KATY, Texas — A Katy family found the bottom floor of their home flooded in August because of a defect in a household appliance. And they tell us they’re not the only ones dealing with this issue.
"I came home and was like ‘Has it been raining?'” said Katy homeowner Artemiz Freeman.
When Freeman opened the door, she found out the water wasn’t from a hurricane or any storm. It was actually pouring out from something you also might have in your home.
“I noticed the tank to our toilet had cracked,” Freeman said.
Freeman said she had no idea this could happen. She came forward because she wants to warn other homeowners.
Freeman told us a local plumber, William Edmondson with True North Plumbing, told her he's visited several homes facing these cracks.
“The water just dumps out of the tank and the toilet tries to continue to refill the tank and if you don’t notice, it will flood your home,” Edmondson said.
The toilet is one of two Vortens models which were part of a 2019 class action settlement because of the ‘random cracking.’ The numbers of the models are #3412 and #3464.
Freeman said the deadline to apply for a piece of the settlement was about four years ago, which is long before her home flooded.
She now faces thousands of dollars in damages and repairs.
“They said we can help you if you go through our insurance and I was like, this is a week or two into it. I’m already getting my house fixed. I can’t just sit here and wait,” Freeman said.
We did reach out to Vortens, who said they couldn’t meet our deadline Thursday evening. If they do get back to us with a response, we'll post it here.