Help - Neighbor's Gut Job is Affecting us
Our neighbor is currently gutting the first two floors of their 3 floor townhouse. This morning I had some water in my basement and assumed it was a pipe from my house. I just spoke with one of the workers on the premise next door. He actually let me into the house. I asked him if they had any water in their basement from the rain. He said that they broke a water pipe (mind you on Tuesday they broke a gas pipe and National Grid and the FDNY had to check my basement). The water seeped through the walls and is now in my basement. The actual gut job does not look good or organized. I saw the basement through the first floor and there a lot of wood, sheetrock and other materials all wet. 1 – How do I go about this? I do not want to make an enemy of a neighbor, we just moved in. 2- Is his insurance company responsible for making sure our walls are protected? 3 – I know I should file a complaint but 311 but I also don’t want them to stop the cleanup process. Would a violation on them hinder their cleanup process?
Thank you all.
guikazoid
in Plumbers and Plumbing 13 years and 8 months ago
5
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5 replies
slopemope | 13 years and 8 months ago
well that’s some good news i suppose. honestly, your 3″ “barrier” sounds like an overkill reaction to a very unnerving experience. are you planning for that neighbor to accidentally break another water main?
Perhaps investigate other methods / solutions (i wouldn’t know) i know there are lots of books on amazon regarding basement waterproofing and maybe you could make a separate post here about that.
As far as i know many people’s basement walls are not waterproof on the neighbors sides (depending on if they’re old old stone vs brick or concrete etc). I assume you would have another neighbor to deal with on the other side who could at some point break a water main accidentally? Good luck.
slopemope | 13 years and 8 months ago
Gut jobs rarely look that organized. I doubt the “sealing up” part is going to happen (whatever that means – all basements tend to be interconnected somewhat), but paying for your clean-up and returning to its original state seems in order. If the guy actually has insurance, it is very possible they could offer you pennies on the dollar (how crappy insurance companies make money insuring flakey contractors). A. You might consider to start feeling out attorneys so you have a good one in mind just in case – chances are good you guys won’t be back slapping each other in the pub over a beer any time soon. Could mean a lot to his profit on the job. If this does go to their insurance – you will probabaly want an attorney to review the claim and have a stronger hand against the insurance company. The threat of a lawsuit is more “leverageable” when counsel has reviewed the case and can demonstrate damage/repair costs. Could mean the difference between an 8% reimbursement and an 80% one. Since the contractor seems honest – could you get a video camera and have him show you where the water line was cut and you could document the water in basement? The developer already seems adept at the denial game upfront and evidence could be very helpful. B. You might think about putting your homeowner carrier on notice, sometimes damage caused by construction on an adjacent property will be a covered loss – and if so, timely notice would be important. After knowing what your dealing with, you might want to think about whether you let his guys do the work or hire your own. You might not like his guys, but going out of pocket may mean you spend more money trying to get reimbursed than the job is worth. Something to think about. Good luck, a gut reno next door is always an unsettling life event in these parts.
guikazoid | 13 years and 8 months ago
so we spoke with him yesterday. he was actually nice but kept playing the “everything is fine, there is no leak in my basement” card but when confronted with the information that his own workers had to shut the water off because they bursted a pipe he was like “i dont know, i was not there”. so we settled on we will speak with the contractor later today. he said if the worker “admits to breaking the pipe” he will pay to fix our side of the basement. my largest concern now is the whole house is demo’ed. i saw the basement from the first floor and its all wet, rotting wood. we heard animals down there. its definitely a breading ground for rats/mice. my main concern now is for his contractor to hire more labor to clean that basement up ASAP. i really dont want to get the DOB or DOH involved. he doesnt even live in the property, its a rental investment. i pulled up all his violations, work permits, actions, complaints, etc from the DOB site and printed it. the guy has a track record of hiring sloppy contractors. the bare minimum i want him to properly seal up his basement and to pay for my basement to be sealed up as well. i also pulled up his current permit and he’s already in violation. the permit states that less than 50% of the house is being gutted. currently the basement, 1st floor and 2nd floor are destroyed. the 3rd floor rental is being occupied. (side note, the tenant doesnt even have gas or water).
restorationcontractor | 13 years and 8 months ago
If the job is permitted you can look up the contractor and owners contact information on the DOB website at http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/home/home.shtml As Levi said, talk to the owner first, he may have no idea about any problems. You can always threaten to call 311 if he does not want to respond. Wet building material and the condition of the jobsite is not your problem, however he should be responsible for cleaning up and repairing any water damage to your property. Calling 311 should be a last resort as it may result in a stop work order, which will put the brakes on any cleanup, and probably gain you an enemy neighbor for life.
levicapland | 13 years and 8 months ago
Have you spoken to the neighbor directly? Levi Capland
SoHo Appliances