Setbacks Happen: Water and Home Warranty Woes

Not as fun as sharing our early fixes, but we also had to make a few unplanned not-so-fun updates after we moved in. I wish I could say luckily we are still under our home warranty, but it has been the worst company to get work done through: 2-10 Home Warranty. I'd run fast in the opposite direction if you're in the market and considering this company. They seem to have one contractor in all of Central Iowa dedicated to servicing claims, and it takes A MONTH to get on their schedule for anything. Or we've been told they don't have a local contractor and we need to find one and work through their reimbursement process that usually seems like more hassle than it's worth.

The first week we moved in, the fan in the kids' bathroom went out. We also figured out the ice maker and water dispenser on the front of the fridge didn't work and created mini floods on the floor in the front of the fridge if it is used. So that was fun to realize especially having an almost 4-year-old frequently filling her own water. We went three months without the fridge front door dispenser to keep the water under control between getting on the schedule, an initial eval/service, parts ordered, a no-show appointment because parts weren't in, then finally fixed.

Then, our dryer went out. In the middle of winter. Which wasn't "an emergency" so we had to wait a month to get on the schedule. Not happy times. It felt like we were in college again doing laundry at our parent's houses. My sister-in-law even offered to do a round of kids clothes for us!

While those were annoying, they eventually got fixed. But we had another setback that had a much bigger impact with some potential for future problems. A few months after moving in, we got like 5 inches of rain over the course of two days. Didn't think anything of it until we walked into our most random room in the basement - and the carpet was squishy. It was set up like an office with carpet when we toured it but it has gross florescent lights, unlike the can lights in the rest of the basement, plus the electrical panel and a closet with our sump pump is in this room.

Office set-up from walk-through

Because we thought the sump pump wasn't working, we did get an emergency call in from the warranty on this one but for our $100 fee were told the sump pump looked good. He thought it could either be the foundation or coming in from elsewhere. Ugh.

Zach decided just to rip up the carpet - it smelled terrible and he found after ripping it up, there was patched carpet pad underneath. Which obviously tells us this was not the first time the room had issues. Double ugh. Wish this was the stuff you could find during your inspection!

Carpet pad "patch job" done by previous owners

You can see in these photos how wet the cement floor was under the pad. It definitely does seem to follow the cracks in the floor which totally freaks us out. We did get a ton of rain on top of really dry ground but long term this reads dollar signs to me. We were just hopeful this house had a good dry basement since there was carpet in the room with a sump pump! Thought that was weird but a good sign. Nope.

Wet cement under the carpet

Wet Cement, Gross Carpet Pad

We figured it wasn't worth replacing the carpet anytime soon so that we can monitor what happens in this room during future big rains. Random room without a real purpose just became even more random.

But on the bright side, it's a totally clean slate now! #HOUSEDONEMANDEAD