We're in the process of buying a house, offer accepted,
owner has a flood in the basement (sump pump either failed
or wasn't plugged in!). We're getting differing stories
and haven't even gotten an updated disclosure yet.
Flood supposedly happened Thurs night, owners were away,
discovered flood approx sun night. Tuesday our inspector
was in to set up the radon test - owner had fans going but
had not removed the remenant carpets or rubber exercise
tiles in the two unfinished rooms of the basement. Owner
reported to the inspector that he had 1/2" of water and
the sump pump float got stuck. Thursday we have home
inspection - this is now 6 days out from flood event. The
dry wall is SCREAMING with each moisture test - it's still
soaked at least 12" up the wall.
We pull back the carpet and the concrete is still really
wet. The drywall in the furnace room (where the floor
drain is located) is so wet the paper is bubbling up and
there are black smudges on the wall (which could be just
dirt we have no way of knowing).
We report back that we want the place FIXED. Sick to our
stomachs over this. The sellers get a carpet steamer guy
in but not until SATURDAY who proceeds to say 1) that
everything is dry and then when my hubby questioned it 2)
I'll go check again. He reports back - oops it is still
slightly damp I'll put in dehumidfier and industrial
fans. Steemer guy says that mold can't grow in carpets
(uhh last time I checked it can). He's insisting there
isn't a problem. We request that our own flood remediation
expert go in on Wednesday - earliest we coul dget him in.
Home owner says - okay but I want to be there can we delay
it until Thursday (now almost 2 weeks out from flood
event).
thursday comes - home owner has removed the drywall in the
furnace room and replaced it. He did a horrible job and
didn't even use tape before mudding (seperate issue). To
boot - he's not even there, and his steemer guy - insists
things are dry even asks to borrow our guys monitor -
guess what. Its STILL not dry. This is 2 weeks later.
I really like this house, we've spent 6 months looking for
the right one, construction quality in this area seems to
be the pits the thought of looking for another house just
kills me... but we are REALLy concerned that it's been wet
for too long and mold has already started. Even if we pull
off the drywall after closing (which isn't until June 2)
we're worried about mold.
What would you do? Run? Force the seller to fix it? (we're
worried that they won't fix it right - not exactly a good
track record). Put 20K in an allowance or outright price
reduction and hope to god the mold hasn't spread through
the whole house?
This is supposed to be the first flood event in this
house, but at this point we don't trust the sellers to
provide an accurate disclosure!!
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