I did a blog entry on Kickout Flashing a while back that I titled CSI. Scroll down to see it. Well, here is my next chapter on Kickout... or the lack thereof... This home is a 1000sqft bungalow, late 90s build in the Villages. Frame with vinyl siding. The vinyl has been improperly installed, with no water resistive membrane. That is a huge issue, in itself. But even with the correct membrane installed, the lack of kickout would have resulted in water intrusion. The membrane (commonly called House Wrap or Tyvek) is not designed to shed bulk water. So the flashing is essential. Now, some builders will tell you that Kickout is not required... well they are right... The code only states that it must be a water tight seal. We have learned over time that the best way to do that is with kickout flashing. Flashing is a permanent thing, whereas caulking and sealing will fail over time. It has never EVER been code to funnel water behind a wall... Here is a little video that I made while at the property. I update FB much more often than my webpage, as I can do it on the fly...
I spoke with a General Contractor and sent him the video and pictures. His rough estimate is that a proper repair, to include the removal of the vinyl, installation of house wrap, and repair all the rotten wood (that we know will be at the windows and doors etc), install all the correct flashings, and then replace the vinyl... will be north of $30,000... may be as high as $50,000, depending on the amount of damage they find when they peel things apart... Yikes! #doyoureallyknowwhatyouarebuying
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Stucco as an exterior cladding has been used for centuries. It is a fantastic exterior cladding when it is done correctly... but when it is not... So, what is stucco? Basically it is concrete. I could get a bit more in-depth, but that is what it boils down to. Today, we don't use a true 3step Stucco finish. What we use these days is called a "cementitious finish".... but everyone still calls it stucco. And, just like anything else, it has to be installed correctly and properly maintained. Over masonry, it has to be at least 3/8" think. Over frame it has to be at lest 7/8"! Maintenance wise, it has to be painted regularly and any joints etc sealed. Remember that your exterior paint is your raincoat. Let's take a look at this 2007 Central Florida home. Besides being bigger than most (almost 4k sqft) it is very typical. The first floor is masonry and the top floor is frame. We will start on the lower floor and we will find that the paint is chalky and faded with multiple stucco cracks. We are gonna focus on these three because they show the issue the best. On the right side of the home, there are three cracks that are six or eight feet apart. But, the important part is that they are in the garage area. The garage does not have drywall or other interior finish, so it really tells the story. Now we can look at the frame upper portion... Remember that the better you caulk, seal, and paint... the better your house will perform!
AND Interior paint and exterior paint... the only thing they have in common is the word Paint. Interior paint is lipstick, exterior paint is your raincoat! #doyoureallyknowwhatyouarebuying The homeowner felt that he needed some extra storage space... I can understand that. BUT... cutting out the trusses and compromising the structural integrity of your home is not the best way to accomplish that. When I looked at the configuration of the building and the space, I had a feeling that it was not going to be a good thing. I had to remove a few floor panels to confirm. I am glad I did. The buyers would have been stuck with a major issue if I had not found this.
I often tell people that my profession is a lot like CSI... You find one clue... that takes you to another... that leads to something else... that finally ends up showing the real issue. Sometimes, it goes the other way... Like in this case. SO.... LET'S PLAY CSI ! I saw something that I KNOW is gonna be an issue, so I followed the clues. So, in the end, the repair attempts were exactly that.... attempts... The correct fix is to add the kickout flashing.
So, we know that water has been getting in the structure and down into the wall cavity. Because this is a wood frame home, it could have cause some pretty significant structural issues, but there is no way to tell without more destructive investigation. Thanks for playing CSI with me! Gonna rant a little here...
We completed an inspection on a 90 year old home that had been converted to apartments this past week. When we (3 inspectors, 2 senior experienced and one licensed just under a year) got there, the property manager stated that the building had been inspected a week prior. Said the inspector was there almost two hours. When I told her that this would be an all day inspection, she was quite angry. My buyer is an investor that we have done a lot of work with. She told me that she had a copy of the original inspection and it was inadequate. It was a whopping 4 PAGES for almost 6000 square feet of living space in two buildings! She sent it to me today.... I can tell that I am totally invested in my profession because I was openly angry as I read the "report". Things like this are why Inspectors have a bad reputation. Some of the nuggets....
Guys like this are an embarrassment to the profession. Wow! has the year flown by! I cannot believe that is it June already...
As I said in my last post, I was asked to teach a portion of the training at the annual American Society of Home Inspectors, Inspection World '18 event. Here is the link to the full live broadcast. This was the actual broadcast to the classroom. These three videos cover the same home but were filmed separately. Part One , Two , and Three I am really looking forward to being able to work with the fine staff at ASHI again in the future. We are please to announce that starting in 2018, I will be expanding the services of PITI to include training new inspectors.
I have been asked to join the staff of The Home Inspection University, Florida! I am very excited to take my vast experience as an instructor into the exciting field of Home Inspections! Our first classes will begin in March 2018. I have also been asked to lead a training session at the American Society of Home Inspectors, Inspection World event in Jan 2018. IW is the premier, continuing education national training conference for Home Inspectors. I get asked all the time "Why would I want an inspection on a brand new home?" Well, sadly, the answer is because in addition to the really good ones, there are some pretty lazy and/or shady contractors out there. In new construction, I have found entire homes that had no insulation... no insulation over certain portions of the home... cut trusses to make room for ductwork... improperly installed tile in showers and floors... leaking roofs, windows, and doors... this list is amazingly long. The good thing that I have found tho, is that the vast majority of the Superintendents are happy to have someone assist them in their Punch List. Another set of eyes is always a good thing on something that is as complex as a Home. Two days ago, I did an inspection on a new roof and it was not pretty...The roof had been signed off and finaled by the Municipal inspector about an HOUR before I arrived... The roof drip edge was terrible. It had gaps, bends, reversed laps, and mis-cut corners etc. etc. etc. When I went on the roof, I started looking deeper and the entire roof had an improper stagger at the seams... some as small as 3 1/2" ... This is about half of what it should be and is not following the manufacturer's installation instructions. This minimal stagger will be prone to leaks. Today, I got an e-mail from the Roofer and he stated that he was embarrassed that his foremen allowed that to happen and the roof is currently being torn off and they are starting over... Win one for the Good Guys! So, don't skip the inspection, even on New Construction! A DEAD VALLEY is a feature on a home where a roof plane comes to a dead end at a side wall. It look really good from the street.... but is a huge pain in the neck when it comes to keeping water out of your home. This home is very typical in the placement of the dead valley, one on each side of the entryway. As seen from the top, the water is funneled down into the sidewalls. You can see from this view that the dead valley area has been covered with rolled bitumen. The one below is shingled. Whereas a shingle only sheds water, Rolled Bit is a sheet membrane that can be made to be water tight. Rolled Bit "should" keep the water out, IF it is done correctly.So, as my good friend and Mentor, Jon Bolton would say... "Where does the water go?" This is very typical damage caused from water intrusion at a dead valley. In this case, at the side wall, but in others it is at the valley termination. "Ok Bo, so my home has a dead valley, what do I do?"....... Unfortunately, your main course of action is to keep it clear of debris and monitor it. Debris clogging it up can compound the issue. Also you can keep the bottom of the J Channel sealed up....
Roofers have changed their techniques over time and are getting much better at keeping the water out of the home. But sometimes, the design wins.... or loses in this case. The next set of pictures are on a Million Dollar, 2 years old home. |
Bo PassenRobert W. "Bo" Passen Archives
October 2022
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Welcome to my Blog. This is the area where I post item that I find interesting or that I feel can help my clients.
Some are strange, some are informational, some are downright scary...
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