leaky houses -- any thoughts or advice?

19 years ago

My wife and I are on our second house contract in the same neighborhood in north Florida. All of the houses in this neighborhood were built in the 1999-2000 time frame. They are 3-4 bedrooms, 2,000-2,500 square feet, multi-pitch roof lines, and built by three different mid-line builders. The neighborhood is nice, but not particularly high-end when it was developed. I know two people who live in the development, and both were positive about us moving there.

We terminated the first contract after several leaks were found, and the sellers were not cooperative about repairing the damage. The leaks in the first house were caused by improper caulking around windows, omitted flashing above windows, and an improperly designed roof over the garage. This house was a combination of stucco and hardi-plank siding over wood frame.

The second house has been through inspection, and we found two leaks. One in the chimney and one in a column near the front door. The leak near the front door is caused by flashing that is slightly too short. The leak in the chimney is probably a design defect. Both leaks have caused substantial rot to the sheathing but can be repaired with enough money. This house is all stucco. It was built by a different builder than the first house. Our inspector, who used to be a builder, guessed the repairs could be $15,000. This is a 2,400 square foot house. The wood decay repair limit on the contract is about $4,700.

Our current home is a 1,450 square foot, 1993 construction, simple, siding over frame home. We've never had leaks or any substantial problems. We've already been through inspection for our house, which was fine.

Finding the leaks In the second house was discouraging. Are such leaks typical for houses of that age in north Florida or are have we been unlucky? Should we give up on this devlopement?

Any thoughts and advice are appreciated.

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Comments (9)

weed30 St. Louis
19 years ago
I would definitely not buy the house. You will have to disclose the leaks when reselling, and where there were leaks, there is mold. You do not want to try and sell a house that leaked and has mold, or that had mold. It does not matter if you fixed everything or not - disclosure of leaks and mold will hurt resell price. Not to mention there can be health issues if you are allergic to mold.

I am in that situation right now - previous seller did not disclose. I can't really prove it. My saving grace is that developers are buying the homes on my street, tearing them down and putting up new huge homes. They will not care if I had leaks or mold.
im2oc4u
19 years ago
I have a friend whose house was completely filled with mold to the point she couldn't live there. She was unaware when she bought it (why I don't know) she had everything taken care of. You are saying that a prior problem would have to be disclosed at time of resale? Does that go for just mold? If my roof HAD a leak and I fixed it would I have to disclose that as well?
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cpowers21
19 years ago
On most disclosure sheets there is a section about leaks or repairs made to the home. So if you had a leak in the roof and repaired it, it should be noted.
I too would not buy this home. Mold can be a severe issue and can hide. You may end up repairing it and still have mold growing somewhere. I don't think this is the norm. However, I've never bought a home in FL. Do your friends in that neighborhood know of any leaks in their home? May be, they should have their homes checked. It could be a case of just poor building in that neighborhood.
kitchenshock
19 years ago
I cannot imagine a homeowner not fixing a leak in a house, especially in Florida where a rain shower every summer day is almost inevitable. I would walk away from these homes. If the homeowner isn't going to fix a leak, you can bet there is probably a bunch more problems that have gone unattended.
chisue
19 years ago
Can you look in an area built before the boom? Not that custom builders are always better, but might you look outside of a "development"?
jebtb
Original Author
19 years ago
Chisue, this is an area near the beach where most of the houses are either under 2,000 square feet or over $750,000. A similarly sized house the same distance from the beach somewhere else will cost $50,000-90,000 more. So it's either pay more or move further from the beach. You can do a lot of remediation for the price difference. It's a very tough decision.

Kitchenshock, with the second house, I doutbt the sellers knew about the leaks. The visible signs of them are subtle. I think you are right on about the first house, though. It looked like the seller did no maintenance at all during the seven years he owned the house.
FatHen
19 years ago
Leaks are far too typical in newer houses due to builders shortcuts and use of unskilled labor. If it were me I would not buy a house with a leak problem. Also, a lot of builders install windows and stucco, siding, etc, wrong, and the houses have quite a bit of water intrusion. In FL especially, I'd be wary of the stucco. I believe this is one of many areas that has big time stucco defectss. See www.badstucco.com
chisue
19 years ago
OK, if YOU want to start doing "remediation", be my guest! LOL *I* would rather spend more for a home that doesn't show signs of needing extensive (and likely some as yet unknown) remediation, one that isn't surrounded by homes that are known to have problems. Wouldn't the slightly more expensive house be the better investment? (And free you from months of plaster dust?)
Teri H
5 years ago
Does bulging stucco mean water damage? Stucco was placed over framed plywood 3-4 years ago. Do we have to remove stucco to place hardie board over it?
Will that lead to mold?