Water Damage from Rain

Started by NicoleO1 • 9 replies • 1979 views

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NicoleO1 (California)
Posts: 181

Posted:

Issue and question.

An owners unit suffered damage from a leak from the roof of our building. Its non disputed this damage was caused by a leak which indeed is an HOA issue. The water leak caused some damage to drywall ceiling ( already repaired by HOA ) but this left the laminate flooring damaged with warping and chipped areas due to the warped areas. It's clearly damanged from the water, non disuputed by the HOA. Insurance does not cover this as its rain water damage which is caused by non maintenance of the HOA's roof, also not disputed. HOA agrees to this.

Issue? Flooring needs to be replaced. Entire unit is covered in this flooring 900 sq feet. Product not available as no long being produced. Owner is asking for less expensive flooring which is less than thier curent product used, is water resistant to prevent this from happening again. Unsure how to proceed. CCRs do not indicated how to proceed, damage is not covered by owners or HOA Insurance due to it being rain water. HOA should repair flooring. Should it be accepted since this flooring is throughout the home and the space affected can''t be matched with product that the entire home need to be redone? Not sure where it really should go fom here.

LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099

Posted:

Nicole,

Is the actual damaged area all in one room?

If that is the case and the rest of the flooring is okay, it may be feasible to replace the damaged section of flooring (or the entire floor in that room) without it looking like a total disaster.

When we purchased our present home the previous owner had installed laminate flooring in parts of the house but he did not touch the kitchen. With no flooring experience I removed the old kitchen tiles and laid a new laminate floor to blend in with the existing laminate on either side of the kitchen. The original product was not available so we selected a similar color. It took some fancy work with my woodworking tools to make the transition pieces, but four years later it still looks good.

A professional installer should have no problem making a similar transition from old to new. One could even make an artistic inlaid design in the floor that would look like that it was always supposed to be that way. It would be far less expensive than replacing 900 square feet of flooring.

Another thought is that laminate flooring has a finite life, like tiles or carpeting. It would be a bit unfair to stick the HOA with the bill for installing all new flooring if the damaged laminate was nearing the end of its useful life.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061

Posted:

If insurance won't cover the damages, then the individual/company would have to pay out of pocket.

If the problem was due to deferred maintenance (vs. storm damage) then the Association would pay.

The amount that would be paid would be the amount to repair the damage (sanding/refinishing or simply replacing that small section).

In your specific case, I'd suggest a compromise. Perhaps 50/50 split?

Otherwise, the owner can always take the Association to court and see how the court would rule.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

My understanding is the unit owner would file a claim with their insurance company. Their insurance company would then try to subrogate (collect) with the associations insurance company as the association was at fault.

MarkM31 (Washington)
Posts: 556

Posted:

Or the HO sure the association in small claims court. There is no need for the HO to involve their insurance company.

The HOA needs to get on the ball and cut a check pronto

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

We had defective window sealant that allowed rain to come into some condo units and cause damage to some wallboard and hardwood flooring.

So our settlement funds paid to replace hardwood floors. The color is still available, but fading had occurred over the seven years since new. The floors in adjoining rooms didn't make it feasible to only replace only the dining area floor that had damage--it mismatching the adjoining kitchen, for instance, would have made that whole area look crappy. So we replaced all the hardwood in living room, dining area, kitchen and two halls.

I'm not saying this is the best way, but it's how we did it. And I don't think the unit owner should have to live with mismatched floors even if "almost" the same.

NicoleO1 (California)
Posts: 181

Posted:

Rain damange is excluded in most policies an that goes from both homeowner and HOA on this incident, it's not that easy.

NicoleO1 (California)
Posts: 181

Posted:

Rain damange is excluded in most policies an that goes from both homeowner and HOA on this incident, it's not that easy.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

But if your HOA hasn't maintained your roofs properly, Nicole......?

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

But if your HOA hasn't maintained your roofs properly, Nicole......?

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