5 years ago my mom moved into a house of this model. hers doesnt have the bushes in front. the tall green one is blocking the electric meter/gas panel etc. about 2 years ago enough people were finding issues once they replaced their windows that the HOA made a pronouncement that anyone that sold needed to warn new owners of potential structural issues. many people have chimney issues in the rear of the house. so far my mom doesnt. but the lower front office windows have something bizarre going on she says after rains theres actual dirt inside the windowsill that came in from the outside. also the front 25% of the carpet in the one corner is soaking wet. it started off as just a little part but now has grown to that 25% of the room. i told her to run fans.

these homes are on slabs. she called state farm about the water in the offfice and they said it was groundwater coming in and thats not covered. she is getting a new roof this year as there was hail damage last year but she doesnt want it installed in winter. im glad state farm at least covered that. she said theres no water on the 2nd floor bedroom up front, windows are dry. carpet is dry. yet at least 40% of the people in the area have spend a ton of money getting the front and back of the home sided. the HOA agreed stucco is too much and approved a certain siding. my mom cannot afford to do this as it's probably 25 to 30K to hvae done.

she has seen other homes in the area be sided but she never got into the nitty gritty of exactly what the issues have been. just that there was water in the other peoples offices/carpets or chimneys. i just am not sure how to proceed to spend the least money to get the repair needed, who do you call that you can trust isnt just trying to sell you something. if you call the siding guy they will say everyone else got siding and it cured the issue. i hvae no doubt it did, but was it really necessary? i dont get why she just cant pay for the lower part of the house to get dug out. waterproofed, then stucco applied to just the lower few feet of the home. i even suggested just replace the windows 'today' and see if they see any issues. what i dont want to happen is they install new windows then maybe those somehow get 'in the way' if she needs the entire front of the house done legitimately.

i know zero about stucco. is it possible that the stucco isnt keeping the water out and thus the house really does need to be totally sided? can i assume that getting it sided will 100% make the home water proof. what is making just the front corner of the office carpet get wet? my theory is if the stucco was bad up top, the entire 2nd floor would have water issues/mold etc just like the 1st floor office does.

what im really looking for is what trade do you hire to independently tell you these things? also i'm sure they are gonna say that office interior wall needs ripped out. which will upset her greatly. but is that the right way to diagnose this?

also probaby totally unrelated. is she has a leak in the garage where the electric panel is. to the right of that tall bush is where the meter is and im assuming the new roof will take care of that leak. i just now even wonder if a new roof will somehow help that front office not get water in. i believe she did have caulking put in around the front windows but part of me wonders if theres just a water issue with the windows. but then she told me the entire HOA wouldnt have this pronouncement if it was just windows.

 

First place I would look is where the front wall and garage roof meet. Water could be running down the roof, hitting the stucco at the bottom at the gutter and getting behind the stucco. There should be a kickout flashing there. The water shows up on the floor because the water runs down the wall until it finds its way in.
Does that stone wainscot on the front of the garage carry around to the problem area? There could be a flashing problem there.
There could be a flashing problem at the window. If this house is new enough there should be a weep screed at the bottom of the stucco and if the earth grade is above that screed water could come in from underneath.
Real pictures of the house in question and the problem areas might help.
Do you know if you have real stucco (Portland cement plaster) about an inch thick or do you have an Exterior Insulating Finish System (EIFS) or synthetic stucco?

Does the house in question have gutters?

If new siding on other houses solved the problem did they take the stucco off or go over it? I would like to know what all went into the siding job to fix the problem.

 

better pic. now i see what you mean about roof/gutter draining right onto the top of the windows. that seems to be bad design for sure. so its possible the new roof and proper flashing coudl be the issue maybe based on this new pic it would fix it. or even new windows. shes 100 percent getting the new roof. maybe ill tell her wait to see if that fixes it and even get the windows. but would getting new windows be stupid if indeed roof does not fix it and they hvae to do the entire front

tis a 1992 house and no clue about the stucco composition

i dont know if she watched close enough to know if they removed or went over. total guess is went over but not sure. i do know that the woman next door had issues afterword with nail holes INside the house. to me that seemed weird. also stuff fell off her walls as a result of the hammering

 

No matter what have the roofers install a kickout flashing. Have them inspect all the step flashing coming down that wall/roof meeting. Flashings, or improper flashings or missing flashings is more likely than leaky stucco. There are multiple ways for any water that gets behind the stucco to drain but there are also multiple ways for water that gets behind the stucco to find its way in. Is the grey trim around the windows wood or a stucco like material?
Does the leak happen with every rain or only wind driven rain from a certain direction?
Remove some of the mulch next to the house in the affected area and see if there is a metal trim at the bottom of the stucco. See if it is a square piece about 1 1/4" or more or if it is 3/4" or if it bends downward at an angle and is about 3/4" thick. Then while you have it cleaned up is there soil above that strip or only mulch. Maybe the stucco goes all the way down below the grade but in a house this new I doubt it. If there is not a metal strip is there an offset from the stucco to the foundation of some amount? Is there a void there. You might have to put your camera down there to get a good look or a mirror.
These things are not so much to diagnose the source of the water intrusion as to tell me what you have for stucco. Then Maybe I will have an idea. Can you show us a close-up of the bottom of the roof next to the wall at the gutter?
You probably have the same condition on the garage roof as on the front entry roof. It does not look like there is a kickout flashing there.
Thump the stucco with your knuckle or tap it with the handle of a screwdriver or something, Real stucco will sound solid. EIFS will sound hollow or just not as solid. EIFS is not inherently bad but it is a lot more technical to keep it dry and historically there have been problems.

 

trim is wood and some was replaced after pre home inspection noted they were rotten. at this point i dont know if she can ascertain when water is added but ill ask her to keep track. as far as moving mulch etc, she wont let me do that im sure. shes the type that will say let the professionals do that. maye the eifs you are talking about is what they have. would make sense why the hundreds of homes now have issues. ill have her look thru old HOA letters for the exact reason for the new disclosures.

but it sounds like waiting for the new roof to 'not' solve this is the best way to go now

 

they started my moms roof today. i reminded her of the window flashing. she talked to him and said he remembers all the issues with water in the house and said the way they built the house was wrong. she said something like the flashing or gutter or something was built wrong into the dryvit. i didnt get a clear idea of what was going on but the roofer told her he has to make something special for the corner near the window so as not to damage the dryvit. and that wont be done today but roof should just be one day.

as an aside. amazed they can do it in a day and get 14K. multiply that out by the days in a year. roofers gotta be rich lol

 

sadly the area above that outside utility box still gets wet in the garage on the ceiling. the electric box is in the garage there so thats a bit disconcerting but with a new roof now i guess only thing is it has to be the gutters backing up into the house, right?

 

Do I understand rightly: The garage ceiling is wet in the area above the utility box? The ceiling has to be higher than the top of the box so it can't be from the box. Is the box a wood or metal cabinet concealing the service entry and the breakers are inside the garage at that location?
Well I am not enough of a roofer to know what might be the problem.
Is the soffit in that area stucco or EIFS or whatever you have? I am wondering if there is a gutter edge over the back side of the gutter under the roof underlayment. Maybe water is running behind the facia and tracking behind thee soffit and coming into the garage ceiling.
Is the ceiling leak new after the roof? If so have the roofer solve the problem.
Did the new roof correct the problem of the wet floor in the office? how about the windows?

 

about 1 to 2 ft inside the garage, from the wooden utility box, is water damage. without pulling down the ceilling i guess no way to really tell where it originates.

the electric panel is on the inside wall just opposite the utility box. soffit im' unsure what it is.

roofer is very busy but will try to come out shortly. he also has to put up custom flashing around the front lower office window because water still gets in there.

 

she finally got a reputable guy to come and give an estimate. he said 9K for the one part of the front and 16 for the entire front. i told her get the entire front done. stucco and siding are the same price. that shocked me. he said new roof is good except in some parts you really needed to rip apart stucco but no roofer will do that. so he will have to do a bit of the roof again. also she needs 3 new windows and the guy can install them and said its best if it's all done at once. he offers 10 year s on the stucco and did both her neighbors places

he did say people complained new siding makes their heating bill go up. unsure if true or not

 

bizarre...one guy told my mom 10K to do a 1 inch dryvit system and 18K for siding. i hvae to go over and see the contract seems too good to be true. he's including any bad wood he finds. i think maybe he didnt charge for the entire front of the house. seems too good to be true.

another guy said 24K for siding plus possible 2K for bad wood replacement

 

yup too good to be true. so she's gonna do the entire front for 18K i sure hope this stops the water infiltration!

so any helpful hints for me what to watch out for in the contract