Ryland Leaky Homes

*Email Testimony

Monday, December 18, 2006 3:17 PM
To: Ryland Homes

Subject: Ryland Homes in Gold Creek

We live @ *Miners Lane in Gold Creek. We built our Ryland home in 2002. Immediately, after moving in we had major drainage problems in out back yard, in the basement under the front door of the house and around the large foyer window. We also had some gutter problems that still remain in that there is large amount of rainwater that pours out and over the gutter onto the front stoop. However, after a year of of emailing Ryland about our drainage problems they never resolved the problems and just did minor repairs that did not fix the underlying problems. After 1 year I consulted an attorney and an expert consultant and we fully prepared to go to arbitration with Ryland Homes. However, our expert consultant suggested we write one more letter to them to avoid going to arbitration since this process would cost us as much as it would to fix the repairs, about $17,000! Thankfully, Ryland homes agreed to truly fix our problems knowing that it would probably be cheaper for them to fix the problems than to pay for attorneys themselves. The repairs have been done but it took years to stay on them to do the right thing not to mention hundreds of phone calls and emails. There are also many other punch list items that they needed to repair because of their poor workmanship. These have all been fixed. Let me know what I can do to help. I would like to see Ryland Homes takes some accountability for being such a complete incompetent business. They owe us thousands in pain and suffering alone.

From A.T.

* To: Ryland Leaky Homes : We moved into our home in June of 2001 – that same year was the year that Ivan came through and we noticed at that point that the awning over our bay window was leaking.  We asked the builders to come repair it at that time.  They gave us some song and dance initially about it being our responsibility to caulk the window each year.  Since we had not been in the house even a full year at that point – they did come re-caulk the window area however they never came in to repair the ceiling and the wall which now had some water stains and a crack in the wall board.  About 1 year later we started to see our hardwood floor start to show signs of water damage at the front door.  We now have a floor with rotted floorboards and was looking for someone to come repair that area when we received your notice in the mailbox.  It is nice to know in one way that we are not the only ones with this issue.  We would like to be added to the battle.  I will email pictures this weekend. Thanks for bringing the larger issue to the attention of all home owners and I hope that Ryland realizes that they have a problem and need to address this with this community sooner rather than later.

*I live in the Gold Creek section of Mirror Lake. I too have a Ryland Calloway home and water damage over the front door. Can you provide me with more details as to your entry placed in the Mirror Lake Newsletter?

From  B.H. /Gold Creek Subdivision

* I have been having problems with our front entry since we first moved in 6 years ago.  I would be very interested to know how many others are experiencing the same problems.  We have continuously spoken with Ryland and they claim we failed to caulk the front entry which we have had caulked numerous times.  The entire entry way has rotted out and needs to be replaced.  The best story is when their workers damaged the drywall around the front door and told us to call back in 4 weeks for the repair because they didn't want to repair it if it was still leaking and then they refused to repair the damage they did to our wall.  We have spoken to Mike Patazan (not sure if I'm spelling that correct) over and over again to no avail. My husband has had a worker come in and replace the surrounding wood at a cost of over $600 but he said it was just a bandaid and that the entire doorway really needs to be replaced. Please let me know what you're trying to do because we would certainly like to be part of it. 

 From  D.M / Spyglass Subdivision

*  I would be happy to give you a blow by blow account of my run-in's with Ryland over, what sounds like, a very similar issue to the one you are referring to on page 3 of the Mirror Lake Newsletter.

From A.D. / Spyglass Subdivision

*We have had our entryway repaired  (Ryland paid for it) but now can see the rotted wood around the bottom. Recently during a bad storm the big window was leaking and the paint on the inside was bubbling.  After the storm we had our painter come look if the window was sealed he said it was so we don’t know where the rain came in…We are at xxx Stillwater dr.  Let us know what is going to happen..

From T.D./ StillWater Dr.

*I just finished reading the latest ML newsletter and I wanted to immediately respond to your notice for homeowners of Calloways with water damage!!!!  My husband and I purchased our Ryland home, Calloway model, in Feb 2003.  We have lived in our home for over 3.5 years now and have had water issues leaking in around the top of the front door and wall in the basement since the beginning.  Naturally we have been infuriated about this as it is totally ridiculous that a house of this price should leak!!  We complained to the warranty department several times, however each time Ryland/Lana said it was due to loose caulking around the frame (which is complete bull).  The drywall inside the foyer is damaged despite being repaired/repainted once or twice.  We haven't seen water running down the wall in the basement for awhile but I feel these 2 things are related.  There's no telling what is damaged behind the drywall that we don't know about.  The entire outside
painted window/door frame is black with mildew and looks awful.  I have some pictures of the leaks but unfortunately I have not recorded every occurence. We have always wanted to band together with other Calloway owners about this but didn't know how to get started.  I was thrilled to see your notice and want you both to know we are willing to do whatever regarding this issue.  Please keep us informed and let me know how else we can help!!
From T.P. / Gold Creek Subdivision

*I live in the Parkview area where all of the homes are Ryland Models. I live in the Belmont designed home. All of the homes in Parkview have extensive water damage to the front entry and some in the back. We would like to know if Ryland plans to correct this for the home owners. Thanks for putting that notice in the Beacon. We have tried to get this problem remedied to no avail. Some of us have tried to correct the problem on our own. Any suggestions.

From J.P. / Parkview Subdivision
 

* I HAVE A BARCLAY MODEL HOUSE FROM RYLAND, AND IT HAS THE SAME PROBLEM.   I SPOKE WITH ONE OF MY NEIGHBOUR IN CARRINGTON SUB-DIVISION, AND SHE SAID SHE AND LOTS OF PEOPLE IN OUR SUB-DIVISION ,  HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM.  ARE WE ON TO SOMETHING HERE? LET ME KNOW.

From L.P. / Carrington Subdivision

* Rec’d lots of emails about the entryway. So I contacted an attorney and he’s interested. Would also like to hear all of the gory Ryland issues. But, he needs the original warranty and since we’re not the original owners, we don’t have a copy. Do you? I will contact those who responded to get them to write down their stories as well, then collect and ship off to Mr. Hogan.

From S.H. / Parkview Subdivision

*This is in response to your ad in the Mirror Lake Newsletter.  We do live in a Ryland Calloway and we have had problems.  We have had our front door area painted twice and had the bottom wood supports of the side lights replaced and it already needs it again. We were told by the person from "A'int Just Paint" that the whole frame should be replaced because the wood is rotting again.    It is very frustrating, the house is only 5 years old.  Please advise if we have any recourse.

From W.D./ Spyglass Subdivision

* Greetings all! So there must be more of us out there who have had this problem (and others, such as gutters that are angled away from the downspout, gutters too small for the roof angle, etc.). So spread the word!

*I own a Ryland Homes Calloway model home in Mirror Lake (Spyglass).  We have had water damage to out front entry down into our basement and also the rear entry on to the deck down into the basement.  Ryland removed the concrete in the front and replaced it a couple of years ago.  I have contacted Lana about the rear but got no help there.  I saw your notice in the Mirror Lake Beacon newsletter.  Are you providing assistance?

From  S.T. / Spyglass Subvision

I think I pretty much described the jist of our  problems in my first email to you, but just wanted to make sure I covered everything that we're seeing:

- Front entry leaks nearly every time there is a semi-hard to hard downpour.(all the rain we had after Hurricane Katrina caused major leakage in 2005!)

- Initially also it would leak down the basement wall at the bottom of the stairs but Ryland fixed the flashing around the roof and that seemed to have helped some (can't be certain if completely stopped after this was done or not though)

- All over wood frame on exterior of house is black with mildew

- Water leaks in around bottom part of large entry window frame and runs down the door causing paint to bubble and crack and drywall to be damaged; drywall has been fixed and entry repainted several times by Ryland.

- Had an issue with wooden floor warping around right corner of entry way and I strongly feel this was due to the water leaking in; Ryland fixed a large portion of wooden floors in entry and have had no warping since even though entry has leaked again since floor was repaired

- Ryland denies problem upon complaining, says it's due to homeowner  neglect by not recaulking around entry way; Ryland has recaulked and applied sealant around entry way several times but this did not help (I have never lived in a house that had to be recaulked like this to ensure it did not leak if a thunderstorm came through!!!  My parent's house is over 30 years old and does not leak like this!!!)

- I have some pictures of the leaks both around the entry and down the wall in the basement (but not pictures from every instance).  I have some documentation of complaints issued to Ryland but not all that I know I did via email/phone/fax over period of 1st year or two.  Unfortunately I have not recorded every time it has leaked but the paint in our foyer is currently bubbled from leakage!  (I'm very organized in all other parts of my life but sadly I didn't keep up with all this because I never knew it would become such an issue.)

- We've never seen what is behind the drywall or any of the wood but are terrified at what kind of damage has probably been done.  Also concerned about possible damage to sub floor from water leaking in around entry and possibly running down (see above about floor damage).

- We also had Ryland replace the insulation over the wall in the basement due to it getting wet from the leaking down the wall.

- We had mildewing in the ceiling of the garage drywall due to leaks and Ryland repaired this problem; no problems here since

- We have never really been able to find exactly where the water is coming in, it looks to be right where the window frame is, then you can

obviously see where it runs down the wall in the paint.

- On a side note since you mentioned the gutters -- when it rains water just shoots out of the gutters over the front porch on the side next to the garage, as if the gutter system can't handle the amount of water so they're just overflowing causing it to flow down onto the porch and into the small flower bed between porch and walkway to front door.  We can't determine if this is having something to do with the water leaking in but feel it might because during a light rain when the gutters are not so over flooded we don't see any leaking.  It may be a combination of poor gutter system causing abundance of water directed toward front window and poor construction/installation/scheme of entry way door and window resulting in a leak.

I'm curious to hear from the people of have had repairs made to their entries....what do the professionals say is the cause or location of the leaks??  Why is it happening and where exactly?? I have attached two pictures I took of the leaks as well as a scanned page of what I think is the warranty for the entry window.  I have the book that we received with the Ryland warranty in it if you still need a copy of  this (it's many pages).  Just let me know! Thanks again for your initiatives!!  I'll let you know of anything else I think of and we'll keep in touch.

From T.P /Gold Creek Subdivision.

*While our home was still under the 1 year warranty, we noticed that during storms, we had water seeping into our garage, and into the basement (both of these areas are close to the front door.  Upon opening a work-order through Lana at Ryland, she said the water was entering at the top of the outside moulding around the door/window casing, then running down into the garage and basement.  She made the comment that we should have re-caulked it already.  I told her that the caulking shouldn’t need to be replaced that soon.  She had it re-caulked, and we thought the issue had been resolved, as we had not noticed any more water.  However, later, the wood in the door frame on both sides of the doors had started to rot.  We’ve had it re-caulked two additional times since the original work-order (we’ve paid two different painters to do it), but the wood is continuing to rot further.  About 6 months ago, during a heavy rain, we literally saw water running across the hardwood in our foyer.  Water was seeping out of the drywall, between the bottom of the window and the top of the door frame.  Now we have drywall and paint damage on the interior.  We called one of the painters again and him to come back and re-caulk. It is my understanding that Ryland realized earlier that the units which had moulding on the exterior of the bricks were leaking, so they redesigned it.  The more recent homes in our community have the newer design, which recesses the moulding inside the bricks.  However, they are still experiencing the same issues with rotting wood around the door.  Ryland knows this is a problem, but has done nothing to correct it, other than telling people they should be re-caulking the trim.  We’ve had it re-caulked multiple times, but that isn’t solving the issue.I may or may not still have a copy of the work-order that was sent to Ryland.  I will look, and if I find it, I’ll scan a copy and forward it to you. Thanks again for your time.  

From PG/Spyglass

*10/31/2006. I received your handout in our mailbox.  We don't live in a Ryland home, we have our own crappy builder...but that's another story. For the past 3+ years we, and our neighbors, have been attempting to fight the battle over the lake against Fairgeen.  We have spent money on engineers and lawyers.  We have attempted to get the city involved, to no avail.  For what it is worth, here is my advice:  Forget the lawyers, as Ryland will always have more money and lawyers than you do.  Rent a large billboard near a large and currently active Ryland development.  Only state facts, not opinions, to keep away from any lible allegations.  The only way to get these guys is to make them hurt.  The only place they have pain receptors is in their wallet.

Good Luck, M.. 

*How fitting that I would receive your flyer, as I have just been debating about how to pursue in regards to a leak in my Ryland Home (Calloway model I believe). We bought our house resale about two and a half years ago and of course no water damage was mentioned in the inspection report (that is another issue). Within three months of moving in, a hurricane came through and it was literally raining in our house. The water was coming in around the back den windows. We have since caulked that area and have not noticed any more leaks. Also, when we moved in I noticed a small amount of water damage to the wood frame and wood flooring at our French doors on the back of the house. (This too was not found in the inspection report – what a waste of money!) I have caulked every inch of the wood that I can see to caulk around the French doors to no avail. Every time it rains now the water damage to the wood floors at the corner of the doors gets larger. I am eager to know if there are others with this same issue and if so what steps they have taken to prevent further water damage. At the present moment, I have not seen extensive water damage at our front entry way. We did have our basement finished which could possibly be covering up some water leakage if it is present. And, since our house is a resale it is possible that the previous owners had any such issues resolved prior to our purchase. Thanks so much for organizing this effort and please keep me posted on your progress. If you need any additional information, please let me know.

 K.R/Spyglass Subdivision