DISH network causing roof leaking, please help

[fffei]

Hi all, I bought a house about two months ago, and it came with a Dish network on it. It was raining badly in the past couple of days and I noticed a significant leaking from the ceiling that have dampened my wall and carpet. I went to the attic and found the leaking was from where the dish was installed, and the wood already has pretty bad mold on it. This house is about 11 years old, and the rest roof is still perfectly fine.

I have called Dish Network, and the guy picked up the phone told me rudely he admit they installed the dish, but refuse to do anything since I am not a current customer. Does anyone has any similar experience? Please help.

 

[osu1991]

Home inspector should have found it, if the decking was discolored. Dish has no responsibility in this. Call your insurance company.

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[Dah-Henny]

Dish has no responsibility here, but the former homeowner would be liable if he knew about the leak.

 

[Hall]

Take it up with the previous owner. At least in Ohio, if there are known "defects", they have to disclose them. This is useful in cases where, for example, a basement gets water in it but only during very, very heavy rain and at the time you viewed the house or the inspector did his/her work, it hadn't rained in a while (so no evidence).

If there is mold, you must not have had it inspected. Then again, if you did, don't try and hold the inspector responsibile (read the agreement with him/her).

 

[lakebum431]

You are going to have to prove that they knew about it to make the previous owner responsible. Likely you just need to get it fixed. If it is bad enough then you can use your home owners insurance.

 

[Hall]

Also, odds are it can be fixed and done simply. Just remove the dish's mounting foot, seal the holes liberally, and replace the shingle that has the holes in it. Apply a fungicide to the mold in the attic and move on...

You'll get some who will insist the roof and shingles need replaced, you'll need a "mold remediation" performed, etc, etc, of course....

 

[ChadT41]

Once installed, the dish and cabling becomes the property of the account holder. If there was a leak being caused, it is caused by the previous owners property, just as if they drilled a hole. The installation of Dish Network cannot be held responsible as their property didn't cause the leak. That said, check your purchase agreement, and see if there is any recourse for this situation. Either way though, Dish holds zero responsibility in the install, as since it was also the customers property there is no proof that they didn't do the installation there specifically.

 

[Hall]

the dish and cabling becomes the property of the account holder.

The equipment didn't cause the leak, the Dish-employed or contracted installer did. If the previous owner had reported this right away, Dish would have resolved it.

 

[ChadT41]

The equipment didn't cause the leak, the Dish-employed or contracted installer did. If the previous owner had reported this right away, Dish would have resolved it.

Exactly, but he accepted and sold. The responsibility is all the previous owners(depending on the purchase agreement.).

 

[AZ.]

Perfict example why home inspecters are a wast of money!!!
Did he notice, hell no...would of had to cralled on his belly all around the shallow edges.....
They allways find stupid things...If you think anyone can look through your walls, see electrical or plumbing problems your nuts....
better off taking the money and buying a knew home owners ins. pollacy to cover BS things like this...
Sorry it happend to you bud....Make sure that mold dont get worse...It will realy cost you!

 

[Tampa8]

Finding roof problems from the attic is tricky. Depends greatly on the access to the attic, is there a floor etc. If no floor Home inspectors are not going to walk on the joists up there and chance falling through the ceiling.
It's just silly to say having a home inspection is a waste of money. Like any other profession most are good and a few are not. They can and do save potential buyers millions a year in their inspections. People overestimate what their job is. As an example it is not their job to find mold behind walls, unless there are signs of it without doing damage to find it. Any damage done by a home inspector must be repaired at the potential buyer's cost at least in Connecticut. Their contract clearly states they won't do any damage (intentionally) and usually will mention about the attic and note the access to it.

I agree with everyone the damage is with the previous homeowner not DISH. Who knows how long it has been that way, or if the homeowner had the roof reshingled and the dish was removed then put back not by DISH. (My suspicion)

 

[primestar31]

Don't wait for your insurance company, patch it yourself for now:

1: Go to your local hardware store.
2: Ask them for a gallon of "roofing tar" or "Wet Patch". It's fairly cheap.
3: Ask them if you can have some paint stirring sticks.
4: Take it home, pry it open with a screwdriver, and use the paint stirring sticks to ladle it up, and smear/slather it all over the foot of the satellite dish, and the roof area it's on. Don't get this stuff on you, because it's REALLY messy!

Congrats, it is now patched and will stop leaking through any new water.

After the rain quits and it all dries out, you can then consider to take further measures to permanently repair it.

 

[Claude Greiner]

If the leak is caused by the Dish, then the installer or company who sold it is responsible. Regardless if the customer is an active customer or not.

The issue is that the house was then sold, so it's really considered a pre-existing condition.

 

[Claude Greiner]

When was this Dish installed?

 

[AZ.]

Finding roof problems from the attic is tricky. Depends greatly on the access to the attic, is there a floor etc. If no floor Home inspectors are not going to walk on the joists up there and chance falling through the ceiling.
It's just silly to say having a home inspection is a waste of money. Like any other profession most are good and a few are not. They can and do save potential buyers millions a year in their inspections. People overestimate what their job is. As an example it is not their job to find mold behind walls, unless there are signs of it without doing damage to find it. Any damage done by a home inspector must be repaired at the potential buyer's cost at least in Connecticut. Their contract clearly states they won't do any damage (intentionally) and usually will mention about the attic and note the access to it.

I agree with everyone the damage is with the previous homeowner not DISH. Who knows how long it has been that way, or if the homeowner had the roof reshingled and the dish was removed then put back not by DISH. (My suspicion)

WAST OF MONEY!....you would relly have to know nothing about a home not to see what they can!...Still havent met one with X-Ray vision..

 

[Bobby]

I've bought 3 houses in California that had attics. In every case the inspector walked the joists to inspect the attic area. The inspector is responsible to note termite infestation throughout the entire home and if they didn't note it on their inspection and it becomes a nasty problem they can be held responsible...

 

[Hall]

and it becomes a nasty problem they can be held responsible...

Read the agreement with the inspector again. No inspection company is going to allow themselves to be liable like that. You would hope they do the best job they can (some do, some don't) but they can't see everything. I mean, an inspector can confirm that the water heater makes hot water but if it fails 2 months after the new owner moves in, some feel the inspector screwed up and owes them a new water heater.

 

[ChadT41]

I've bought 3 houses in California that had attics. In every case the inspector walked the joists to inspect the attic area. The inspector is responsible to note termite infestation throughout the entire home and if they didn't note it on their inspection and it becomes a nasty problem they can be held responsible...

That's what it is in Arizona. I almost held mine responsible when the AC went out, as he determined it was still in operable condition. 3 months it went out, cost me $5k. I wrote it off as "sh*t happens" and moved forward and got my AC. There was no way he could estimate an actual give date for an AC unit in Az.

 

[osu1991]

Appliance failures and such are what the home warranty is for. I had the sellers spend $500 on one for the house I just bought 2 months ago. My previous house I bought the warranty myself as I was getting it out of foreclosure.

The inspector went through the attic of this house on the joists mainly to inspect where the chimney came through,as while on the roof most of the sheeting around the chimney was rotted and the furnace is in the attic too, so he was going to be up there anyway. I don't have the knees for getting on ladders and roofs anymore, especially with the pitch of this one, so it was worth it for him to go up and inspect and take pics. There was hail damage so I had the sellers file a claim with their insurance for the hail damage. You could see other roofs had recently been replaced from damage from the spring storms, so it was pretty easy getting their insurance to pay for a new roof.

 

[Hall]

I almost held mine responsible when the AC went out, as he determined it was still in operable condition.

That is all they do and can do. They confirm it works - but only if it's already running too ! If it's mid-January, in Ohio, an inspector won't turn on the AC or it's summer, they don't turn on the furnace. They get the age of the unit(s) and advise how many years it typically should have left. I'm making up numbers, but say the furnace is 8 years old and they typically last 15 years, they'll simply note it should be okay for another 7 years. That doesn't mean the blower motor, a circuit board, etc won't fail tomorrow though.

My neighbor is a home inspector and mentioned something that I was surprised about (related to turning on stuff): They will not plug things in to check if they work. Say a house is unoccupied and the previous owner left appliances but have unplugged them. He won't plug them in to see if they work. There is that very rare chance of a crazy fluke occurring and causing damage, either to the device or if it's already damaged, causing a problem with the home's wiring (even simply tripping a breaker).