A downtown San Jose resident recently woke up one morning to find small puddles of water seeping up through the hardwood floors near the kitchen of her condo. She noticed that some of the planks were buckling as well. The resident thought the source of the water intrusion was the kitchen dishwasher or garbage disposal and investigated immediately. Neither turned out to be the culprit and there was no indication of where the water was coming from. The resident obviously felt helpless and distressed.

It turns out that the water was running down inside the walls from an upstairs neighbor. The kitchen sink in the upstairs neighbor’s unit apparently was inadvertently left running from the night before. There also seems to have been a clog in the sink causing the running water to overflow and run out of the sink onto the kitchen floor. Long story short, the water started pooling in the dining room carpet and started to seep through the floors, down the walls, and ended coming up through the downstairs flooring. While I’m not sure of all the exact details of how the problem originated or what caused the water to start running down inside the walls, I do know that it caused a substantial amount of damage to both upstairs and downstairs units.

The downstairs neighbor had to hire a specialty contractor who promptly opened up the kitchen walls to dry out the water to prevent any mold issues. And don’t forget about the hardwood floors that started buckling. Those will have to be replaced as well. And the upstairs neighbor had to replace and repair a substantial amount of flooring also. If there was a silver lining to this nightmare (and for both upstairs and downstairs neighbors, it was a nightmare), its that the upstairs neighbor was properly insured. Fortunately, that meant that the coverage included damage for both upstairs and downstairs units. Most HOA’s include insurance covering the common areas and building, but not for personal property or damage inside units. If you own a condo or are thinking about buying a condo, be sure that you talk to your insurance agent to determine if you have the proper type of homeowner’s insurance and the correct amount of coverage. A knowledgeable insurance agent will ask to see the complex master policy to ensure that you are properly covered.