“Dear Helen:
We recently bought a ten-year old house. After moving in, we hired a carpenter to replace a warped window. Upon removing it, he discovered that the surrounding wood was rotten. Further investigation revealed that during the original construction, the flashing at the roofline had been installed improperly. When it rained, instead of running down the outside of the clapboards, water ran down between the clapboards and the foam insulation, rotting the wood. In addition, one rotted post in the attic had become home to a family of carpenter ants. The total cost of repairs raised the price of an expected $1500 job into over $10,000!
Our home insurance won’t cover the damage, since the only coverage for rot is when it is caused by a single event and not gradually over time.
Is there any other way to recoup some of this unplanned expense!?”
– Rotten Luck Read the rest of this entry »
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