Leaking House

We are having Dogwood model constructed, and I am concerned about water leakage. Van Metre has just about finished with the siding and have the dry wall up on the inside, and given all this rain thought I would go check. Leaks around both the rear patio type doors, leaks around kitchen windows, and other places. I would like to know how many Van Metre home purchasers have had leaks, and then how did you get them fixed, and what was the fix.

Thanks for leaking your information

 

Hank- we had a bay window that leaked bad. When the forman was present at my home, I pointed to the saturated drywall area on the ceiling which was obviously wet(brown stain and all) and the forman says "oh, thats just the paint" seriously, I thought he was trying to start a fight. my intell has never been insulted in such a way.
Be careful who you are dealing with, take names, notes and be persistent without losing your cool.

 

I am also in a Dogwood in southern walk and have had leakages around the doors in the family room - I haven't noticed any in the kitched - yet. I didn't even know they were leaking until another Dogwood owner came to my door and asked me if I had this problem. Her leakage was much worse than mine and she said that several other dogwood owners had the same leakage problems in the same area - doors in the family room. I've reported my problem to Van Metre - nothing has been done yet. The lady who came to my door said she thought it was a basic design fault in the dogwood. VM have tried to fix her leak several times but it's still leaking. So my warning to you - don't settle until they fix the problem.
jaeris

jaeris

 

Hank,

You might want to considering hiring a home inspector while your home is being finished to oversee construction issues. Just read this past forum thread here about missing insulation for the need of doing that!
http://hoa.broadlands.org/forum34/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=109


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Got Broadband?

 

Yep, we hired a home inspector from Archer Inspections, as was recommended by some folks on this site with previous experience. Problem with that is they give you a one shot snapshot of what needs to be done, which they did, and which was addressed and dealt with. However, house construction is more of a continum, and you can't afford to have a home inspector there all the time. I am wondering if all or most the Dogwoods have leaking patio doors in the family room, if it could be a design problem? There are apparantly quite a few, and I just don't want to have to deal with it. Other suggestions have been not to settle before it is fixed, but you don't know if it is fixed until you get a rainstorm significant enough to id a leak. Tough problem for all parties.

 

Hank,

Next time it rains and you get a chance go check it out. Another option is to take a hose and spray that whole area around the door for a while. We had to do this when we had a problems with a leak on our front porch. It is covered so it would only leak if we got a really hard rain so when they came to work on it we tested it by using the hose.

CJA

 

CJA:

Which model do you own? I have a Fitzgerald, with covered porch on the front, and this last week, with the driving rain, had a leak in the upstairs window over the front door (under the attic vent), and it also leaked down over/around the front door (from behind the siding) under the protected roof area. I'm not sure where to start looking for leak, as it could be:
1: attic vent opening
2: Upper window
3: Flashing on porch roof
4: all the above

Michael

 

This topic is nothing new for those us who live in Overland Park. The Oakwood and Fernwood models are notorious for it's leaking problems. Oakwoods leak by the back kitchen door and Fernwoods leak by the front door. You would think that by now Van Metre would have figured out how the stop the leaks.

 

We woke up Thanksgiving morning to water damage in the finished area of our basement. Of course no one was at VM to deal with it. Friday when it rained we ran through the basement with buckets and towels trying to keep things from getting too out of control as the leak spread to unfinished areas as well. It's Tuesday and still no sign of VM - though they are scheduled to come tomorrow. Our guess is a crack/hole in the foundation near the front of our house (single family, no porch) or missing drainage tiles. If they don't even look until Wednesday, when will this get fixed??? Please do a no-rain dance for us as I can't handle any more rain in the basement this week!

Right now the damage includes insulation, drywall, trim, carpet - not to mention what digging they will have to do in the front to find the source and what will be needed to plug it up. This experience (one of many many many headaches in the 3 months since we moved in) has made me wish I hired an inspector. If nothing else, we'll hire one to poke around before the 1 year is up.

 

mlfrank - have you received any response from VM yet and what was the cause of the exessive leak in your basement??