I find it amazing the number of people who purchase/own a house and don't
know a thing about how it is built nor how it operates and have to hire out
every little thing, and then get stung because the contractor screws up and
the home owner has no clue that he did screw up.

It has been said that one should take a course before marriage and before
having a child, but it appears that many people should take a course before
they own a house. Either that or they should stay renting where they can
call the super or whatever, everytime something needs to get fixed or worked
on.

Brandon McCombs wrote:
Hello,

If you look back over the last week or 2 you'll see I had posts
regarding problems with my new A/C and furnace that were installed a
few months before I bought a 40 year old house.

It turns out that all the problems I had with the A/C and furnace were
all a result of the HVAC guys not knowing what they were doing. I have
now confirmed it rather than it being a hunch.

Besides the fact that the HVAC guys didn't test the A/C when they
installed it (I don't care if it was Fall/Winter, you still test),
they hooked up the condensate line for the A/C (from the furnace)
into the *output* line of my sump pump. I have 2 lines, both are
output, from my sump pump which are used for varying water depths.
They hooked up the condensate line to the output line that is used as
the backup to the primary one. So when the water got too high for the
primary pump to handle it the secondary pump kicked in and pumped the
water out.
Unfortunately water was then pumped into the condensate line thus
blocking it and possibly forcing water into the furnace. Condensation
would back up inside the furnace when I would run the A/C. This
happened twice and I called the HVAC guy twice to try to figure out
what was going on (2nd time caused the circuit board to be fried). He
blamed it on the sump pump not working at all. After the 3rd time of
having water drip from places it shouldn't drip from and forming a
large puddle, I called the people who installed the pump. Upon seeing
how the pipes were running they immediately knew the problem and
proceeded to re-route the condensate line directly into the sump well
rather than into an output line. Luckily they didn't charge me.

Now my A/C works w/o making water go everywhere after some time
running. However since it took a while to diagnose the problem I've
had water in the finished area of my basement at least twice. I have
minor discoloration in the paint on the opposite side of the wall
that is about 6 inches from the one side of the furnace. The
discoloration goes up about 2 feet from the baseboard. On that same
wall, there has been mold growing on the baseboard as well as the
wall itself. On the side of that wall that faces the utility room you
can see mold on the 2x4 that runs along the floor that all the wall
studs connect into. I've been treating the finished side of the wall
with bleach/water to get rid of the mold on the baseboard and painted
wall but it is not gone yet. THe carpet was also wet. Luckily the
carpet seems to be doing okay. I have yet to get the mold to stop
coming back but I'm working on it. In the meantime, the water/bleach
combo has removed some paint from my baseboards on two walls so they
will need repainted and possibly treated to ensure the mold doesn't
come back.
After that long winded explanation, the question I have is whether
anyone is liable for the water and mold problems? Is the HVAC company
liable or the home inspector or no one?

The home inspector is someone I had inspect a home I almost purchased
last year but after his report I passed on it. The sellers of my house
used the same inspector and he inspected this house when they bought
it and offered to come back for me at no charge. I agreed but he only
did spot-checks when he was here for me because the sellers had
installed all new equipment and addressed the major issues with the
house. However, he missed the A/C problem and also the incorrect
connection of the furnace condensate line to the sump pump. Had I
remembered the A/C wasn't here when he inspected it the first time I
would have made sure he inspected it.

I have yet to call the HVAC company to let them know that it was their
fault for all my problems. It was only Friday that the sump pump guys
were here to fix everything. I'm dying to tell the HVAC company though
that it was their fault the entire time. I'm not going to call them
though until I determine whether they could be held liable for my
mold/water problems because I'd bring that up in the same
conversation.
What do you guys think? Sorry for any extraneous information.

thanks
Brandon