LONGWOOD, Fla. — When buying a home, many families believe they’re not only making an investment, but they’re also gaining a sense of security.
- The Harts bought a home in Longwood, have issues with roof
- If homeowner reports a re-roof project having faults, county can jump in
- Harts are also dealing with wood rot and black mold from leaky roof
- More Seminole County headlines
Longwood resident Ashleigh Hart and her family thought they found their forever home. When they bought their house in December, everything seemed fine.
But when their first hard rain storm hit in January things changed.
“I usually love the rainstorms,” Hart said. “When it rains now, I get panic attacks instead.”
A big selling point to this property for the Harts was that the listing said it was “move in ready” and the home had a “new nickel architectural shingle roof.”
On Seminole County’s website, it said the roof’s final approval was in November 2018, but when a storm hit in January, the roof didn’t seem to be doing what it was designed to do.
“My kids walked into the laundry room, and it was raining through our door way,” Hart said. “They were like, ‘Mommy, there’s water coming through the door.’ It was literally coming through the top of the door way.”
After the Hart’s contacted Seminole County, the status changed on their website to say the new roof was now “disapproved.”
According to the county, they do not check the progress of a roof as its being built, but if a homeowner reports a re-roof project having faults, they can quickly jump in.
“When we approve a roof, we approve the roof being code-compliant,” said Seminole County Building Official Bob Pike. “The owner tells us the roof is leaking now. It is not code-compliant, because it has not met the manufacturer’s installation instructions.”
After the county reviews the roof they have the ability to tell the roofing company their roof is not approved and needs to be fixed.
Spectrum News 13 reached out to Roofing R Us Systems Inc., which installed the Harts’ roof, and they chose not to do any type of interview.
They told us they offered to fix the roof as well as the damage caused by the leaky roof. However, according to the Harts, the company has already been out to their home three times, and they feel it’s time for someone else to do the job.
“I want a new roof,” a frustrated Hart said. “When (Roofing R Us Systems Inc.) went up there, he brought sub-contractors to fix it this last time, and they put asphalt up the side of my house instead of flashing.”
Currently the water has stopped coming down inside the house, but the county still says the roof is not approved. Aside from dry wall that needs to be replaced, the Harts are also dealing with wood rot and black mold, which is a result of the water that came down and leaked through their roof.