Condo

Owner

XXXXXXX

April 2, 2011

Pab Management LLC
Bar, Property Manager

Hello Bar,

As you know there is an ongoing roof water leak coming in my ceiling of top floor corner unit #410. The last time water was steadily streaming in, I again had to put a bucket out and call for assistance. This has been an on and off problem in this unit for approximately 18 months, and was never properly fixed, although repairmen have came out 4 or 5 times since my first call to get it repaired. You did follow up on my call and did send a roofing crew out on March 23 and the roofers did an inspection and water test. I never did hear back from you or your office regarding what was going to be done regarding repairing the problem, if anything (do nothing and hope I don’t call complain? Hope it mysteriously goes away by itself? Hope the rain and snow does not come from a certain direction? Pretend I really don’t have any leaks and am just  imagining all this?) . Although I did talk with the roofer regarding the problem and saw the pictures he took of the water logged roof sheathing and insulation in the area right above my ceiling where the leak and water damage is, he claimed it was “probably coming in by chimney brickwork”. This water saturated sheathing and insulation acts as a sponge and when it is full, it drips through to drywall ceiling, and when this becomes saturated, it drips through ceiling to floor and down my walls. I also hear dripping above me on the other wall and other room which I believe is doing the same thing, but it  just has not penetrated the drywall ceiling YET.  The roofer and I, also heard the dripping water on my drywall ceiling. He told me that the water was most likely coming in around the brick chimney,

So what does that mean to me as far as “proper repairs” of getting the damaged sheathing and leaks fixed?? He and his crew left, and the management company has not followed up with me. What is next??   Something??   Anything??   Nothing??

Does anyone know if there is ANY, and or adequate flashing on the brickwork?? When I look from the street up at the bricks it looks to me like this was all newer bricks, possibly repaired/reworked at some time in past. Possibly tuck pointed? Was work ever done on this in the past? Was there previous problems up there? Why haven’t the so called “roofing inspectors” reported these defects/problems affecting my unit?? What exactly do these so called “roofing inspectors” do besides charge money from us?? Is their “work” charity to us, or just more huge fees and wasted money from our depleting funds. Management and board does not seem to ever worry about raising monthly fees, nor care about paying out for shoddy “inspection” and or “repairs/work” or “management fees”. Did anyone besides the roofing crews, doing repairs ever inspect the problem areas after their work?? Obviously not, since it keeps leaking and has never been properly repaired. Is there, or was there more than one leak? Does anyone know or even care?? And is the water just keep coming from several leaks to my corner unit as a low spot? Does anyone get a report of repairs supposedly done and then verify they are done completely, and correctly?? Or do we, as unit owners just get to keep paying over and over for improper and incompetent alleged inspections/ maintenance/repairs/management, thru constantly rising monthly assessments, and supposed to believe everything is in good hands and just keep quite and never complain?
Although I may not be a genius regarding buildings and construction, I am not a complete novice either, since I started working on housing units at the age of 13 and I am now 58 years old,  I have worked on all types of houses, apartments, condos, and every other type of building during my career, both new and remodeling. I do know something about buildings, shoddy repairs/inspections, poor quality, and problems.
In case you don’t know or remember, I was the one who diagnosed and resolved the major electrical “mystery” problem of intermittent blinking lights affecting half the units in the #410 building for many years I did this at NO CHARGE for my time!! This was an ongoing problem for years, and who knows how many thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars of assessment dollars were spent, and probably never recovered on incompetent condo management, contractors, and inspectors. In addition, the many hours and possible charges by Edison utility company for replacing transformers, and constantly testing,  monitoring their lines and equipment for problems that did not involve them, but were told by condo management that it must be, because it was not in the buildings system.
I would suggest and request that this roof problem, complete area of damaged roofing be once and for all properly repaired, by replacing and  cutting out the water damaged, water logged, warped, roof sheathing, and or roof rafters. Strip it all out, and replace with new rafters, roof sheathing paper, plastic, and shingles. Then redo all the flashing on and around the chimney and any wood sheathing and shingles in that area that needs to be repaired. Have a qualified mold inspector contractor, check for, and replace anything affected by mold. Then have someone QUALIFIED from the management company or representing the management company get up on the roof and also inside the crawl area and inspect all work and verify that it has been done, and is done properly. (a real qualified inspector, not the amatures you are now dealing with) . The high costs we pay for assessments, and then pay for shoddy work and management in this condo complex is just mind boggling. You may remember that I have had this leak for approximately 18 months and repair crews were here to supposedly repair the leaky roof many times. I doubt they charged us minimum wage for their  “work” and the same for the “roof inspectors” and “management” company.
I believe that so far, I have been more than patient and tolerant regarding this unresolved problem, but I am now fed up and tired of dealing with all the ignorance, incompetence, and indifference displayed here.

I hope you can correctly, timely, and properly resolve this ongoing problem especially with the new rainy season upon us, and also please respond to my request in a timely manner as to what, if anything is going to be done about this major problem / situation.

Sincerely
Owner