By Dan Tracy | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 13, 2005

Home builders promised Wednesday to change the way they build houses to make them more watertight, but continued to say they were not responsible for the thousands of homes that leaked during the three hurricanes that drenched Central Florida last summer.

Dan Gilmore, president of the Florida Home Builders Association, said his members would support changing the state building code, as well as altering construction techniques, to prevent future leaks. Among the changes: redesigned foundation slabs, extra moisture barriers and revised flashing on two-story homes and improved design and installation of windows.

His comments came after the association released a 65-page report that said water poured into homes last summer through concrete-block walls, windows, doors, roof vents and soffits. The causes included everything from poorly designed walls to faulty installation of windows, cheap dryer vents and sloppy stucco work.

Joseph Lstiburek, a Massachusetts-based forensics engineer who wrote the report, concluded that even with those flaws, most of the houses were damaged only because they were hit by a "once-in-a-lifetime" assault by three hurricanes in six weeks.

Lstiburek said builders were not to blame for the water damage because they followed the state building code and procedures they thought were adequate. "A lot of these practices may not have been the greatest practices," he said, "but they worked until they were overwhelmed [by hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne]."

Citing Lstiburek's findings, Gilmore said builders should not take general responsibility to fix homes that received water damage. If a homeowner's insurance refused to pay for repairs -- as many have -- Gilmore said the owner should call state insurance regulators.

"Those insurance companies need to be held 100 percent responsible," he said. "They collected the premiums. They were paid in good faith, and the insuran! ce companies should take care of these folks. If they don't, I firmly believe Mr. [Tom] Gallagher [Florida's chief financial officer] has a job to do for the state of Florida, and he should own up to his responsibilities."

Many of the problems highlighted in Lstiburek's report -- cracked stucco, leaky windows, improper installation of flashing -- were among the construction shortcomings revealed in a 2003 series by the Orlando Sentinel/WESH-NewsChannel 2 that examined 406 homes built in 2001.

That series, which was a statistically valid assessment of new-home quality, found that 80 percent of the homes surveyed had cracks, leaks and mold, due in part to poorly installed windows and thinly applied stucco.

The series also found that the region's booming housing market -- an estimated 25,000 new homes were built in 2004 -- had resulted in a shortage of skilled labor and production pressures that saw builders frequently cutting corners in order t! o finish homes quickly.

In his report, which was based on a study of 200 Central Florida houses, Lstiburek said walls of houses routinely absorb water, which penetrates through small cracks in the stuccolike material spread over the concrete block or through siding in two-story houses.

"Under normal conditions, the amount of penetrating rainwater through stucco into a masonry block wall is minor and easily absorbed, redistributed and released to both the interior and exterior," he wrote.

However, the heavy, windblown rainfall during the hurricanes overloaded the absorption capacity of the walls, he said. Because of the way most slab foundations are designed, the water had nowhere to go except inside the homes.

Lstiburek called for changes in the building code and construction techniques that would mandate:

Adding a ledge to the edge of a foundation, which would allow water leaking through a wall to flow out into the yard rather than into the house.

Improving the expansion joints between the first and second floors of two-story homes to allow water to escape to the outside.

Adding a second layer of moisture-proof tar paper or plastic wrap, to ensure that stucco is not applied directly to a moisture wrap around wood walls, negating its waterproofing ability.

Mandating better installation techniques and testing of windows to require that they be watertight. Lstiburek also cited some factory-made windows that had sills that sloped and directed water into a house, rather than away from it.

Bill Silliman, a custom builder and president of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando, said he would push members of his group to quickly and voluntarily adopt many of Lstiburek's recommendations.

"There are just things we can simply do better," he said.

Ron Resch, a veteran private home inspector who acted as a consultant on the Sentinel-WESH series, said tougher rules and a different attitude will mean nothing if builders don't concentrate on quality rather than speed when completing houses.

"All they had to do from the beginning is do it right. If they would follow manufacturer's recommendations, none of this would have happened," he said.

The builders previously had fought efforts to alt! er the regulations. Bob Olin, Orange County's chief building inspector, who led a separate government inquiry into the leaky houses, was among those who unsuccessfully pushed for code changes, including requiring builders to use higher-quality paints on the exterior walls.

Builders say they resisted Olin's proposals because they first wanted to see Lstiburek's report. Now they are ready to talk, they said.

Olin's response: "Let's see these recommendations being practiced by the builders."

New-home owners affected by the storms applauded the report and pledges to change, but said they wanted to see action, not just words.

"If they don't listen, they'll see these same problems next hurricane season. If they are smart, they'll heed the warnings," said Sandi Williams, whose year-old, $211,000 home leaked profusely during the storms.

Her builder, M/I Homes, has promised to repair her house, replacing some wood flooring, carpeting and drywall, said Wil! liams' attorney, Guy Haggard.

"They've been very cooperative. They're really stepping up to the plate. They're being honorable," he said.

At least eight other large builders also have accepted responsibility for repairs, especially if the houses were under their one-year warranty that comes with all new homes.

Others have refused to fix damage, saying the hurricanes were an "act of God" that negated the warranty. Government officials have been unable to force repairs because the codes do not specifically address many of the problems causing the leaks.

Cynthia Wilkens is among those waiting for her builder to take care of her home. She lives in a $280,000 house in west Orange County. Water, she said, came in through walls and windows, ruining cabinets, carpeting and drywall.

Her builder, Ryland Homes, refused to help her, said Wilkens, who added she is glad that builders are willing to change. However, she said, "It doesn't address what to do for ! current homeowners with a problem."

Keith Bass, the Orlando division president for Ryland, said his company has repaired dozens of homes whose leaks were caused by mistakes made during construction. For instance, he said, he has fixed damage caused by bad caulking around a window or improperly installed flashing.

He promised to read the report, then "review the houses on a case-by-case basis." He declined to comment specifically on Wilkens' house.

Bass -- like Gilmore of the state home-builders association -- said that if a house was built to code and leaked, the owner should seek money from his or her insurance carrier.

Wilkens said her insurance company is willing to fix the interior, but not the exterior. She wants Ryland to fix the leaks before she repairs the inside.

Tami Torres, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Finance, which regulates the insurance industry, said that what is covered by a policy sometimes can be difficult to determine.

Typically, if the roof is blown off by a hurricane or a water heater explodes, an owner will be reimbursed, she said. However, if water seeps in, it might be the result of bad construction, absolving the insurer of responsibility.

Torres said her agency has fielded more than 175,000 calls about hurricane-related damage, but could not break out how many were about leaks.

"Obviously, we'll look at these on a case-by-case basis," she said.

Lee Constantine, the Republican state senator from Altamonte Springs who helped create the board that oversees the Florida building code, predicted changes to the regulations would happen.

"I welcome this report," Constantine said. "I'm always looking for ways to improve the building code and process."