Money pit!!!!

[HIU8]

My house has become a money pit! We need gutter covers to stop the debris from building up (or we have to clean them out monthly--yes, monthly) and for water management since it's seeping into the basement. A cinderblock wall in our basement is bowing into the house. We have black mold in the basement and mold spores are turning up around the house. Our mirror drain and sump pump may not be working. We have estimates with 8 waterproofing companies. First one wants $10,000 to waterproof from the inside and rip up what was already done 13 years ago before we owned the house. Second one says 13 years ago they did what they could and the only thing he can offer is to clean the mold, fix the wall and install a dehumidifyer. We don't want to stay here much longer. We don't want to sink $50,000 into fixing our issues (the water had brought termites before we owned the house, lots of critters in the basement, oh, and I cannot forget the mice!!!). I so do not want to be here anymore. I'm done!!! It seems we made a huge mistake buying this house and now we are paying for it LITERALLY.

13 years ago these issues were FIXED (yeah right...) and nothing was disclosed to us at settlement. Now it's TO LATE.

[ha98ed14]

That totally sucks! Did you buy the house recently or 13 years ago? If it was recent, are you sure it is too late to see damages for non-disclosures. Might be worth getting an atty to check. Also, if recent, check to see if any of it is covered by the home warranty. I'm sorry.

[Tanya]

I feel for you. I want out too.

We've lived here for 12 years. The first spring we lived here, we had water in our basement 24 hours after every single rain. We had the $10k estimate too (Everdry?). Our house is in the middle of a hill, so we ended up putting in two retaining walls with drains and that fixed it. The blocks cost us less than $400, but it was hard work.

However, I think that this house has seen so much water over the years that it caused foundation problems. We were having trouble with a door closing and some cracks around the doorway and worse, there were cracks on the outside of the house stair stepping on the bricks. So, this spring, we spent $18k to put the steel piers in around the house. We figured we'd never be able to sell this house if we didn't do something.
With the foundation work, we lost most of our landscaping (bushes, mulch, grass, etc.). Sure, that's not expensive to replace at all! ARGH!

And whenever we have a hard rain that blows towards the back of our house, we get water spots on our kitchen ceiling. I can't figure it out because we have a two story house and the kitchen is on the first floor and we don't know where it's coming in. I know I need to call someone, but I'm not sure who and I just don't have the money.

Our house doesn't work for us anymore. There isn't enough storage. I'm too depressed to get off my butt and declutter. I hate this house.
And we're trying to pay for IVF. I'm not a young chicken, so while it would be nice if I could wait, my eggs can't.

Oh, and we paid $4k for the maintenance free gutters. Dh used to climb a ladder onto the first story roof, then pull that ladder onto the roof to climb up to the second story roof. I walked around the yard with the cordless phone in my hand ready to dial 911. We have lots of trees, so we did this several times a year (not monthly though!). I hated spending the money, but we have been happy with the gutters.

Anyway, I'm really sorry and I understand. There's always something going wrong huh?

Tanya

[Nyfeara]

Sorry to hear about the issues - we had our share within 2-3 years of moving into our house. Warranty did not cover it b/c it technically was not 'structural'. We had the basement drain re-done b/c it was not done correctly when the house was built and added extra fill around the foundation (to fill in what had settled) and regraded a little and made sure all the gutters extended at least 10' or so from the house.

Tanya- As for the spots in your kitchen, we had a leak in our kitchen too. Our kitchen is on the first floor of a 2-story house. The water was coming in thru one of the vent pipes in the roof & following the pipe down and then dripping above the kitchen. The rubber collars around the pipes eventually dry rot, etc on the roof & need to be replaced periodically.

Water issues are always such fun...

Good luck!