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Recently bought a home that was "flipped." It was indicated that the whole house had a new roof. Upon inspection, the inspector went up on the house half of the house, said it was a new roof and that was that. Now we've moved in and the past 3 times it has rained, there are major major leaks along the roof connecting the house to the garage. The first time it happened, we had just moved in for 3 wks - it soaked a garage stand-alone shelf, and now the shelf board has this wrinkled look from the water. Now everytime it rains, we have put buckets under the leaks to hold the water.
What is the next step? From 3 roof specialists that came out and looked (which we should have had them inspect the roof PRIOR to buying), they said the roof job was poorly done and done inproperly; the best way would be to redo the garage's roof. Is the seller's contractor who constructed the new roof responsible? For work like this is there a warranty from the contractor? Could the seller pay for the repair for a contractor of our choice? As we have little confidence in the original contractor after all the comments we have received from the roof specialist.
You already bought the house. You can check with the seller's contractor and see if they offered a warrenty, but if you don't have a warrenty covering the roof, you are out of luck...
I know this isn't what you want to hear, but unfortunately it sounds like you had a poor home inspection. Your inspection should have caught something that major.
The contractor who did the new roof did it <1 year ago. The "new roof" is literally 3 months old. Is there a contractor's warranty that they are obligated to? Do you think the Better Business Bureau or legal help would be worthwhile approaching to help get this fixed?
I'm not sure that is the kind of thing an inspector will catch. If I remember correctly my inspection report specifically stated they made no claims as to leaks.
Very few warranties will change from one owner to another, but there are a few that do. Contact the seller and ask if the warranty was transferred to you. If not then you will have to call a roofer and pay to have the problem corrected.
There is likely verbiage on your inspection paperwork somewhere stating that the inspector is only liable up to the amount paid for the inspection. If had not rained since the roof went on the inspector was not likely to have known about it. Even if it had rained, if there was no visible sign of water intrusion there would not be a way for the inspector to tell if it was leaking or not.
I really don't think a lawyer will be able to do anything in this situation.
Did you use and agent? The reason I ask is that Realtors are in a position to refer business to, or away from contractors. If your agent contacts the roofing company about the poor job they did, they may be inclined to make things right.
Best of luck.
It depends on the laws of your state. Out here you would contact the contractor directly, so I would find out who it is. They are licensed and bonded out here and you could file a claim directly against their insurance...which they don't want you to do because it raises their rates.
I would also contact the home inspector, but it depends on whether or not they are licensed in your state. They are out here. A home inspector can't see leaks, but if the roof isn't installed properly, the inspector should have picked up on that right away. Transitions are a huge part of roofing and they should have been all over inspecting those transitions.
Do you have a photo of your home showing how the garage meets the house?
Can you post it here?
I would love to be able to see that area, even if it is from 25 feet away.
You likely have a minor roofing problem that is turning into a larger leak problem.
Probably a simple flashing issue.
Otherwise, I would suggest you try to locate a local roofer who does only repairs.
They are the guys who make re-roofers' work "work."
You don't know "how water works" until you do a lot of repairs.
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