Originally Posted By: gromicko
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Dear NACHI members:
My name is Jill Meese. I am at then end of my rope and this is where it brought me. I am not sure if you could help me or give me some guidance with my problem, but I thought it was worth a try. My family and I just bought a house in August in Schaumburg, Illinois. We had a home inspection and did everything by the book. When we took possession of the house, I came here and couldn't get any of the downstairs windows open. I talked with my husband over the phone and he just assumed they were painted shut. The next day comes, and he comes here and tries to get them open with no luck. Of all the 32 windows, we could open maybe 2-3.
Within a couple days, he managed to pry one open with a sledge hammer! When he did get this one open, the bottom of the sill came up with it! We were stunned. He went to the outside and pressed on the outside sill and his fist went through it! We didn't know what to do so we called our realtor. He wasn't much help so we contacted the home inspector himself. He came over to take a look. He seemed to be stunned also and didn't know what to say. He apologized, said it was something he should have caught and he would send it to his insurance.
Since then, it has been a battle of the lawyers! We ended up replacing all of the windows because we needed to be able to open them, and it was a fire hazard! It cost us $22,000 that we didn't have. If we had known this, we would not have bought the house. Our lawyer is telling us it is a lost cause. His insurance offered us $1000 compensation. I am just wanting some advice. I am sick that this happened. Why is he liscensed and insured if when something happens the homeowners cannot be compensated? We took pictures of all the damage. When my husband was laying the wood floors in our family room, he had to take out the sliding glass door and part of the subflooring due to water damage. It was apparent in the crawl space, but the inspector never went in that crawl space. He did note that one sill, in my son's room, was slightly damaged, and that was it.
I am wondering if you have ever seen anything like this. Am I crazy for wanting to get my money back? Is this something I should persue? Do I need to find another lawyer? Let me know if there is anything you can do to help me out here.
Thank you for your time,
Jill Meese
847-895-1227
