Flooded homes leads to N.A. lawsuits 11/20/2008 1:05 AM
By PHYLLIS BRITT North Augusta bureau
Andrew's Branch got more than its fair share of attention from the weather conditions last week as several yards flooded during the torrential rainstorms on Thursday and Friday.
But residents David Hardy and Mitchell Perdue say their problem is bigger than the occasional rain. Hardy spent all day Monday pumping out water from his crawl space.
"I had to go 'suit up' and dive in to get the pump in place," said Hardy, whose home still had 8 inches of water standing after several hours of pumping.
And Hardy says any time it rains, the problem returns. The issue has caused the Hardys and Perdues to join together in a lawsuit against the builder, the developer, the engineer who handled the site work, the company that installed the heating and air, the masons, the brick company, the landscape engineers and even the City of North Augusta.
"We hired a forensic engineer who found 45 code violations," said Hardy, who pointed out his engineer said the house is 16 inches below grade, resulting in water running toward the house rather than toward the street. Robert G. Sisnroy, a professional engineer, has provided an affidavit which states, "It is my professional opinion that the construction of the homes, as well as the materials used, was defective in that the construction did not meet the applicable construction code provisions ..."
Hardy pointed to the muddy entrance to the crawlspace under his house and commented, "This is what I'm really worried about ... more than the water. This is the foundation my house is sitting on." He said his house is sinking.
Hardy has lived in his house 15 months. Perdue bought his house in 2006.
The Perdue home sits on a slab, the homeowner pointed out. He said the engineer found that there is no metal flashing to protect the wood from the outside elements. He explained that he had checked the house with a moisture reader and found that the reading was around 30 percent.
"And that was during the summer drought," said Perdue, who noted the reading is supposed to be around 7 to 10 percent.
Hardy said officials with the City of North Augusta contend that if the water is gone from the yard within 48 hours, there is no problem.
"The water's out of the yard, but it's still under the house," he noted - three days after the rain had stopped.
Perdue said he had moved into his home to retire but now finds his life is more stressful than ever.
"Now there's mold growing under the house," Hardy added, expressing concern for his family, which includes a 1-year-old son. "It's a health hazard," he said.
Perdue agreed. "I'm supposed to be keeping my 90-year-old mama here ... but I had to take her out of here."
Pointing to the three-year statute of limitations on a lawsuit of this type, Perdue said he and Hardy decided they had to proceed. "This is 30 months of my life canned," Perdue said.
Both suggest the only real answer to the problem is to start over. The lawsuit asks for punitive damages as well as an award sufficient to correct all construction defects and for the mental and emotional distress caused by "the defendants' willful, reckless and bad faith refusal to correct the site ..."
A lawsuit represents only one side of a case. City of North Augusta officials have deferred questions to the attorney for their insurance company. The builder likewise referred questions to the company's attorney.
The lawsuit is still in the deposition phase.
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