House settling?

The other day, after a few inches of snow, then an evening of hard rain, our 3-family townhouse (a 2yr old gut reno which included 100% all new everything, from floors to walls to electrical) had a few mysterious problems. First, our 2nd fl apt bathroom wall GFCI breaker outlet burnt out. It smelled burnt and the red light came on. Then we discovered the same outlet on the 3rd fl also had the red light on. That same evening, on the 2nd fl, on a corner where 2 walls meet (a hallway into another room), about 5 ft away from the 2nd fl bathroom outlet, 2 baseboards popped off the wall, up to a full half inch. This wall is not directly behind the burnt out outlet, but rather is on the other side of a closet. And this morning, the 2nd fl bathroom door was suddenly kind of jammed/tight at the top. Anyone have any idea what on earth could have happened, or if all this is unrelated? 1 further clue and a thought: the night the outlet burnt out, I heard water trickling in the closet wall, behind the outlet. Yet all walls are 100% dry, and there’s no evidence of leakage on the 3rd or 2nd floor, anywhere. There is a waste stack which goes up out the roof and is open on top and we wondered if the noise was water coming IN to that? The other thought I had was I wondered if the weight of snow (there wasn’t that much) and water/ice on the (flat) roof could be at play, and causing settling? Though would this cause an elec problem?

colorcolor

in About Brooklyn 11 years and 9 months ago

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colorcolor | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Thanks for your thoughts. We are putting a call in to the roofer.

BSDOD | 11 years and 9 months ago

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The recent weather was a good test for any roof. Snow, ice and driving rain, and water pooling behind ice, any weak areas in the roof were exposed. You should get our roof checked.

hdlbklyn | 11 years and 9 months ago

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You probably have a roof leak that has gotten into the wall. It shorted out the outlets and caused enough expansion in the base moulding to pop it off. The walls aren’t wet because they are vertical and the small amount of water runs off before soaking in. I’d look carefully at floors and ceilings nearby the closet wall in question for signs of water damage (staining on ceiling, cupping of floor boards, etc.).