BURKE BROTHERS

My wife and I bought the house in March 2010 after renting it for four months immediately prior from the owner at the time. The house was built as a new construction in 1995 on an empty plot of land and then occupied by the builder for eight years before being sold to the individual who sold it to us. Outside of the owner-builder, we have occupied the home the longest at four years now. We had the house inspected as required for purchase and mortgage approval in early 2010. Some of the issues we have discovered that are endemic to the entire exterior were touched on in the report appearing as minor and isolated observations. We have had consistent problems from the beginning with water leaking into the house through the window frames, inner trim, and the roof, especially during driving rains with high winds and also with melting of settled snow on the roof. Our investigations into the source of these leaks lead to the discovery of the wider exterior issues. We first thought it was an issue with some of the trim work around the windows, especially in front where we are across the street from the ocean. Our approach was to first address the front windows then the immediate trim around them then finally the siding abutting the trim work. In November 2012 we decided to redo the entire front trim work around the windows. This was when we first saw extensive water damage not only around the window but siding and trim that separated the lower and upper parts of the exterior. We then planned to finish the rest of the trimwork in the spring of 2013 but the contractor was not able to begin work until December 2013. When they did, starting with the front again around and above the garage, the entire problem became apparent. In short, the entire exterior of the house was applied in a manner that has compromised it in terms of exposure to the elements, mainly water. The siding and trim of the house were not installed properly. As a result, the back of the siding and the plywood have been exposed to water and moisture since being built. The trim and large areas of the plywood under the siding is softening from water absorption, has extensive mold presence, and in several areas has already rotted away. In some instances, the insulation is damaged and even some studs have mold and water damage. At least the entire bottom half of the house needs to be redone which includes stripping the siding, replacing rotted and weakened plywood underneath and insulation, and resided properly. All the trim (windows, garage, doors, and roofline) needs to be replaced and mostly has by now. For the siding of the house: 1. The clapboard has no primer on the back. 2. There was no evidence of any caulking at all anywhere on the entire exterior for the siding and trim, either in front or behind with the exception of one set of second floor windows. 3. The siding shingles are abutting the roof shingles without space for water to travel outwards and away from the house. 4. The nails in the siding are set too deep, letting water get in from the holes into the back of the siding and seeping into the actual clapboard (along with nail rust) and wood behind it. Since there is no primer on the back of the clapboard, it is exposed to water. This was noted by an insurance adjuster as well. 5. There is no ice and water behind any of the trim for the entire house. While this was not standard practice on all homes in the mid-1990s, it was used for higher end new constructions and renovations. 6. There is no caulking at all for the siding, trim, and windows. This is very unusual and caulking is an expected and critical component of exterior finishing. 7. The drip caps on the siding shingles were never sealed with tape. 8. The porous installation and design of the entire trim and woodwork on the third floor balcony has allowed water to pour down the outside and in between the siding and inner plywood around and below it, causing significant water damage. 9. The Tyvek paper installed behind the siding was not taped down with Tyvek specific tape, only nailed or stapled. It was also applied unevenly and in more than one area was not applied at all. 10. The line of the siding is uneven resulting in spaces along the trim lines. This has caused difficulty for the contractors who are fixing the house. As a result, the house is holding large amounts of water in its exterior woodwork, leading to current rot and mold problems along with softening and warping of the wood. Some of this water has come into the house periodically which is how the problem was first noticed. As more trim work was done, more damage was found, etc. The top half of the siding is a different design but has the same issues around the trim areas and was also not installed properly except for staggering the siding seams. There is a possibility that because of the interlocking pattern of the upper siding and staggered seams, the mold and rot problems resulting from prolonged water exposure are not present where there is no immediate trimwork. A few samples of siding have been taken from the top half of the house and seem to confirm this scenario thus far; upper siding around the trim has water damage and where there is no immediate trim, the siding is better preserved. This can likely be properly caulked after confirmation that the back is completely dry as long as all the upper trim is redone. The driveway, walkway, and entryway brick and stone were laid down on plain dirt and no base was applied as is widely standard practice. The house inspection mentioned that the brickwork should be reset at some point but the reason for this was never apparent. As a result, the surface is distorted and wavy and vegetation is growing between the components. The brick is coming apart. This is also causing the structures on the surface of the entryway to settle downwards and slowly come apart. The roofline of the house has little gutter work and water is not being shunted away from the house. The ground around most of the house slopes into the house not away from it. Gutter construction is needed in many areas and the ground around the house has extensively settled. This was noted in the inspection report. We are deeply angry and disappointed in the poor quality of the exterior application and do not understand why most of these noted shortcomings were not applied. The lack of gutterwork we could see and bought the house with that knowledge and plans to address it ourselves. The way the driveway and walkway were incorrectly laid down was not emphasized in the inspection report to the level where we would have questioned it in our negotiations but again this is not the main focus of our complaint. All of this comes down to a simple question: Would one expect a new luxury home, occupied for half of its life by the builder, to have these advanced exterior issues after only 18 years of existence? Our answer is a clear no. As a follow up to that, why would you not expect this? Our answer is that you would expect the list of deficiencies above to not be present on a house like this or really any house. This is costing us over $80,000 to fix. It is a catastrophic cost to us. We are wondering what else is going to go wrong with this house and what else was done poorly and incompetently. I attempted to contact the builders. After several phone calls, one of them called me back and after several delays agreed to come by on Saturday February 1. Mind you , they had been working on the street finishing up another house for six weeks and had been driving by our house every day for weeks watching the work without any inquiry. I had my contractor come by just before we were supposed to meet. He had to climb up on the scaffolding (I am not allowed) to remove a protective covering over rotted out plywood so I could show him what we were seeing all over the exterior. The builder came around the bend, turned around, and drove away. When I contacted him by text about why he did so he said he was not meeting with my contractor just me. I told him that was my expectation and my contractor had already left. He replied back that I was dishonest and would not speak further. This was the individual who had occupied the home for eight years after building it. Another one of the builders lives two blocks behind me. The poor quality and lack of any interest in discussing the matter is astounding to me. Who would do this?