When award-winning interior designer Jenny Warner looked over her long-awaited and finally-finished bungalow addition, it marked the culmination of an 18-year dream to expand her family home.
But it quickly descended into a waking nightmare when Jenny discovered a series of plumbing issues had resulted in extensive flooding, ruining not only the new addition, but the original areas underneath, too.
It meant a costly $80,000 fix, with months of additional work to rip it all out, dry the water damage, fix and replace the unusable materials, and long periods of disruption that made Jenny feel understandably angry and frustrated.
Here, Jenny reveals what she believes went wrong and the simple advice to note to avoid a hidden and expensive renovation mistake.
How $80,000 of water damage ruined Jenny's new addition
Jenny had just completed a long-awaited addition to her home, including a new primary bathroom, pictured, when water damage led to extensive and costly repairs
Jenny’s Virginia Highland bungalow in Atlanta, GA, initially underwent a dream 10-month expansion she had been saving and planning for years.
She says, ‘It was so important to me to add more space for my growing family whilst keeping the integrity of the bungalow. This addition included adding a primary bathroom and closet, hallway, full bathroom, small bedroom, craft room, and landing area.’
Apart from the costly addition, the finishing touches totalled $38,000. But a short while later, Jenny was walking down her new hallway when she noticed something was wrong. ‘It was the slightest cupping of the hardwood floors in my daughter’s doorway.’
This can be a telltale sign that you have a leak in your home.
Initially, Jenny second-guessed herself but followed the hardwood warping into the new craft room. As she investigated further, shifting tubs and rugs, Jenny noticed the warping was getting worse as she moved closer to the new bathroom.
Unbeknownst to her at that moment, there had been extra positioning strain on her hot water line, which had been placed through the stud near the main shower valve.
Jenny explains, ‘This wouldn’t have been a problem if the hole had been made in the right place or had been slightly larger. Instead, the hole was not quite in the right spot, which meant the line had to be forced or bent to attach it to the shower valve.’
That bending of the line is believed to have caused strain against the metal connection to the valve, which eventually ruptured the line, leading to extensive flooding and water damage throughout the home.
Jenny guessed it had been secretly causing damage for at least a few days before she noticed the hardwood warping, adding, ‘The problem was exacerbated by the fact that this entire home addition is a second story and opens down below. Because of this, we had foam insulation in the flooring to control the temperature year-round, and the water leak hit that insulation and ran along the subfloor, wreaking havoc.’
That havoc resulted in extensive water damage running along the entire space underneath the addition, which had a finished ceiling, 16 can lights, and four fans.
She says, ‘That was mostly destroyed and had to be ripped out along with a great deal of the spray foam.’
The damage was far reaching
Jenny's house: The ceiling in the floor below the addition also had extensive water damage, resulting in insulation foam having to be removed alongside recessed lights and fans.
Meanwhile, the siding on the back of Jenny’s house had to be cut open to repair the water line, along with much more. ‘The primary bedroom’s bathroom cabinets had to be pulled out and stored in the bedroom along with the entire floor tile, heating elements, and shower, including its floors, walls, pan – everything had to be demoed down to the subfloor and studs, trashed, and replaced. ‘
Beyond the bathroom, Jenny’s new hardwood floors in the hallway, bedroom, craft room, and her daughters’ bathroom floor had to be removed and replaced, along with foam insulation downstairs being ripped out and replaced, causing enormous disruption and impact on her family.
She says, ‘We lived in turmoil for months. My oldest daughter had to sleep on the couch as her room had the most floor damage. In my bedroom, the shower glass and bathroom vanity cabinets couldn’t be moved any further, so we had a 10-foot-long cabinet in our bedroom for months.
‘The bathtub had to be taken out of the bathroom during the re-tiling and was stored on our bed. I slept next to the tub for two nights! We couldn’t walk around barefoot, and we only had the kitchen sink and the hall bathroom.’
As the house had one working bathroom, Jenny's home insurance provider wouldn’t pay for the family of four to stay elsewhere.
The initial addition had been a life-changing increase in space, causing the damage remediation and work necessary to be ‘stressful, holding zero excitement, and lots of anger'.
Not all remediation services are created equal
Jenny's new shower had to be ripped out, including the flooring and tiles, for remediation work and re-fitting. All the materials had to be replaced.
Whilst Jenny’s home insurance, something she says is an ‘absolute must’, kicked in, the process was slow, tedious, complicated.
She says, ‘When the leak happened, I immediately called an industry friend and got a recommendation for a remediator. He came out within a few hours and we worked together to locate the problem.’
Jenny called a plumber contact next, who instructed her to shut the water off via the instant water heater so the family could keep water going to the kitchen and original bathroom, and set up dehumidifiers and fans.
There was, however, a lot of water still trapped in the foam insulation, which led to additional water damage, which has left Jenny wondering if some of the damage could have been avoided.
Later, she says, ‘the most amazing remediation team came in’, was able to assess the situation and tell Jenny honestly how much was damaged and the remediation necessary.
As for the original plumbing issues that kick-started this nightmare, Jenny had trusted the caliber of workmanship for her home renovation project and had taken extra steps to avoid problems, including inspectors checking in at various stages.
'To me, that adds to the frustration,' she says. 'Later, we found several terrible plumbing mistakes as the demo was being done to repair the spaces. It's amazing that the tub hadn’t already leaked into the entire space as well.’
The emotional toll
Jenny's bathroom now. It all had to be ripped out and redone, leaving her home in disarray for months after extensive leaks ruined it the first time around.
The extra work took months and caused an enormous mental toll on Jenny and her family.
She explains, ‘When you are excited to finally start a renovation project, you have a higher tolerance for people coming in and out of your home, the noise, and the debris. The excitement of knowing you will have an amazing space that you fully planned out and love carries you through all the inconvenience.
‘When you must replace such a space due to unplanned loss, the process is just painful; there is no excitement to tide you over until the result. Then it all must be ripped out, and you see what a waste it all is.
‘A waste of time, a waste of money, a waste of stress, a waste of materials. Then you dollop on top the knowledge that it was all avoidable.'
The fix was a stop-start process with insurance involved, and daily physical reminders that served as constant stressors.
Jenny says, ‘Our closet door was in our bathroom, so every day you are walking past vanities that are pulled out and sitting in your bedroom, have shower glass panels leaning on your bedroom wall, and you have to walk through all the damaged and demoed space to get to your clothes each day.
‘The team that put everything back was amazing and ran a very tidy jobsite, but it was still a frustrating experience.’
After all has been said and done, with the damage fixed and desired finishes completed – again – Jenny has one crucial piece of advice for anyone undertaking a renovation or addition.
She says, ‘The only real suggestion I have to avoid a costly renovation mistake is to hire a private inspector to come in and assess all the mechanicals throughout the building process. This could help you avoid a future problem.’
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.