Water damage in a new house under contract
Liudmila R
last year
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Charles Ross Homes
last yearJoseph Corlett, LLC
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Under contract for sale of our home!
Comments (5)Thanks everyone. We are still pinching ourselves that this is all happening so quickly. I'll be sharing the new house and looking for suggestions on many forums in the weeks to come....See MorePipe broke in house I have under contract - question @ cleanup
Comments (2)I would want to know about other houses nearby, whether or not the same thing happened to them (not a pipe breaking, but some version of high water, etc.). The mud may just be from slow drying, but what if the area is chronically damp? Mold will show up fairly quickly if it's going to show, so if you can wait, I would. Did they actually find the broken pipe, or just guess at it?...See MoreNew dishwasher installed....now floor has water damage
Comments (59)I'd like to know how your brother fixed it too. I hope you took pictures or had an outside party witness anything that was found. I'm not sure what "pulling on" something means and that could be hard to prove. I think it's odd to favor a previous issue over a faulty install or dw in that the problem occurred or became apparent to the HO only after the new machine was installed. They were unaware of any leaks and the installer said and documented absolutely nothing. Now he claims there was an existing problem. So what idjut would simply install a new dishwasher over soggy flooring in need of repair or dry-out, without raising the issue of a leak with the HO first. I think that is negligent, irresponsible and wreckless on his part. If there was an active leak prior to install, why didn't he report it? I would think it would be SOP for an installer to run the machine to make sure it isn't leaking before leaving the premises, in order to check their work and that the machine was running properly. I wonder if LL had any discussions at all with the installer while he was there....See MoreHouse we are under contract to buy is in a high-risk flood zone
Comments (19)I've done a lot of research on this because of the impact of the Biggert-Waters Act next month. First, flood insurance is handled through various insurance companies but is all (mostly) under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). FEMA manages NFIP. The maximum coverage is $250K for the residence and $100K for contents. As with most insurance, you can raise your deductible to lower your premium. New policies in flood zones will all require an Elevation Certificate (EC) by a surveyor to determine your BFE and level of your home (explained later). The Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) determines if you are in a flood zone and the amount of risk. The FIRM maps are always being re-drawn, so you might be out of a flood zone one year and in the next. The result after FIRM is that building codes change to reflect the zones, so in "new" flood zones we have older, pre-FIRM homes built lower than newer post-FIRM homes. As you've figured out, you do not have to be anywhere near the water to be in a flood zone, and you can be right on the water and not be in one. (Really - a good friend has a waterfront home on Tampa Bay but is X, although his pool is VE). The amount you will pay is based on two main things - Base Flood Elevation (BFE) which is how high someone has determined your spot will flood. Mine is 11 feet. The variable is how high the top of your bottom floor is. Example: My house is a one-story pre-FIRM slab, so my tile floor is the top of the bottom floor at 8 feet. The raised, post-FIRM houses are only garages and rec rooms on ground level (no liveable space), and their "top of bottom floor" is at least 8' up. My "minus 3" from my EC is what determines my rate. Obviously, a "zero" or better (+) is going to have the lowest rate. The biggest question is where the BFE comes from. My neighbors are all upset because it has never flooded here in 40 years since it was built, even a little bit, through many, many tropical storms. Remember that is what most of the Sandy victims said, too, only many of them were there even longer. Also, keep in mind that 30% of claims every year are NOT in designated flood zones. I seriously doubt that all the homes being inundated in Colorado right now are in flood zones. I won't get into the impact that the Biggert-Waters Act will have on many homes unless someone asks, but the bottom line is that it's going to affect many of the communities that are still recovering from the BP Oil Spill and the recession in general. People just started going back to the gulf beaches this past summer and now all those businesses that were built before the FIRM maps were in place are going to get hit with a big insurance bill that could put them under and will stall our recovery. Hope this helps you understand a bit about flood insurance. It can be pretty scary, but it's managable for the most part....See Morechispa
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