Letter to the City Officials

This letter was sent to the Saint Cloud Mayor and City Council Members on March 27, 2007. We still have not received any responses.

"If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem"

                                                                                                                                                March 27, 2007

I am contacting you with hope that you will review my homeowner’s nightmare and offer some guidance or perhaps implement some badly needed changes in the City’s current system. Due to hurricane Charlie our home was damaged. After approximately one year of fighting with our insurance company they did finally agree to pay for the repairs and we hired a licensed contractor. We checked the state website and made sure the company was a Florida licensed contractor and we found that no complaints had ever been filed against the company. We obtained proof of insurance from the company’s insurance carrier. We paid the City of St. Cloud for a permit and the roof successfully passed not one but two inspections. It seemed that we had done everything right.

The enclosed photos were taken after our new roof was installed, inspected twice and successfully passed both inspections. The rotten, fungus covered, water damaged decking and trusses on the rear section of our house were discovered by XXXXX Aluminum Company a few months after the roofing work was completed. The demolition crew removed our damaged Florida room and found a disaster hiding under our new shingles. Many of the roof corners look rather strange and on the front section of our house there is a portion of the roof where the eave literally drops downward when weight is put on it. I think you will be able to see by examining the photos that this roof has some very serious problems.

I contacted the State of Florida DPR. I was instructed to document the problem with photographs then the Florida room installation could proceed. I submitted the photos and a complaint to the DPR. The investigator told me that according to the City of St. Cloud the roof passed inspection and that would weigh heavily in the contractor’s favor. Apparently the investigator was correct. The DPR ruled in the contractor’s favor and now we are left with a very expensive homeowner’s nightmare. While getting estimates for a new roof I have learned that it is actually quite common for roofers to see situations like this and mine is not an isolated case.      

We faithfully paid insurance premiums for more than thirty years and never filed a claim until hurricane Charlie damaged our home. We have already paid our deductible and now we are faced with not only the cost of another new roof but we will also have to pay for a new roof for the Florida room as well. The roof of the Florida room will have to be removed and when the roofing panels are removed the seals will be broken and reusing them could result in leakage. Instead of only paying our insurance deductible we are now facing approximately an additional $9,000.00 to $10,000.00 in home repairs.

We complied with the City of St. Cloud’s regulations. The City took our money for a building permit and we did have the two mandatory inspections. Obviously this did not protect us nor did it protect our home. One section of our roof is so unstable that it isn’t safe to walk on. The eave will literally sag downward if someone steps out toward it. In fact, it is so unstable that it actually moves when I (an average sized woman and a grandmother of two) pull on it with one hand! 

Now we find ourselves in a position where we must pay approximately $9,000.00 to $10,000.00 to put another roof on our home and unfortunately it will be done under the same guidelines that allowed this current mess to pass final inspection. We have no guarantee that the next roof will be any better than the disaster that is currently attached to our house.  

 How do the elected officials of this City plan to protect the homeowners of this community by eliminating the potential for this kind of fraudulent activity and substandard construction work? The City takes our tax dollars and makes us pay fees for building permits. I think the residents of St. Cloud who comply with the building department’s demands deserve and expect to be protected. How do you plan to do that? It is quite obvious that the current system has failed miserably and needs to be changed.

Your constituents rely on the elected officials to serve as leaders of this community. I think the leaders of this community need to stop pushing for growth and development until they have proven that the City can adequately protect homeowners and existing properties in St. Cloud.

It really doesn’t matter how many nails are driven into the shingles when they are attached to rotted decking. It’s quite similar to attaching aluminum siding to cardboard. Would that pass inspection in the City of St. Cloud?