As stated before, we combined two homes into one.  Before moving we were unable to sort through things and ended up moving stuff we probably could have gotten rid of before the move.  Our new basement was full of boxes of holiday items, crafts, etc. that just needed to be gone through, sorted and organized.  Little by little and when possible, Connie and Angela would go to the basement and go through boxes, sorting things to be kept and things that could be gotten rid of.  While going through boxes on a day in December 2004, Angela saw wet concrete on the Northwest corner of the basement near the electrical panel.  In complete shock, Angela called for Connie to come and look at the area.  She saw the same thing.  Brian was out hunting and not at home to see this.  When Brian got home from hunting, we immediately told him what we saw and showed him the area.  Unfortunately the area had dried and was no longer visible for Brian to see.  Brian immediately called Nancy Sharrock, personal service specialist of Meyer Douglas Homes, to report the water intrusion but got no answer and therefore left a message on her answering machine.  At the time of the incident we didn't think to take photos of it and could only describe what we saw and where we saw it.  We never received a return call from Nancy about this.  With the Christmas holidays in full swing and no further signs of water in the Northwest corner of the basement, we didn't feel we could pursue the matter further since we were unable to show them proof of the initial water intrusion.

 

Intrusion behind electric box

Water Intrusion

On Monday, March 28, 2005, our morning started off like any other morning.  Both boys were still sleeping, Angela was getting ready for work, Connie was doing stuff around the house and Brian was due home from work around 7:00 a.m.  It had rained all Easter weekend and into Monday morning.  Connie went to the basement to do something and discovered large amounts of water flowing from the top of the foundation over the silver insulation on the walls and down into a standing spot on the floor in several areas of the North and the West walls.  Connie started frantically moving boxes and personal items away from the water covered walls and floor.  Brian arrived home from work and immediately came to the basement when he heard all the commotion.  As Brian got to the bottom of the stairs he said, "What the hell is this?"  Hearing Brian yell, Angela headed from the second floor to the first floor of the house to see what was wrong.  Brian told Angela, using extremely expressive adjectives, that water was flooding the basement.  Angela ran as fast as she could to the basement where she immediately started helping Connie move boxes and items away from the water.  Meanwhile Brian immediately called Nancy Sharrock of Meyer Douglas Homes to see about getting someone out to the house to see our flood. 

Due to the early morning hours no one was in the office and Brian had to leave a message on her voice mail.  Brian came back down to the basement to help move things.  Shortly after Brian left the message for Nancy, three guys from Meyer Douglas Homes showed up at our front door stating they got a call from Nancy and were here to see the water problem.  Brian took them to the basement and before getting to the bottom of the stairs their jaws dropped and one guy said, "Oh shit!"  One of the three ran out to their van to get a ladder and a utility knife to cut the silver insulation away from the walls.  The other two guys helped move some of the boxes out of the way so they could see how bad this was.  Upon removing the silver insulation from the walls more water started pouring down the walls and dripping off the insulation panels.  There was concern on everyone's face in that the water was also coming over the top of the foundation and down the walls in and around the electrical panels.  All three Meyer Douglas Homes employees went outside to investigate the North and West exterior walls to see how the water was getting into our home.  Angela got her digital camera and immediately started taking pictures from every angle of the water intrusion and also had Brian hold a piece of paper in the standing water to show the amount of water that had come in up to that point.  see more photos

Connie went upstairs to take care of the boys who were starting to wake up.  Brian and Angela came up from the basement and were met in the foyer by one of the Meyer Douglas Homes employees who said, "We don't see any flashing on the house."  That was the first time we ever heard the word "flashing" being used.  He stated that they could not see any flashing through the weep holes.  There was nothing they could do to stop the water from coming into the basement and they left stating they would relay this information to Nancy Sharrock.  When the rain stopped the water slowly stopped coming into the basement. 

Brian contacted the Butler County Building Department to see who the building inspector was for our home and if he/she could come out to see the water intrusion.  We were told the inspector assigned to our home was Gary Kessler and they would try to get him out to our home but that it may not be until tomorrow.