Fixing My 80’s Julia Crutcher
Like a fine wine, construction methodologies progressively get better with time. If we pay attention to the way older buildings are performing we learn what not to continue doing. We can look at those older building’s issues and correct them with current methodologies that will stand up better to time and the elements. A good Pacific Northwest building must be able to withstand the rainwater and wind.
The 80’s era created a lot of building envelopes that are now at the end of their useful life. The details unique or common to that era that we have learned do not work are:
• prior siding preparation and installation,
• inconsistently applied weather resistant barrier (WRB) system, • absence of flashings, • improper deck and railing connections, • nonexistent deck or walkway sloping, • insufficient waterproofing, and • aluminum window and sliding glass doors installation.
Built in this era, we encountered a condominium that has 9-buildings, 3-stories, 193 residential units and is located in Everett, Washington. The envelope of the building had a mixture of cedar and LP siding materials. The existing siding itself had failed because the material is exposed to rainwater on the backside and doesn’t have the weather resistant components behind it that would allow the water to exit without damaging it.
A superior siding product that is available now is fiber cement siding and trim. The siding and trim need to be primed on all six sides (including the cut sides, and front and back) to ensure rainwater cannot permeate the siding and trim. The siding needs to have a properly installed WRB behind it so that rain water can enter and exit and have a chance to dry prior to damaging the sheathing or framing that is part of the building envelope system. The failure of the envelope as a whole caused this condo to incur substantial rot to the plywood sheathing and structural framing of the buildings.
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