# similar to debodun's repair topic..



## JaniceM (Jun 19, 2020)

I didn't want to hijack Deb's thread, so I'm posting this separately on a somewhat similar issue:

One of the incompetent contractors tore holes in the walls, and the main concern is the outer wall-  when it rained/stormed, and rainfall was in certain direction, water came in and flooded the room.  After this happened numerous times I used caulk-  but evidently didn't have/use enough because it happened again recently.  So this time I used more, and caulk is labeled waterproof, primarily for exterior use.  

First, what do you think the chance is that this will keep the water out?

Second, considering how water came in, don't you think the damage is probably extreme enough that the OUTSIDE of the building should be checked and repaired?  

(Unlike Deb, though, I'm a tenant not a homeowner)


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 19, 2020)

Is it possibly for you to post a picture or two?


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## JaniceM (Jun 19, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> Is it possibly for you to post a picture or two?


The room it's in is at a higher level-  wouldn't be able to reach it without a ladder..


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 19, 2020)

Just trying to get an idea as to how the rain is migrating into the house.

Could it be from open areas in the roof itself, and not a result of holes in the wall?

From outside your home can you see the exterior walls that are compromised with holes in them? Is there missing siding, etc?


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## JaniceM (Jun 19, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> Just trying to get an idea as to how the rain is migrating into the house.
> 
> Could it be from open areas in the roof itself, and not a result of holes in the wall?
> 
> From outside your home can you see the exterior walls that are compromised with holes in them? Is there missing siding, etc?


Similar to Deb's house, it's brick.  Although the building is very old, I lived here for many years and never experienced this til the guy tore the holes in the walls.  

Also, while my main concern is keeping water out, I'm also concerned it could be getting _underneath _the flooring.


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 19, 2020)

When hubby get's home from work tonight I'll run this thread by him so he can weigh-in on it.

It sounds to me as though water is infiltrating the exterior structure of the home, then making it's way down the inside of a wall, before coming out near an area floor level.

If such is the case, sealing the leaking area will not only prove to be a temporary fix, it fails to address the true problem of an exposed area much higher.


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## Keesha (Jun 19, 2020)

JaniceM said:


> I didn't want to hijack Deb's thread, so I'm posting this separately on a somewhat similar issue:
> 
> One of the incompetent contractors tore holes in the walls, and the main concern is the outer wall-  when it rained/stormed, and rainfall was in certain direction, water came in and flooded the room.  After this happened numerous times I used caulk-  but evidently didn't have/use enough because it happened again recently.  So this time I used more, and caulk is labeled waterproof, primarily for exterior use.
> 
> ...


A contractor put holes in your walls?
What are your walls made of?
Is there a vapour barrier between the siding / bricks and particle board ? What’s your house made of?
If water came in and flooded the room then patching the wall up with caulking, isn’t working. With something THIS serious, I’d talk to a professional. Even if you don’t hire them, at least get a professional opinion.

The people who built our house put the vapour barrier up backwards. My husband built a back deck with no flashing so our walls started rotting. My husband and I had to jack up the top floor and replace the entire back wall including French doors, windows, joists, sills, as well as part of the floor. It was a huge job that we did by ourselves with no outside help. A huge job. All this was damage done that couldn’t be seen. I kept smelling mould and it wasn’t until I bought an air exchanger and my husband started installing it that he found the problem.

What I’m getting at is that if you can see a room getting flooded, then there’s a whole lot going on that you aren’t seeing. This happened 5 years ago.


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## Ken N Tx (Jun 19, 2020)

JaniceM said:


> (Unlike Deb, though, I'm a tenant not a homeowner)


Inform the owner, its his responsibility..


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## JaniceM (Jun 19, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> When hubby get's home from work tonight I'll run this thread by him so he can weigh-in on it.
> 
> It sounds to me as though water is infiltrating the exterior structure of the home, then making it's way down the inside of a wall, before coming out near an area floor level.
> 
> If such is the case, sealing the leaking area will not only prove to be a temporary fix, it fails to address the true problem of an exposed area much higher.


Thank you


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## JaniceM (Jun 19, 2020)

Keesha said:


> A contractor put holes in your walls?
> What are your walls made of?
> Is there a vapour barrier between the siding / bricks and particle board ? What’s your house made of?
> If water came in and flooded the room then patching the wall up with caulking, isn’t working. With something THIS serious, I’d talk to a professional. Even if you don’t hire them, at least get a professional opinion.
> ...


Yes, the last part of your post is a big concern..

This is what happened:  I gladly agreed to contractor installing new flooring.  He did such a great job I even complimented him on his work.  However- I did not agree to him returning on another day to tear out the baseboards and replace them with "stick-on baseboards."  The original baseboards were so secure he needed to use a crowbar to pry them out = tore two holes in inner walls, plus the one I referred to.  

Walls appear to be concrete, or something similar.  Admittedly I don't know what a vapour barrier is.


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## Pinky (Jun 19, 2020)

I would be concerned with black mold forming .. health hazard. Is the owner of the building not concerned with this matter?


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## JaniceM (Jun 19, 2020)

Ken N Tx said:


> Inform the owner, its his responsibility..


If the caulking doesn't work and I need to do that, I hate to even imagine the results.  
What I'm MOST steamed about is this never should have happened-  as there was no reason to tear out the baseboards, the landlords should have known unnecessary work cannot be done without tenant's consent.  Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of this myself til quite recently.


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## JaniceM (Jun 19, 2020)

Pinky said:


> I would be concerned with black mold forming .. health hazard. Is the owner of the building not concerned with this matter?


Probably not.


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## Keesha (Jun 19, 2020)

Yeah, black mould is a huge probability and concern. It’s evil stuff. After we finished our huge job we hired a professional who used An ultra red light  device to detect any leaks and none was detected. Tearing the baseboards out shouldn’t be flooding your house though unless you have no proper slope from your building and water is collecting there.

Vapour barrier is used in between vinyl siding and particle board. Our house is partially brick and partially vinyl siding. We had to replace it all. If your house is an old one made exclusively of brick then vapour barrier probably wasn’t used.


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## Keesha (Jun 19, 2020)

Correction: I just text my husband at work to be sure and he says there should be vapour barrier in between brick walls also so my mistake. Maybe really old ones didn’t use it. Not really sure on that but definitely something worth investigating.

Come to think of it, we replaced all our basement windows at the front of our house 3 years ago and I definitely remember having to wrap the vapour barrier around the border of the window opening so it’s a yes on new brick buildings.


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## Keesha (Jun 19, 2020)

JaniceM said:


> Yes, the last part of your post is a big concern..
> 
> This is what happened:  I gladly agreed to contractor installing new flooring.  He did such a great job I even complimented him on his work.  However- I did not agree to him returning on another day to tear out the baseboards and replace them with "stick-on baseboards."  The original baseboards were so secure he needed to use a crowbar to pry them out = tore two holes in inner walls, plus the one I referred to.
> 
> Walls appear to be concrete, or something similar.  Admittedly I don't know what a vapour barrier is.


Oh. My initial thoughts were that if he was putting in any type of floor then baseboards usually are taken off first, the floor is laid and the baseboards replaced. I’m not sure how or why he’d do a floor with the baseboards in place only to come back to rip them off your walls. 


He used a crowbar to get the old baseboards off?
Did it damage the baseboards while he took them off? Were your older baseboards much taller and stronger ones?

If he took the baseboards off recklessly , he may have done some damage. What were these baseboards attached to and how were they attached? Were they attached to particle board or the concrete type wall you refer to? I‘m not sure if there’s supposed to be  a vapour barrier or not but I’d seriously look into this. Most contractors have insurance and if he’s responsible for this then his insurance will pay for repairs.

Did you have water damage before this happened?

If he’s ripped out the floor boards he may have ripped out the vapour barrier and or put holes in your concrete foundation. Serious stuff that you might want to check out. I’d be angry also.


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## C'est Moi (Jun 19, 2020)

I can't imagine that removing baseboards would leave openings to the outside of the house.  That's really strange.  Sounds like there is no vapor barrier for sure.  I hope you can get it fixed correctly, Janice.


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## JaniceM (Jun 19, 2020)

Keesha said:


> Oh. My initial thoughts were that if he was putting in any type of floor then baseboards usually are taken off first, the floor is laid and the baseboards replaced. I’m not sure how or why he’d do a floor with the baseboards in place only to come back to rip them off your walls.
> *Yes that's the sensible way of looking at it.
> He said the owner who hired him is "cheap," and because he gets paid so little he stretches jobs out as long as possible.  *
> 
> ...


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## JaniceM (Jun 19, 2020)

C'est Moi said:


> I can't imagine that removing baseboards would leave openings to the outside of the house.  That's really strange.  Sounds like there is no vapor barrier for sure.  I hope you can get it fixed correctly, Janice.


It wouldn't have- if he hadn't torn holes in the wall in the process.


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## C'est Moi (Jun 19, 2020)

JaniceM said:


> It wouldn't have- if he hadn't torn holes in the wall in the process.


But even if I tear a hole in my wall I don't see the outside or have anything leak in.  There's insulation, vapor barrier, backer board, etc. to keep the elements out.


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## JaniceM (Jun 19, 2020)

C'est Moi said:


> But even if I tear a hole in my wall I don't see the outside or have anything leak in.  There's insulation, vapor barrier, backer board, etc. to keep the elements out.


Well, considering the place was built long before I was born, there's no way of knowing what's in there or what condition it's in.  
All I do know was this problem didn't occur til contractor made the mistakes, and the area where the one hole is is where the water's been coming in from.


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## C'est Moi (Jun 19, 2020)

JaniceM said:


> Well, considering the place was built long before I was born, there's no way of knowing what's in there or what condition it's in.
> All I do know was this problem didn't occur til contractor made the mistakes, and the area where the one hole is is where the water's been coming in from.


I hope they can get it fixed for you.


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## Aunt Marg (Jun 19, 2020)

JaniceM said:


> Well, considering the place was built long before I was born, there's no way of knowing what's in there or what condition it's in.
> All I do know was this problem didn't occur til contractor made the mistakes, and the area where the one hole is is where the water's been coming in from.


Hubby asked me to mention, could it just be coincidence that water problems erupted after you had the floors done? High water table that year... heavy rains, etc?


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## Keesha (Jun 19, 2020)

Sorry! I meant to say baseboards. The fact that he took the baseboards off with a crowbar, made holes in your wall and didn’t fill them up is very unprofessional. Saying he only gets so much money from his boss so is cutting corners so he can make more money is a scam. What he did doesn’t  even make sense.

If you didn’t want him taking the baseboards off why did you let him in? What excuse did he make to get back into your house?

I think he took your  baseboard so he could use it himself. There was no need to even remove it . If he said he was leaving the baseboards as is and working around that so he could save money then why come back to do a job which he said he wasn’t getting paid to do?

It doesn’t add up or make sense. I’d call the guy back and tell him you have water leaks now.


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## Keesha (Jun 19, 2020)

C'est Moi said:


> But even if I tear a hole in my wall I don't see the outside or have anything leak in.  There's insulation, vapor barrier, backer board, etc. to keep the elements out.


My thoughts exactly. The water could be flowing down between the walls. Maybe the carpet was wicking up the water before so was there but not seen. 

A picture would help.


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