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i purchase a house in mullica hill nj almost 1 month ago. since i've moved in, my heating furnace has malfactioned and now the latest one is that i have 4 leaking windows! luckily insurance covered the 700.00 dollar bill to fix the furnace (thank god). i thought my problems were over but here it is 4.00 in the morning, storming pretty bad outside, wake up to check on my little 6 year old and find water everywhere from 4 leaking windows!
when i purchased this 18 year old house, i got an inspection. shouldn't the inspector have noticed these problems!! i called him about the heating unit already and of course he said "it was working when i checked it" but what about the windows now - shouldn't he have noticed the seal was gone??
Also i am thinking about calling my realtor because i'm sure the old owners knew of these problems (especially the windows and didn't disclose the problem. Is there anything i can do at this point legally??? I hate how dishonest people can be.
Without seeing exactly where/how the water is getting in, it's tough to say whether the inspector "should have seen it". That said, it's highly doubtful that he could have seen the problem if it wasn't raining at the time of inspection, if there was no staining anywhere from previous leaks, and if the seal failure wasn't somehow obvious.
Home inspectors are set up with tons of "weasel words" in their contracts/reports to ensure that you can't pin anything but the most obvious flaws on them. The portion of the report regarding the windows probably simply identifies the material of the window (wood, vinyl, etc), the operation (double hung, casement, etc), and a comment like "appear serviceable). I doubt you're going to get anywhere with the inspector.
i purchase a house in mullica hill nj almost 1 month ago. since i've moved in, my heating furnace has malfactioned and now the latest one is that i have 4 leaking windows! luckily insurance covered the 700.00 dollar bill to fix the furnace (thank god). i thought my problems were over but here it is 4.00 in the morning, storming pretty bad outside, wake up to check on my little 6 year old and find water everywhere from 4 leaking windows!
when i purchased this 18 year old house, i got an inspection. shouldn't the inspector have noticed these problems!! i called him about the heating unit already and of course he said "it was working when i checked it" but what about the windows now - shouldn't he have noticed the seal was gone??
Also i am thinking about calling my realtor because i'm sure the old owners knew of these problems (especially the windows and didn't disclose the problem. Is there anything i can do at this point legally??? I hate how dishonest people can be.
Like I posted previously just about any existing home, and some new ones, are going to have issues disclosed or not. It is unethical behavior to not disclose material defects but there is very little that protects a buyer from this. In your situation, these are minor fixes, irritating for sure, but just minor out of pocket expenses. No lawyer would take your case and even if one did you can bet the cost of litigation would far exceed whatever it costs to fix these items. When buying a house it is always BUYER BEWARE. You'll have no recourse against inspector unless you can prove stains or damage was visible at the time of the inspection.
i purchase a house in mullica hill nj almost 1 month ago. since i've moved in, my heating furnace has malfactioned and now the latest one is that i have 4 leaking windows! luckily insurance covered the 700.00 dollar bill to fix the furnace (thank god). i thought my problems were over but here it is 4.00 in the morning, storming pretty bad outside, wake up to check on my little 6 year old and find water everywhere from 4 leaking windows!
when i purchased this 18 year old house, i got an inspection. shouldn't the inspector have noticed these problems!! i called him about the heating unit already and of course he said "it was working when i checked it" but what about the windows now - shouldn't he have noticed the seal was gone??
Also i am thinking about calling my realtor because i'm sure the old owners knew of these problems (especially the windows and didn't disclose the problem. Is there anything i can do at this point legally??? I hate how dishonest people can be.
Do you have a one year home warrenty ? If you do some cover everthing the that the home owners don't .
We're selling our house and so far have fixed everything we know about but I don't doubt other people don't.
If the windows aren't that decent, you might think to add those on your to do list (windows are fairly cheap) then start getting heating guys out before fall to make sure the furnace won't give out on you. We just replaced our furnace that was a few years older then yours. Also be sure to get it serviced at the end of summer, beginning of fall..
Temporary solution - seal the leaky ones from the outside. Grab some plastic, 6mil or so (BobKovacs might have a better recommendation), and some tyvek tape, and do your best to seal them off to prevent water damage from worsening.
In the meantime, like Roselvr said, think about buying new windows. Even if you do get somewhere with a warranty, you'll want to get these taken care of asap, and not wait for an agreement to happen. But first, document *everything*. Take lots of pictures, note the dates of rain, and write down your temporary fixes. Keep all your receipts. Whether you have any options with the home inspector, I don't know, but it can't hurt to try.
Temporary solution - seal the leaky ones from the outside. Grab some plastic, 6mil or so (BobKovacs might have a better recommendation), and some tyvek tape, and do your best to seal them off to prevent water damage from worsening.
In the meantime, like Roselvr said, think about buying new windows. Even if you do get somewhere with a warranty, you'll want to get these taken care of asap, and not wait for an agreement to happen. But first, document *everything*. Take lots of pictures, note the dates of rain, and write down your temporary fixes. Keep all your receipts. Whether you have any options with the home inspector, I don't know, but it can't hurt to try.
I think you deserve your own TV home show, I know I would watch it!
I think you deserve your own TV home show, I know I would watch it!
Maybe I should tape myself working on my own house, and send it off to This Old House
"Today on Joe's Really Old Home, I'm going to show you how to create a residential video, audio, network, and control system wiring backbone, and then replace a kitchen sink!"
Maybe I should tape myself working on my own house, and send it off to This Old House
"Today on Joe's Really Old Home, I'm going to show you how to create a residential video, audio, network, and control system wiring backbone, and then replace a kitchen sink!"
Yeah you see? Isnt it a great idea? I have to be listed as co/producer since it was my idea lol Is this old house still on for real?
i purchase a house in mullica hill nj almost 1 month ago. since i've moved in, my heating furnace has malfactioned and now the latest one is that i have 4 leaking windows! luckily insurance covered the 700.00 dollar bill to fix the furnace (thank god). i thought my problems were over but here it is 4.00 in the morning, storming pretty bad outside, wake up to check on my little 6 year old and find water everywhere from 4 leaking windows!
when i purchased this 18 year old house, i got an inspection. shouldn't the inspector have noticed these problems!! i called him about the heating unit already and of course he said "it was working when i checked it" but what about the windows now - shouldn't he have noticed the seal was gone??
Also i am thinking about calling my realtor because i'm sure the old owners knew of these problems (especially the windows and didn't disclose the problem. Is there anything i can do at this point legally??? I hate how dishonest people can be.
You're damn right he/she should have caught that. I'd expose this company so that people in this forum don't use them. It would be another matter entirely if the seal wasn't missing, but that should have been observed. That's a horrible job by the inspector IMO.
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(thank god). i thought my problems were over but here it is 4.00 in the morning, storming pretty bad outside, wake up to check on my little 6 year old and find water everywhere from 4 leaking windows! 
Insurance ?
