Update: leak -call insurance or not -Squishy flooring and contracting help

[Kestrel]

You're going to have to open that floor in order to find the source. Sorry, I know that sucks. Until you find the source and the extent of the damage, you just don't know.

A couple things - I asked my Realtor DH about the asbestos. 1975 is unlikely to have asbestos, but if it does, it will greatly increase your costs. AND - if you get positive test results, you must disclose to potential buyers. You will almost certainly have to repair this before selling, unless sold for tear-down.

The idea of a home inspector is a good one - with reservations. Home inspectors _can_ do things like cut holes, ect if hired by the homeowner. They can't do what is called "destructive discovery"; (ie damage anything) when hired by a potential buyer. That might be a good idea for you, since they have no state in the repair. (They tend to be a good source for contractor/handyman recommendations.) But they would most likely have to take down vapor barrier and insulation to check, which you would then have to replace/repair.
Real estate law varies by location, but here you would have to disclose to potential buyers anything the inspector reports wrong with the house. So - be wary of getting a full home inspection and perhaps just have them do the problem area?

Also, I would wonder about the contractor not wanting to go in the crawlspace. This repair will require crawlspace work.

Could you contact your home insurance company? Depending on your policy, some of the repair might be covered.

I'm sorry you have to deal with this mess.

[Kestrel]

Double post monster strikes again!

[JustMe]

Thanks so much for the continued replies! LBW, that was a very helpful youtube video; thanks for posting it! I had googled, including youtube, I think I mostly focused on trying to figure out the cause, which is still one of my main concerns. I know someone posted that they never figured out the cause in their house, but I do think it is important here, as I think it is some thing that could happen again and , since I am not ready to sell, dont want to have the repair done just to have it happen again. Ugh, it could be a leak, but I am also concerned it could be something like termites or the house shifting in such a way that allowed ffor the moisture. It could also be something as simple as, its near where I keep my cats' water dishes and this is near where the vinyl meets my carpe and water could have gotten under the metal boundary separater thing (dont know that that's called). None of the contractors I spoke with think its the last thing.

Kestrel, thanks so much for speaking to your real estate agent husband and for the advice! It really may be asbestos as there is asbestos in my ceiling (had that tested years ago). There is also another layer of vinyl under the one on top, which makes it likely as well, although of course there are many reasons why layering on top might have happened. In any case, I have not heard back from the contractors who took a sample to get tested, and I should have heard back Monday. So, I need to follow up with them, but in some ways I was not in a rush as I am not ready to move forward with either of those contractors' services. I did contact contractor #4, who had said he might go under the house, and he told me he is working a job out of town, but does still plan to get to me and see if he can go under. He told me he does not think I need to feel I need to do something quickly (which I know from the research), but I do feel this is a really honest person.

My friend the plumber, also says she will try to come over tomorrow...but she is really focused on pulling up the carpet, so I need to talk with her about if she can put it back, etc. (she has an injury so is limited in what she can normally do).

Will keep the house inspection thing in mind. Agree that I am somewhat concerned about what they may find and, Kestrel, it is helpful to know that they can damage (purposefully, in order to inspect) without having to repair. Ugh.

Believe me, I dream about moving to another house..and sometimes even out of the country..but it really is beyond complicated and not something I can pull off at least not in the immediate future.

[MSWR0319]

Is the carpet that your friend wants to pull up near the vinyl? Or why is she wanting to pull the carpet up?


We've had a couple of different leaks that lead to squishy flooring. One was from a sliding door that leaked during rain storms, that soaked the floor but we didn't realize it until we were in the house when it was actually raining (this was our lake house). There was not permanent damage (like rot) so it just dried out and we fixed the door.

We recently had our bathroom faucet pipe go bad somehow. Our ceiling was leaking in the basement. So I followed it up and the carpet right above that was wet and it was on the other side of the wall from our bathroom faucet. I pulled the carpet up there to dry it out, and we had to cut a hole in the bathroom wall and vanity to find that the way they had plumbed the house had caused something to rub on the pipe over time and wore a hole in it. Pulling up carpet is not that big of a deal but it depends on how much you pull up as to how hard it is to put it back down. I did't have to pull much up so I was able to put it back down by myself and tuck it back under the baseboard. You wouldn't know anything had happened.

[JustMe]

Is the carpet that your friend wants to pull up near the vinyl? Or why is she wanting to pull the carpet up?


We've had a couple of different leaks that lead to squishy flooring. One was from a sliding door that leaked during rain storms, that soaked the floor but we didn't realize it until we were in the house when it was actually raining (this was our lake house). There was not permanent damage (like rot) so it just dried out and we fixed the door.

Yes, the carpet and vinyl meet/are right next to each other, if that makes sense. Carpet in living room which sort of connects to kitchen vinyl. Also parts of the carpet are in between the vinyl and where the outside faucet, if that makes sense.

The leaking through your sliding door thing is interesting/ b/c there is rot by the sliding door (one contractor cut a little piece of vinyl to see). I know it is not coming in through the actual window part and nothing is coming in on top substantially because we are hear during the rain/wind storms and would see that..not sure if it could just not make it into on top of the vinyl/where I would have seen it.

Hmmn, so seems like you didn't need any kind of adhesive to put the carpet back? I dont even have baseboard here, so just not sure how the carpet would go back...but this is something I can ask my plumber friend who wants to do that.

[MSWR0319]

Hmmn, so seems like you didn't need any kind of adhesive to put the carpet back? I dont even have baseboard here, so just not sure how the carpet would go back...but this is something I can ask my plumber friend who wants to do that.

No. There are probably tacks under the carpet to keep it down. That's a bit harder to put back but is still doable.

[MSWR0319]

Hmmn, so seems like you didn't need any kind of adhesive to put the carpet back? I dont even have baseboard here, so just not sure how the carpet would go back...but this is something I can ask my plumber friend who wants to do that.

No. There are probably tacks under the carpet to keep it down and maybe the edge rolled to show a smooth finish. If it's too hard, you can have a flooring person come in to tack it back down and it shouldn't take them long at all.

[JustMe]

Update in OP. Its a leak in the crawlspace!

[LBW]

I'm sorry - but it makes sense that it's a leak. I would call insurance since they will probably want to send an adjuster out to see the problem. They might want to do that now or when it's opened up.

[pharmjenn]

Our insurance would not pay to fix the problem (stop the leak) but did pay to repair the damage the leak caused. So we paid $50 to replace the section of pipe that was leaking, and insurance paid about $50k to repair the damage the water did to our floors, walls and cabinets.