All houses leak

[bustednutz]

Well I am convinced of it.....every house leaks to some extent. Every single house I have ever lived at leaks in rain. Whether its into the basement, from a faulty shingle, or a leak around siding where it meets a window or door.
Right now my latest battle is a leak from the chimney down onto the prefab fireplace unit in the house.
OK, so you also have a leak? How do you go about tracing it and sealing it up? I've gone so far as to cut drywall out of the house in order to trace those rotten leak S.O.B.'s
Maybe its just me, but I have a huge personal problem with water leaks. Floors can squeek, house can creak, drains can run slow....those don't really bother me. But if its raining and I see a leak, I lose it.
I've read more articles in the past few years about house leaks then ever before. All these McMansions that went up have leaks and poor construction issues. I read about them in our local paper. Its always someone suing the builder for shoddy work. My first house that was built in the late 40's rivaled the construction thats going on today. These "planned" communities get thrown up so fast that theres no time for quality control. And I know an inspector is only going to be able to catch so much, some stuff is gonna slide by him.
Anyway, I am 100% convinced that no house, new or old, is leakproof.

 

[StevieC]

All the houses I have lived in have never leaked at all. This is included the heavy rains we can have in the summer and during the spring thaw where there is a ton of water around the houses as the snow melts.

We have a cracked foundation in this current house (long story) and it doesn't leak, but does let in the crickets. We have sealed it up from the inside with some silicone until we can address the problem on the outside.

Houses can leak from poor foundation construction or from cracks in the foundation that show up when the house "Settles" over the years or when water finds its way in between the ground and your house and then freezes/cracks the wall. (Not so much a problem where you live). They can also leak in the roof and follow a path downwards inside the walls.

It can be frustrating... The best way I would think is to wet the area that you think it affected from the ouside with a garden hose. Then try to trace its path on the inside. You could have a crack feet away from where it leaks into your basement etc.

 

[bepperb]

I hear you bustednutz, we've been in our house for a few years with no problems, but his year there is a leak somewhere around the chimney. The roof slope is 12/12, so now I need to concoct some elaborate rope system to get to it. Arrgh. You have to stay on it, water in a house can cause all sorts of problems.

 

[tomcat27]

my track record agrees with you. this house had a double leak in the same spot: kitchen ceiling leaked when raining. no prob: reroofed over the kitchen. problem solved until a snowmelt day when I got ceiling leak again. this drove me crazy as I sealed and inspected carefully... still leaked. finally cut open the kitchen ceiling to discover a cracked vent line for the sink. ?!?!??!?! Ice would form in the vent line (steam from dishwasher) and on snowmelt days the ice would melt and leak thru the ceiling. never heard of that one before!

 

[Kestas]

Most roofers do the absolute minimum to accomplish a job. A lot of times that's the result of homeowners looking for the lowest bottom line and not allowing for quality in the quotes. Still a third facet of this is when buyers look at a home, all they care about is whether the roof is under 8 years old or so. All of this lends pressure for us to have a nation of roofs that are made of shoddy construction and don't last long.

I redid the roof on my 46-year-old home myself. No help, and no rush. It took me five months to finish. I had to remove three layers, redeck the soft wood, and reflash the chimneys. While removing the roofs, I saw the shortcuts that were taken in the previous jobs. Being that I'll be camped out in my home for a while, I did the best job possible with the best materials available. DIY is really the only way to ensure a quality job is done and to have a leak-free roof.

Check some of the talk on roofing.com and the horror stories the contractors have to tell.

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: bustednutz
All these McMansions that went up have leaks and poor construction issues.


That's because the builder's contractors do their employment recruiting in 7-11 parking lots at 6am.

 

[tomcat27]

Absolutely true!! I've worked in the trades. During the housing boom many people became "contractors" who really did a diservice to the industry and to their customers!

 

[oilyriser]

The only way to get a perfect roof, with typical roofing employees, is to use a single slope, with no protrusions of any kind.

http://www.suite101.com/view_image.cfm/663517

Even so, it might still blow away during a wind storm if they didn't anchor it properly.

Flashing is usually done wrong, with a single piece of sheet metal and caulk on top, which breaks after several years. Shingles often get nailed through the seal strip. The strip gets pushed down and the ones above never bond, and eventually break off after several years of storms. Vent pipes attract creative money saving techniques, like flipping the rubber collars over to the good side instead of installing new ones.

 

[Kestas]

The roof is a horrible place to put architectural detail (i.e., extra gables, cupolas). Some McMansions have seven gables! Any complexity increases the chance of leakage.

 

[labman]

#1 When I was managing a small factory, adding a penetration in a wall required permission from corporate headquarters. I was free to bash all the holes in the roof I wanted.

 

[BuickGN]

I have to agree with you guys on the quality and the reasons behind it. My parents' house was built in '87 and no real problems other than a leaky shower from the beginning. They just got a new roof and the leaks began. My father got the "40 year" roof and it didn't make it through the first rain. Had to get it redone. Then the AC quit working. My father was back in Iraq at this time so I went on the roof since my mother was alone in a 105 degree summer. The AC was not bolted down and had slid down away from the ducting. Then the solar cells shorted from a kink in the conduit from when they were removed and so on and so on. First indication the cells weren't working was the power bill. After much debate we got them to pay the month's power bill. It was one problem after another plus, not that I mind but my mother having to stay with me until the AC was fixed.

 

[bustednutz]

Here in Virginia anyone with a truck and $50.00 can go get a business license and become a roofer, framer, siding specialist, etc... These people are everywhere. And places like Lowes and Home Depot hire them to to their labor when selling stuff. I spent 2 weeks fixing a leak around an 2nd level patio door. The leak was coming in where the siding met the door frame at the bottom corner. I removed the siding, re-did the underlayment, sealed it up really good. We decided to go out and get French doors for that room. I specifically warned the installer to take extra care, as I just fixed a leak. Told them I wanted it done nice and tight. They "yes'd" me to death then installed it.
Looked great, except when that first pounding rain came in. My hard work was for naught. I went out there and re-did their job for them because they were such screw-ups. Why didn't I call them back? Thats another story about carpeting guys that came back 3 times to fix their lousy work.
So all in all, its almost impossible to find good people that take pride in their work. Not anyone on this board of course, but in the general public.

 

[Kestas]

No one aspires to be a roofer, window installer, or carpet layer. It's a job people end up with.

 

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
No one aspires to be a roofer, window installer, or carpet layer. It's a job people end up with.


I think that's true most of the time but not all of the time. I have a friend that is a roughneck on an oil rig. He has his masters and some other degree too. He truly loves the work even though he could have a nice office job if he chose to. I realize he's probably in the minority.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Our house doesn't.

When we built I acted as my own general contractor. I could choose the subs that I wanted and made sure the quality was at a level I expected.

No water in the basement, never a roof leak, and energy bills that are cheaper than most houses half the size.

There are quality contractors out there, but not if you're looking for the cheapest contractor.

 

[The_Jeff]

My skylight leaks once a year when the wind is just wrong. Tore the shingles up and the flashing etc around the box looks perfect. Letting it be, "just one of those things."

Basement is a flow-through design, easier to pump it out as it trickles in than to deal with the fieldstone foundation.

 

[Kestas]

I can't remember being at any house where the skylight wasn't a leak problem. I still don't see how anyone can properly flash a skylight. Or maybe it's the condensation in the winter time. But either way, all the one's I've seen are a problem. I have no desire to put one in my home.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Originally Posted By: brianl703
Originally Posted By: bustednutz
All these McMansions that went up have leaks and poor construction issues.


That's because the builder's contractors do their employment recruiting in 7-11 parking lots at 6am.


Thats exactly where all the roofers,landcapers,painters and most all other house workers come from down here..I think thats where my condo commandos got their roofers from.

I think every place from Fort Lauderdale to Miami has leak issues..The people who live on the top floor of the condo complain about leaks..Water leaks in around my wall unit in back of the house..The parking garage I use in downtown Miami has leaks everywhere and my health club has foundation problems and water is leaking in certain spots.

Just found out today my condo building has a major leak in the walls and everyone in the building will have a assement of 1100 bucks to have this major leak fixed.

 

[mpvue]

my foundation leaks when it rains for a few days in a row, but it's a 110 yo house w/ a stone foundation.
had the roof done 2yrs ago by a well respected local outfit- all his workers were Polish immigrants. never seen such professionalism in contractors before. excellent job. didn't want ANY money until the job was completely done. they gave me a contract at the beginning and that's what it cost. they even went the extra step and used real copper flashing around my chimneys and replaced some rotted subroof.
in another project I'm doing, I'm fighting w/ some cheap french doors I bought and installed some years ago. an undetected leak due to my poor flashing job and a bad sill design led to rebuiding the entire rear room. I wound up rebuiding the door frame and sill myself from scratch.
so anyway, yeah, leaks suck.

 

[oilyriser]

The problem stems from official policy to make as many university graduates (lawyers, doctors, accountants... ) as possible, in order to create "high paying service jobs" (burger flippers until the economy picks up). Most of the good talent is sucked up by office jobs, and nobody wants to work under the sky.