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Man, we might be on the same house journey

Wondering if you had air quality tests done to determine if there was mold issues ?

A heartbreaking but at the same time inspiring story. We are facing a similar situation with a property we purchased and it gives us strength to hear a story like yours.

Checked your website because of the musty,moldy smells that developed in your house.  We had some rain damage in our house recently as we were awaiting the installation of a metal roof.  The damaged interior of the house, ceilings, were repaired with new drywall, removal of water damaged cellulose in the attic, etc.  It's only been a week since the repairs have been done, and we smell a musty odor in the areas that were repaired.  We have a feeling that the studs and drywall on the walls were rain damaged also and have not dried out.  Thanks for the eye-opening photos and comments.  Please leave the website up for future viewers seeking answers to musty smells in their homes.

Speechless at how much you went through. But I guess there is no other way. About to buy a house with front stucco (just the front wall under the porch and the second level dormans wall). Bottom part is separating but otherwise looks OK. The too part around the dorman  windows are rotting. Unsure what to do. I'm so scared of getting something like yours. The house has been this way for 17-18 years without any significant problem at all. Here to hoping it will be OK.

Amazing journey. I am glad you survived this. Thank you for naming names, and I hope that saves other people all the grief you experienced. It was very kind of you not to sue the original owner and I hope you benefit from that good karma. Your house looks amazing now.

Great information.  I have been searching musty smells and came across your site.  We have owned our house for 10 years.  It's approximately 20-25 years old. We bought from orginal owners.  No stucco. We did not ask for an inspection (bad on our part).  While waiting for our closing, it had rained alot.  My husband had called the previous owners and spoke with the man and asked how wet the property was.  The man was right down rude to my husband on the phone.  That should have been a hint something was wrong.  He even suggested to my husband to cancel the loan.  We should have done that.  But we didn't. The day we got the keys to our house, we were checking things out and found the cabinet under the kitchen sink was rotten.  We called and asked them about it and he said they didn't think it was any big deal.  Really!  We had water standing in our crawl space so we hired the Basement Doctor and spent $10,000.  We spent another $10,000 trying to fix the natural springs on the hillside.  A couple of years ago, we could smell a musty smell in one of our closets, we had a repairman take the siding off the back side of the house and it was all rotten.  I can't stand the musty smell.  I don't know if putting a sani-dry system in our crawl space will help or not.  I am sure it's too late for me to sue the previous owners.  Where do I start?

I was looking around for a way to stop that yucky musty/moldy smell from our small leak under the kitchen sink (where we knew there had been other, previous-owner leaks too from water stains on the foundation wall foundation in the crawl space), and found this site. Amazing. I did learn a lot. What an ordeal. I'm sorry you had to go through it. My parents went through their own ordeal in OK where that builder did not properly put pilings into the clay soil there, so their garage is separating from the rest of the house, and again, no luck from that lawsuit for negligence either, and insurance offer so low it was laughable. Builder went out of business, but I'm sure he's at it again, by now. It's been a few years.

I wanted to cry for you. Dennis Godshall is a piece of ****.  I hope karma never ever lets him rest. I hope he gets his times 100.  This wasn't just negligence.  This was willful negligence.  And he says he's an architect from Temple???  Good God Temple must put out some stupid people if they gave this evil incompetent a degree.

Wow.  I was only looking to find a way to seal a tiny leak in an old copper watering can.  Yours is a fascinating saga and of course I'm so sorry you had to go through with it.  Thank you for your diligent and detailed documentation.  I will forward this to my friends who are builders and contractors.  Please keep this site live.  Thanks so much.

Howdy from Texas! I so appreciate your extremely well documented home ordeal.  I'm very sorry for all that you and yours went through to arrive at your "American Dream". It sounds like you handled yourself and all the challenges with dignity and a sense of humor, which I'm sure was hard to do either at certain times. I pray this finds you and your beautiful home all in good health.

Please keep this site up for all to experience and may God continue His blessing on us all.

I am so sorry for what you experienced. As we shop for a home, we've seen insides of houses that look spectacular at the same time water has destroyed their (criminally crappy) stucco exteriors. We're lucky to have a very good inspector. I wish everyone had such a good inspector.

I found your site/blog researching copper roofs etc. After looking at every picture, even though it's your house, I want to kill myself! LOL. Oh my word, I don't know how you survived it all. Thankfully it does seem to have a happy ending. Cheers.

First off, thank you for your documentation! I hope this stays up forever.  It's the best documentation I've ever seen for stucco houses!

My wife and I purchased a stucco house in 2009 after looking at 50+ other houses. The house was built in 2000 and it met everything we wanted. Slightly before we purchased our front-loading washer & drier we noticed a musky sewage smell. I think that has to do with the drainage.  We've also noticed a distinct musky/mildewy smell in the main foyer of the house in the in-between seasons like you mentioned. We however run the HVAC fan all the time. This is the only area of the house we smell it.

I'm going to try your outlet test and PRAY I don't smell anything. If I do, I think my heart & stomach will sink even more than it already has while reading your article. I have noticed some cracks in the stucco, but never thought anything of it. Now I'm terrified!  We were looking at moving in the next year, but this will land us here permanently for a long time if this same damage has occurred.

It appears badstucco's site is in disarray these days. Like it was forgotten.

Time for some investigation...

- Jason, Ohio

Well, I could blame my heartburn on the pizza I ate tonight -- but I think it has more to do with reading your story. Oy!

I came across this site while looking up information on leaks via stucco. My wife and I bought a house in DC one hour before the 2011 earthquake struck and 4 days before Hurricane Irene. Needless to say, there was a lot of leakage and damage. And after spending $$$ on various roof "fixes" I still have a leaking kitchen ceiling. Your site made me realize things could be worse. Ha! All the best to you! -Neil

Please don't take down this site - ever.  I have a similar problem, but I live in a condo.  After years of fighting with the HOA about whose is responsible for the structural defects, I sued. Basically, I was suing my neighbors, so I wasn't the most popular gal around.  In fact, I was physically threatened by three neighbors.  I paid about $300,000 for legal, engineering and mold experts.  Repairs were finally made, but the next rainy season, there was more water intrusion.  More repairs, more water intrusion.  That continued for four years.  I now live without a kitchen, walls, flooring, cabinetry, etc.  My place still smells like mold.  All of the tie downs, nails and electrical boxes attached to the studs are rusted.  Why did I stay and fight?  I wanted to preserve my credit and not have a foreclosure on my record.  The $300,000 was paid in small amounts over a long period of time.  Each month, I was told that we were closer to a solution - just another $10K here and there.  Obviously, I should have walked away and let the bank foreclose.  Your website is amazing and informative. I don't feel alone anymore.  Enjoy your new home.

Perhaps you already addressed this, but have you looked into suing the builder? I am not a big proponent of suing people (despite my profession!) but it seems fair that your builder should share this  burden. In the end there may be reasons you cannot sue (like a statute of limitations)or recover anything, but I hope you have at least considered it. I feel your pain!

Thank you for your very informative documentation and taking the time to do so to help others.  I just rented a home which we thought was a perfect chance for more room and space to combine families, and the musty smell is driving me crazy. Thanks to your time and attention in relaying your experience, we now know what to look for before we spend money on professionals to look further.

Thank you!

I just happened upon your site as we are just starting our nightmare. Our problem was brought to light by termites. The house is 100% EIFS clad and we're not sure of the extent of damage yet. My wife and I are  originally from lower Bucks so we're re very familiar with your area as we still get up that way often to visit family. We now live in Virginia Beach, Va.. We have been in this house for 17years (new when we moved in) before the problem was brought to light.  I certainly feel your pain and hope the ache has dulled.

You are a strong woman!  Thanks for sharing your story....we have recently moved into a 7 year old house that has a musty smell.  I am praying that we do not have a situation as bad as yours was.

Just found this site while I was looking for information about bad smells coming from odour damage. I didn't expect to stay so long, then I started reading and thought what a great job you did documenting everything and explaining everything, and especially *understanding* everything that they'd done wrong. I thought of posting to say you're pretty amazing and intelligent. Then I kept reading and the saga kept unfolding until I learned at the end that you are also a beautiful person who decided not to sue an innocent despite having legal recourse to go ahead. I'm sorry that being a smart and kind person hasn't made you more lucky with your house, and the financial and health problems it has caused you. Best regards from Canada - Jon W

I thought we had problems! My, what an ordeal you've been through. We've had problems with leaking windows & roofing since we bought our house in 1997. We're looking at replacing our second set of replacement windows! The first two replacement installations were incorrect, now we've discovered there may be an issue with the stucco installation over a "fan folded foam core material". We will be getting another opinion or two on the stucco situation before moving forward with total removal. These leaks have caused so much stress & anguish! We look forward to someday having a "dry" home. Thanks for sharing your story, I've learned so much!

Wow. I thought I saw some nightmares. Like you I documented it, though I'm a little behind on updates. It's really sad the shortcuts and downright stupid things contractors (and amateurs) can do. I'm still looking after several tries to find one with intelligence beyond the second grade, and who owns a framing square. Very very sad. I'm doing many of my repairs myself, and I make mistakes, but for a "professional" contractor, there is no excuse (beyond being lazy and wanting to hit the bar more than work). But enough of my affair - thanks for sharing...I hope your repairs last. Nice home.

Have you considered posting a link for any one who would like to make a voluntary donation. You never know, it might work.

After having flooding in my house on a HUGE hill there had 2 b a problem. Long story short 10 months after initial onslaught with flood chasers out here on a weekend from Texas  plus FEMA that acknowledged a miserable roof but could do nothing till Allstate did their thing. Allstate paid the thieves $8000 of a $14000 bill to "dry out the carpeting". NEVER dried out ( u can even just look under the carpet & see the problems. Padding never reinstalled bc I would not deal with a rip off artist nor the roof so now I hv continuous medical problems ( mostly respiratory) so much so I sleep sitting up & then get woken up 2 hours later by literally choking bc I cannot breathe. Atrocious. Amazingly atrocious.

You have a beautiful home and the view is magnificent even with the new house in the farmers field.

Ignorant home builders notwithstanding, it seems one of the fundamental issues behind this sad story is that the home inspection industry is largely unregulated (well, at least here in Canada that's the case). Until national standards are in place to regulate the home inspection industry, I'm afraid more home buyers will have to relive the utter hell you've documented.  I urge everyone to find out what your state (or province) is doing to regulate the home inspection industry where you live.  The inspector in this case didn't read the warning signs.

Looking at your website was heartbreaking as well as enlightening. Thank you for sharing your experiences, I have bookmarked your website.

I found your site and have to say that it is hitting a little close to home. We purchased a new stucco house that is 9 years old (with wood trim). We've noticed several things... one, the house has a weird smell, especially when it rains. It hasn't rained since yesterday and it smells worse. I burn candles throughout the day just to keep the odor hidden. Second, we have ants, bad. We have to have an exterminator to come out every month but they're invading our home. They're the biggest ants that I have ever seen. I wonder if there are cracks in the walls that we can't see that is possibly keeping moisture and ant mounds.
I don't see any black spots any where around the house...outside or in. However, your stud comment concerned me. We noticed that our living room (on one wall) had no studs..at all. We couldnt find any with stud finder or by a knocking test. Do you have any recommendations of how we can tell if there is mold in our walls? Should I hire someone and if so, what is their title? Just lost at this point. I hope that my house is not stripped like yours. OMG. Please advise...Lisa

Hi,

I've been browsing through home/garden forum and got curious. I'm not good at looking through/understanding all that you meticulously documented, except that I could definitely see how horrible the experience was for you.

And then to get to the end, hoping for a happy ending and to see none for you... :( Well you stuck to your principles and integrity despite it all, I really respect you for that. Thank you for being a good person and not going after a young widow. I hope you good things go your way from now on. Good health to you all!

I ended up here via your thread on jlconline.com.  My parents live in SWFL and have a circa-2002 house that they had built.  Fast forward years later and they are having lots of leaking window problems.  Of course, here in FL, the house gets 50-60" of rain per year and has had 2 hurricane hits with multiple tropical storms in-between (the storms did not damage the windows, but did drive water in, which could be expected with any type of window in that situation).  Anyway, there are some pretty bad leaks so I was looking into flashing issues (as some of the contractors who have been out indicated) and came across the post.  I had no idea I would read all 15 pages and then view all the images.  What an ordeal from hell you have been through.  It is good to see that you are optimistic and at least you were able to get your home to where it needed to be (although the mental, physical and monetary expenses were very unfortunate).  I wish you the best with your home and family (I'd say you have earned it after this).

Gosh, you've got a partner in dispair here. We bought a rotten house for price of the land but thankfully we did it on purpose to fix ourselves, and it's getting quite nice. Just uncovered fact that our hail damaged roof set to be torn off Monday, has flat board sheathing so will need to be brought up to code. Assured insurance will pay for it; until I have that verifyed I will not have further work started but delayed.Hubby and co can resheath, THEN let roofers do the reshingling, or we have a solid cost- of -sheathing separate contract we can deal with. Glad I knew troubles with stucco, sorry I wanted hail damage fixed. Geez, you can't win. I would have had hubby replace whole roof shingle by shingle in his spare time, YOU had to have your work done, and fast! Did insurance pay for it, may we ask??

It seems like the stucco was never allowed to dry and never did dry, you said they put multiple coats? it couldnt breathe or dry and OSB yes its a low cost solution but...the house I am working on was built in 1883 and some of the wood is dry rot and stuff, the house is crooked in many ways but they had very little concern about any drip edge or anything like that but somehow regular old pine boards they used as roof planks (actually 1" and 2") not 3/4" and 1-1/2" it lasted 130 years so far and we have severe climate here from -48F to 103F.

The problem is they trapped moisture from the beginning by applying moisture to the house and trapping it there.

I am in awe. Found this link from Garden Web clicked and TWO hours later I have determined that your House should get an Oscar Award for Best Dramatic performance as a Building.  You would get the award for Best Dramatic Screen Play.  I am a very private person...We have an online business...so I tend to keep personal private. BUT...sister, you deserve a standing ovation for maintaining some sanity!!! We have gutted a house in a Historic area of Kentucky and thanks to you my eyes are glued open! The detail and descriptions you gave are priceless.  I feel like I went to trade school!
I hope you are happy healthy and settled....
you learned it and earned it.
My best.
Kimberlyn

Like so many homeowners with a new home nightmare, it appears you had to cut quite a bit of loss and move on.   It's disgusting that the industry can repeatedly get away with shoddy work.  I'm glad you were able to survive it and move on.  My husband and I also survived a construction case; we're grateful we came out ok in the end.  We had to sue to get their attention and preserve our statute of limitations.  In doing all this we discovered how important the right to sue was.  I've seen so many people lose everything in these cases now, especially if they lost their right to sue in an arbitration clause and/or home warranty policy that had the clause.  It's obscene that home buyers have to learn construction and redo the work of 'professionals' and go thru all this legal junk.  The industry should be more accountable and competent.  If strict regulation comes of all the problems in this industry, it has only it's own bumbling and complicit trade associations to blame.

I just happened upon your saga. Absolutely unbelievable!

I am hoping that your spring 2009 update will be filled with nothing but good news and closure.

Thank you so much for this fantastically well detailed article.I am currently trying to figure out where a strong musty smell is originating in my home. This article has given me a idea of what i may expect to find.
....FINGERS CROSSED ...
I AM GOING TO GO TAKE MY ELECTRICAL OUTLET COVERS OFF NOW, WISH ME LUCK.. THANKS AGAIN

C Wall

Thanks for the time you spent detailing your nightmare. I was researching a musty smell in a house I was considering purchasing. A beautiful house on a lake. The inspector couldn't figure out where the musty smell was coming from, but it's pretty intense. A mold specialist came out and said they couldn't pinpoint a source either. The cedar siding needs to be replaced, as well as the windows. I'm guessing there's likely another nightmare behind the walls like you encountered. After looking at your situation, I've decided to back out and give up the house. I can only imagine how much that mess ended up costing you. Thanks again, Joe Anderson

Thank you for taking the time to document your woes.  I have a similar problem with my home, well I hope not too similar.  I have a leaky window or two at the back of my house and am finding similar installation problems to what you have experienced.  My house is only seven years old.  Thanks.

Your journal is testament to the adage that truth is stranger than fiction, and why we should care how buildings are built.  You must be a writer and a saint, otherwise how could you have made it so engaging for the rest of us and survived to tell the tale. Thank you!

I cannot believe what occurred to your home, what a mess.  I have to tell you we are having a similar issue, we kept telling the contractor that we had water coming into the garage, that the paint was falling off the sheet rock, he kept saying that the water was coming down from the exterior of the top of the garage and back around, I kept telling my husband that does not make since, I believe the water is penatrating the stucco and the black paper.  We had a leak in the kitchen from the refigerator, it damaged or wood floor, so the man was coming out to repair that, and some other issues with the finish, so I started walking around, I noticed by the window that the floor was raised.  I emailed the contractor, and said why are they going to finish the floor, when I believe we might have another issue with water coming into the house from the stucco or window.  So finally, he came out and told my husband that he used to be an inspector of houses, and that he now believed that there was a leak.  So, the contractor is now having the people repair the issue, but I still have concerns, now that you mention the paper falling, and the moldings, and metal flashings.  We now that someone put staples into the flashing around the window frame, and that should not have been done.  Since I am not an expert, I still have concerns that they are repairing the problem correctly, and hope that we will not have this problem in the future.

Take care,
Alisha

Were I you, I would be on trial for murder, but any reasonable jury would reduce it to justifiable manslaughter or maybe self-defense and give me a suspended sentence.  Um, why didn't you just burn it down?  Or more seriously, total it?  Is this massive repair actually less costly than a scrape and a new house?

Thank you so much for putting this together.  I am learning so much and you are helping me to laugh at all of it.  I love your sense of humor!  Thank you also for the contacts you have given me.  We've met with Dave and I called Ted yesterday and left a message.

I feel for all that have encountered this problem. One of our coworkers sat down the other day with us and told us that his walls are rotting away. I now people in the home building business up here in Toronto Canada and I also have lots of knowledge in construction. From what I have seen and read including my friend who builds homes, this is not just a problem with leaks in the windows, doors ect ect.  If you live in a colder climate the problem I think will be worse even if you have all the windows and holes sealed perfectly. My coworker has wood rot all over even where there are no leaks. I firmly believe that the problem exist because the new stuccos act like a vapor barrier on the outside. There is already a vapour barrier on the inside between the studs and drywall but if you have and holes in the interior vapour barrier such as around the electrical outlets or missed drywall screwes ect. then the moist air on the inside of the heated home will get into the wall and condense on the inner part of the outside wall that cannot breathe because the stucco has a plastic or silicon base. This will inturn rot the wood studs and plates. Yes if you have any leaks in windows sills ect this will help to excellerate the problem. There is a new way to intstall stucco now out and I only had a breif talk with my friend the other day about it and it no longer involves any kind of wood as the stucco base(under the wire mesh and brown coat) They are also installing some kind of rigid insulation that has groves in it for air movement witch is greatly lacking in the way many stuccos were and are being applied. So in some cases I believe that there was contractor neglect but mostly I believe that there was no real code or knowledge of how to properly install or apply stucco when this new type of stucco first appeared in the 80s. My heart goes out to those that are finding their homes in a mess but I believe there are hundreds of thousands of homes in the USA and Canada that have this problem brewing in their walls and dont even know it.

Thanks for the valuable information that I can use in my business.

It saddens me to find out that in my Construction Industry experience, that such distructive building could evolve. In my 40 years in the Industry, I would not have believed the going on of such deficiant building practices. I wish you luck in your remedial work to get your home back to par.

What a nightmare.

But, thank you so much for having taken the time to document your experience.

As a Home inspector, I study material related to construction defects on a daily basis, and that is *by far* the most instructive account of the hazards of improper stucco installation I've ever seen, including commercial presentations - in fact, coupled page-by-page with illustrations on "how to do do it right", that would an outstanding textbook on stucco installation (much of it would be relevant to EIFS as well).

In my opinion it's unconsciousable that someone clearly unqualified to evaluate stucco represented themselves to you as qualified to inspect your home.

And though probably it's probably little comfort to you to you at this point, I do want to note that there are many of us in the Home Inspection industry who are very concerned about this problem, and who are making an ongoing effort to educate ourselves and others in the industry not only in how to evaluate what we see,  but it the importance of knowing our own limits, and recommending more appropriate sources of evaluation when we encounter construction techniques or details we are unable to properly evaluate ourselves.

Our hearts go out to you-

THANKS for all the pictures and information. We are buying land and hope to build in about 3 years in Louisville, TN.  You've raised our awareness about structural details.

First, you have a remarkable attitude about this awful ordeal.  Secondly, I have taken many notes as I embark on my own home building journey.  I have a fantaskic builder but I will be dotting every i and crossing every t with the information you have provided.  I know how hard it is to keep a journal of this kind and applaud your conviction.  I wish you and your family lots of peace and love.  If you are ever in the Seattle area, we would love to host you.  Thank you for the wealth of information.  My hubby builds software for a living and when information is made available and shared in this way, it makes it all worth while to get up in the morning.  That and our two little boys!!  Again, thank you.

I sympathize with you.  We had similar problems; but fortunately not as extensive.  Our home was new in 94.  We were lucky we did not have the funds to finish the lower level walkout.  The spring of 95 we had a waterfall on our basement walls whenever it rained.  Builder caulked, etc. I hired an engineer who said we should remove all stucco, reset windows, etc.  Also had an extremely inferior stucco application.  Our builder kept putting us off, would do some things, not return calls.  We received bids from 6000 to 80000 to do the work.  Talked to the state attorney general's office.  Not considered structural and by now 2 years and nothing we could do.  An attorney would have cost us more than the repairs and we were told we could not get attorneys fees even if we won.  
Because of large overhangs we only had a problem on the walkout side.  Eventually removed the stucco, flashed the windows and applied vinyl siding.  Then found out that MN did consider this a structural problem and we had 10 years.  So we took it to small claims court.  
The builders insurance guy was there and when he saw the pics he was ready to pay us, but home office said no.  Judge came back and said we had a good case.  But we needed to have filed the claim within 1 year of knowing there was a problem.
So my advice to anyone reading this:  IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, GET A LAWYER AND FILE A SUIT.  YOU DO NOT HAVE TO GO TO COURT.  BUT IF YOU WAIT TOO LONG, YOU WILL GET NOTHING
I am sure most of you are like us, did not want to cause a problem, etc.  
This has been a major problem in the Mpls/St Paul area for over 10 years.  The lathe and plaster institute and the state keeps changing their specs.  There have also been houses with vinyl and wood siding that have had the same problems.  Windows need to be installed correctly

I'm thankful for your information and website. I hope things are going well for you and your family now. The home builders of these homes should really be accountable for such POOR worksmanship.  Are there any legal avenues that you may take?  How does your home insurance play into this (sellers insurance)?

I don't even know what to say.  Wow.  Good for you for documenting all this.  How unfair that you've had to deal with all of this!  I'll keep your family in my prayers.  And I did actually learn quite a bit from you.  Thank you for the lesson. (((hugs)))  ~Julie

Unfortunantly, it looks very familiar to me. Sad and sick... We bought a new house. a $360,000 free standing town home  in a prime location near downtown houston. Our builder Stature/Tremont we now know hides under about 30 different DBA'sLLC's LP's, entites and affiilations.

The first night in our beautiful new home my husband went up stairs and got in his new garden tub. When he pulled the plug, 100 gallons of water came crashing though the ceiling in the dining room flooding the living room and going through the hardwoods ending up all in the walls and drippingi nto the garage. The sales agent said that sort of thing was typical on new constrution. But it was just previews of coming attractions.

We had an arbitration clause in our contract so we could not sue the builder even though he had removed the upstairs shower and the wall in the other bed room and admitted there was black stuff all in behind there. The windows were installed upside down and the yard didn't drain soon we were living in a bogg. I know the smell well you speak of. Wehave stackybotrisi in the A/C ducks all under the carpet it even grows out of the carpet and all behind the walls. We have moisture in 7 rooms.We got so sick we had ear, eye sinus,lung infections and fealt awful.

The American Arbitration Association is a demented collection agency run for the builder, by the builder, and of the builder. We were in that process for 8 months. We were dismissed and so we sued the builder. Now the builder has us in our 5th hearing trying to compel us back into arbitration again! It has been a night mare. We had to evacuate our new home,go into foreclosure and ruined our credit. We are senior citizens living in a small apt. with all our things in storage. I don'tknow why we even keep them. I would never buy another house in Texas. The builder is after us becasue I protested in front of one of his properties for 9 months. He is afraid for us to go to court because he sued the roofer and sub contractors and admitted he knew of the defects before he sold many of the houses. All State insurance,  that we paid $3400 a year for says substandard consturction and builder defects are not covered. I can not believe I live in America.

My builder is building over 1000 houses right now. I am not the only one there are many of us suffering from their handy work. My house just happened to be one of the worst. So we lost everything. My plants were so big and beautiflu I brought them with me to our new house and I had to leave them because they were so big and I have no place for them. My house was listed with Century 21 excel with no defects. It sold thid week for $120,000 less than it was apprasied for the day I bought it. I bet an investor bought it and once agin will cover up the damage and dump it on someone else.  If they put a baby,puppy,or kitten in there it will be like the canary in a mine shaft. They will become illl and could even die. Chaetomium mold is all in my house and it causes brain absseses. No one seems to care. It is happening all over the country. I send people to HOBB.ORG or tell them to google Jordan Fogal. We made people magazine under"contractors from hell" and Mother Jones Magazine did a seven page expose on what they are doing here in Texas.

I feal so sorry for you. People call and write me everyday. What can you tell someone who loses their home. An act of God like Katrina, I can understand but incompetence and greed are beyond my comprehension.
I have emailed the president 301 times faxed him 82 times and wrote 2 letters. I went to Austin to meet my represnatives and Senators and I called washington and learned one thing I have no party that will help. They go where  the big business and big money are and we are just the collateral damage of tort reform.

I could have died happy and naive with all I have learned about Texas and our government...I hate to think of my beautiful grandchildren  growing up in a world like this. I feal sincerely for everyone out there we still can't belive our laws do not protect us. We can not belive we are in this apt. and I can not believe I have to share a closet with my husband!

Wow. The mess that your home started in actually makes me feel much better about the condition of my own. All I have to deal with are a few rotting pieces of subfloor, a wet crawl space, and a complete lack of floor joists between all of the beams. I guess clown contractors were around 35 years ago, too. I don't know how you've managed to stay sane through all of that, but you've done it!

Lisa,  Nice to see you forging ahead with good details. I'm sure you could go on the road with all of your field experience. What has been amazing fom me, throughout this whole process has been your calmness regarding this whole mess.  You are pretty amazing. I'm sure many others would've folded under the duress youve been put through.  Another thing that amazes me is how well you grasped the whole concept of what was wrong, and what the proper fixes should be, when bombarded with literally hundreds of differing opinions, you have managed to stay on task and make all the good decisions.  I'm smiling for you, and wish you and your family a happy ending to this problem..

Oh my GOD, I feel so bad for you and your family. I am totally speechless.
I will never see a stucco house again the same again.  I know some are built correctly, but how do we really know that?  The house was totally gorgeous at first. Did you not see all the cracks on the stucco before buying the house? My prayers and thoughts are with you. This was totally unbelievable.

Thank you for sharing all this information. The pictures are great. I'm getting quite an education.

Great find and great job.

Lisa, you have done some great photography.  I am sorry things have been so disheartening for you guys, but in the end, you will have practically a new home!  Let us know if we can help.  Love,Beth

Thanks for sharing your wisdom. We alllearned alot from you.

How are you all doing with this terrible experience?  Love, Eileen

I'm very sorry for what you have experienced thus far. It's every homeowners worst nightmare! Our company, Benjamin Obdyke, sells a product called Home Slicker that should be of interest for you as you begin to 'rebuild' your exterior sidewalls. It's a rainscreen product that will allow excess moisture to drain down away from the backside of your siding material, as well as ventilate the wall cavity. Home Slicker can be used with fiber cement boards, and is ideal for your situation. In addition, it will only add an extra 1/4" space to the thickness of your wall. Good luck to you as you move along with your reconstruction and if we can answer any additional questions regarding Home Slicker and how it can help, please contact us at 800-523-5261.

Thousands of "new" homes are disintigrating like this, due to shoddy construction and deliberate shortcuts that put money in a builder's pocket and cost home buyers thousands.  Many of the shortcuts don't show up until a few years later when it is harder, if not impossible, to hold a builder accountable, especially since the builders claim "everyone does it this way," as if that makes it alright.  I have been thru a construction defect case and as a result i am through with new construction.  I don't see hardly any builders doing things right or being willing to use a fair contract anymore.

I am building now because of mistakes made by my previous contractor but I am getting a first class job this time. Hope your situation works out.

Wow, defective original construction.  Doesn't the original contractor have any liability?  Or has too much time passed to hold him/her accountable?

Hi guys, I am late to your story but would like to suggest that you take a lesson from our recent disaster here in  Vancouver, B.C.  DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER any system other than a full and properly detailed rainscreen for your home.  We have  spent over $1 BILLION repairing houses and condos that had problems similar to yours and were less than 10 years old!  Do a search for 'Vancouver leaky condo crisis' to get more information.  I would not take any one person's assurance about what they think should be done.  A full rainscreen involves proper detailing and flashing as everyone has suggested to you but adds an airspace gap between the WRB and the Hardie.  It is now standard practise here in Vancouver and really adds little to the cost- it is more a matter of getting people use to the concept.  Good luck- you are not alone.  Dave Bonshor

I really feal for you folks!!!I can not believe the builder did not put metal flashing above the window trim,and the stucco company would stucco it that way.Its also hard to believe that the building codes and ASTM still allow builders to use OSB for sheathing.

This hose had a lot of issues that were in place before the stucco was applied! And the numbers are growing more every day! See more in progress at my website www.badstucco.com Thanks Lisa for sharing the info with the public a lot of home owners will not!

Defective construction is a national disaster that our elected officials continue to ignore thanks to the campaign donations and lobbyists from the home building industry. It is a crime that the largest single investment a family ever makes has NO consumer protection. Please visit www.hadd.com, file a builder complaint and sign our petition requesting a Congressional hearing.

Dear Lisa,
So sorry to see the extent of damages. This too shall pass. At least at the end you will have a beautiful home that will last for generations. I know how upset you are right now. Take it from someone who has been there, although not as bad, that this is like being in labor...You will forget the pain.
best,
Janet

PS. We are still not finished, but hope to be completed by NOV.

Lisa,  

I dont even know what to say.    

Theres been warnings of things like this that will become the norm in the USA within the next few years, as these defective structures come  of age, so to speak.  

I will help in any way I can.