[ot] The joys of home ownership : O

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Enter this into the woe is me category... Just venting a little.

For most of the day it rained here, and it rained hard. I don't know how many inches I got out here in the sticks, cause the city weather doesn't cover out here to well. Thought I'd check the rain meter, and guess the dogs had knocked it over sometime.

Enter me sitting up in the office reading the forum, when all of a sudden I hear a sound in the walls. I thought for a few minutes the house was possessed. (Currently, still unsure about that one ;) )

Anyway, thought I'd go and check it out. When going from room to room downstairs, I noticed the sound very loud in the breakfast area off of the kitchen. The sound came from the air vent. I took the vent cover off and saw water! :( I got the Bissel Big Green Machine and sucked out 4 to 5 containers of water, after turning off the air of course. Each container holds about 3 gallons. I turned the air on again, and kept hearing the sound. Now where? The search was on. I checked all of the ones downstairs and on the last possible one (in the main dining room), I saw more water. This time it was almost to the point of overflow. 16 Greem Machines full later, I think I finally have it all out. Don't even tell me the man that owned this house previous didn't know of the built in swimming pool that is under the floor. I know I pulled 60-90 gallons of water out! :(

How the hell am I gonna fix this problem? What could the cause actually be? It is way to much to be condensation from the geothermal unit, as it has been cool and the air hasn't been on that much. Could some exhaust vent on the roof be letting that much water in? Is there a foundation problem that caused a crack in the air vents? How do you go about checking to determine the cause of such a problem? And best yet, is there anything I can do to the former owner as it is obvious to me that this has happened before...

Woe is me. Thanks for listening to me vent. I've always heard about the joys of home ownership, just didn't expect such joy so soon.

Sheeps

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2001

Answers

Sheeps, you need to get someone out to find the source of the water first and foremost. It could be something as simple as a vent cap, but I doubt it. My thought was that there might be tiling around the house that has somehow gotten disconnected and is dumping water where it shouldn't.

Second or maybe first - call your insurance company, they may be of some help getting this fixed and going after the previous owner. Once you find the source of the problem - if it truely is an on-going problem I would call the realtor and inform them in no uncertain terms that you will be filing a claim against the former owner AND the real estate company.

I am so sorry to hear about these problems because this is a beautiful house.

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2001


Check your downspouts--make sure they are directing water away from your house.

Don't know if this applies, but if your area was droughty this year you could have some soil shrinkage around the heat pump tubes. This could funnel water from heavy rain directly into the house.

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2001


If you have an opening to the crawl space under your house, might want to check to see if water is entering there.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001

Good heavens! That's awful! We had a bit of a drainage problem when the Bitch Next Door did some spiteful ditch filling-in. I had to dig new ditches (swales) and redirect the water. Luckily, though we have a crawl space so no water entered the house. I think you'll find that the realtor is out of the picture, because of the phrase "to the best of my knowledge and belief." If the realtor probably couldn't have known, there's no liability. When you first start talking to them, perhaps it might work to be shocked (which won't be hard) and upset with the seller, not them, and ask for their advice on how to proceed. They might even know a drainage expert who could help.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001

check your sales papers. did you get a warranty? or is it 'as is' which is more common?

if I buy another home, it will have a warranty. This one was 'as is' because it was, well, SHT. We knew going in what it needed except for the waste line problem under the house. That was a surprise.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001



Sheeps,

So sorry to hear about your problem!

I hope that you'll be able to find a knowledgable contractor soon who can give you accurate advice. Please keep us updated. I've never heard of a problem quite like this. I don't remember, but did you end up buying the house that didn't have gutters? Or was that the other place?

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001


Meemur,

This house (currently) doesn't have gutters. Will in a bit though.

for a virtual tour, before I bought it of course, go to this link if you wish.

I think that I found the source of the problem, and it'll be a back breaker to fix it. Something that I can do myself, but would be oh so much better to have strong hubby here. I spoke with him briefly today, and when I told him about the situation, he said he was impressed that I got it all out. :)

It is about to storm again. Hope I don't get near the rain I got yesterday. Got the carpet cleaner ready to suck it out again if need be.

Sheeps

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001


Sheeps,

I don't know how the labor pool is in your area, but in FL and LA it was very easy to find places via the yellow pages that would supply day laborers on a cash basis. I believe "Labor Ready" was one agency I used. For security reasons, you might want to have a male friend with you when the laborer(s) are there. I recruited a teen who spoke Spanish to help me. I also provided my workers with ice water, Pepsi, and later, pizza for lunch, plus a bonus for finishing the work in one day. The teen said that he hadn't seen a crew work that hard in a long time, but I remembered from FL that treating the guys decently and working along side them as much as possible was a great motivator.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001


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