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Yuck

S

SMSUCigarguy

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together!
Joined
Dec 4, 2005
Messages
250
Location
Springfield, MO
So I purchased my first house the last day of June this year and had all these plans for things I wanted to do. Unfortunately, things come up that you must take care of. In this case, I discovered a greenish-yellow mold growing in my kitchen base cabinets. Long story short, a previous homeowner had a major water leak in the kitchen a opted to cover it up with a 1/4" sheet of plywood and vinyl flooring. So over the course of the last month I have been trying to repair said damage. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here goes:

IMG_1867.jpg


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And underneath the kitchen:

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So now I get to do the kitchen renovation that I wanted to do, just much earlier than I had planned!
 
How did you not see the water stains on the joists? What about the inspection too?
 
AVB said:
How did you not see the water stains on the joists? What about the inspection too?
Click to expand...

[rant]
Yeah, yeah I know. The thing is that those joists were not easily accessible at the time of the inspection. There is about a four-foot high crawlspace and bisecting it are two large ducts for the heat pump outside. I never crawled back there and the inspector did not either. These inspectors apparently have some guidlines they follow, one of which is not looking at things that are inaccessible. You might as well not even have an inspection considering I pointed out things to him that I noticed like a floor joist that had been cut to install an a/c register.

This is the view from the other side, where you can't really see any stains.
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I thought about suing the inspector and the previous homeowner about this, as someone intentionally covered this up. Unfortunately, the disclosure statement says they were selling it "as-is" and they also checked the box marked "Due to limited knowledge of the property, seller makes no disclosures". I checked with my boss (an attorney) and he said I'd be better off saving my money and just fixing it.

So, I am probably an idiot for getting myself into this house. But this is why we hire inspectors...to find things we can't. I expect them to go into the places I can't. Apparently they don't want to go there either.

[/rant]
 
Hope everything works out. I'm searching for my first house now. Best of luck!
 
Well, at least this way you get a chance to fix is right and improve the kitchen. :thumbs:

I wouldn't worry too much about missing it before you bought the house, it kind of goes with the territory when you buy something used.
 
Two things.

1.What happened to your insurance? Every time I purchase a property I take out a new owners insurance. This covers anything in the home for a year which also includes appliances. I'm sure it is offered in MO?

2.You may have purchased the home as is but there is a law that covers "latent defects". If you can prove that the seller knew about the defect, he is responsible. I'm not sure if this is covered in your State, I cannot see why not though! Contact an attorney who specializes in "latent defects". This appears to be a blatant cover up, you have pictures for proof.

Sucks, good luck!~

Brian
 
Infinity said:
Two things.

1.What happened to your insurance? Every time I purchase a property I take out a new owners insurance. This covers anything in the home for a year which also includes appliances. I'm sure it is offered in MO?

2.You may have purchased the home as is but there is a law that covers "latent defects". If you can prove that the seller knew about the defect, he is responsible. I'm not sure if this is covered in your State, I cannot see why not though! Contact an attorney who specializes in "latent defects". This appears to be a blatant cover up, you have pictures for proof.

Sucks, good luck!~

Brian
Click to expand...

I think what you're taking about is a home warranty and not homeowners insurance. I have homeowners insurance, but I did not get a warranty. Stupid me.

As far as the lawsuit and "latent defects", I agree with you on the law. I think proving that the previous owner knew about it would be difficult (the pictures prove what happened, but not when. The previous owners only had the place for two years and unless I got one of them to fess up, I'd be screwed). From a financial perspective, it will be a lot less expensive for me to just fix it than it would be to file a lawsuit, go through discovery, depositions, etc. Granted, I could probably draft the documents with some help (I'm a paralegal), but I think I'm going to cut my losses and make myself a decent kitchen! Caveat Emptor!
 
Good juck on your repairs, hope you don't find any other oversights! :cool:
 
Yup there is always something to do when you buy a house. Homeonwers usually only covers a sudden water damage not a slow leak, that has been my experience.
 
I feel your pain.

Been in the house for just over a year. Had a home inspection, the owners didn't offer a home warranty and I should have made that part of the contract.

1st to go in less than 2 months - pool pump motor - $300
2nd item about 4 months - hot water heater - $200
biggest item at 6 months - needed a new roof - $6000

The tile roof started leaking six months after buying the place. Both roofing places that gave me estimates said, that is about the time the tile roofs start to leak after they are pressure washed and painted.

The estimates to repair the tile roof were $1500 - $2000, figured it was better to replace it and get a warranty.
 
This sucks. As a handyman I've worked on several houses that a new homeowner bought and the previous owner had neglected to mention faults.

Know your rights. You talked with a lawyer, good, but don't let the cost of going to trial stop you from suing these assholes. If they knew about previous damage to the house and intentionally covered it up, then they've committed fraud, regardless of any as-is statement you signed.

Keep taking pictures. Get city inspectors to come out and make sure they note how long water damage has been present as well as private contractors. Keep track of all receipts of repairs you had to pay for, including any mold removal.

Remember one thing above all else, you don't have to take these people to trail and formerly sue them to get money for your damages, most of the time the simple threat backed up with solid evidence will cause them to settle out of court for at least some of the money it cost you to repair your new home.

Take some time to think what you want to do. It may take a long while for you to get anything back on this, but at least you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you did something about it.
 
Water saturation appears significant, but not long standing. I see stains, but little/no damage to the joists or subfloor. I also don't see mold. Did you check for it? By now, you must have finshed the demo stage. Did the floor give unusually anywhere? Was there any evidence that the drywall was saturated? If so, I'd take it out for as far as you can see staining.

My home was built in 1959 and until this summer, had the original cabinets. This summer, we completely gutted the kitchen save for the drywall. I had a blast! However, we hired professionals to hang the new cabinets. Yeah, I was going to do that too, buy my wife knows me better than I know myself. Order one extra though, and make it your 'cabidor'. I have some experience there!
 
NullSmurf said:
Water saturation appears significant, but not long standing. I see stains, but little/no damage to the joists or subfloor. I also don't see mold. Did you check for it? By now, you must have finshed the demo stage. Did the floor give unusually anywhere? Was there any evidence that the drywall was saturated? If so, I'd take it out for as far as you can see staining.

My home was built in 1959 and until this summer, had the original cabinets. This summer, we completely gutted the kitchen save for the drywall. I had a blast! However, we hired professionals to hang the new cabinets. Yeah, I was going to do that too, buy my wife knows me better than I know myself. Order one extra though, and make it your 'cabidor'. I have some experience there!
Click to expand...

I have not finished demo yet, mainly because I got worn out and it got to be too late to make a lot of noise.

The real damage seems to be limited to the particle board underlayment that had been used on top of the subfloor. It basically turned to sawdust that I had to shovel and vacuum off the floor. I have been walking on the subfloor the last couple of days and it feels pretty solid. I still anticipate getting rid of the current subfloor and replacing it. I have yet to get into the wall to check for involvement that way. I suspect I'll find some staining there too.

AS for mold, I haven't tested for it. I think there was a little bit, but once I got the vinyl peeled off and stripped the floor down to the subfloor it seems to have quit smelling as bad and is pretty dry.

I was ready to just suck it up and pay for it out of my pocket. Now I've got all kinds of people telling me I should sue the listing agent, inspector, and previous owners. I am going to find a real estate attorney and run this by him/her.

I appreciate everyones comments! It's kind of my way of thinking out loud and exploring my options.
 
Have you checked with your home insurance and see if there's a way to get this covered? Most policies will cover water damage and mold infestation.
 
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