State Specific Question About: ARIZONA (AZ)

OK. . .so the house is 3 years old and no longer under warranty. However, there are several homes in the neighborhood with the same problem. There is water damage in the drywall at the shower door hinge (bottom.) There is also a overflow hole next to that area. A plumber told a few people in the neighborhood to plug up the hole because this is a common problem--the overflow leaking. I was also told not to plug the hole. I've tested the shower and cannot figure out how the water is getting behind in the wall. I'm thinking this is an installation problem. What do you think? Also, any suggestions on how to get the builder, Beazer Homes, to address the issue? I've already had the shower door rehung because it was not correctly installed. . . but that was 2.5 years ago. I'm thinking the leak is small since it's taken this long to appear. The sealant/caulking still looks good to me. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The tenants took really good care of the home--I just don't think this problem was an obvious one so it went overlooked until now. A person view the property actually was the one to point it out.

Does anyone know what causes this?

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the builder to cover the repairs? He seems to think I'm a stupid women who knows nothing construction. I would like to do my research before our meeting.

Thanks,

I would be looking at the building codes for your city/county/state. As Robert posted building codes today or 3 years ago require materials like cement board. A water proof membrane, a shower pan etc.

Dry wall nope. Green board maybe. Not wise on new construction.

If the builder is already giving you and others flack.

He isn't giving you a choice but to call in code enforcement.

Get code enforcement out there to do a inspection of several of the dwellings with the same problem.

The building blue prints will be pulled and examined. Then the work compared to the blue prints. Builder will probably have to repair all of them. Good luck hope it all works out for you.

It's hard for me to tell exactly where you're having drywall issues. However, my husband and I had a new house built six years ago and had a similar situation.

A couple of years in, I noticed drywall damage near the trim right next to the shower surround. I have a half wall of glass on one side and then a glass door on the next side. The problem was that even though it looked like it had been caulked properly, it hadn't. When I began to watch it closely after showers, I could see the tiny stream of water leaving the surround from underneath the door area and half-wall area (completely different areas).

The builder was non-responsive, so this is what I did. I completely dismantled the shower enclosure (all glass parts and their framing. I cleaned the caulk off every piece as best as I could and off the cultured marble surround portion. I used white and clear silicone caulk (depending on where it was) to completely caulk the shower surround (all non-glass areas), then I put the glass shower enclosure portions back together and caulked the crap out of it as I did so - my caulk job looked better than the original installers.

Gwen,

Did you find a ton of mold? If so--what would you do about that? Would you hire a handyman to do all the work or hire a plumber--then handyman for the drywall etc.

A close family member just died and your email has made my day. Thank you for that. I feel a little less stress!!

Lisa:

Sorry for the tardy response. I'm sorry to hear about the death in your family.

There wasn't any real mold because the water was not coming from the inside of the wall, it was leaking from between the bottom edges of the door frame and the surround and soaking into the drywall as it ran down. If I had mold (and I've had it from a property in a flood plain which flooded this Spring), I just spray bleach on it and let it dry. You may need to wipe/scrub the area and spray again with bleach - not a big deal. Any rotten wood and drywall will need to be replaced.

The drywall only needed repair in a 4x4 inch area, so I did that myself. I also took apart the entire surround myself and redid it (re-caulked) - no handyman necessary. If a skilled labor person couldn't get it right the first time, I wasn't going to hire someone - I felt I could do a good job on my own.

Since it wasn't a plumbing issue, I didn't need to hire a plumber either.

It's hard to explain how my shower is set up. It's a walk-in shower with full length door. To the left is a full wall of cultured marble with the shower controls, directly in front is a full wall of cultured marble, and to the right is a half wall of cultured marble and a half wall of glass. So, my glass surround is a half-wall attached to a door on one side (making an L-shape).

Like I said, my water leak was at the bottom where the door frame meets the surround and shower pan, it all just needed to be caulked better.

We had noticed that the drywall was getting damp, but I didn't notice how until my husband was showering and looked very carefully.

Good luck to you...I hope this all helps.

Gwen