than $100,000 - are you saving money? Is the price of the house reduced enough to cover your costs?

If you go into the deal with your eyes wide open, and are clear about what the worst-case scenario might be - and believe me, it might be very, very bad - it might work out just fine.

If you buy a former grow-op, and you've fixed it up, make sure you document every step of the process: Record every permit, all work done, all mould remediation; this is proof for future resale of the house that the repairs have been made.

(prepared by Mike Holmes/National Post)