You need to check your co-op bylaws and rules. There's usually something there about who is responsible for what with leaks--depending on where the leak is, the co-op could be responsible or the owner of the unit. The thing to know about water damage is that water runs along the path of least resistance. It also runs downhill. Frequently the first sign of trouble with bathroom plumbing is on the ceiling of the room below the bathroom. So it's not impossible that you had a leak that you never saw, and that the ceiling below your bathroom was damaged and needed to be repaired and repainted. If the leak was long-term, there may have been mold that needed to be treated. You need to get a neutral inspector in there to determine exactly where the leak is. Then you need to check the rules of the co-op and the laws of your state--those laws vary from state to state, so you need to seek guidance from someone familiar with your state's laws.

They had to remove the tile under the vinyl under the plank in my basement (if I had known the floor guys were installing the plank on top of a vinyl tile which was on top of tile I would have had them stop and remove the two layers that were there before they put the plank in!), the lower 24" of drywall, all the doors in the basement, the 3rd bathroom vanity, and the carpet in the family room area and 3rd bedroom/office/craft space when there was a pipe blockage - one small pair of child sized socks somehow managed to get flushed down the toilet in the kids' bathroom - that ended up sending water from elsewhere in the house (master bath/toilet/sink and kitchen sink water) up through the laundry standpipe in the laundry room which backs up to one of the walls down in our furnace room in such a quantity that the floor drain out of the house to the main sewer line couldn't handle it all and it wasn't 'clean' or 'gray' water. When the water heater suddenly turned into a geyser-like fountain we were able to shut it off pretty quickly and it was clean water so after mopping and wet-vacuuming plus a few days with dehumidifiers along with those giant noisy fans saved us the pain of having the newly installed drywall redone! The basement water damage we were able to file a homeowners claim on, one thing people should note is that they have the duty to mitigate the damages as soon as they notice a problem - if that means calling the remediation company first and THEN your insurer, that's how you need to do it. If you call about possibly making a claim, even if you don't end up doing so, it goes on your file because the insurer will be looking for ways to minimize how much they have to pay out on future claims. If you ask about water damage claims, but ultimately don't go forward on that claim, but down the road you have water damage from a different issue that might be difficult to get your insurer to pay out on too - they look for reasons to deny claims, they make much of their money paying out out less than they take in with premiums and deductibles. Mold is a non-covered issue (usually) if it's due to lack of maintenance or failure to address the issue at the time and where it started. They don't cover sewer main backups that originate outside of your home and the loss must be sudden and unexpected. How do I know all this? Well...The basement. :P I've probably driven the poor workers a bit mad with all the moisture readings I've asked them to take just to be sure (I know it's dry but the irrational part of me wants to be totally certainly 100% truly sure of it!) Now we're just waiting on the flooring to come in and once that's installed the whole project will be finished. At least we don't have problems with the windows down there (yet!) and they're above grade. There's good drainage away from the house outside, all we need to do is avoid further socks being flushed down the toilet! We're still not quite certain how that happened but at this point it's sort of moot and the damage done.

Just wanted to give an update on this since so many of you had ideas on what the issue could be. Since the last post we just last week had the drywall removed, new drywall installed, a new cabinet and hooked everything back up. It was under the builders impression that the issue was still caused by the constant fan. However, shortly after the last post we discovered that our Septic Tank was never turned on. It began overflowing into the backyard, which is right behind the side of the home with the moisture issue. We were concerned about why the septic pump alarm never went off and that was because it was never connected by the electrician. We moved in last November so it was off for that whole time. We never noticed back up toilets or any odors or even the toilets making bubbly noises. We got that hooked up correctly and it started working. Last night when I was cleaning my sons room I noticed the edge of the wall on the hardwood flooring had water stains that were solid black. We have the Chesapeake Bay Gray Fog Engineered Hardwood flooring thru-out our whole first floor except for the wet areas where we have tile. The black spots we noticed are the same spots that had high moisture readings when we noticed the mold issue. The builder said the two issues werent related and that we would deal with the moisture after we took care of the mold issue. Since I have looked into all of these possible solutions, my only idea of what could have caused all this is the flashing on the home. It looked correct when they removed the brick on the side of the home but it has to have gaps in places that allowed water to leak in. the water spots are about every two feet away from each other in my youngest sons room and we found one spot in the dining area which is on the front of the home and then in the bedroom next to the bathroom that had the mold. Thank you for all of your help researching and figuring it all out.

I had the roof done last year so suspected flashing as well, so I had the company repair person come back and look (as there was another flashing issue to deal with ) and he was back last week but we had the issue still, so now I'm at a loss. I would think he would have mentioned if there was no cap? im trying to get in touch to see exactly what the repair was if any on the flashing ...just not sure where to go next