If you presume that we are extremely unhappy campers, during this season when cheerfulness is the expected norm if not required by law, then you are correct.
As of early last Thursday our lives were turned into a total disaster.
We had been struggling along in this time of radically lowered expectations for senior citizens.
We had our home, in a really nice suburb. Unlike many we are not underwater on it.
We bought it new in 2003. Honestly at the time it was sort of one those houses lower middle class folks dream of having. Or maybe we are sold the idea that this is what we should dream of having. At any rate 2003 was before Bush the Lesser and his merry band of Bank Fraudsters, Wall Street thieves and Corporate Liars/Criminals had totally tanked the economy.
In their quest for grandiosity and homes that sell to buyers fantasies developers in Texas and many other places build in fatal design flaws. It is as though the process of hiding everything that makes the house function requires them to make compromises.
I sometimes feel as though these homes are supposed to last for as long as the mortgage and no longer.
One of those major design flaws our builder included was putting the hot water tanks in the attic.
Now I can see the reasoning. Heat rises and and isolation from the living area lessens air conditioning costs, also it increases our anemic water pressure.
But when something goes wrong as it did for us last Thursday the result is a disaster that isn’t far short of a house fire or tornado. On Thursday the expansion tank joint ruptured sending huge amounts of water spraying throughout the attic. We first became aware of this when major waterfall started cascading down the wall of our family room.
First we had the plumber in, then the drying out damage mitigation people started. Because all that water plus insulation and dry wall represents a great mold environment they are telling us they are going to have to take down a bunch of walls, take up flooring, ceiling and basically rebuild half of our house.
Our house is currently filled with huge dehumidifiers and blowers, which means the place sounds like a factory floor.
We are stressed to the max with insurance claims people, facing the possibility of being forced to find a different place to live while our house is torn apart.
These bastards act as though our expecting them to provide for our losses is an affront. They seem to think they should be able to just keep the money we paid in premiums while we eat the loss of of our home.
Hell of a way to end the year.
Women Born Transsexual 
December 23, 2013 at 5:48 pm
Sorry to hear about that. I hope the issuance company comes through…I doubt Texas has good consumer protections so I hope you don’t have to fight on every little thing!
My house has an addition with a full bath,,, When they built the addition they ran the water pipes through the addition attic… Well guess what.. one winter the pipes froze and burst poor water into the bathroom and the ceiling of the addition…
Luckily the issuance company covered all the repairs… but only to put things back teh way they were…
I figured out a way to keep the pipes to that bathroom in heated zones and had to pay plumber (and carpenter) to reroute them.
Anyway if you can you should figure out a way to put that water heater either on teh 1st floor (or basement if you have one)
Good luck!
-Karen
December 23, 2013 at 10:53 pm
Hi Karen, hope you are well, and life is proceeding smoothly. Hope the holidays treat you well.
We already spoke to the plumber about moving the water heaters. In addition to finding a safe space, they would have to reroute gas lines, etc., etc., etc. I think we’d be better off selling, and buying another home with a more rational setup. It is very funny when these folks speak of 8 or 10 year warranties on new water heaters. I remember 20-30 year warranties. Was told they no longer offer such things.
I think it’s going to be an interesting process, watching these guys. Hope our plumbing/mitigation and restoration/demolition/reconstruction folks know what it’s all about — and hope they do a good job.
It’s going to be interesting when we are living in the shell of a house — down to the studs, with no kitchen, all our stuff packed and in storage — no pots, pans, cabinets, stove, ovens, etc., etc., etc.
In many ways it’s as bad as having a fire — except you don’t smell soot and ash – and are ever fearful of mold.
Wish us luck.
December 23, 2013 at 10:53 pm
I don’t know if you’ve seen this but if you haven’t, I hope it helps:
http://www.tdi.texas.gov/pubs/consumer/cb074.html
If you Google: “leaking water heater in attic insurance coverage”, there is a lot of information available to the point where some of it becomes conflicting and confusing but It all seems to depend on how your insurance policy reads. The impression I get is that you should be covered unless there is a specific exclusion regarding your particular situation. It seems this has become a common practice in many parts of the country – locating appliance like hot water heaters, expansion tanks and HVAC systems in attics – in certain areas of the country; so I think you would be reading a lot of horror stories in relation to this particular type of occurrence if it weren’t common to have this sort of coverage. You should also look for an “Additional Living Expenses to Relocate” provision in your policy declaration.
My partner’s sister’s house caught fire a few years ago and she had to move out. Things were very uncertain at first but things were eventually resolved, favorably. They got a place to live while the renovations were being done. I don’t think she had any kind of a fancy policy. She isn’t that kind of person.
I hope you both take care and fare well through this.