How The Coming El Nino
Could Impact Your Home.
Part 3
As I sit at my desk this morning looking out of my window at the rain finally coming down for the first time in a very long time in our drought ridden State and watching the water accumulating and ponding thoughout our property I'm drawn to question whether this series of posts is resonating with the audience who happens upon it.
I surely hope so. But if not that's why companies like ours will continue to flourish when the damages on homes and structures start to mount and the insurance companies start calling us in to mitigate against further damage or, as the case usually is, to give them damage repair estimates which often are not covered by insurance.
In order to make it easier for Real Estate Professionals, Lenders, Home Inspectors, contractors but most importantly Homeowners, Buyers and Sellers to understand the importance of how to mitigate and prevent drainage situations from ever occurring we would like to contribute the following information.
The graphic above illustrates what is called the:
- "Flow path" of water intrusion from the various
- "Flood Plains" aka "Standing Water" or "Ponding"
- that collects "Runoff" from around
- the "Perimeter" of the home
- or from "Water Intrusion" from
- "rain gutters"
- or from the "Roof"
- and the "percolation" aka "seepage" that surfaces from beneath the home
- caused by "hydro static pressure" which is water that is forced up from the Earth once it becomes saturated and can no longer absorb additional water
- and into a "flood plain" aka "standing water" or "ponding".
The blue upward pointing arrows in the graphic above show the continued flow path of moisture that wicks, weeps and seeps its way up through the ground through various structural building components i.e
- skirting,
- rim joists,
- flooring,
- wall studs
- and finally into the interior cavity of the home where it can create a very unhealthy and unpleasant environment for its inhabitants.
This situation if neglected can result in a build up of chronic and inherent moisture which not only produces a very unhealthy environment leading to potentially serious structural issues for the home but can result in major health and safety issues as well due to air born spores from serious and pervasive mold and mildew build up.
The graphic above illustrates a much clearer picture of the various structural components that are often impacted by moisture related issues. These problems, and MAKE NO MISTAKE they are PROBLEMS, begin with a 
chronic and pervasive INHERENT DRAINAGE ISSUE or even a SLOW PLUMBING OR SEWAGE LEAK that has gone unattended or unnoticed for an extended period of time.
NOTE: Most insurance companies will not cover a mold, drainage or plumbing issue if they deem it a long term chronic or homeowner neglect issue.
Having worked with insurance companies for over 30 years I can tell you first hand that you had better be able to convince an insurance adjuster that the problem was acute. These are usually defined as problems caused by
- a broken pipe
- sewer line
- or O ring below the commode.
Other than what can be substantiated to be an "ACUTE BREAK" it will be very difficult for any insurance company to recognize a drainage or long term leak as a "POLICY COMPLIANT" claim.
Evidence such as
- mold
- mildew
- deteriorating and/or decomposing structural materials i.e.
- flooring
- siding
- paneling
- drywall
- rim joist
- sill plates
- wall studs
- insulation,
- carpeting, etc
are pretty convincing tell tales that the damages were long term.
We as Real Estate Professionals and Industry Stakeholders and Homeowners be you buyers or sellers owe it to your clientele and one another to take the time to thoroughly study the lot/parcel/property your home or structure is built on and to identify potential drainage issues.
In Part 4 which will be the conclusion of this series we will share the complete flow path of a properly installed drainage system starting from the top of your home down to the surface and French drain system exiting to the the street gutter and finally to the main storm drain system that will hopefully direct the excess runoff away from your property.
All this said please remember that there is nothing in this World made by man including Man him/herself that doesn't have to be MAINTAINED.
