Earlier this week, I got an email from a person we did a Stucco inspection for about 13 months ago. One week ago in heavy rains, he had water coming in around a 2nd floor window or trim area and running down to the 1st floor.
He was mad because he hired us to tell him what the seller had to repair …
After trading emails back and forth, I went to storage and pulled out a copy of his report and reviewed it. After reading it I was shocked.
To start with we were not allowed to bore, probe or do any intrusive type of inspection. It was just walk, look and comment. I took a highlighter and went through the report marking repair comments OR recommendations for further evaluations by a competent … The report had over 40 such comments, along the lines of: flashings were missing; caulking was missing or improper; there were cracks in the stucco; there was damage to the stucco; there was mesh showing through the stucco; the foam visible at the walls bottom was not designed for EIFS; there were no deck flashings; there were ACTIVE water leaks coming inside the day I was there; there was mold; the stucco was loose at spots and the walls flexed in/out when we pushed on them; there were missing kickouts; etc; etc. We recommended professional contractors to evaluate and repair above conditions. We also recommended reviewing the engineers drawings or blueprints for details.
He states the seller did repairs BUT he won’t say what OR provide any details regarding what he negotiated for OR what the seller agreed to do AND whether any professional contractors were consulted or NOT.
He has ducked and dodged the facts AND his realtor is now with another company and does not want to get involved. She did state she doesn’t remember the seller doing anything but caulking stuff. He keeps trying to hang his hat on 1 fact - that I may have found over 40 defects BUT the one causing his problem I didn’t find ???
Buyers are amazing. They didn’t fix the 40, why do you think he would have fixed #41 - you start thinking in terms of insurance fraud.
You guys must really have your hands full when you live in an area where it rains and have incompetent EIFS and and other type of stucco installers, I would almost guess just about every building has moisture intrusion at one location or another because of the lack of knowledge installing it and from what Carl Brown also says, most contractors don’t give a damn either.
Some of the pictures of system failures Carl has near Dan Bowers simply amaze me.
Ive only found one house where it was installed properly. We have whole neighborhoods with improperly installed EIFS. Many Realtors tell me they won’t even take on or list a home with an EIFS exterior. It is not just one or two things wrong, it is the entire systems are installed wrong, poorly or both. Many are homes built by “custom” builders in gated communities.
Maybe they need to question the building codes officials to see if their house was built to code. Even tho thats just a minimum.
Every job I ever touched could fail for one reason or another most of the reasons I could not control and no one wanted to make changes! And they still do not. If one really trys to make changes in the trades and it might cost the membership of the HBA a few dollars up front forget it. And if the codes people need to enforce the codes and it might chase builders off to another city where the code enforcement is less forget it.
Until they go back to sillpan flashings that exit the water to the exterior of the cladding the failures and lawsuits will not stop!
I’d have to make arangements with the current owner “no longer your client from the sound of things” to review the property and photo document what “repairs” and damage are present at this time.
Another reason for a 52X zoom camera, some won’t allow us back on the property.
Good luck and hope this doesn’t go south on you.
I guess I’ll have to make a trip to Chi-town to see some quality installation???
