I joined Home Buddies FB group a few months ago to learn from other homeowners. Lately, a lot of homeowners have been complaining about water pouring in from their ceiling and walls. We experienced the same a few months after we moved. It started in trickles and eventually water started pouring from the kitchen lights!
The contractor who renovated the house just kept putting sealant on the roof. It would work for one to two downpours, but obviously it needed more work. The crew of the contractor knew what was wrong, butt the contractor didn't bother to work on it. We decided to get another contractor when the kitchen lights became compromised. Well, it opened pandora's box of house issues.
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| Issue happened because roof flashing wasn't installed by the contractor. |
Here's a list of what we learned from architect's and the master plumber's team:
1. Make sure your roof is installed properly. Have proper roof flashing and gutters. Part of our roof did not have flashing and that's why water was pouring in the kitchen ceiling. Sealant really won't resolve the issue.
2. Make sure downspouts go to a proper drain. Water would pool in our back garden. The flood posed a risk to our family room. The master plumber's team re-worked our drainage and made sure the downspouts pointed to the drainage.
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| This happened during the pandemic. |
3. Water can also pour through your sliding doors. We experience this whenever it rains sideways. Aside from making sure your sliding doors are properly installed (no holes and with rubber), make sure that there is a cut on the bottom track to allow water to pour out of. Also useful to have an awning to prevent water and rain to come in.
4. Avoid tall windows because water can come in from the bottom track when it rains sideways.
5. In my Mom's house, water comes in from the drain and toilet in the basement. This happens when water from the road slides down. We're having it investigated to understand why the pipes are compromised. I saw a comment from Home Buddies on how to cover bathroom drains, not sure though what he does with their toilet.
6. One of the most common complaints in Home Buddies are walls that go moist. This is an issue with water proofing. Watched a video Architect Ed recently posted on how to resolve this issue. Make sure to scrutinize your contractor contracts if you're building a house.
7. Avoid installing polycarbonate or plastic roofs if you can. We have two areas where we have both. One come with the house when we bought it and then we recently had a polycarbonate roof installed in our laundry area. Both drip. They placed sealant on the plastic roof sheet multiple times already and it always drips. Maybe we'll have more luck on the polycarbonate roof. Also make sure to have downspouts for extra roofs.
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| So far unsealable, probably need to find a better solution. |
8. You can also install flood gates if you live in a flood prone area.
A friend who owns a construction business told us that your roof gets compromised months before your ceiling starts dripping. It is hard to know if things have been done properly if your house was built during the summer (as with Architect Ed's experience). I learned from Home Buddies that you should withhold 5 to 10% of the full payment for a year to make sure the contractor will fix issues.
We always have typhoons and it's one thing we didn't miss when we lived in Singapore, but we're here permanently and as much as I keep complaining about our home, I'm grateful we are able to keep warm and dry. We have fixed most of the issues and I'm moving on to loving our home. I realized I had held off from doing that because of the issues, but it's our home and it's where Papa God led us. Bahala na si karma sa unscrupulous contractor. What's important for me is my family is safe now.
Keep safe and dry everyone!
#BeKind #StaySafe
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