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Raindrops keep fallin' on my head By Raz Smolsky Tags: Real Estate Building defects that allow water seepage into an apartment usually start on the architects' drawing board. Other culprits include contractors and site managers, as well as unprofessional construction workers. It all ends up with water dripping on the heads of the frustrated tenants. The best time to prevent leaks is thus during the planning stage. Shoddy work at this stage may save a few shekels, but is very costly in the long run. This cost is not measured only in shekels, but also in the apartment buyers' frustration and suffering, when despite all efforts, their apartments just won't stay dry. "Building properly from the outset is the best and the simplest method. When that is not done, however, the foundation is faulty and difficult to repair - which is akin to patching a new garment," explains engineer Natan Hilu, head of the technical department at the Association of Contractors and Builders. Advertisement "The standard concerning this aspect of construction is generally mediocre or worse, and wages are relatively low. One of the results is leaks," says architect Dror Gershon. "The problem is that the moment there is a leak, it cannot be repaired. The only time to beat it is during planning." Hilu and Gershon concur that the wages paid to architects and the time devoted to planning is insufficient to address the issue of waterproofing. After all, entire blocs of apartments have been built without even planning the proper slopes for water to flow into them from a certain direction, so why bother with the small details? In general, the lower the socioeconomic status of the target market for a building, the greater the chances that buyers will plagued by leaks. "This problem exists in public buildings, too, because the authorities want to keep costs down," explains Gershon. "In offices, for example, this problem rarely occurs, because the clients pay a lot of money and the developer doesn't cut corners." Buyers of luxury high-rise apartments will probably not suffer from leaks, either: "Fixing a leaky exterior wall and putting up scaffolding on a luxury tower would be very costly and might even bankrupt a contractor," says Hilu. Reducing costs continues to be important to developers in the construction stage, too, he continues: "The phenomenon of hiring of unprofessional workers is getting worse - all to save on expenses." Materials for the exterior walls of office buildings are manufactured at factories to meet strict technological standards and leave little room for human error. Glass and aluminum window units for residential apartments also must pass quality control, based on high-pressure air and water tests. The problem starts when the workers have to install the windows and seal them against water, to join various building materials or to pour layers of concrete for roofs. Any human error will cause ugly damp marks, irritating dripping inside the house, mold and sometimes even unpleasant smells. What can be done in such situations? "If you put a bucket under the source of the leak, you can use the collected rain to water your garden," suggests Gershon cynically, illustrating the helplessness a person will feel the face of this problem. And the chances of stopping the water from seeping in are actually quite small. "There are only temporary solutions that must be repeated every few years," he adds. Before sealing any leak, however, one has to find it first, and that in itself is a problem. Water follows its own rules, seeping in from the pipes, roofs or external walls, flowing in various directions and trickling down between apartments. The spot on the wall where the damp mark appears is not necessarily the place where the problem originates. Gershon is not speaking only as an architect, but also as someone with personal experience with this problem: "In the apartment under mine, there were leaks that originated in our sun porch. We had to redo the floor there four times before we found the source of the leak." Hilu's department at the Association of Contractors and Builders is flooded (forgive the play on words) with similar complaints, he says: "Sometimes a problem in one apartment shows up in another apartment, and this sparks arguments between the tenants about whether to fix it or not. The neighbors in whose apartment the leak originates do not want workmen in their home. This is a serious problem because it involves the contractor and two apartment buyers - three parties, who must cooperate with one another." Sometimes the problems appear the very first year after the new buyers move in, but most often leaks materialize only after two or three years, when a building has had a chance to settle and the building materials start to age and crack. Buyers have practically no way of knowing what kind of winter each year will bring, and can only hope for the best. It is also advisable to visit other projects by the same contractor, to speak with buyers who have experienced winter rains, and to look for telltale signs of leaks on their walls. Even after you move into an apartment, it is important to remember that the contractor is still responsible for building defects that cause leaks. "Buyers should write to their contractor at the first sign of a leak, and demand that he fix the defects at his expense. This is his legal obligation," explains attorney Amiad Goldberger, a partner at the Goldman, Erlich Gaver, Edelstein law firm, which specializes in real estate. "The buyer is not allowed to fix the defects himself. Only if the contractor has tried several times and failed can the buyer fix the damage himself and demand reimbursement from the contractor." "If dampness is discovered the day the buyer moves in, he must record this on the occupancy papers, and if the damage is so bad he cannot live there, he can also refuse to accept the apartment and demand the appropriate repairs." The law stipulates certain defects and the amount of time a contractor is held responsible for dealing with them. For water seeping in from the roof, the walls or a basement bomb shelter, this period is three years from the date the keys were given to the buyer. The repair of pipes, including those in a heating system, is covered for two years, with an additional three-year period during which the contractor is responsible if leaks appear and the buyer can trace a defect to faulty planning, shoddy work or poor quality materials. Goldberger cautions buyers against contractors who do cheap, cosmetic repairs in the hope that they will last untill the end of the guarantee period, after which buyers can make no further claims. The best thing to do is to invest in a thorough repair job that includes lifting floor tiles and reinstalling layers of sealant and insulation. Goldberger offers another tip from his personal experience with dampness in his bathroom. "The contractor went bankrupt and there was no one to turn to for repairs, so I used my structural insurance: The insurance company sent someone to do the repairs. If a buyer has a mortgage, an apartment is usually covered by structural insurance, and claims can be filed in such cases." As for water coming from a neighbor's apartment, Goldberger says that contracts usually state that the buyer agrees in advance tp repairs being undertaken in his apartment in order to solve a neighbor's dampness problems, in the event that the source of the leak is found in the buyer's apartment. Even so, Goldberger notes, in practice conducting such repairs can be more complicated, as people do not always willingly agree to fulfill their obligations. Sometimes, an apartment owner and the contractor have to apply for a court order to force a neighbor to allow the repairs to be done. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Survivors and pioneers Yad Vashem exhibit shows how Holocaust survivors helped shape Israel's identity Researching bacon Lahav's pig breeding gained widespread notoriety because of its legal loophole.

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