Coat/paint stained floor to sell the house

[67King]

I know this goes against everything everyone here would ever want to do, but I am wondering if there's a way to make my garage floor look better for when we list the house. Was my shop for a while. I painted a car in there, installed a lift (now removed, with the holes filled), etc. There are random oil stains from leaking bottles and cars, and things before we bought the house 19 years ago. Most newer houses in this price range have had the floors done, though likely with some box store type stuff.

I have used the Chomp stuff, and I thought it seemed to help, but it appears that the stains are deep. Stuff sat there for god knows how long. I'm not sure if my agent will want me to address the floor or not. If he does, is there a product geared towards residential uses that will adhere better to the stained areas than others? Again, residential - I just put down Amor Poxy in the new house in a 2 car garage and a 4 car workshop - industrial stuff would be both overkill and too exepnsive for the application.

Hoping when my agent meets me there Thursday he'll be okay with it, but when we walked through a few months ago before we moved, he about had a heart attack when he saw the garage. I've pulled out all the 240 (all conduit was external), removed all the air lines, removed the lift, and replace sheetrock where the subpanel was and where I had to cut holes int he ceilings for the lift. painted the whole thing, including the block portion of the walls from the foundation with oil based enamel. So garage looks brand new, but floor looks like what it is - a 30 year old floor that has had 30 years worth of projects done on it, including paint stains from not only painting cars, but other projects.

If he says I have to do it, and that means I'm going to have to grind the floor and put on something that'll take a week, I just want to know so I can better prepare for when to list it. Not trying to cheap out. But I'm also not looking get a Ferrari to make grocery store runs in, either. I'm also not sure if grinding will even do anything if the oil stains are too deep for the Chomp to get out.

Again, just looking for a light duty residential "builder grade" type of recommendation. Just needs to hold up as well as the stuff builders put in houses for people who lease new Camrys and CRV's every few years.

 

[The Cobbler]

I would wait to see what the agent says. but OMG, it's a garage...

 

[theoldwizard1]

The best thing I have used to remove old grease/oil stains on concrete is Greased Lightning. Pour it, full strength, directly on the stain. Brush in lightly. Let sit overnight (if in direct sunlight, wait until the sun starts to go down). Next day, when it is dry, use a regular garden hose to rinse it off.

Deep stains will take a second application, but wait until the concrete is fully dry !

Even then, I am not certain that any "paint" will stick to it, without letting it "weather" for a couple of months

 

[67King]

I would wait to see what the agent says. but OMG, it's a garage...

Option 1: Do nothing - we list in a week
Option 2: Fix the floor - We list in TBD
A. If an oil based Home Depot thing will stick, we still list in a week
B. If I have to grind and use something that'll take several days, we list in a couple of weeks.

Hoping to know what to tell him when he comes in, which is why I'm trying to find out if we have to deal with option 2, I will know if I'm most likely looking at option A or B.

 

[The Cobbler]

if anything, I would coat it with oil base floor paint

 

[Old tool guy]

Maybe old fashioned 12” vinyl tile squares, maybe a red & black checkerboard pattern.

 

[mepstein]

Woman buy kitchens and bathrooms, men buy garages. Two similar houses but one has nicer finishes, which do you think they buy? I would use the GJ discount and buy race deck flooring, cover the garage floor and make it look great.
I was a real estate agent for 15 years. Pretty sells.

 

[67King]

Woman buy kitchens and bathrooms, men buy garages. Two similar houses but one has nicer finishes, which do you think they buy? I would use the GJ discount and buy race deck flooring, cover the garage floor and make it look great.
I was a real estate agent for 15 years. Pretty sells.

LOL, so true. The house we'll be listing, on the day we closed, I tore out the old kitchen. When we started building the one we now live in, I renovated all of the bathrooms. On the current house, I have a 950SF workshop, told 67Queen "whatever" for the rest of the house.

I'd think the Racedeck would be overkill for this one, though? That'd also add up quite a lot. The double bay is 1.5 long, the single is a normal width and depth. One of the big concerns I would have also would be that if I were to walk into a 32 year old house and see something like that on the garage floor, I'd inherently ask what it was hiding. Am I off on that concern?

 

[mikedodge]

LOL, so true. The house we'll be listing, on the day we closed, I tore out the old kitchen. When we started building the one we now live in, I renovated all of the bathrooms. On the current house, I have a 950SF workshop, told 67Queen "whatever" for the rest of the house.

I'd think the Racedeck would be overkill for this one, though? That'd also add up quite a lot. The double bay is 1.5 long, the single is a normal width and depth. One of the big concerns I would have also would be that if I were to walk into a 32 year old house and see something like that on the garage floor, I'd inherently ask what it was hiding. Am I off on that concern?

Having all that new work in the garage and freshly painted floor would raise the same question- what's it hiding.

 

[K13]

Having all that new work in the garage and freshly painted floor would raise the same question- what's it hiding.

Yup a freshly painted floor would scream something has been covered up and there is a good possibility it was done incorrectly and will fail.

 

[gahrajmahal]

This was last year. My mother-in-laws condo had flaking stomp ceilings that I insisted we scrape off and paint. She had hung keepsakes and pictures in the garage so there were 100’s of nail and screw holes too. The oil stains we left alone. I repainted with the cheapest paint I could get. Inside we repaired all the nail holes and touched up the paint, not repainting. We had the existing carpet steam cleaned. All windows were cleaned. The oven and fridge were cleaned to look like new. Existing window treatments were left there against the realtor’s recommendations. We put new towels and soap pumpers in the bathrooms. A dressed bed and dresser remained in the bedroom. A couch two seats and a dining table with chairs remained. Single decor items were placed in each room. Once listed it sold to the first family to look at it. At the closing they said the cleanliness showed it was well cared for and the few replacement items, carpets and foggy patio windows were not a deterrent. Plus it was priced right. We wanted to spend zero $ fixing or remodeling. This home had a stair lift and bars in the bathrooms too.

As an example, a unit across the way, similar in layout still with all the owner’s furniture and listed higher finally sold three month later and for $20,000 less than ours.

Clean sells! Good luck!

 

[67King]

Having all that new work in the garage and freshly painted floor would raise the same question- what's it hiding.

Yup a freshly painted floor would scream something has been covered up and there is a good possibility it was done incorrectly and will fail.

And that is a question I plan to ask my agent if he suggests I address the floor, which is why I brought up it. However, paint won't hide structural issues or cracks like some sort of tiles would, they would only hide surface issues.

That said, I did have a structural engineer come out due to some cracking in mortar and brick separating, and he gave it a clean bill of health.

 

[67King]

This was last year. My mother-in-laws condo had flaking stomp ceilings that I insisted we scrape off and paint. She had hung keepsakes and pictures in the garage so there were 100’s of nail and screw holes too. The oil stains we left alone. I repainted with the cheapest paint I could get. Inside we repaired all the nail holes and touched up the paint, not repainting. We had the existing carpet steam cleaned. All windows were cleaned. The oven and fridge were cleaned to look like new. Existing window treatments were left there against the realtor’s recommendations. We put new towels and soap pumpers in the bathrooms. A dressed bed and dresser remained in the bedroom. A couch two seats and a dining table with chairs remained. Single decor items were placed in each room. Once listed it sold to the first family to look at it. At the closing they said the cleanliness showed it was well cared for and the few replacement items, carpets and foggy patio windows were not a deterrent. Plus it was priced right. We wanted to spend zero $ fixing or remodeling. This home had a stair lift and bars in the bathrooms too.

As an example, a unit across the way, similar in layout still with all the owner’s furniture and listed higher finally sold three month later and for $20,000 less than ours.

Clean sells! Good luck!

Sounds very similar. But not only did I paint with the cheapest stuff, I just used leftover from the new house build! I did leave the knockdown, as much as I freaking HATE textured ceilings - every single ceiling in the house has it, royal PITA to match, especially when 30 year old drywall tape starts to delaminate, grr. But between running air lines in the ceiling, hanging I think 7 bikes from the ceiling, running the charging cord over the top of my garage door for the EV, I had a complete mess of a ceiling. And I think I mentioned that I had to replace a section of wall where I had run a subpanel, and I had to replace sections of the ceiling where I had the posts from mmy lift going up through the ceiling into boxed in sections. So tons of stuff in there.

Rest of the house. We repainted some larger rooms that weren't neutral colors, painted all the molding due to just 19 years of wear and raising three kids there, etc. I did renovate 3 bathrooms to get rid of the yellowed fiberglass shower inserts, replaced one with an acyrlic insert, another with a steel/enamel tub with tile on walls, and fully tiled the master shower. Replaced the linoleum in 2, and updated the tile in the master. All new vanities, etc. All I know is thank heavens I can do that ****, myself. The only thing that hasn't had a good bit of work is the kitchen, which I did a really nice, high end job on when we moved in. Fortunately, natural wood (cherry in this case, with a coffee glaze) has come full cirlce in that time, and is now fashionable, again. Was greatly relieved when the agent said the kitchen was fine. Put down hardwood when we moved in, as well. Another relief when he didn't say to refinish it. All hallways, bonus room, master bedroom, living room. Only small bedrooms and a portion of the basement now have carpet.

We've done a lot of work to get it looking almost new. I was even going to replace all of the quarter round on the floor, until my wife basically told me I was a damn idiot for being that **** about it. So if anyone in Knoxville needs a few hundred feet of quarter round, I have some for cheap/free!

 

[Shiftless]

Woman buy kitchens and bathrooms, men buy garages.

Let’s remember that we here on Garage Journal do NOT represent an accurate sampling of all people buying houses. It seems like the average home buyer considers the garage not as a workshop but more like a conveniently located mini storage unit.
Drive around most neighborhoods and look inside garages that have the door up. When I do that, I rarely see anything but piles of stuff taking up at least half of the space.

 

[OzarkMan]

Let’s remember that we here on Garage Journal do NOT represent an accurate sampling of all people buying houses. It seems like the average home buyer considers the garage not as a workshop but more like a conveniently located mini storage unit.
Drive around most neighborhoods and look inside garages that have the door up. When I do that, I rarely see anything but piles of stuff taking up at least half of the space.

I fully agree with this.

 

[Shiftless]

I fully agree with this.

Yeah
We usually see a $50,000 vehicle in the driveway and in the garage multiple piles of cardboard boxes containing who-knows-what and some old mostly worthless furniture.

 

[OzarkMan]

Yeah
We usually see a $50,000 vehicle in the driveway and in the garage multiple piles of cardboard boxes containing who-knows-what and some old mostly worthless furniture.

And that is the best way to sell a house. Put all the **** in there so the home inspector doesnt pick out stuff and buyers stay focused on the interior of house! Been there done that

 

[67King]

Let’s remember that we here on Garage Journal do NOT represent an accurate sampling of all people buying houses. It seems like the average home buyer considers the garage not as a workshop but more like a conveniently located mini storage unit.
Drive around most neighborhoods and look inside garages that have the door up. When I do that, I rarely see anything but piles of stuff taking up at least half of the space.

LOL, which is PRECISELY why I started this thread out with the disclaimer:

I know this goes against everything everyone here would ever want to do......

And yeah, my wife seems to think that 67Prince's bikes skateboard ramps and gardening tools and sports equipment (for sports all the kids quit playing years ago but we have to keep "in case") and whatever stuff she doesn't want to find a place for in the house is a better use of that space than taking care of the second largest investments we make.

Which is why the new house has a "garage" on the main level, and a "workshop" on the basement level. And yeah, I know I'm damn fortunate to have that luxury.

 

[Steve W.]

Woman buy kitchens and bathrooms, men buy garages. Two similar houses but one has nicer finishes, which do you think they buy? I would use the GJ discount and buy race deck flooring, cover the garage floor and make it look great.
I was a real estate agent for 15 years. Pretty sells.

Nothing personal against Race Deck or other similar companies, but if I saw that on the floor, my focus would change. The rest of the house would have to be that much better, as I would be ripping out the garage flooring before moving in. I simply can't stand the sound of plastic flooring.

***** that they might have spent a lot of money to "improve" the garage floor, but that's their problem, not mine.

.

 

[ctandc72]

I WILL NEVER forget the house we looked at before we bought ours. Sure, the house needed updating (BIG brick rancher built in the 70s) but it had a literally AIRPLANE HANGAR sized shop. As in full size basketball court big + extra and a separated office space. Realtor saw my face when I saw the shop - offered to check it out first. After walking through the house, my wife said "They shop is great. You'll have plenty of storage for all the material you'll need for updating every room in the house."

Point made.

 

[mikedodge]

You have to be careful about what work you do to sell too. A bunch of new stuff makes it easier to sell for the real estate agent but doesn't add what you've spent to the selling price. Unless it's exactly what they want most buyers plan to redo the flooring and kitchen and bathrooms at some point to their own choices anyway and not going to pay much more for that when they could use the money to get exactly what they want after the sale. Usually it's paint and patch work, bathroom vanity and faucets if they look aged and that's it. Unless you can do the work at cost or things look really bad.

 

[JohnX14]

Woman buy kitchens and bathrooms, men buy garages. Two similar houses but one has nicer finishes, which do you think they buy? I would use the GJ discount and buy race deck flooring, cover the garage floor and make it look great.
I was a real estate agent for 15 years. Pretty sells.

This gets my vote

 

[mike93lx]

Do nothing. The vast majority couldn't care any less about a garage floor.

 

[K13]

And that is a question I plan to ask my agent if he suggests I address the floor, which is why I brought up it. However, paint won't hide structural issues or cracks like some sort of tiles would, they would only hide surface issues.

That said, I did have a structural engineer come out due to some cracking in mortar and brick separating, and he gave it a clean bill of health.

I think your bigger problem is anyone who cares about the garage is going to realize what a freshly painted floor means, covering up something like oil spills and they are also going to think that unless it was very well done (which in most cases it won't have been) that paint is going to fail in short order and be a bigger mess to deal with. The reality is, as has been mentioned multiple times, the vast majority don't care what it looks like and those that do will know why you did it.

 

[mepstein]

Let’s remember that we here on Garage Journal do NOT represent an accurate sampling of all people buying houses. It seems like the average home buyer considers the garage not as a workshop but more like a conveniently located mini storage unit.
Drive around most neighborhoods and look inside garages that have the door up. When I do that, I rarely see anything but piles of stuff taking up at least half of the space.

While it's true that most garages are a mess, that's not how you sell a house. You either put all that stuff totally out of the way in the basement or attic or you rent storage while you show the house. The idea is to make people dream about what the house can be, not what it will probably be. That's why you paint, freshen things up, new carpet if the old stuff is stained, keep yard great and even wipe the toilet rim before leaving for the showing. Otherwise, you might as well leave dirty dishes in the sink and not make the beds.
I remember selling a townhouse for $5K more than any other because the one car garage had epoxy paint, nice lighting and a small amount of organized storage. The young couple who bought it commented that most garages looked like a mess and messes turned them off.

If I had a oil or paint stained floor, I would lay down race deck (it only takes a couple hours to diy) or do something to pretty it up and write down in the sellers disclosure that the floor is stained. So the buyer knows but 99% won't care because you already provided a solution. People don't care what's behind the walls, they want pretty walls. They don't do soil tests, they want nice grass. You sell the sizzle and reduce the emotional reasons for them not buying.

Also, cosmetics are one of the best returns on investments. A fresh coat of paint, a fresh carpet, a fresh countertop will always be a better investment than more expensive work.

 

[dcg9381]

If he says I have to do it, and that means I'm going to have to grind the floor and put on something that'll take a week, I just want to know so I can better prepare for when to list it. Not trying to cheap out. But I'm also not looking get a Ferrari to make grocery store runs in, either. I'm also not sure if grinding will even do anything if the oil stains are too deep for the Chomp to get out.

I'm with others, for the "cost" of this (even DIY, considering your time) I'd leave it. Just note it as "discount".
If you're really going to grind it, you can absolutely make it look great... The cheapest "quality" option IMHO is a solid polyurea, easier to apply than epoxy (for me anyway) - but you would have to grind and maybe acid etch (ask the vendors) the floor. Then you're going to ask yourself why you didn't do it years ago..

Garage floor would be last on my list as a seller... New fixtures, modern light switches, probably all better "sale" options...

 

[67King]

So actually was able to meet my agent there a day early. He gave me a really long list of stuff to do.....like replacing the carpet in the master closet (floor is hardwood, master bath has tile). Re-doing the closet from the holes left from those stupid wire shelf things. Painting the pantry in the kitchen. Getting the paint line against the crown tighter (it was tight, but the caulk extended the white a little far down onto the wall for his tastes). He kept stressing "if this were a $300K house, this would be fine, but buyers at this level are going to expect a better finish."

And.....that includes the garage floor. Interestingly (though not entirely suprisingly, as he used to race motocross bikes), he actually knew about a few of the different options. But he is pretty adamant that I put down a coating. Said I'd need to put down an anti-skid (he mentioned sand?), but thinks doing a tan coating with the flecks is what I need.

 

[dcg9381]

Said I'd need to put down an anti-skid (he mentioned sand?), but thinks doing a tan coating with the flecks is what I need.

Ping the vendors about "existing concrete" with stains. They'll give you the prep details.

Polyurea is available in tan with or without flake. It's slippery as **** when wet, but you add an anti-skid agent do it that is a bit like sand. I'm not sure you need anti-skid if you do flake. Epoxy works too. I stay away from the non-catalytic **** sold at home depot.

This is a $2.5-$3.5k job here all day long to have someone do a 2-car garage. It's probably a 2 day job for me if I have to grind, etch, then apply 2 coats...

 

[67King]

Ping the vendors about "existing concrete" with stains. They'll give you the prep details.

Polyurea is available in tan with or without flake. It's slippery as **** when wet, but you add an anti-skid agent do it that is a bit like sand. I'm not sure you need anti-skid if you do flake. Epoxy works too. I stay away from the non-catalytic **** sold at home depot.

This is a $2.5-$3.5k job here all day long to have someone do a 2-car garage. It's probably a 2 day job for me if I have to grind, etch, then apply 2 coats...

Sad thing is, I just did a 4 car workshop and a 2+ garage, both with epoxy (Armorpoxy.....primer, epoxy, and military topcoat). All catalyzed, or course. And it was cool, so each one took a week between the prep, dry time, epoxy primer, epoxy, and top coat. Had extra non-slip, and extra catalyst, and just tossed it. Monday. Garbage came Tuesday.

There are catalyzed options sold at Home Depot. Rust Oleum "Rocksolid" I think it is. And this is a 3 car garage, and 2 of the bays are extra deep. That said, this will be a DIY, and I just can't see paying the premium for the really good stuff, certainly not to have it done, for all the reasons mentioned above. I'm just trying to sell a house. 99% chance to a family who'll park a pair of boring Japanese cars in there along with Junior's big wheel, Red Wagon, and summer kiddie pool. I don't want to put lipstick on a pig by any means, and sell someone garbage. But I also don't want to pay for a Ferrari to go buy Junior a box of Fruity Pebbles or Cap'n Crunch.

As said above, the folks that read this forum are a far cry from the typical home buyer. I'm looking for the Craftsman coating, not the Snap-On. Damn I'm old. I mean Craftsman from like 30-40 years ago, not current state.

 

[Dig Doug]

Sold dads condo in 2018

We took off the popcorn ceiling texture went w/ a semi smooth texture, touched up the drywall and repainted
removed as much **** as we could re hung 2 laundry room style cabinets w/ doors

the floor looked terrible so we did a tan epoxy w/ a flake and then sold the condo / town house

everything looked really Clean and Sharp !

Got the highest sold price in the complex !
only had 225 units in the golf course community

sold in a week !

4 other units were listed prior to ours, we were watching & we listed for higher $$$

I had $700 bucks into the flooring & prep

 

[yhprum]

How about renting a buffer with a scotcbrite pad to clean all the paint off? I’ve had good luck with pour n restore on oil stains, as long as the oil wasn’t really black, as the carbon gets left behind.

 

[67King]

How about renting a buffer with a scotcbrite pad to clean all the paint off? I’ve had good luck with pour n restore on oil stains, as long as the oil wasn’t really black, as the carbon gets left behind.

I assume I'll need to mechanically etch it, either a buffer or diamond wheel. But the paint isn't the problem, it is the oil stains that aren't coming up that have me concerned about adhesion.

 

[dscheidt]

So actually was able to meet my agent there a day early. He gave me a really long list of stuff to do.....like replacing the carpet in the master closet (floor is hardwood, master bath has tile). Re-doing the closet from the holes left from those stupid wire shelf things. Painting the pantry in the kitchen. Getting the paint line against the crown tighter (it was tight, but the caulk extended the white a little far down onto the wall for his tastes). He kept stressing "if this were a $300K house, this would be fine, but buyers at this level are going to expect a better finish."

And.....that includes the garage floor. Interestingly (though not entirely suprisingly, as he used to race motocross bikes), he actually knew about a few of the different options. But he is pretty adamant that I put down a coating. Said I'd need to put down an anti-skid (he mentioned sand?), but thinks doing a tan coating with the flecks is what I need.

Realtor wants you to spend money to make his job easier. You will not get what you spend to fix the stuff in higher sales price. It might sell faster, but if you don’t need to sell fast, I’d list it as is.

 

[67King]

Realtor wants you to spend money to make his job easier. You will not get what you spend to fix the stuff in higher sales price. It might sell faster, but if you don’t need to sell fast, I’d list it as is.

Understand the cynicism, but I disagree for a few reasons. I've known the guy for 19 years, we've used him a few times in the past. We've been personal friends for about 5-6 years, and ride bikes together. He is about 20 years older than me, has been doing this since the early 80's, could easily be retired (has no family, so no financial obligations, and doesn't spend money on frivolous things at all). I think he still works because he enjoys it.

But aside from my personal trust in the guy, last Fall, two houses on my street sold at about the same time. One was disappointingly low, the other was shockingly high. If I take the difference between the two in terms of $/SF, that would be about $64,000 to my house. Now, certainly I don't know why those houses sold at such different levels, but the folks who bought the one closest to me have been doing a lot of work on the house over the last few months, and the other house doesn't appear to ahve been touched. I'm certainly not saying that the garage floor will net me $64K, I'd pay some guy to come in and do it if that were the case. I'm saying that the whole is likely greater than the sum of the parts. If the entire house looks very well put together, an ugly garage floor may reduce that impact. Conversely, if the entire house looks well put together, a nice garage floor will likely amplify how the rest of the house looks.

 

[JohnX14]

I'd leave it as is, or put down race deck. 98% of the buyers could care less about the garage floor, although they will probably notice the nice look of the racedeck. The other 2% will know if the garage was coated to cover stains. And really, who cares? This isn't like covering up rust on a vehicle. The oil stains aren't going to make the floor fail. Anyone who is in the know will know what can be done to pretty it up. Most won't care.

 

[67King]

The best thing I have used to remove old grease/oil stains on concrete is Greased Lightning.

This stuff is incredible. I never would have guessed the stuff you buy at Home Depot wpuld blow away the specialty stuff you have to order, but here we are!

I'm now thinking I'll sand it with a coarse grit screen and coat it. Fighting with myself over a single coat, no flake polyurea or the high end Rust Oleum stuff with flake.

 

[Stuart in MN]

If I was looking at a house and the garage floor was painted it would be a major turnoff. Floor paint inevitably peels and chips and looks like ****. Try to clean it as well as you can and leave it at that.

 

[67King]

Okay, so next question. I'm curious to know what folks would do about the air handler and water heater area. Water heater isn't that big of an issue, but the air handler is, and even more than it is the ducting going from it. I'm almost inclined to just mark off a box around the whole thing and leave it uncoated. Or should I just tape off the unit (and legs on the water tank stand), and do my best iwth a brush around the ducting? Pics after pressure washing, that is just water on the floor.

 

[mike93lx]

Go up to it. Tape the furnace and water heater stand, and I'd wrap the duct with some Kraft paper/ram board

But again, I wouldnt paint before selling.

Also, that expansion tank is oriented improperly. Don't be surprised if it comes up in the inspection.

It should be vertical, with the fitting facing down

 

[67King]

Go up to it. Tape the furnace and water heater stand, and I'd wrap the duct with some Kraft paper/ram board

But again, I wouldnt paint before selling.

Also, that expansion tank is oriented improperly. Don't be surprised if it comes up in the inspection.

It should be vertical, with the fitting facing down

I know, and I appreciate that, but like I said, I am going with my agent's recommendation on this one. And I did express a concern about how someone may think it is hiding something. And he understood, but also said he just thinks given the build level of the house that it needs it, and also that no one asks what fresh paint on drywall is hiding. Anyway, to mitigate that, I am going to take several before pictures after I rough up the surface.

On the expansion tank, from what I have seen, having one is required by code, but orientation is listed as "preferred," rather than mandatory. And here two preferences are fighting each other, the vertical orientation and the location above the tank. Can't do both without putting a trap like thing in there. Amazing that it has been code for 20 years and sometimes they aren't installed at all. Our new home was initially built without one (one of the reasons the builder fired the plumber mid-job), so they had to be added. Unfortunately, I don't like their orientation, either - beside the tank, rather than above it. We shall see what the inspector says. Fortunately I already have proactively had an engineer come out to look at some things that may get flagged, which I would expect would add to my credibility as a seller.