OT: Need some urgent advice.

[DJ Spanky]

Late Thursday night (8/18) we noticed the carpet in our basement near the outer wall of our townhouse was wet. So Friday we moved everything in the area out to the garage, rolled back the carpet, I cut out the padding which was soaked like a sponge, got a couple of fans and borrowed a dehumidifier. We suspected that it was due to the sprinkler system, so we got the association on Friday to contact the company in charge to shut it off.

So tonight, with the storms passing through, we're seeing seepage along one area of the wall. So it's a foundation problem. I went outside and checked - where the seepage is and upslope from it, everything is properly sloped away from the wall. So given this is a townhouse, who's responsibility is it? I'll be contacting both the property manager and our insurance company tomorrow. Is a foundation issue normally the responsibility of the association or the owner? Appreciate any advice.

*** Updated, see below.

 

[Knight Shift]

If you had gone to fan appreciation day, you would not have this problem. :grimace:

Do you downspouts from your gutters channel water to the road, our to the ground? This is a frequent culprit. If it rained heavily and you have gutter guards to keep leaves out, often this causes heavy water flow to overshoot the gutters.
Have not idea on who is responsible. Did you read your covenants?

 

[demauroj]

Spanky,

My wife is a property manager and has worked for both high rises and for POA's.

She says it depends on what your master deed and bylaws. That should be your first stop and you find everything you need to know about what your responsibilties are and what common elements are. These vary from association to association.

Who is your management company?

 

[wisr01]

If you had gone to fan appreciation day, you would not have this problem. :grimace:

+1

 

[Knight Shift]

+1

Flood damage. :flush:

 

[ClassOf02]

Yeah, check the bylaws of your community. That should outline who is responsible for what.

 

[DJ Spanky]

Spanky,

My wife is a property manager and has worked for both high rises and for POA's.

She says it depends on what your master deed and bylaws. That should be your first stop and you find everything you need to know about what your responsibilties are and what common elements are. These vary from association to association.

Who is your management company?

Gotta dig both of those up - I was on the phone with the management company on Friday, I know they're in Fairfield and have their number on my phone. I do know that our homeowners insurance covers us to the walls, then the association is responsible for the structure and beyond.

 

[DJ Spanky]

Flood damage. :flush:

Sheeze, you'll blame anything on Flood, won't you?

 

[RU Husky]

The CCRs should help, but not always. A lot depends on whether you live in a fee simple townhouse or townhouse condominium. In the former you own the land and structure, but the association takes responsibility for certain repairs and maintenance- usually roof and grounds.Whether that includes foundation and/ or drainage issues is usually set forth in the CCRs, not always. If a condo, all you own is the interior space and the association takes care of exterior and structural repairs, including the foundation.

I had that very same problem with a fee simple townhouse in CA and the matter went to court because of horribly written and contradictory CCRs. Association Innsurance also played a large part in resolving. The matter settled out of court.

 

[wisr01]

Flood damage. :flush:

Still wreaking havoc...

 

[Knight Shift]

Sheeze, you'll blame anything on Flood, won't you?

Floodie!

 

[Scarlet_Scourge]

Fire Flood!

 

[Scarlet Knut]

Sheeze, you'll blame anything on Flood, won't you?

Come on Spanky, that was funny.

 

[RUsince52]

Owned a condo in Hillsborough and had water damage from a summer storm while roof was being resurfaced. Really didn't receive any help from condo assoc. or management company and finally had to initiate legal action. Meanwhile, it's up to you to keep your living space from becoming a health hazard. Got resolved out of court, but not until we eventually had a court date. Just be careful and don't rely on everyone else to jump in no matter how sincere they might seem.
Mine was a basic liability case and should have been straight forward with a quick resolution, but it didn't work out that way. Although I was finally compensated, there was little satisfaction considering the effort and timeframe involved. In the end all the inconvenience meant nothing in the settlement. Good luck to you.

 

[LC-88]

Take pics/video of the damage while water still visable. You probably already did.

 

[RUBubba]

Strongly suggest getting a water remediation company in to extract all of the water, from the carpet etc.

You may think you have done enough, but depending on the amount of water, there is a good chance you haven't. The remediation company, like ServePro etc, will drastically reduce the chance of mold forming.

 

[Crazed_RU]

Strongly suggest getting a water remediation company in to extract all of the water, from the carpet etc.

You may think you have done enough, but depending on the amount of water, there is a good chance you haven't. The remediation company, like ServePro etc, will drastically reduce the chance of mold forming.

Strongly agree with this and they usually get there the same day if not the next. Your homeowner's policy will cover this either way. Servpro is very good at getting the moisture out and they also leave behind multiple high powered fans to help dry things out.

 

[cRURah]

I had a similar experience recently. it was not my town home but one of the neighbors. In our case, the homeowners association was responsible for the drainage issue since the foundation and perimeter walls were considered common areas.

 

[DJ Spanky]

So I'm getting blown off by everyone, no one wants to take responsibility. The property manager shirked responsibility late Wednesday afternoon, and I talked with the claims person this morning from my insurance who assured me that since the water was coming in through the foundation it was not covered by our insurance. An adjustor will be coming out to look at it at some point. I'm trying to talk to the Association President, since he lives 4 doors up from us - hopefully will get to him this weekend. Personally, I think the property manager is being an arse and just blowing me off because he doesn't want to deal with it.

Gonna take the sheet rock down this weekend and see if I can pinpoint where the water's coming in. The carpet is completely dry and still rolled back, we got no water in from the rain last night, and I still have 2 fans and a dehumidifier running down there.

I see I didn't post any pictures - this was from Saturday night:

This is where the water's coming in:

Anyway, if we end up having to deal with this ourselves, guess I'm gonna have to learn all I need to know about waterproofing!

 

[Knight Shift]

So I'm getting blown off by everyone, no one wants to take responsibility. The property manager shirked responsibility late Wednesday afternoon, and I talked with the claims person this morning from my insurance who assured me that since the water was coming in through the foundation it was not covered by our insurance. An adjustor will be coming out to look at it at some point. I'm trying to talk to the Association President, since he lives 4 doors up from us - hopefully will get to him this weekend. Personally, I think the property manager is being an arse and just blowing me off because he doesn't want to deal with it.

Gonna take the sheet rock down this weekend and see if I can pinpoint where the water's coming in. The carpet is completely dry and still rolled back, we got no water in from the rain last night, and I still have 2 fans and a dehumidifier running down there.

I see I didn't post any pictures - this was from Saturday night:

This is where the water's coming in:

Anyway, if we end up having to deal with this ourselves, guess I'm gonna have to learn all I need to know about waterproofing!

Again, you being a flood supporter is karma.
Seriously, did it rain hard last night where you are at compared to when the problem started. It sounds like the water may have been overshooting your gutters. Maybe your downspouts are slightly clogged, and they could not keep up with the flow from the gutters in a heavy rain.

 

[DJ Spanky]

Again, you being a flood supporter is karma.
Seriously, did it rain hard last night where you are at compared to when the problem started. It sounds like the water may have been overshooting your gutters. Maybe your downspouts are slightly clogged, and they could not keep up with the flow from the gutters in a heavy rain.

It rained brutally hard Sunday evening, when we got a little bit of seepage in the basement. I was outside checking the area during that downpour - this leakage is on the side of the house, and the roof slopes to the back. There was no gutter overflow, plus the downspout goes into an underground pipe which runs down the side of the house to the street. I will be testing that pipe this weekend to make sure it's not clogged, but that's a longshot.

 

[DJ Spanky]

Oh, and this isn't a flood, more of a slight leak like what you need after only a beer or two.

 

[RUsince52]

So I'm getting blown off by everyone, no one wants to take responsibility. The property manager shirked responsibility late Wednesday afternoon, and I talked with the claims person this morning from my insurance who assured me that since the water was coming in through the foundation it was not covered by our insurance. An adjustor will be coming out to look at it at some point. I'm trying to talk to the Association President, since he lives 4 doors up from us - hopefully will get to him this weekend. Personally, I think the property manager is being an arse and just blowing me off because he doesn't want to deal with it.

Gonna take the sheet rock down this weekend and see if I can pinpoint where the water's coming in. The carpet is completely dry and still rolled back, we got no water in from the rain last night, and I still have 2 fans and a dehumidifier running down there.

I see I didn't post any pictures - this was from Saturday night:

This is where the water's coming in:

Anyway, if we end up having to deal with this ourselves, guess I'm gonna have to learn all I need to know about waterproofing!

Sorry to hear the problem hasn't been identified, but that's why I said be careful and don't be surprised if nobody jumps in to help. Hopefully, the assoc. president will give his insight and it will be helpful.
Maybe the underground pipe is cracked and it seeps in from there. Water is so hard to track when it doesn't drain properly, but it could come from somewhere else too. I wish you luck in finding a solution.

 

[DJ Spanky]

So I exposed the wall today, and here's what I found:

That's a four foot high section I cut out - the crack goes up to the corner of the window above it, about a foot and a half more. Ground level is about a foot above the top of that cut.

Had an independent adjustor out yesterday, and he basically advised me that for ground water damage like this, no insurance company will cover it. So at this point I'm not sure what I'm gonna do.

 

[DJ Spanky]

Here's a wide shot:

 

[RUsince52]

Here's a wide shot:

Now that the problem is exposed, did anyone give you options as to how to fix it ? Real nightmare.

 

[RU4Real]

The bad news is that since the foundation is cracked it's going to be hell to get anybody to pay for it.

The good news is that it's the sort of thing that a couple of coats of Dry-Lok should take care of.

Or get that stuff from the TV, the shit they make screen door boats out of.

 

[FELONIOUSMONK]

You have way too many problems with real estate..