Adenoid Hynkel
Executive Member
I will try make this as short as possible.
I bought a house 16 months ago. Private sale.
The previous owner pointed out that there was a roof leak, but has been fixed. Pointed out some other small things. Great.
Past winter we had a lot of rainfall. My pool walls started bulging on 3 sides. It is a drop-in pool/fiberglass.
Contacted a few pool companies to come have a look and they all told me the same - there was not sufficient drainage around the pool, hence the water will run around the sides, the sand will expand and push against the pool walls.
I contacted the previous owner to find out which pool company she used. She told me she does not remember anymore and that she has thrown away the invoice. Fair enough. Few days later I ran into my neighbour. We started speaking about pools. Comes out he used the same company and he gave me the details. I phoned the company and explained my dilemma, he asked in which area and street I am. He started laughing after I told him, as he knew exactly of what house I am speaking about. He even still remembered the owners name (Pool was inserted 4/5 years ago).
Anyhow. He came and had a look. He told me its a drainage issue and that the previous owner decided not to put in proper drainage. They only put in one small pipe and he warned them it wont be enough with all the rainfall we have here. Ok great. He then also pointed out, hmm, this part of the house was not here. They extended the house after they have put in the pool. He then pointed out to me, that this part of the house uses the same drainage. So all the rain water from the roof is running through the same drainage system that is used just for the pool. I would say its about 45-60sqm of roof.
It now made perfect sense to me why the pool walls bulged. The current drainage system just can't handle the water load and expands to the sides of the pool. Its a french drainage system, the one with the holes in the pipe. So they new in the first place that the existing drainage system is not sufficient enough, but still add the one side of the roofs water to run through it :wtf:
Phoned my insurance. Assessor came out. I was not present when he came, just my wife. Anyhow, insurance denied the claim, blaming water level rising in our area, and that is apparently not covered.
I am going to dispute the claim and try get another assessor out so I can explain to him what has happened here.
In this entire process, it came out that the previous owner was well aware of the situation and has not told me a thing about it during the sale process.
There are other structural damages that have been covered pretty well and weren't fixed proper. So it seems the previous owner did try and hide quite a bit.
The Pool dilemma is going to cost me 35k. Not something I want to pay out of my own pocket, seeing that I only lived in this house for 16 months.
Should I even bother trying to nail the previous owner? Or just leave it and cut my losses?
I bought a house 16 months ago. Private sale.
The previous owner pointed out that there was a roof leak, but has been fixed. Pointed out some other small things. Great.
Past winter we had a lot of rainfall. My pool walls started bulging on 3 sides. It is a drop-in pool/fiberglass.
Contacted a few pool companies to come have a look and they all told me the same - there was not sufficient drainage around the pool, hence the water will run around the sides, the sand will expand and push against the pool walls.
I contacted the previous owner to find out which pool company she used. She told me she does not remember anymore and that she has thrown away the invoice. Fair enough. Few days later I ran into my neighbour. We started speaking about pools. Comes out he used the same company and he gave me the details. I phoned the company and explained my dilemma, he asked in which area and street I am. He started laughing after I told him, as he knew exactly of what house I am speaking about. He even still remembered the owners name (Pool was inserted 4/5 years ago).
Anyhow. He came and had a look. He told me its a drainage issue and that the previous owner decided not to put in proper drainage. They only put in one small pipe and he warned them it wont be enough with all the rainfall we have here. Ok great. He then also pointed out, hmm, this part of the house was not here. They extended the house after they have put in the pool. He then pointed out to me, that this part of the house uses the same drainage. So all the rain water from the roof is running through the same drainage system that is used just for the pool. I would say its about 45-60sqm of roof.
It now made perfect sense to me why the pool walls bulged. The current drainage system just can't handle the water load and expands to the sides of the pool. Its a french drainage system, the one with the holes in the pipe. So they new in the first place that the existing drainage system is not sufficient enough, but still add the one side of the roofs water to run through it :wtf:
Phoned my insurance. Assessor came out. I was not present when he came, just my wife. Anyhow, insurance denied the claim, blaming water level rising in our area, and that is apparently not covered.
I am going to dispute the claim and try get another assessor out so I can explain to him what has happened here.
In this entire process, it came out that the previous owner was well aware of the situation and has not told me a thing about it during the sale process.
There are other structural damages that have been covered pretty well and weren't fixed proper. So it seems the previous owner did try and hide quite a bit.
The Pool dilemma is going to cost me 35k. Not something I want to pay out of my own pocket, seeing that I only lived in this house for 16 months.
Should I even bother trying to nail the previous owner? Or just leave it and cut my losses?
