Urine and feces and mold (oh my)!

The home inspection performed by Russ Kowalik of Three Rivers Inspection determined extensive feline urine and feces infestation of the home.  Later, on August 9th, Lorri and Lisa working in the house, find that urine infestation extends above the baseboards along the front of the home producing disintegration of corresponding building materials. 

October 1 -- As Joel and his crew are demolishing the kitchen and living room, they find that cat urine has penetrated through 2 layers of dry wall too --- all the way to the insulation. The stench is absolutely overwhelming and needs to be treated with a powerful chemical that permeates the entire house.  Even that doesn't eliminate the odor.

November 7-11 -- Dave and Joe, contractors from Mr. Handyman find more urine damage in the living room, determining that it is more pervasive than previously detected.  Wood around lower tier windows is saturated with urine and requires replacement. 

November 15 - Dave with Mr. Handyman, agrees with Rick Chase that the ozone system is among the best options at this point for eliminating urine residue, but that this likely won't solve the problem either.

We learn that we will have to remove drywall in at least half of the (very large) living room, and possibly all of it, in order to even have a chance of fixing this.

This really stinks!! Thanks, Roz!

Uninhabitable

July 2 - Lorri and Lisa are let into 211 Hunt Road by Roslyn Neiman and her husband, Sandy Neiman (a lawyer who also played us for fools in what certainly seems to us to be wholly unethical ways) They depart shortly after they let us in.  We look around find the house in uninhabitable condition. 

After walking through the house and discovering some of the concealed damage, we call Roz and ask if she had gone through it, or just stayed outside, to which she stammered, “No,  yes, well only into the basement.” 

Although we elect not to confront her it, we know this to be a lie insofar as they found part of the tassel from the sandals she was wearing that day outside the living room.  We wonder once again what “dual agency” really means in this instance and what in the world has been done to us.

Telltale tassel?  Thanks, Roz.

And we can't live in our newly purchased home? Thanks again, Roz!

Painting

August 3, Henry Webber with MasterBrush Painting stops by to provide an estimate and volunteers that he had done work at 211 Hunt Road when the Exlers were here. He shares that he was asked to paint the front hallway ... specifically to cover water damage! 

August 4 - Bill Kraft with Kraft Painting came to provide an estimate and divulges extensive information about his experiences painting 211 Hunt Road. Bill says that he and his crew were hired to repair and paint over extensive water damage throughout the first floor. Robin Exler asserted that the damage was produced by Hurricane Ivan. According to Bill, Mark Exler authorized only superficial work designed to mask the problem at the least possible cost. When it came to repairing a large hole in the entryway caused by water damage, Mark refused to pay so Bill told him to find another painter.   Needless to say... none of this was disclosed to us on the legally required disclosures form.

August 12 brings yet another conversation with Henry Webber, which reveals that he has provided lots of estimates, but not done much work at 211 Hunt Road.  He confirms that he did repair water damage in several places in the front hall. He has also given estimates for water damage in the rotunda and living room. 

October 18 - Bill Kraft makes pre-painting visit. He makes repeated reference to what were in his opinion Robin Exler’s clear and conscious attempts to conceal water and other damage. He was shocked by the bowed foundation walls hidden behind the drywall in the basement, at the living room-as-litter-box phenomenon and the mouse infestation. 

The most damaging cumulative result of water pressure to the house was found in the bowed foundation walls -- which several people suggested might have to be rebuilt entirely.  Bowed foundations are nothing to mess around with.  As the chief appraiser for HUD has sad:  "The condition will not stabilize.  It's a question of how much time remains." 

Here's what a bowed foundation looks like:

Concealed Damage, Bowed Foundation Walls, Attempted Cover-Ups - Hey, Thanks Roz!

(So glad our money helped pay for some of those expensive clothes you wear.)

Architecture: The House Is Structurally Unsound

August 6 - Architect Todd Swann (of Siegle Solow Horne Architects) visits to assess renovation needs at 211 Hunt Road. He expresses serious concern about Lorri and Lisa remaining in the home given the extent of work required simply to make the home safe and functional. August 11, Lorri talks to Todd and he once more broaches the question of their probable relocation during necessary home renovations.

August 12 - Todd and his partner, Stuart Horne, visit to discuss how to best proceed in an efficient and cost effective manner. They would like to meet jointly with the stucco and waterproofing contractors to be certain the house is watertight before anything else is done. Both emphasize the need to deal with health and safety issues first; urine/feces in living room vents, floors, floorboards, drywall, mouse infestation and water damage.

These are the kinds of things we're dealing with in our "high end" house from Roslyn Neiman, the luxury home specialist.

August 26 - Bob Capo, structural engineer, recommended by Scott Brown, EIFS inspector, estimates that proper buttressing of 2 of the 4 sloping walls will cost between $30K-$50K. 

August 27 - Lisa Siranovich (mortgage broker for the entire deal) strongly recommends that we pursue the rebuilding option given the extent of damage to the home and the complications that will pose for resale even once repaired. 

On August 29, Josef, a general contractor, met with us for advice on renovation/rebuilding. He refuses to undertake any work on the property given the extensive undisclosed problems and potential for liability to be wrongly attributed to him. He confirms Lisa Siranovich’s assessment that it would be better to plow the house under than try to remediate damage of this magnitude.

November 10 - Two more of our growing stable of contractors, Dave and Rick, conclude the floor in the kitchen is sagging too badly to sustain the concrete overlay planned. The problem is the improper interior construction that was wholly concealed by the “finished” basement ceiling that has now been removed. The stair header was improperly constructed and is unable to support the weight of the stairs and floor above it. 

Multiple make-do floor joists are festively constructed and installed. Two floor joists next to the stairs are missing large sections from their middle portions, which appear to have been intentionally scooped out for some unknown reason. Another floor joist near the stairs has cracked through completely. Repairs were clearly attempted previously, but with 1” supports, not the standard 2” boards to support the joists. Roofing nails were used to hold the flooring in place. The subfloor is constructed with 2 layers of 1/2” plywood rather than 1 layer of 3/4” plywood, contrary to code specification.

There is absolutely nothing about this house that is what a "house" should be.  It is not safe.  It is not sound.  We have been bamboozled.

Rebuild Option?!   Thanks Roz...

Quality Air Works... (Not)

July 30 - Joel with Quality Air Works cleans infested ductwork at 211 Hunt Road. 

Urine and feces is found throughout ductwork, and urine stains are all over the subfloor.

 Dessicants (to dry up the urine) are found hidden inside the ductwork.

Towards the end of the afternoon, Joel recommends using an industrial strength cleaner called “Last Resort” -- which is the product that professionals use to remove overpowering obnoxious odors from dead bodies and decaying corpses at death scenes, among other unpleasant things -- requiring Lorri and Lisa to vacate the house for at least 2 days.

Joel returns to check progress of fumigation on August 2. He informs Lorri and Lisa they need to purchase an air purifier to further improve, then maintain, air quality in the home. 

August 15 - Joel stops by to remove the air purifier, but emphasizes the stench from the urine will be present in the dry wall and floors, and the house will likely be insufferable and unhealthy without it a permanent installation of an air purifier, the wholesale removal and replacement of subfloors, walls, and ductwork, or (more than likely) all of the above.  

Later -- after multiple duct cleanings, filter replacements, floor removal and industrial cleansing -- we learn that there is likely no way to eliminate the cat urine odor from circulating through the ducts, as the ducts themselves actually CANNOT be replaced due to structural issues.  Also, the urine smell is in the HVAC unit itself.  Even if we replaced the HVAC and the ductwork (which is impossible) there's a good chance the smell would remain, because it's in the concrete surrounding the ductwork as well.  We are stuck with breathing in the residue of the Exlers' cat's inability to control its bladder.  Forever.

It's not just inconvenient and unpleasant, kids -- there are actual real health hazards to breathing in cat urine all the time.  Read all about it here and here.

October 1 - Joel and crew demolish the kitchen, removing pink monstrosities from the bedroom and tear out portions of dry wall in living room, exposing toxic mold, intrusion of earth into the wall space without barriers in the substrate to keep it out, water intrusion into the floor and walls, structural weakness, and ever so much more. 

Vacate the house? Demolish the kitchen? Replace the subfloors, the walls, and the ductwork?  Raw earth and water seeping through the walls?  Most of this can't be fixed without razing the house, actually.  As if we could afford to raze and rebuild the house for which we've already paid $800,000.  

Say...  thanks again, Roz Neiman!  You're such a special human being.  (Once again -- NOT.) 

Even the roof...?

July 28 - Three Rivers Inspection determined missing and damaged shingles, plywood was warped and some shingles are curled at 211 Hunt Road.

It was also determined the garage roof will need to be replaced in very near term; house roof likewise deteriorating.

Next, Dave and Joe, contractors from Mr. Handyman, strongly advise complete roof replacement as shingles are about to fail. 

November 9 - The roof leaks above the entryway during a rainstorm. Lorri and Lisa are again advised to replace the roof to avoid further harm to the ceiling and floors.  At bare minimum, the light fixture that the Exlers placed in the entryway -- presumably to cover up the prior ceiling leak that they were too cheap to repair -- must be removed for safety.  Given the weakness in the ceiling, the light could have fallen down and killed someone.  Or the electrical wires mixed with the leaking water could have killed us.  Not that safety was a concern for our sellers or "our" alleged real estate agent, Roslyn Neiman, from all the evidence.

Please learn about signs of roof failure before you buy a house, and learn about fraud in covering up damage. Here's an article that can help.

We are not made of money! 

Thanks (for nothing) Roz!!

And then there were the trees...

August 31 - Lorri and Lisa left a message for the Exlers' landscaper, Dean Aleprete, indicating they were aware he had worked at the property in the past and would like him to do additional work. He did not return the call.  Numerous repeated attempts also fail, until one day Dean is reached by surprise and he says, "I'm not allowed to talk to you people."  And hangs up the phone.

October 6 - An arborist visits 211 Hunt Road to determine why nearly all of the trees are dead or dying. He is dismayed to find that the Exlers failed to properly maintain any facet of the landscaping and concludes that most of the trees have been choked by vines that could easily have been cut down at ground level. He estimates it will take 4 days’ labor to prune, cut the vines, and remove the dead trees. Also, to prevent soil erosion and protect the natural habitat, it will be necessary to replant in the spring.  Vines kill trees.  Don't let this happen to yours.

As if the additional money weren't enough, they killed the trees! 

Thanks Roz!!