Water Damage/Is seller accountable???

7 years ago

Hi everyone! We bought our dream home in June 2015. It is 30 years old but once inspected was in very good condition. I went in the basement last night after a heavy rain to find the basement flooded. The water seems to have come through the baseboards. When we purchased the home last summer GA was going through a MAJOR drought so we didn't have rain for months after we closed. Prior to this the first heavy rain we got we noticed a small amount of water in the basement but nothing like I Found today. I'm pretty sure this is not a fluke flooding that this was a previous issue and who knows the damage that is behind the walls and floors. The sellers had the entire house painted right before they put it on the market. Does anybody have advice on what course of action we should take? Is it even worth trying to hold seller responsible for not disclosing? Should we just have it fixed and move on?

thanks!!

Featured Answer

jemdandy

7 years ago

I did not see mention of a sump pump. Does this house have one? Properly installed? Properly built for sump drainage? Properly operating? Basement flooring should never be installed until proper drainage has been installed, and then the potential for moisture must be considered when choosing materials and methods of finishing a basement floor.

Successful sump operation begins with the construction of the footings. At the time the footings are poured, porous drain tiles on the inside perimeter of the footing and a second set of tiles laying on top of the footing outside the basement wall should be installed and pitched to drain to the sump well. These tiles are covered with gravel to permit easy flow of water into the tiles. If these are missing, a concrete basement floor will have excessive moisture during wet periods.

Roof drains: How is the water from the roof directed once it gets to the ground? If it pours our near the basement wall, it will move down the wall and pool at the footing. Putting extensions on the downspouts to move water a few feet away from the house helps, but needs good pitch of the soil to carry the water away from the house. This is not always possible. The best way to move roof water away from the house is to install dry wells to receive water from the downspouts. The dry wells must have drain lines to move the water to an exit some distance from the house or to a storm sewer. A drain to some place on the property is not always possible depending on the lay of the lot. In that case, draining to a storm sewer or road ditch is an option. In most locations, it is illegal to drain rain rain water to a sanitation sewer.

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Comments (14)

parkerjenn4911
Original Author
7 years ago
The sellers lived there for less than a year. They replaced all fixtures in home, painted, new roof, and front landscaping. I'm assuming they just flipped the house. Is it possible to find the home inspection from when they bought the house to find out if they knew about it and did not fix it just painted over it?
millworkman
7 years ago
"The water seems to have come through the baseboards. "

How does water come thru the baseboards? The baseboards are interior trim. the water needs to be coming from somewhere else. Pictures from the exterior of the house may be of some help in determining where it is coming in from, but I doubt you will get any satisfaction from the previous owner.
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toxcrusadr
7 years ago
If it's coming through the basement wall in one or more places, it will run down inside the framing and come out the bottom through the cracks between baseboard and wall or floor. Makes sense to me.

Home inspection reports become the property of the person who hired it done, and as far as I know they aren't required to be filed with the local govt. where they would be accessible through sunshine laws.

If you sued the seller, they would have to cough it up as part of the discovery process. If you're looking at enough repair cost to make it worthwhile, you might consider talking to an attorney.

Also if you can find out who they bought the house from, you might get some information from them. They would have no reason not to tell you if they had water problems. Unless, that is, they lied to the flippers who bought it from them. ;-]
parkerjenn4911
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks for your advice! I guess first step would be to go through our homeowners insurance? Here are some pics the corner behind ac unit is where it's coming out of the corner baseboard in basement.
hooked123
7 years ago
I live in GA as well and have found that sellers in this state do not disclose issues. I am a lot smarter after living in GA as to how dishonest people can be. No hate on GA, this has just been what I have experienced. In Georgia you don't have to list square footage when you sell, it's just odd to me.
sunnyca_gw
7 years ago
Might look at papers you signed when you bought the house. When mom died we sold her home & we bought insurance in case anything went wrong they would be covered. It cost around $300 but we figured better than getting sued over something we knew nothing about. Mom's home looked new, very well kept up & dad was able to repair anything expertly not some patch job(he had built 7 homes) so see if they had that ins. to cover any problems that might arise. Looks like you might need a drain to take water away from that area but it's covered so is that deck flooding & water runoff going in that corner, if that is case might be able to put a gutter all along that end slightly under deck edge & (open at topside of it so water on deck can go in it & then have it travel to area where it can safely flow away. Can't tell from pic where it would need to go.
sunnyca_gw
7 years ago
Oh, looked at the enlarged pic of that corner(1st pic) & that corner has been patched so unless you did it, it is uneven going up the wall in corner at least a foot & why is the quarter round at bottom not going to the corner like it should & quarter round around the corner is smaller? I think the other people had to have known or were blind to building mistakes. When it's raining check what is happening so you know.
share_oh
7 years ago
Didn't you as the buyer pay for a home inspection? I'm confused on that one. I sold my house last year and the buyers paid for the home inspection, which I also got a copy of.
parkerjenn4911
Original Author
7 years ago
We did but nothing was noticible...
toxcrusadr
7 years ago
Since they had painted everything. :-\
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
7 years ago
Any problem with the grading next to the house can allow water to pool and penetrate. It looks like that floor is at ground level. Is it on a slab? A long period of drought can alter the ground and allow the house to settle differently than it was before, then with a heavy rain the water may travel a different path than in years past.

The previous owners may have patched a damaged area without any idea that it was a persistent problem, or even what caused it, due to the drought. Since they owned the property a short time, they may not have experienced it themselves.

Make sure that the gutter directly above the area isn't clogged and overflowing right there. That is a common cause of water penetration, also.

Did you ever notice the wall on the corner being different, or did that just show up after the rain?
Mike C
7 years ago
All that dirt bunched up around the brickwork is an invitation to termites. Suggest removing dirt down to expose foundation along with any other repairs needed.
debclarkson
7 years ago
If you remove dirt down to the foundation the water will drain toward the house, exactly what you don't want. Looks to me like maybe rainwater is being channeled between the AC pad and the house and finding its way in from there.

Water Damage/Is seller accountable???

jemdandy

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parkerjenn4911
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Water Damage/Is seller accountable???

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