Help with rain damage and insurance claim

Nester · May 20, 2015

I am an insurance agent. I am sorry but the adjusters comments on the lack of coverage due to the lack of a sudden and accidental trigger is accurate. To graving comment, the onus is on the insured to prove it. Was sudden and accidental, more often than not its pretty darn obvious what the cause is, if it's not obvious that's when you have problems. Leaks and seepage are never covered, unless caused by something like a tree falling through your roof, but at that point it's not really a leak.

You may be able to cover some damaged contents under your condo policy. Water bursting through your roof as shown in the pictures may be considered sudden ! Sadly. This won't help with the on going problem....

Your going to have to sue your builder and architect or just pay to fix it.

You may be able to make. Claim under your contents insurance

Nester · May 20, 2015

VariaVespasa_sl said:
Our deductable is 5k too. Imagine our joy when some dumbass in the building (or more likely someones dumbass kids playing with the paper shredder) kept flushing shredded plastic down the toilet and blocked the drains causing flooding FOUR damn times over a few months. 20k wasted in a 17 unit building. Imagine our joy.

Wait till you try and renew your policy and find no one will give you water damage with a deductible less than $50k
One of my clients had 3 large water damage claims in 3 years. They now have a $100k water deductible.

Remit_sl · May 20, 2015

Unless I am missing something, or unless the water sat there for a while and molded, that looks like about $500-1000 worth of damage. Although this will be a recurring issue if the weather hits just right, it doesnt look like it would be worth a legal battle.

Gavinmad · May 20, 2015

The problem is that, depending on how incompetently the waterproofing around the upstairs deck was done, it may take quite a bit more to get it fixed so it stops happening. Unless you just squeeze a couple tubes of lap seal onto every single seam and kick the can down the road.

Frenzied Wombat · May 20, 2015

Gavinmad_sl said:
The problem is that, depending on how incompetently the waterproofing around the upstairs deck was done, it may take quite a bit more to get it fixed so it stops happening. Unless you just squeeze a couple tubes of lap seal onto every single seam and kick the can down the road.

Yeah, pretty much this. There's no point in fixing the ceiling until the leaks are identified and stamped out. That's basically what the builder did for the first 4 years each time we mentioned the problem-- we'd report dripping/bubbling in the ceiling, the builder would send out a Mexican with a caulking gun who would randomly slop some goop on where he "thought" the leak was coming from, patch the ceiling, and then six months later during the next rainstorm we'd start all over again. The builder simply never wanted to address the root causes because of $$$ I assume.

In any case, after a threatening email to the builder where I stated that unless he address the patio integrity I'd post online all the emails/pics of interactions with him as well as the damages over the years, he agreed to have a company come out and do the dye/leak testing and address the external issues. He's a sneaky slimeball but we'll see..

Nester · May 20, 2015

Remit_sl said:
Unless I am missing something, or unless the water sat there for a while and molded, that looks like about $500-1000 worth of damage. Although this will be a recurring issue if the weather hits just right, it doesnt look like it would be worth a legal battle.

It sounds like it's an on going issue. Ie time to call a restoration contractor to sweep for mold.......

Remit_sl · May 20, 2015

This is another owners patio correct? Any way to pry on them, but not be a dick about it? Try and get everyone to threaten the builder?

Picasso3 · May 21, 2015

Nester_sl said:
I am an insurance agent. I am sorry but the adjusters comments on the lack of coverage due to the lack of a sudden and accidental trigger is accurate. To graving comment, the onus is on the insured to prove it. Was sudden and accidental, more often than not its pretty darn obvious what the cause is, if it's not obvious that's when you have problems. Leaks and seepage are never covered, unless caused by something like a tree falling through your roof, but at that point it's not really a leak.

You may be able to cover some damaged contents under your condo policy. Water bursting through your roof as shown in the pictures may be considered sudden ! Sadly. This won't help with the on going problem....

Your going to have to sue your builder and architect or just pay to fix it.

You may be able to make. Claim under your contents insurance

And if any of that sudden or accidental shit actually happens it's an act of God and not covered.

lurker · May 21, 2015

If the original contractor is still around, you need to go to the state licensing board and talk to them about him. I've found these folks to be mostly on your side and there's a good chance they will have a talk with him especially if all the homeowners get involved at once in this matter. I've also seen them pull a contractor's license over a similar issue even though the work was no longer under warranty. Unfortunately, the homeowner was still on the hook for repairs as the worker had moved out of state, but he was never going to be licensed in AZ again. The sub-contractors on the job all pitched in to fix the problem at little expense to the homeowner. I don't think homeowner's insurance was involved.

Furry · May 21, 2015

The fact that I was able to correctly diagnose the problem and solution with a picture that didn't even show the problem gives you an idea of how simple the fundamental design flaws of this construction are. Half the rednecks and mexicans who came out knew exactly what it was wrong- what they told you was contract speak for "fuck this shit."

The smart thing to do here is replace the seals, but it can and WILL leak again eventually, but hopefully you're smart enough to move out by then. The design is fundamentally flawed. The more permanent solution of sealing the whole patio is going to get you charged an arm and a leg, and look stupid as fuck.

My guess:
400-500 in raw cost for the seal fix and ceiling- 2500-3000$ charged price.
1200$ or so raw cost for completely sealing the patio and fixing ceiling- about 7-9k is what they'll try to charge you.

It sounds like hard work, and thats when you really fuck over the customer hardest.

Kedwyn · May 22, 2015

Picasso_sl said:
And if any of that sudden or accidental shit actually happens it's an act of God and not covered.

You don't know what you're taking about.

Khane · May 22, 2015

Insurance is a racket. I learned a very expensive lesson about that when one of my retaining walls failed during a really bad storm.

Picasso3 · May 22, 2015

They don't cover earth movement.

Frenzied Wombat · May 22, 2015

Picasso_sl said:
They don't cover earth movement.

They don't cover much it seems.. if you read the list of exclusions in detail, they definitely have their bases covered..

As an update, leak testing is being done next Wednesday.. Today I am looking for some sort of contractor to remove the insulation and loose drywall with all those lovely black spots on them which I'm assuming is mold. Not sure if it's anxiety, the mold, or something else-- but in the last few days I've had constant headaches and crazy night sweats. I've been waiting up until now as the inspector was going to recommend a contractor to handle everything from A-Z, but I want that shit out asap.

Furry · May 22, 2015

Frenzied Wombat_sl said:
They don't cover much it seems.. if you read the list of exclusions in detail, they definitely have their bases covered..

As an update, leak testing is being done next Wednesday.. Today I am looking for some sort of contractor to remove the insulation and loose drywall with all those lovely black spots on them which I'm assuming is mold. Not sure if it's anxiety, the mold, or something else-- but in the last few days I've had constant headaches and crazy night sweats. I've been waiting up until now as the inspector was going to recommend a contractor to handle everything from A-Z, but I want that shit out asap.

You're going to go to the contractor the inspector recommends? fuck man... I hope that inspector is your friend, cause you about to get fucked.

Frenzied Wombat · May 22, 2015

Furry_sl said:
You're going to go to the contractor the inspector recommends? fuck man... I hope that inspector is your friend, cause you about to get fucked.

Well, I feel kind of fucked any way I go. Historically, if I go with companies I research on the net, I end up with a random Mexican or redneck that has a 50% chance of never even showing up, and if they do their work has been historically garbage. Right now because I basically want that insulation and mold out NOW, I'm researching companies on fucking Angie's list.

There's many moving parts to this issue and no easy path that doesn't involve getting fucked it seems. I need a vendor to do the leak testing, one to fix the leaks and possibly reinstall the gutter and external siding, one to do the mold remediation, and one to replace drywall/paint. The inspector has offered to handle/manage it all at a 32%!!! markup over the contractor quotes, which to me sounds fucking ridiculous..

Picasso3 · May 22, 2015

Absolutely ridiculous, architects charge 7.

Furry · May 22, 2015

Don't fix the mold problem until the seal is done. It's been there for years, and it aint gonna do shit being there a little longer. Some people like to panic and flip out over black mold or whatever, but most of the time its not even that, yet alone something to worry about.

Yea, that inspector is gonna fuck you over dry if he can. If its one person in all of this i would trust even less than contractors, its inspectors. If you're gonna get yourself fucked, just go to reputable large companies so you're fucked by someone a bit more high class.

I'd go on some rant about how you should learn to do shit yourself, but either you have the drive to do that or you don't. I really advise against the whole patio getting fishbowled. I really advise for fixing it enough and moving out.

Kirun · May 22, 2015

Furry_sl said:
I really advise for fixing it enough and moving out.

100% this. Landlords are notoriously dickbags and dealing with insurance companies, contractors, inspectors, etc. is a futile effort of frustration. I had a similar issue with an apartment complex about 7 months ago. Unless you have thousands of dollars to piss away in litigation just to "prove a point" (it's usually going to cost more to litigate that it is to fix), it's always better to just move out ASAP.

lurkingdirk · May 22, 2015

The issue with fixing it enough and moving out are that if you don't disclose, and there is a documented problem, you could still be on the hook for the fix in the end.

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