Aluminum Patio Enclosures

I inspected a home with an aluminum patio enclosure. I detected a leak at the fascia board where the enclosure meets the house. The buyer calls me about a month after buying the home and complained about more leaks in the enclosure. I explained that this type of enclosure is prone to leaking and that there were no signs of further leaks at time of inspection. My question to other inspectors is do you disclaim these types of enclosures or do you own up to them if they leak.

aluminum patio enclosures when installed properly aren’t supposed to leak. sounds like a flashing issue from roof to patio cover or lack of proper flashing. fla requires these covers to be engineered and permitted before installation. you might want to find out if this was a permitted installation or done by a jackleg. i have installed hundreds of these and if they are installed correctly and counter flashed then there should be no leaks.

Tom,

If you discovered a leak at the fascia where this aluminum patio enclosure meets the house and you (supposedly) reported it as “Leaking”, then what’s their problem?

Why didn’t they have it repaired?

After all…your inspection is a snapshot of the property ON THE DAY AND TIME OF THE INSPECTION…what happens therafter (more leaks forming) isn’t or shouldn’t be discussed. By the way…my wife and I had window replacement done and our Florida room upgraded by Florida Exteriors…if anyone ou knoe is thinking about using them…send 'em MY way. Boy do I have a nightmare story about customer service and repair.

>:-(

Do you have any picutures of the area that we could look at.

Weston has a whole development where they installed super gutters. All of them are installed wrong and leaking back into the fascia and some of them into the house.

No I don’t disclaim them directley. I may indicate that is more prone to leaking depending on how its installed. In fact, because of their design you should be able to see whats going on more than in a typical exterior wall.