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yippie

Beach Fanatic
Oct 28, 2005
946
42
A local
Since 2005, I am still battling my builders and their insurance company. To refresh your memory, there was a number of builders defects on my house. Mainly, no moisture barrier on part of the south side, second and first floor of my home. And again other defects such as no insulation in the attic and more.

It is located approximately 1500 feet from the Gulf of Mexico in Crystal Beach, Destin. This defect, of course, was not discovered until the 2005 hurricane season after two years of horrid storms and nothing drying anywhere. Mold, mold everywhere.

I have worked with my builder and his insurance company to no avail for a year, then as they continued to delay and delay. After I complained to the Okaloosa / Walton builders associatio, I received an e-mail from one of the partners of he building company that I was a back stabbing... and they were never going to step foot on my property again.

At this time, I was forced mitigate my damages as best as I could, and tried to repair the house, financing the entire venture to the tune of several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I filed a lawsuit over a year ago, which delay after delay has been a common problem.

The court system does not work here. The game is not to do the right thing, but to see who can make the other person go broke first.

In 8 days, I basically lose my home. Not because of non payment, the payments are current, but because now my insurance has non-renewed my policy and there is no one who is wiling insure a damaged non- repaired house. The bank is not wiling to continue to carry a mortgage on a property that is not worth the collaterial and not insured on top of it.

I have spent thousands of dollars trying to repair my home. Nothing seems to work, too many defects, code violations, etc. The mold continues to return for one reason or another, relating to the building defects of the house.

On top of it all, I am allergic to mold and I have now life long debilitating illnesses like diabetes, neuropathy and many more from living in the house as long as I did. This has limited my ability to work long hours and limited my ability to get out of bed each morning welcoming a new day. Sometimes, I don't even want to wake up and feel the constant agony each day. Even my pet was ill. At this time, I can no longer afford to seek expert medical care. It is very expensive to travel to receive care.

I am not independently wealthy and could not pick up and move out of my house and cannot afford to be doing it now. However, also, I cannot afford the financial burden of paying two mortgages, utilities, etc on a house that no one lives in and rent, utilities on a rental house to be healthy in.

Finally at the first part of December I abandoned the house and everything in it, including everything I had assembled as a symbol of my lifelong accomplishments. It is very hard to leave your life behind, very emotional. After 4 months, I am facing financial ruin. It is heartbreaking to me and would be to you if this happened to you.

This has become a very hard time for me because I have worked very hard, and been honest, and upstanding in the community regarding my business and as a resident. I can't believe this is happening to me, or to anyone. And I would not wish this on my worse enemy.

If only my builder would have stepped up to the plate and fixed the problem he caused, this would not have been a problem. Life would have gone on, not depression and an unsure futurel The lifelong problems I am facing possibly would not have been an issue.

But, the builder, who is still building houses, has changed his tune and is denying everything. He has insurance that pays for legal expenses. HOW can you deny a house built against code, especially one with NO MOISTURE BARRIER. I had walls which crumbled in my hands, construted of OSB or a similar material with NO MOISTURE BARRIER. Just vinyl siding nailed right on these walls.

Had they only come up to the plate, admitted the mistake and done what it takes to fix the problem.

Why are people like that anymore. What happened to integrity? What happened to honesty. What happened for caring for others? How can some people sleep at night.

Walking through the grocery story or any store for that matter would be helful.

Thank you for taking your time to listen to this story, but remember. The same thing could happen to you and you may be facing the same uncertain future I am.

I will welcome any comments and answer any questions posted here.
 
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Jdarg

SoWal Expert
Feb 15, 2005
18,068
1,973
Re: please read this thread and comment

Yippie, I don't have any "professional" type comment, but I am very sorry this happened to you and the system seems to have failed you.:sosad: Are you going to stay in the area, and have you found a healthier place to live?
 

yippie

Beach Fanatic
Oct 28, 2005
946
42
A local
Re: please read this thread and comment

Yippie, I don't have any "professional" type comment, but I am very sorry this happened to you and the system seems to have failed you.:sosad: Are you going to stay in the area, and have you found a healthier place to live?

I am staying in the area, but in a healthier house to iive in. Thank you so much for your comments. Please help me get the word out any way you can. Thanks.
 
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TooFarTampa

SoWal Insider
Yippie, how awful. I know there are some builders out there who are very honest, but as in anything, there are others who are not, and that's why they invented code inspectors. Did the county sign off on your house? Did code enforcement fail you too?

Also, did you have the house built custom, and if so, did you hire your own inspector to take you through the process?

This kind of thing may sound incredible, but it can and does happen. On a building and remodeling site I frequented for many years, there was a woman whose house had to be demolished because of mold. She spent a lot of time educating others on what can go wrong during the building process.

I am sorry you are going through this. I hope you find some peace (and, obviously, resolution if you can).
 

yippie

Beach Fanatic
Oct 28, 2005
946
42
A local
Yippie, how awful. I know there are some builders out there who are very honest, but as in anything, there are others who are not, and that's why they invented code inspectors. Did the county sign off on your house? Did code enforcement fail you too?

Also, did you have the house built custom, and if so, did you hire your own inspector to take you through the process?

This kind of thing may sound incredible, but it can and does happen. On a building and remodeling site I frequented for many years, there was a woman whose house had to be demolished because of mold. She spent a lot of time educating others on what can go wrong during the building process.

I am sorry you are going through this. I hope you find some peace (and, obviously, resolution if you can).

Thank you too far tampa. It was a spec house. I bought it in good faith. Yes code enforcement failed me too.

The public needs to be educated on this problem. It is like pandora's box. Unfortunately, I am already ruined. Hopefully this will help people in the future.
 

Miss Kitty

Meow
Jun 10, 2005
47,017
1,131
69
Did you have legal representation? So sorry for all your troubles.
 

TooFarTampa

SoWal Insider
Thank you too far tampa. It was a spec house. I bought it in good faith. Yes code enforcement failed me too.

The public needs to be educated on this problem. It is like pandora's box. Unfortunately, I am already ruined. Hopefully this will help people in the future.

I guess at the time, given all the construction going on, there were as many "drive-by inspections" going on as drive-by appraisals. This was a major problem in the Orlando area and I'm sure many others during the boom.

This kind of thing is less likely to happen at this moment, given that there is much more time for inspectors to do the proper oversight. Logic tells us that in 2004-05, a lot of things fell by the wayside, but that is no excuse. You would think someone would have to be accountable. I know there are two sides to every story, but it is obvious that something went terribly wrong. Please keep us updated on your case.

I wonder if there are others out there with similar issues. Again I am so sorry for your troubles.
 

yippie

Beach Fanatic
Oct 28, 2005
946
42
A local
I wonder if there are others out there with similar issues. Again I am so sorry for your troubles.

Thank you. YES, there are plenty of others out there with similar issues. Unfortantly, many of them will no know it until it is too late.

Did you have legal representation? So sorry for all your troubles.

Yes, but that is expensive as well. In my opinion, the legal system just doesn't work here unless you are a good ole boy.

Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier 'n puttin' it back in.

Please help me get the cat out of the bag. Tell everyone you know about this situation. I am only one out of a lot of people who may not know until it is too late.

I am dealing with structural builder defects myself that should have been easily caught by the County and my property inspector as well. Nothing as drastic as yours, but still a large unexpected expense and fustrating. I would tell anyone to hire an engineer vs. property inspector and make sure they rip off siding, roofing and give a full detailed engineering report.

Yes, the city inspection department went as far as to tell me they were not my safety net. I'm sorry, but as far as I am concerned they are by accepting the responsibility of inspecting for minimum code standards.

Godspeed to you and thank you for telling your story. I hope that others take heed. I know your efforts will not be in vain.

Please, again help me get the word out. Unfortunately, Kurt felt I was spamming the board by posting this at every subject. I respect his opinion, but I don't feel like it was spam.

This situation has ruined my life and I no longer have a quality of life and never will. Please help me get the word out. This could happen to you, it could happen to your friends and neighbors. It is not an unusual problem in this area.
 
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30A Skunkape

Skunky
Jan 18, 2006
10,286
2,312
53
Backatown Seagrove
Bad construction is an epidemic in our subdivision which I think bloomed in the 2004-2005 period. It seems that following every major rain event a dumpster appears in front of a house which is then filled with wet sheetrock, insulation, etc. A builder who lived across the street and moved urged the most thorough of home inspections be performed prior to buying one of the houses that went up during the boom-often times the focus was on project completion over quality construction.

Yippee, sorry to hear of your tragedy. Just curious, did somebody tell you the mold gave you diabetes?
 

yippie

Beach Fanatic
Oct 28, 2005
946
42
A local
Bad construction is an epidemic in our subdivision which I think bloomed in the 2004-2005 period. It seems that following every major rain event a dumpster appears in front of a house which is then filled with wet sheetrock, insulation, etc. A builder who lived across the street and moved urged the most thorough of home inspections be performed prior to buying one of the houses that went up during the boom-often times the focus was on project completion over quality construction.

Yippee, sorry to hear of your tragedy. Just curious, did somebody tell you the mold gave you diabetes?

Inflammation causes diabetes. Mold causes inflammation. Since I got out of the house, the glucose levels have been much better, but the neuropathy caused by it is the most painful thing I could imagine anyone ever going through life with. i will not live another 40 years in this condition. Sometimes I just wish i would never wake up and it would all be gone. Each step is agony, sitting is agony and laying down is worse. Sometimes I just scream with the pain. I pray, but nothing happens. When I work, I just cry with pain. I can't begin to tell you the agony each day is for me. I was such a vibrant active person, now I don't know if I can walk to the car from my front door.
 
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