After reading that their former home had mysteriously begun to crumble, a Longview couple reached out to the current homeowner and was shocked at the state of the house.
Robin and John Martin said they contacted Amber Hansen after reading in The Daily News on Saturday that Hansen’s house in the 2900 block of Colorado Street had started to tremble and buckle. They said they recognized the house they had rented from 2004 to 2008, and wanted to offer any information that might be helpful.
While walking around the house Tuesday, the Martins expressed shock at shifts in the 68-year-old house. Hansen pointed out where the walls of her home had separated from the foundation, how the tilt of the rear addition had gotten worse and where the roof had sagged. In addition, the sliding glass door is jammed shut and Hansen said she had to prop a 2-by-4 underneath a truss in the garage to support the buckling roof.
She can now touch part of a patio joist that she needed a step-stool to reach only a few months ago. John Martin also reached up and placed his full palm on the side of the joist.
“It used to be only my son that could reach this, and now I’ve got my whole hand on it,” he said.
Robin Martin said the most striking changes were that the sliding glass door had been forced out of its tread and the carpeted floor in a living room seemed to sink and creak.
“We had parties jam packed with 15 people in that room. If that floor was like that, we would have known,” she said.
The Martins said they rented the home until a collapsed sewer line on the property caused a water back-up at the end of 2008. They came home one day to a flooded laundry room, they said.
The landlord at the time brought in Roto-Rooter, which used cameras to find the collapsed section of sewer pipe, they said.
“As I understand it, the sewer pipes were squished like an egg carton,” Robin Martin said. “When it was flattened, nothing was getting through, so that’s why the water was backed up.”
She said they lived in the home for about a month but couldn’t use their toilet or the shower without the water backing up.
They heard that the sewer line had been fixed after they moved out of the home in November 2008, but they didn’t know what repairs had been done.
Amber Hansen bought the home and moved in with her three boys in 2014. She said she hadn’t heard about any of the sewer problems before speaking with the Martins.
“We only got involved because we had knowledge of the sewer lines,” Robin Martin said. “I have compassion for people. If we have information that will help her, we want to help her resolve what’s going on.”
It is unclear if the sewer collapse a decade ago is related to the house’s recent structural problems. Hansen’s insurance company has declined to cover the damage, saying it was due to faulty construction.
“This is so sad,” Robin Martin said to Hansen. “You think you have a good deal and a good home for your kids, then you lose it all.”
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(5) comments
I’ve sold over 1000 homes and I’m a general contractor. I’ve never seen anything like this. It doesn’t sound like anything a previous typical inspection would have found not something the previous home owner would have known about. It sounds like one of the following (I’m no expert on geological or hydrological matters): a sinkhole caused by natural groundwater. I know of some springs in that area; a sinkhole caused by a broken water line (or possibly a sewer line—more likely a main). In any case, this is a highly unusual event. Besides the homes I’ve sold and worked on, I’ve been in thousands more. I’ve only seen similar conditions on unstable slopes and broken water mains. I hope these folks have some remedy.
I am sad to hear of this extremely difficult situation this homeowner is faced with. A person should be able to live in their own home and not worry about it crumbling on top of them. Shame on the insurance company for not helping them. I really think they should be pushed harder and made to help them out. It is so unfair that they take their money but offer no support. Shame on the previous owner, who probably knew of these problems, and passed them on to this new homeowner. I really hope you get help to rectify this horrible situation.
If she got a loan, there would have been a home inspection. Where is this information? Also, if the pipes were being crushed in 2008 for some reason, that should have been disclosed. I wonder if a good-hearted lawyer around here would be willing to pro-bono this lady.
(Edited by staff.)Was a proper home inspection done by reputable inspector? This many problems in just a short time makes it hard to believe there were not seen if/when the inspection was done.
I had two inspections done, one when I initially purchased our home and one last year when I refinanced...the previous owner lied all over the disclosure. Basically while the former renters house was backing up and stuff was ruined the man signed his discolosure. Even saying there’s been no flooding in the home or bck up. I just don’t know what to do next...
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