the material that the tiles are join with is crumbling and cracking making the tiles loose. I think they didn't even put a sealant on them. Are we protected? do the last owners have to pay for fixing this? You can tell they did the flooring to sell the home and we haven't even been in the house for a month. What can we do? Do we have to pay? This was a job badly done. Thanks in advance.
2007-07-14 12:02:53 · 4 answers · asked by Maria 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Renting & Real Estate
You had the opportunity to inspect the premises, and now it is yours, along with any issues which now start to turn up.
This is the place where a professional home inspection would have possibly helped. If an inspector misses a fairly obvious defect, he has insurance to cover that error.
2007-07-14 12:07:48 · answer #1 · answered by acermill 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The sealant has nothing to do with it...that is for cosmetic and serves no function in getting the files to stay. It's to keep the grout looking fresh, longer, but all grout eventually breaks down.
One of two things happened:
1. They used too much water when mixing the grout.
2. They grouted OVER existing grout to get it to look new until they could sell it. It works for a few days, but comes up very quickly.
The problem is, to prove that they deliberately did something like this would require you to get a licensed title guy out there to inspect it, and write a report of what happened. You would have to go to court, explain what happened, and you may still lose in the end...plus miss a couple of days from work here and there.
Personally? Regrouting it would be easier...and cheaper.
Sometimes you have to let things go...even if you are right.
PS: The home inspector is not responsible unless the tiles were coming up during the inspection. They are not responsible for finding any hidden defect that cannot be readily seen with the naked eye.
2007-07-14 13:18:07 · answer #2 · answered by Expert8675309 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you are out of luck. Fortunately, it was just floor tiles, not something more expensive. Hopefully you had the home inspected so you can rest easy about other issues you might have to face in the future.
The old owners should not be responsible for fixing this, because it isn't their house anymore, and something like floor tiles really is cosmetic.
2007-07-16 09:18:10 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What would you be protected by? Even if you purchased a home warranty, I don't think this item would be covered. Home warranties usually cover big ticket items like appliances.
As acermill said, you may have some recourse with a home inspector (if you had an inspection), but his insurance company will fight a material defect component that the inspector could not have seen a month or two ago.
Unfortunately, you are stuck with the bill for the repairs.
2007-07-14 12:57:32 · answer #4 · answered by godged 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋