Water Intrusion Question/Issue (complaints, prevent, consumer)

[iuki001]

Originally Posted by riveree

.......and members can DM the info to you, right? I know some people might not be comfortable posting their builder/neighborhood on the public forum if they plan to sell their home down the road, etc.

That's really good info above, Shaken, I learned a lot. I know when my house was being built (mid-2003), I made them redo the stucco front and I made them use a different worker to do it. We purposely chose to do hardiboard sides because today's stucco is not like stucco of the past...the less stucco the better we felt .

We too like hardiboard siding. We installed them on three homes and never had any problems with leakage or damage. We lived on the Washington coast (up to 90 mph winds) and also in Hilo, HI, where we received 29 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. Hardiboard is also resistant to termites and fire. Although not cheap, it has lowered the cost of our HOP insurance (State Farm).

Good choice.

iuki

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by iuki001

We too like hardiboard siding. We installed them on three homes and never had any problems with leakage or damage. We lived on the Washington coast (up to 90 mph winds) and also in Hilo, HI, where we received 29 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. Hardiboard is also resistant to termites and fire. Although not cheap, it has lowered the cost of our HOP insurance (State Farm).

Good choice.

iuki

A very minor part of my business (thus far) is installing the fiber cement products such as Hardi, Certainteed, etc. For anyone that likes the James Hardi products...you should check into the Nichiha products at www.nichiha.com

It just got it's product approval for Florida last week.

And yes, riv...anyone is free to direct message me regarding moisture intrusion problems. I do not need any personal information....just the builder, the community, and the year the house was built. I won't have info on everyone, but most of them I will up to about 6 years back.

Now back to smoking my baby back ribs!!!!

[jaxman123]

Great info ShakenStirred, will definitely follow-up with a DM. I was afraid lawyer would be the answer. Since you're assisting out of the kindness of your heart, wondering if there are some real estate/construction attorneys that would also like to assist out of the kindness of their heart as well.

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by jaxman123

Great info ShakenStirred, will definitely follow-up with a DM. I was afraid lawyer would be the answer. Since you're assisting out of the kindness of your heart, wondering if there are some real estate/construction attorneys that would also like to assist out of the kindness of their heart as well.

"Attorney" and "heart" in the same sentence!?! Now I've seen it all!! LOL!

In your situation, I'd be looking for the most heartless one I could find actually.

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by jaxman123

Great info ShakenStirred, will definitely follow-up with a DM. I was afraid lawyer would be the answer. Since you're assisting out of the kindness of your heart, wondering if there are some real estate/construction attorneys that would also like to assist out of the kindness of their heart as well.

Jaxman...please keep me posted on your situation. I'm curious to know how the builder will respond to the reqeusts to fix problems that were caused plain and simple by shoddy workmanship they did.

What's amazing is that just as almost every builder in town got with the program and moisture intrusion and mold problems all but disappeared, the market took the big downturn, and now many of them are starting to cut corners with what is probably the most important system in the house, the weatherization system.

Now the problems are starting to occur again. Sheesh, I know you can't see the system because it's in the wall, but man, cut back on the marble, granite and exotic wood flooring, not something that is going to affect the health and well being of your family.

I've actually had some builders tell me that they don't care about it because the homeowners can't see it and therefore they can't sell it.

I also conferred with an associate of mine about your particular builder, and he is pretty sure at that time they were not using any window flashing at all, which would explain your problem right away.

[jaxman123]

Originally Posted by ShakenStirred

Jaxman...please keep me posted on your situation. I'm curious to know how the builder will respond to the reqeusts to fix problems that were caused plain and simple by shoddy workmanship they did.

What's amazing is that just as almost every builder in town got with the program and moisture intrusion and mold problems all but disappeared, the market took the big downturn, and now many of them are starting to cut corners with what is probably the most important system in the house, the weatherization system.

Now the problems are starting to occur again. Sheesh, I know you can't see the system because it's in the wall, but man, cut back on the marble, granite and exotic wood flooring, not something that is going to affect the health and well being of your family.

I've actually had some builders tell me that they don't care about it because the homeowners can't see it and therefore they can't sell it.

I also conferred with an associate of mine about your particular builder, and he is pretty sure at that time they were not using any window flashing at all, which would explain your problem right away.

Thanks for the additional information! We provided a copy of the warranty claim/report that was denied to our next door neighbor, whose son worked for the builder when the homes on our street were built. Wanted to get his opinion on the issue and we will also be researching the links that you sent. We have some visitors coming in two weeks and after that we plan to get things moving forward.

Shortly after Fay, the paint was peeling on the window sill in the front room where I could peel it back and take a look at the sill and it was saturated with water in the corner and I picked at the wood with my fingers and it easily separated. So now I'm missing a small chunk of wood and the odor of rotting wood is quite strong in the room. Temporarily I covered the exposed area with caulk just so the cat wouldn't continue to pick at it and so it wouldn't be exposed. Is there anything I can do temporarily to mask/minimize the odor? This is just temporary until our guests leave, it's only my home office so I could just close the door if necessary.

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by jaxman123

Thanks for the additional information! We provided a copy of the warranty claim/report that was denied to our next door neighbor, whose son worked for the builder when the homes on our street were built. Wanted to get his opinion on the issue and we will also be researching the links that you sent. We have some visitors coming in two weeks and after that we plan to get things moving forward.

Shortly after Fay, the paint was peeling on the window sill in the front room where I could peel it back and take a look at the sill and it was saturated with water in the corner and I picked at the wood with my fingers and it easily separated. So now I'm missing a small chunk of wood and the odor of rotting wood is quite strong in the room. Temporarily I covered the exposed area with caulk just so the cat wouldn't continue to pick at it and so it wouldn't be exposed. Is there anything I can do temporarily to mask/minimize the odor? This is just temporary until our guests leave, it's only my home office so I could just close the door if necessary.

I feel like I've given you only bad news these days, and I hate to give you more, but the odor you are experiencing is more than likely not wood rot, but rather mold coming from inside the wall. You probably have had the lead for years but it's just now coming to fruition.

Here is a link you may need in the near future...

Toxicology And Environmental Health Associates

Also, if you can, I would call to get an inspection done by Philip Wemhoff, a local building scientist who was also a contractor here in Florida for many years. Last address I had for him was wemhoffp@buildingsleuth.com
but I haven't consulted with him for about 4 years so I'm not sure if the address is still good. His company was called Building Diagnostics Technologies. He's a very quircky fellow, you know, the scientist type, but he is also extremely well educated on mold and moisture intrusion, not to mention friend with Joe Lstibureck, the worlds leading expert on these issues. His website is www.buildingscience.com if you want to check that one out as well.

Let me know if you need anything else, and good luck!

[jaxman123]

Originally Posted by ShakenStirred

I feel like I've given you only bad news these days, and I hate to give you more, but the odor you are experiencing is more than likely not wood rot, but rather mold coming from inside the wall. You probably have had the lead for years but it's just now coming to fruition.

Here is a link you may need in the near future...

Toxicology And Environmental Health Associates

Also, if you can, I would call to get an inspection done by Philip Wemhoff, a local building scientist who was also a contractor here in Florida for many years. Last address I had for him was wemhoffp@buildingsleuth.com
but I haven't consulted with him for about 4 years so I'm not sure if the address is still good. His company was called Building Diagnostics Technologies. He's a very quircky fellow, you know, the scientist type, but he is also extremely well educated on mold and moisture intrusion, not to mention friend with Joe Lstibureck, the worlds leading expert on these issues. His website is www.buildingscience.com if you want to check that one out as well.

Let me know if you need anything else, and good luck!

Thanks. Along those same lines, does anyone have names of good real estate/constuction lawsuit related lawyers that have references / records of successful claims against builders? We will be evaluating our options and attorneys over the next few weeks. Thanks ahead of time.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by jaxman123

Thanks. Along those same lines, does anyone have names of good real estate/constuction lawsuit related lawyers that have references / records of successful claims against builders? We will be evaluating our options and attorneys over the next few weeks. Thanks ahead of time.

Rogers Towers has been around a long time...

Rogers Towers P.A. - Practice Areas

[ShakenStirred]

Originally Posted by riveree

.......and members can DM the info to you, right? I know some people might not be comfortable posting their builder/neighborhood on the public forum if they plan to sell their home down the road, etc.

That's really good info above, Shaken, I learned a lot. I know when my house was being built (mid-2003), I made them redo the stucco front and I made them use a different worker to do it. We purposely chose to do hardiboard sides because today's stucco is not like stucco of the past...the less stucco the better we felt .

Actually Riv....stucco today is supposed to be thicker than stucco of the past....

In 2003, things were starting to go crazy, and there was a major manpower shortage in construction. Some businesses tried to keep up by subbing the work out to subsubcontractors and in the process, they lost control of their quality meaures. I've seen houses from 2003 where the Stucco was only about 1/8" thick, and this is at the expansion joints where stucco is very prone to leaks. This falls back on the inspectors as well, as they were not checking the thicknesses of the stucco like they should have. The "good ol' boy" network would just let it slide, since they were going fishing or whatever that weekend.

You're lucky you caught it on your house..... a lot of homeowner aren't catching it until now, in the form of mold and moisture intrusion in their homes!

Just out of curiosity, who built your house?