THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 8, 1994 TAG: 9408080056
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 153 lines
The house that Charles and Sharon Thomas called home is nestled amid old dogwoods and towering white pines in an upscale neighborhood called Southern Woods.
With a brick facade and a stately Palladian window gracing the main hall, the two-story Colonial marked the spot where the Thomases would retire and enjoy their final years together.
That was before the back yard flooded, before the squabbles with the contractor, before the multiple myeloma in Charles' body spread beyond control and killed him, before bankruptcy loomed.
Today the dream house sits nearly empty. The mortgage is six months overdue. And the value of the house on Outlands Way, once appraised at $187,000 - the amount they financed - has plunged after a reappraisal to $65,000.
In a resort community where optimism reigns and new housing springs daily from old soybean fields, theirs is a cautionary tale of how even the best-laid plans can go wrong.
``Should we as consumers have to put up with this level of workmanship?'' asked Sharon Thomas, an elementary school teacher. ``Should we have to pay this amount of money and settle for this?''
What she and her husband ``settled'' for was a new house built on a flat lot. The effect can be disastrous during even modest rains when water floods the back yard and creeps under the house.
Over time, Thomas believes, her house will be susceptible to rot, a concern the attorney for the builder says is overstated. The problem has left her with a house she cannot sell and cannot afford to keep.
THE SAGA BEGAN IN the spring of 1993 when the Thomases noticed water pooling in the back yard after a light rain. Concerned, Charles Thomas sought the help of Patton, Harris, Rust & Associates, a surveying, landscape and architectural company.
In its November survey, the company found the ground elevation didn't match the building plans.
``For all practical purposes, your yard is flat and there is no outlet for stormwater until your yard has flooded to a minimum elevation of approximately 8.1 (feet above sea level),'' wrote William C. Forbes, the company's director of engineering, in a letter.
``It is, therefore, our opinion that your house and yard were not constructed in accordance with the approved plans.''
His company proposed some solutions. One involved jacking up the house. The Thomases immediately got an estimate for the job - at least $84,490 - but dismissed it as too expensive.
A second option, which the surveying company advised against, was to add dirt to the yard. Placing additional fill against the foundation, the company warned, would increase moisture problems and damage the joists.
A third solution involved regrading the lot to drain properly, but that would threaten the many trees that had initially captivated the Thomases - and elevated the cost of the house.
Charles Thomas took matters into his own hands.
He built an earthen berm to prevent water in an adjoining lot from flowing into his yard. He planted flowers and bushes on it. When representatives of the builder, Affordable Homes, came to inspect, they concluded that the berms were keeping the water in place.
They agreed to install a drainage ditch - called a swale - along the back property line, and remove the berms. The company also would change the front yard drainage by rebuilding a section of curb with a slight dip in it to allow drainage.
On March 1 of this year, Charles Thomas, who was 54, dug up the bushes he had planted and in the process strained his back.
``He just figured he overdid it,'' Sharon Thomas said.
Meanwhile, the couple got more bad news. Because they could not sell the house without disclosing its apparent problems, the chances of selling it at full value were slight. But when Certified Residential Appraisers Corp. set the new value at between $65,000 and $75,000, - an amount that reflected the estimated cost of repairs - the Thomases were demoralized.
By April 8, Charles Thomas already had lost 25 pounds and was in such pain he could not drive.
Cancer was finally diagnosed on April 28. And on May 20, Charles ``Toby'' Thomas, a former F-4 Phantom pilot and one-time Alabama oil-company executive, died.
Sharon Thomas and her four grown children were devastated.
With her husband of 33 years dead, her back yard flooding at every rain, she struggled to put her life in order. Life insurance might help pay bills, she thought, until she learned she didn't have any.
Seven years earlier, Charles Thomas underwent quintuple bypass surgery and his life insurance costs rose steeply because he was at risk for a recurrence. At first the Thomases could not afford the premiums. When he got a job at a Norfolk manufacturing company that offered life insurance, the burden was lifted. But then Charles made a fateful decision: He resigned in November 1993 to pursue self-employment.
``We never got around to reinstating the insurance,'' Sharon Thomas said. ``It's been a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. Now I can't sell this house without disclosing the water problems and if I sell it I can only get the assessed value.''
A FOLDED AMERICAN FLAG now sits on the family mantle next to the picture of Charles Thomas.
``I'm really sympathetic with their situation,'' Forbes said. ``Had the house been built according to plans, there would not have been a drainage problem. . . .
``The yard is flat,'' Forbes said. ``Water runs downhill. There is no hill.''
Building codes, which regulate everything from the grade of lots to the kind of wiring a house can have, are intended to prevent problems like the one Thomas has.
The city's director of permits and inspections, Bob Loher, declined to comment on the case.
Before he died, Charles Thomas set in motion a legal maneuver in which he sought rescission, where the builder would take back the house. But Sharon Thomas has been through four attorneys and says she cannot afford their fees.
The attorney for the builder argues that the grading on the Thomases' lot meets the requirements of their contract and that any problems that once existed have been solved.
Kevin Brunick, the attorney for Affordable Homes, said water problems surfaced after closing on the house when the couple added raised flower beds within the drainage easement and along the perimeter of the back yard.
The beds, he said, acted as a dam, preventing the water from draining off the lot. When a representative of the builder cut a channel through the flower bed, he said, the water drained out.
``The lot drains just fine now,'' he said.
``Now why is she persisting? My client can't correct something that is no longer a problem.''
Brunick agreed that the elevations on the property are lower than those in the original plan.
``But the city revised those because they wanted to preserve the trees,'' he said. ``If you add a foot of elevation to the lot, you will kill all the trees.''
Brunick also contested the claim that the house's first floor is below grade.
``That's just not true,'' he said. ``But as far as my client is concerned that lot drains. If this were back in February of this year, I could understand. But steps were taken to correct the problem, steps my client paid for.''
Thomas said she has not asked for a new appraisal, fearing the numbers would not change if the lot elevation had not.
``Right now the only thing keeping me in Virginia Beach is Corporate Landing Elementary School,'' she said.
``If I lose my house, I don't know what I'll do.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo by DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH
Sharon Thomas' Virginia Beach house in Southern Woods, once valued
at $187,000, now is estimated at $65,000 because of flooding she
says was caused by an improperly graded back yard.
Staff photo by DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH
The back yard of Sharon Thomas' house started flooding after she and
her husband bought the house. She is worried the water will make the
house susceptible to rot.
by CNB