My fiance and I recently purchased a house from someone who had owned her house since 1992, and had made only necessary repairs while living in it. Upon listing her house for sale to move out of the state, she remodeled the whole house in order to make it more appealing to sell. Unfortunately, she hired a lazy contractor who ostensibly worked in haste as we found out a lot of the workmanship was poor. However, with the several issues that we did see, there didn’t seem to be anything major that our home inspector saw during the process of closing escrow.

Fast forward two weeks to moving in, our house abruptly did not have hot water, and was only able to produce lukewarm water at best. We couldn’t find anything wrong with the water heater (brand new, previous owner bought in Nov 2020) except that it would run non-stop. Then, there subsequently was water leaking onto the floor from the closet adjacent to the water heater. Again we didn’t find anything wrong with the water heater, but we suspected that there may be some issues with the installation of it. I asked my dad, who had done construction for over 30 years, and he told me that he thinks it may have been the pipes leading to/going out of the water heater; he has a feeling that the person who had installed it may have not let the water in the house run for a day to see if there are any leaks prior to soldering the pipes and encasing it within the walls.

The next day, we wake up to find the flooring has been damaged due to some underlying water damage that started from the leak we found next to the closet, and the extent of the floor damage trickled to the living room and kitchen. To make matters worse, we also hear what seems to be a burst pipe between the walls of our two bathrooms, which are far away from the leaking closet; it sounds like there is rain within the walls.

Shut off the main water supply to stop the “rain” then you can open the wall to assess the damage. Do you have home insurance? They should cover such repairs, contact them.

Is this the contractor she hired

Sounds like you need to hire a plumber. There is literally a ton of things that it could be. Turn the water off 

Edit: I realized I didn’t post the last paragraph of what I wrote

We are in the process of having people from the home warranty come out to do an inspection, but we cannot get things rolling until Monday since we’re still in the weekend. Does anyone know if all these damages are covered under warranty? It looks like we will need to file an insurance claim, but we don’t know what we need to do other than that. Would the previous contractor be liable? We would love to hear any advice from anyone about this matter. Thank you!

@Dmitriy Fomichenko

We shut off the water, and have contacted the plumber from the home warranty, but we have to wait until Monday before they come out. We are going to file an insurance claim as well. Thank you for replying!!

@Eamonn McElroy

Oh wow, that’s wild!

@George W.

We shut off the water, and have contacted the plumber from the home warranty, but we have to wait until Monday before they come out. We are going to file an insurance claim as well, and may have a public adjuster come out. Thank you for replying!!

@Frank Ngo Hello , I'm new to REI and come here to gain some knowledge so I can start . I came across your post and with my knowledge of plumbing from NYC it sounds like you definitely have a leak . As far as the water temperature have you checked the settings on the tank ? A low setting would have the heater run longer than usual to make decent hot water . Hope this helps as some guys would rule out the tank and have you waste money on a replacement.

Frank,

A couple of points to add:

1. get documentation in writing and photos of any improper workmanship.  You may have to go after the contractor and their insurance.

2. Review your policy with your agent.  Water damage is covered for limited causes (sudden & accidental as apposed to leak over time).  Depending on what you find when you evaluate everything, it may or may not be covered.

3. Consider getting a water damage remediation contractor(s) out to determine what cleanup will be required.  I would discuss it with your agent before signing up with any of them.