I called the Building Inspector.

This morning I contacted the company that hires the local building inspectors (Thank you Thomas for the idea).  I talked to an assistant manager and they said the Ryan Homes is usually pretty good at fixing things and following code but that they would take a look at my home.  He said that it does sound like it was done incorrectly.  For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, I've re-posted some photos below.  As of last night it still was incorrect.  I received this statement from my PM this morning: "The flashing on the windows is correct. They loosened the window again and installed the sill flashing under the window. When the windows are set they put the sill flash on first then caulk the window flang and nail the window to the house then put the remaining flashing on window. Then they put the foil wrap on and tape it to the window. What you are seeing now is the tape outside. Everything is done correctly to flash the window"

Now....this sounds exactly like what should have been done before and follows every procedure about installing windows that I've read about so far, however, unless they magically fixed it before he came, it is still wrong and you can clearly see that with my photos. :(   I'm going inside today to take some photos of what it looks like.

So here is the photo history of the problem:

See the window missing something on the far right?  Not hard to miss.

This is that same window after I questioned it.  Looks ok....but if you look closely you can see that the bottom tape overlaps the side tapes.  Very wrong and defies all physics to shed water out correctly.

This is what the inside bottom sill should look like.  All my windows except this one in question look like this.  Good thing!

This is what the window in question looked like after they "fixed" it.  So they obviously just tried to cover up the mistake from the outside.  BAD.  BAD. BAD.  I don't like sneaky.  If they cover it with siding and drywall, the building inspector would never catch this.  They rely on the contractors to follow code most of the time. 

This is what the window looked like last night....after the second fix.  Hmmm.  As you can clearly see....the water still will not shed water properly.  The top arrows show how the sides can let in water that run down the sides of the window.  The bottom arrows show where water can enter and still get under the window.   I will update this post tonight with the inside photos of this sill.  I do not have high hopes as to it being done correctly because it is still obvious that they are trying to take the easy way out by not removing the window.   Now....if they did what the PM said as quoted above....it should look much different than this.  So...I'm hoping they came in early this morning and fixed it before he saw it.  We shall see.

 

 

 So...Is this all something what would make me stop and not purchase the home?  Short answer YES.  If I lose my deposit...that's better than being pissed off the rest of my time in this home about a rotting wall because of something they refused to do correctly and paying for it to be done correctly.  I'd rather save my money again and hire someone who would be willing to do things right and have a home that I have confidence in.  Maybe they will knock off some of the purchase price for me to fix this right after we close.  I might consider that...but otherwise.....I'm not gonna take this house like this.  No way.  

Here are the instructions to do it right.  Straight from Protecto Wraps website....the product being used.

Ryan Home's document that they are "high-quality".    Please show me this RH.   This window mistake takes all my confidence in all the good stuff we've done together and flushes it down the drain.  We are talking potential damage to an entire wall of my new home.  High Quality my butt. (I'm swearing in my head).

PLEASE fix this right.   And you know what....take pictures of it being done so you can stop lying to me about how you did it right.  If you do it right....it will look right.  Plain and simple.