Archive

Gotta Vent...

  • sherm03
    So a little less than three years ago, my wife and I bought our first house. We had been looking for a long time, and our realtor tipped us off that the owner of his company owned a house that he was getting ready to sell. He showed it to us and we loved it and put an offer in that day. We negotiated a little bit, and ended up coming to an agreement on the price.

    During the inspection, the inspector didn't find anything too alarming. He said that everything seemed to be in good shape with the house, and we went through with the closing.

    After a little over a year, we noticed that the freshly painted wall in the basement at the front of the house had water pouring through. We realized then that our front porch was level, and the stones that made up the porch settled so that there were low spots right where the porch meets the house. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the water was coming through the porch, and coming through the basement wall. We tried some things to fix it. We re-mortared around the rocks in the problem area, and caulked where the porch meets the house. This helped to slow the water somewhat, but didn't stop it. Now the wall in the basement has some sort of mold growing on it. We've had a few contractors out to look at it, and everyone has told us that not only do we have the issue with the porch, but the sill plate at the top of the foundation is basically rotted through. They said that this isn't something that happened recently, and has probably been going on for years (which explains why the previous owner just painted the wall to hide it).

    Now, we can't find anyone that is willing to do the work to fix it, and we know it's going to cost a boat load to get it done.

    I hope the previous owner of this house get AIDS, and I hope the inspector that missed this gets gonorrhea.

    Anyone know any good contractors in the Cincinnati area that specialize in this sort of thing that they can recommend?
  • like_that
    QQ
  • Fab1b
    Let me ask you this, did you use the inspector the realtor recommended? If so that is why you are in this mess, the realtor is giving them a cut!
  • Skyhook79
    like_that;1098014 wrote:QQ
    Pretty sure thats a considered a personal attack...oh wait I forgot about the "chosen Ones" get to do whatever on here.
  • sherm03
    like_that;1098014 wrote:QQ

    Thanks.
    Fab1b;1098017 wrote:Let me ask you this, did you use the inspector the realtor recommended? If so that is why you are in this mess, the realtor is giving them a cut!
    No, we went with a company that my father-in-law recommended.
  • sherm03
    Skyhook79;1098020 wrote:Pretty sure thats a considered a personal attack...oh wait I forgot about the "chosen Ones" get to do whatever on here.
    It's not a personal attack. It's just a douche response that I assumed was going to come from someone. Glad it got out of the way early.
  • Fab1b
    sherm03;1098022 wrote:Thanks.



    No, we went with a company that my father-in-law recommended.
    Ok that was my first thought then, not sure why they missed it but not sure if there is anything you can do there either. Can't help with the contractors, best of luck but I was curious as to that about the inspector used.
  • hasbeen
    That sucks man. Call Bill Murray.
  • Skyhook79
    sherm03;1098025 wrote:It's not a personal attack. It's just a douche response that I assumed was going to come from someone. Glad it got out of the way early.
    Depends who you are, who the mod is and their agenda.
  • hasbeen
    Skyhook79;1098037 wrote:Depends who you are, who the mod is and their agenda.
    QQ
  • password
    Search his name on the internet and leave a bad review on every site the company name shows up on.
  • THE4RINGZ
    Home inspections are the biggest racket going right now. Instead of using a "professional" find a guy who you trust that has worked in the construction trades and let him look at the house. He will give you the truth.
  • ZWICK 4 PREZ
    do you have a sump pump?
  • Fab1b
    Call my boy Gary Sullivan (he is on the radio XM station 168 when I wake up Sunday mornings) At Home with Gary Sullivan
  • sherm03
    ZWICK 4 PREZ;1098069 wrote:do you have a sump pump?
    No.
  • ZWICK 4 PREZ
    sherm03;1098079 wrote:No.

    do you know how to put one in yourself?
  • sherm03
    ZWICK 4 PREZ;1098082 wrote:do you know how to put one in yourself?
    I think I can figure it out...but I don't see how a sump pump would help anyways. Water will still be getting in from the porch through the foundation wall (which is all happening above grade) and the sill plate still needs replaced.

    A sump pump would help me if this was happening below grade, but with it being above grade, how would the sump pump help?
  • mcburg93
    Is the outside of your house siding or brick?
  • dwccrew
    sherm03;1098093 wrote:I think I can figure it out...but I don't see how a sump pump would help anyways. Water will still be getting in from the porch through the foundation wall (which is all happening above grade) and the sill plate still needs replaced.

    A sump pump would help me if this was happening below grade, but with it being above grade, how would the sump pump help?
    You are correct, a sump pump would not help in this situation. It is going to be costly, but you'll probably have to replace that entire foundation wall. And since it is where the porch is, that probably have to be replaced as well. Better to do it now before it gets too out of control.

    If you can somehow prove that the former owner had knowledge of this problem before you bought the property and that it was never disclosed, you may be able to seek legal action. I'd consult an attorney and see if that is an option. At the very least you could really hurt the reputation of his realty company.
  • sherm03
    mcburg93;1098124 wrote:Is the outside of your house siding or brick?
    Stucco.
  • wes_mantooth
    Skyhook79;1098037 wrote:Depends who you are, who the mod is and their agenda.

    Reps
  • mcburg93
    sherm03;1098134 wrote:Stucco.
    Stucco Is rough I was gonna say if it was siding you could pull the siding and put rubber gasket on which is about 3' wide. It adheres to anything. Of course this would only stop the problem of water getting in the house. Sounds like that house will need jacked up a little to get the plate out and replaced. Man wish you lived closer I would help you out. Just to far to come after work. I do construction on my days off from work.
  • ZWICK 4 PREZ
    sherm03;1098093 wrote:I think I can figure it out...but I don't see how a sump pump would help anyways. Water will still be getting in from the porch through the foundation wall (which is all happening above grade) and the sill plate still needs replaced.

    A sump pump would help me if this was happening below grade, but with it being above grade, how would the sump pump help?
    You put a sump in and dump it into your stack so it pumps out into sewer. You bust the floor up around the walls of your house and put perforated pipe leading to the sump pump. Cover the dirt under the pipe with rock and cover the top of the pipe with rock. concrete over the rock so you don't have a ditch going around your basement floor. Use Zinsser Watertite on the walls and floor (the water will seep thru the block into the perforated pipe and then into the sump to be pumped out. now you can replace your sill plate http://www.ehow.com/how_8121348_replace-rotted-sill-plate.html
  • I Wear Pants
    sherm03;1098022 wrote: No, we went with a company that my father-in-law recommended.
    This is your fault, he's pissed that you're banging his daughter so he figured he'd screw you over on an inspector.
  • sherm03
    ZWICK 4 PREZ;1098165 wrote:You put a sump in and dump it into your stack so it pumps out into sewer. You bust the floor up around the walls of your house and put perforated pipe leading to the sump pump. Cover the dirt under the pipe with rock and cover the top of the pipe with rock. concrete over the rock so you don't have a ditch going around your basement floor.Use Zinsser Watertite on the walls and floor (the water will seep thru the block into the perforated pipe and then into the sump to be pumped out. now you can replace your sill plate http://www.ehow.com/how_8121348_replace-rotted-sill-plate.html
    This won't stop the water from coming from through the porch and hitting the new sill plate.

    After doing some research, we may be contacting a lawyer. Apparently when you buy a house, by law you are supposed to receive a Property Disclosure Form. We never got that document. It probably won't be too hard proving, too, that he knew about it beforehand. So we might have something to go on here. Planning on calling a few attorneys tomorrow.