Do you ever feel like your house is turning against you? I have this past week. I went out of town overnight last Thursday and left my husband with the two girls. I was concerned about him managing them while I was gone for 36 hours but that actually turned out to be fine. When I got home around 9:00 pm that night after driving from Austin I pulled up into the drive way and when I opened the garage I noticed there was water in the garage. I walked into the house and asked my husband about it. He parks out front and had not noticed it because he didn't go through the garage. We both went out and checked and lo and behold the water heater had started leaking. Not from the tank like most leak from but from the pipes leading into the tank. So here we were at 10:00 at night checking for leaks into the house. The water leaked through the wall into our computer room/office - didn't hit the equipment (Thank God!) through a carpeted closet (that's a loss); though a carpeted sun room aka: playroom - the carpet there is a dead loss and onto our screened in porch not to mention the stuff in all 3 rooms that ended up soaked. I was devastated. A friend who is a plumber came out the next day and due to the fact that none of the pipes were up to code (they were when we moved in :( sigh) it cost us almost $1500 for the new water heater, and redoing the pipes. [EDIT: Codes changed since we moved in and whenever we do any major repairs we try to bring the up to code regardless of grandfather laws to help improve the value of the home if we ever sell. We actually went with the 2nd lowest of four bids on the job.]
On top of that the carpet had to be pulled from the playroom and we found it was glued directly to the subfloor making a nice layer of sticky glue that we somehow have to get up before we can redo the flooring? AHHHHH! What do you do when your house turns against you? I had to drain our savings to pay for the water heater replacement - thank goodness we had it) and our deductible on our homeowner's insurance it too high that it will not cover any of the repairs. Any one have suggestions on how to get carpet glue off a concrete subfloor. I've been scraping glue every night for a week now. I'm so frustrated with everything. How do you handle the woes of homeownership? What gets you down?
I have often said a lot of the time you don't know if you have the house or the house has You! "I am feeling damp over here". Or " I need you to fix that sidewalk or I am going to trip you every time you walk on it. . . "
"I am feeling sticky!"
As a friend of mine says "bad words, bad words, bad words!"
Good luck!
There are commercial adhesive removers you can buy for your floors. My mother went this route when her back couldn't take any more scraping. In a few spots, she even used paint remover. She said it was a stinky job, but better than scraping.
When we stained our concrete floors, they had to be spotless...no dust, paint, glue...it all had to come off. And we couldn't use solvents. It's a tough tedious job. I do not envy you at all.
Hang in there!!
I always tell my husband that if you're very quiet and listen--you can hear the sucking sound of money flowing OUT of the house! LOL It seems to come in waves, doesn't it? Hang in there.
Gotta say though, my brother is a plumber and it sounds like you got hosed by your "friend"! How are the pipes up to code when you move in, then they're not?
The problems with our house began less than a month after we moved in. First the air conditoner set off the smoke detectors upstairs. There was a leak. Before the alarm went off, we thought it was raining outside. We spent another $5K on the a/c units before we could find out what was really wrong. The builder kept sending out teenage boys who were clueless. So we had to call other repairmen.
Another time we had to move out for a week so they could saw out the entire upstairs because the floors were so warped.
We have had 2 floods because of the poor roof.
I could go on...
A 1930s house I gutted and remodeled was less work and money.
And about the insurance--don't let your agent talk you into insuring your house for more than you have to. That makes your deductible go up.
We found that out the hard way. But I can't believe you aren't getting any help at all from your insurance with that much damage.
Unfortunately, that is the way houses are. Since, everything was bought/built at the same time they tend to fall apart at the same time. Probably, not what you want to hear, but sometimes you just need to count your blessings.
It will get better.
J.
I feel your pain. A few years ago, we had a really bad week. Our house was a foreclosure (before the market crash, when there wasn't a foreclosure on every corner) and it was very badly abused. When we first moved in, we had quite a racoon problem. While our house sat vacant for years, they took up residence in both our lower and upper attics. We spent a couple of years getting rid of them (nuisance control, traps, repairing/re-repairing points of entry, etc) We FINALLY got rid of them and had to have both of our attics cleaned, sanitized, and insulation re-blown. Turns out our insulation had NEVER been up to code. A few days after that was finished, our water main broke and flooded our driveway and yard. Around here, all the builders used a pipe called Blue Max (all late 80's and early 90's homes had it). Anyway, the pipe was found to be faulty and its pretty much a waiting game as to when it will give way and break. A lot of people pro-actively replace it to be able to sell their homes and/or avoid the break altogether. That week ended up costing about $5,000.00. We've had a lot of other things happen, but that week sticks in my mind as the most expensive in a short amount of time. You just have to move on and be thankful that you have the $$ to make the repairs...the joys of homeownership!!
oooh girl i feel your pain!!!
Our home is 40 years old...when we moved in, like you - things were "just at" code....some things had been replaced...water heater, furnace/AC...but man.....the wiring?! URGH!!!
We've lived in the house for 14 years...we've had one bad contractor after another come in and make more of a mess for us...EVEN after checking them out!! So now we are VERY hesitant to hire contractors to do the work...how sad is that?!
I would contact my insurance company and see what they cover - they also may be able to recommend a company to come out and "buff" the floor to get the gum off!!
GOOD LUCK!!!
We live in a farmhouse that is 35 years old. When we first moved in it only had well-water. Less than a month after we moved in, the pump for the well broke, and we had no water in the house. We decided to get city water put in for inside the house and fix the pump for the well for water for outside the house. It was a huge endeavor, and we didn't have ANY water for 2 weeks. $4000 later we had water the way we wanted it.
In the eleven years that we've lived here, we've replaced flooring throughout the house twice, replaced the water heater, kitchen countertops, front and back porches, stove, microwave, dishwasher, garbage disposal (twice), tractor, painted inside a couple of times, replaced baseboards, removed wallpaper, and this week we just replaced the well pump again, this time with a better quality pump that should last longer, but it cost us $1700.
We've become very handy, and do many repairs ourselves. We can install just about anything, except a well pump. Homeownership is a ton of work, but we love our little farmhouse. Good luck with the glue, and I would try the adhesive remover that someone mentioned. :)
Sorry for your woes and I'm glad it wasn't worse for you. Sending my best wishes for you.
I just saw your post and had to reply. I could hardly sleep last night worrying about my cracked foundation. My house is 18 years old. Two years ago I had a hot water slab leak. Got that fixed but had to get new flooring in the kitchen, dining, 1/2 bath, laundry and back hall. Same year had to get a new stove and new dishwasher. Last year was a new roof. The insurance paid for that but the deductible is still a chunk of money. I have two A/C units, one for the upstairs and one for the downstairs. The one for the upstairs is leaking and needs a new coil. I have a guy that can do it for me but he can't seem to find the part so I may end up having to replace the whole thing. In the meantime, no A/C upstairs so everyone is sleeping downstairs and the master is the only bedroom downstairs. Lucky me! Now I have a crack in the foundation and it is getting worse every day. I'm in the process of getting 3 bids and seeing if I have any coverage for this on my insurance. When I got divorced I was thankful that I was getting enough child support and combined with my income I would be able to stay in the house. Well, youngest just graduated so no more child support and now more money for repairs. Owning a home is not just about being able to make the payment but being able to pay for or DIY a lot of repairs. I so feel your pain right now. Hang in there!
Sounds very familiar! Three stinking weeks after we bought our house, the kids were taking a bath upstairs and my mom was yelling for me to come downstairs. There was water POURING out of the recessed lighting. I just about died! It turned out to be the bath tub gasket that the sellers rigged together and the need to replace the bath tub, which also meant rip the tile and walls out. It was evident there was more water damage AFTER this happened. The seller never disclosed and denied it... We had a plumber come out and inspect, he pointed out drywall damage in several areas that the home inspector missed. It doesn't end there either :) PS: we bought our house 7 months ago.
In 06 I bought my first home. I got a awful intrest rate and shoulda know from the get go! So we move in and its a big beautiful 2-story with a inground pool and life was supposed to be great. Umm nooo! The aircon was not big enough for 2 floors so I kid you not when I say my electric bill was over 900 a month! Two wks after we moved in a pipe burst over the kitchen and soaked the sheet rock causing about half of the sheet rock from the kitchen and family room to fall on the carpet and tile which ruined the carpet. Nice.. then that damn pool! Never again will I have a pool! And the topper... the mortgage company that financed me went bankrupt and I couldn't get financing I could afford and it foreclosed! Top that!
Did you let your Homeowners insurance company know about the pipes not being up to code? Most policies have an option that pays for part, if not all, of that if it's a covered loss. If you've already made the repairs, you may be out of luck. Also, was your insurance company giving you an estimate for actual cash value of the damages or replacement cost? Some pay replacement up front, others wait for the repairs to be made before they will reimburse for the replacement value. It seems like you would have a huge deductible if it's not paying for anything. Might be worth another call to them, just to verify. Good luck!
