So You Think You Might Have Mold! 04/02/2010
 There are quite a few four-letter words around and, to a homeowner, MOLD is one of them. If you suspect that you might have mold, there are three types of inspections you can get to check for the presence of mold and/or mold spores. NOTE: To learn more about mold, visit the Environmental Protection Agency's site at http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldresources.html. The first is an Invasive External Inspection. This is when two 5/8th of an inch holes are drilled into the stucco at the bottom left- and right-hand side of each window and door and a moisture probe is inserted to register how much moisture is present. It also can indicate whether or not the sheathing (plywood/OSB) is intact or ‘mushy.’ Stucco, as closely matched to the existing color as possible, is applied to cover up the holes. This inspection is around $2,100. NOTE: Mushy and a moisture reading of above 19 is not good. The second type of inspection you can get is called an Invasive Internal Inspection. This is when the same holes are made only they are from the inside of your home to the sheathing. Two holes are carefully ‘punched’ into the walls of your home below the bottom corners of the window and a moisture probe is inserted to register how much moisture is present. Spackling is applied to cover up the holes. The cost for this inspection is around $1,995. NOTE: Either inspection might include infrared (IR) images of digital pictures of various walls in your home. These IR images show areas of coolness (no insulation) or moisture. Then there’s the Air Quality Test. NOTE: If you believe that you might have a mold problem (e.g., if your neighbors are experiencing mold problems or you’ve seen water coming into your home), then you might want to go with an Invasive External Inspection or an Invasive Internal Inspection. An Air Quality Test involves taking air samples and then sending them to a laboratory for Spore Trap Analysis. The cost for this is around $650. Some of the mold spore types that might be detected include: 1. Aureobasidium 2. Basidiospores 3. Chaetomium 4. Cladosporium 5. Fusarium 6. Penicillium/Aspergillus Types 7. Stachybotrys 8. Trichoderma 9. Ulocladium NOTE: When present indoors, Aureobasidium, Chaetomium, Fusarium, Trichoderma, Ulocladium and Stachybotrys are often the clearest indicators of a mold problem. Once you have the report, then you can decide what your next step should be. Add Comment Questions to Ask When Getting a Quotation 03/22/2010
NOTE: This is also included in the section "Quotation Checklist" which will be updated as needed." Asking a general contractor to bid on a large job is a daunting task. Add to the fact that you haven’t the faintest idea what’s involved can make you feel not only vulnerable, but also like you might be taken for a ride - and I don’t mean in a car. When it comes to remediating your entire house, it’s especially difficult. That’s one of the reasons why you want to get more than one quotation. I think that if you stick with three quotations, you should be in a good position to choose the one you want to work with. Don’t forget that you will be working WITH the person. You want to make certain that your personalities mesh and that the general contractor is open to not only your questions, but also to your suggestions. Here’s a list of some things to consider when asking a general contractor to bid on your home remediation: 1. Will you take down my window treatments, take them away from the house, clean them, and then reattach them after the job is completed? 2. Will you take down items on the wall and cover and move furniture when necessary? 3. Will you be reusing the inside window/door frames or installing new ones? 4. How much will I save if I buy my new construction windows/doors through you instead of directly through an Andersen, Pella, Marvin, etc. representative? 5. What happens if my bushes/trees/deck/walkway/driveway gets damaged through the course of the remediation? The same is true for any damage that occurs within my home. Who pays for this? 6. Are you licensed and bonded? 7. Do you have a current Reference List? 8. Will you file a Waiver of Liens in the County Courthouse so that none of your subcontractors can come after us in case you don’t pay them on time or at all? 9. Will you quote us for the entire job or only 30% of the job and then charge us time and materials for the rest? NOTE: After removal of the stucco and stone, some homes are damaged more than others. If the quote is based on 30% of the home being damaged and 65% of the home is actually damaged, your cost for this project just went dramatically up. 10. Will you repaint the walls that were damaged where the windows/doors are? 11. What about mold. Do you do your own remediation or should I hire a specialist to do this separately? NOTE: It’s important that there exists no bias regarding mold and moisture trails. If there is a separate company performing mold remediation, they will dictate to the contractor what work has to be done. After all, you don’t want any mold to reappear. 12. What materials will you use in all phases of the job? 13. Will you use stucco wrap and stucco tape? 14. What Building Codes will you follow and from what year? 15. If you intend on getting a lawyer, hiring a good Forensic Consultant is a very good idea. This person should have court experience and closely watch the work being done. 16. If you don’t hire a forensic consultant who also has been a building inspector, find out who will be obtaining the building permit. 17. If the carpet gets damaged, who pays for its replacement? NOTE: Typically, if the workers damage the carpet, then the contractor pays however, if the damage is due to mold infiltration, then that cost is absorbed by the homeowner. 18. This is the time that you decide whether you want anything else done. For example, while the stucco was off, we wanted to have insulation blown into the floor of one of our upstairs bedrooms. This cost was built into the quote. We also wanted to have our deck flashed as it hadn’t been done by the decking contractor. This also was negotiated and included. 19. Make sure that daily cleanup is part of your contract. This can make a huge difference if you will be living in your home during this construction. 20. Because expansion and control joints are now written into code, discuss with your contractor where he suggests putting them so that they are minimally noticeable and don’t detract from the beauty of your home. These are just a few things to consider. I’ll add more as I think of them in the Quotation Checklist section of this Web site. In the meantime, if other neighbors in your community are going through the same thing, then by all means ask them for references. If someone has an exceptionally good experience, ask for the name and phone number of their contractor. Good Luck!  Kickout Flashing Above Gutter As you know, the objective of a roof is to protect your home from snow, wind, rain, sleet (i.e., the elements). You also know that you need to keep your roof in good condition so that moisture doesn’t get past the shingles and tar paper, into the attic, and then onto the ceiling of one or more of the rooms in your home. But what if our home has multiple roofs and the shingles and tar paper are in good condition? What else do you need to know? You need to know about KICK-OUT FLASHING and STEP FLASHING. These two items are also extremely important for keeping moisture out of your home and here’s why. Water in any form needs to be shed away from your home’s walls, chimney(s) and any other type structure that can be damaged if enough water accumulates in them over time. Back when a house had one roof, step and kick-out flashings weren’t necessary. However, with homes that have multiple roofs, especially roofs that meet vertical walls – step and kick-out flashing now becomes MANDATORY. As water hits the roof and starts its downward trail, it runs along the side wall of the home as it flows down to the gutter. During this journey along the wall, some water gets behind the cladding (e.g., the exterior surface of your home). This is not good as over time water can build up and cause mold and/or structural damage. The water needs a way to get back onto the roof to flow into the gutters, the downspouts and away from your home. This part of the roof needs STEP FLASHING. The second part of the equation is kick-out flashing which prevents rainwater from being absorbed into the wall that is near the end cap of the gutter. Once water approaches the gutter it may seep between this location. Kick-out flashing prevents water that is traveling down the step flashing from entering the wall near the gutter. A kick-out piece of flashing is needed to divert water away from the wall and into the gutter so that it’s not able to penetrate into your home and cause unseen damage. (See picture above). If your home doesn’t have kick-out flashing (you can tell this from simply looking at your home) and you have roof lines that connect to the side walls of you home – get them installed. They can direct rainwater away from the cladding (outside wall) of your home. NOTE: Kick-out flashing isn’t pretty, but it’s necessary. How Do I Find a GREAT General Contractor 03/13/2010
Finding a great General Contractor for your home remediation project is imperative. You will be spending a lot of your hard-earned money and the project will most likely go on for several months. Because you will be working with this person and his crew for quite a while, your personalities need to mesh and you need to know that he will listen to (and hear) you and be responsive to your concerns – no matter how insignificant they may be. Based upon our GREAT home remediation experience, I’ve assembled a few tips to keep in mind when looking for a good general contractor. I will be adding more in upcoming blogs so check back often. GOOD LUCK! A. Find someone’s home that you notice has a great “finished” look and ask them who performed their remediation work. Also ask people you trust for any referrals. B. I believe that hiring a General Contractor is better than trying to coordinate all the different types of contract professionals this project demands (e.g., stucco, window and door purchase and installation, mold remediation, framing, etc.). Unless you are a contractor and have the necessary connections in the business, it can be a nightmare if just one “little” thing goes wrong (e.g., the windows don’t arrive on time). C. Try to do business with a contractor who lives in the area of your home and has been in business for a long time. Reputation is very important to this contractor. D. Make certain that the contractor is licensed and bonded. You need to know what the limits on their insurance policy are and you need to see proof of that insurance. In addition, the contractor should have insurance that will cover any damage done to your home during the remediation. You can also request that they have insurance to cover faulty workmanship. E. You also need to make sure that they carry Workman’s Comp and that they will be responsible should any of the workers get injured while on your property. F. Never sign a contract on the first visit. It’s best to get THREE contractors to bid on your job and then take your time to weigh the differences between them. NOTE: Don’t assume that the one who bids the lowest is the best choice. G. Ask the contractor to “walk you through” the process so that you are including everything (e.g., what will happen to my window treatments, will you replace the framing around the inside of the windows with new framing, what do you do if there is moisture evidence but not mold, who is responsible for painting the wall where the windows/doors were replaced, etc.). H. Check with the Better Business Bureau to see if there have been any complaints filed against the contractor. You can also join Angie’s List, a consumer agency which has a lot of information on contractors, physicians, veterinarians, etc. NOTE: There is a membership fee for this service. I. Make sure that your remediation contract comes with a five-year (not a one-year) warranty. J. The contract should list ALL the work and ALL the materials that will be used on your project. NOTE: If the quotation only includes a 25% remediation and your home needs a 75% remediation, you will be spending quite a few extra dollars for which you may or may not have budgeted. K. When it comes to mold remediation, a separate company (we used Hardy Environmental Services) should be used. Even if the contractor is licensed to do this, in my opinion, it’s like the fox watching the chicken coop. All mold, plus moisture trails should be remediated. L. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Make sure that your home and the area around it is cleaned up daily by the workers. M. Remember that there is more to hiring a General Contractor than the price they quote you for the job – a cheap price may say more about the contractor’s desire to get the job than it does about the quality of the work that he performs. N. Ask your neighbors. In our community, there are many of us who have already gone through this extensive project. My email address is Kathy@buildhomesright.com. Please visit Kathy’s Blog regularly for more information. INVASIVE - Not VISUAL Inspection! 03/04/2010
 When you need a home inspection, it’s usually because you and/or your family have found the “home of your dreams” or, at least, one that you can afford and meets some of your criteria and you have negotiated a price for the home with the sellers and the sellers have accepted that price. This type of home inspection typically involves checking out the visible areas of the house that could have damage that might cost you unexpected expense once you claim ownership. Some examples might be the need for a new water heater or a major appliance such as a stove or refrigerator. If something is discovered during this inspection, then the cost of fixing one or more of these items can be used to negotiate a lower price for the home. If the fix is extensive (and, most likely, expensive) then that would be your cue to walk away from this one and look for another “dream home.” NOTE: Before we bought our home, our inspection was around $825 and was performed by Pillar to Post. That could not be further from the type of inspection to which I am referring. An invasive home inspection is exactly what it says – it’s INVASIVE. This means that it involves drilling into the stucco, stone, etc. (if it’s an EXTERNAL invasive inspection) or punching through the drywall (if it’s an INTERNAL invasive inspection). In our case we had both done just to be sure that we should go ahead and have our home remediated. After all, I don’t know about you, but I had never heard of having to remove the entire external wrapping of any home before let alone a home that was only nine years old. The reason my husband and I thought that we needed to have this inspection done was because we observed our neighbor’s remediation and thought that it would be a good idea to see if our home had any moisture damage behind the stucco. Our external invasive inspection was performed by Northeast Inspection (NI). We later learned that our forensic consultant, Bud Thomas, also performs external invasive inspections. NI took nine hours to conduct this inspection on November 24, 2008. The cost was $2,100, two 5/8” holes were carefully drilled below the bottom left- and right-hand corners of each window and door, a two-prong Tramex Digital Moisture Meter was inserted into each set of holes and the readings were recorded as part of a comprehensive report utilizing ReportMakerPro software. The bottom line occurred on Page 64 of the report under “Recommendations.” It stated, “Strong consideration should be given to a full removal of the stucco application and fenestrations.” Our stucco and stone didn’t start “tumbling down” until July 13, 2009. Read more about the findings in upcoming blogs.  I have wonderful neighbors. I’m sure you’ll agree that having great neighbors is a blessing that definitely cannot and should not be taken for granted. This morning, while I was sipping my morning coffee, I got a telephone call from one of these neighbors to tell me to look at yesterday's issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer in the South Jersey News Section. There was an article, written by Inquirer Staff Writer, Jan Hefler, titled, “Homeowners sue builder over mold.” Here's the link: www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/84936352.html The first paragraph states, “Dozens of South Jersey homeowners, claiming inferior workmanship may have triggered mold growth and created a health risk, have sued the Quaker Group, a residential and commercial developer in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.” I believe that if we successfully landed a man on the moon in 1969, we should have figured out by now how to build houses so that water doesn’t go where it’s not supposed to go and and doesn’t provide a perfect breeding ground for not only mold but for construction destruction (e.g., dry rot, etc). NOTE: I welcome your comments to the "man on the moon" analogy. The houses mentioned in the article were built between 1997 and 2002, when the home construction industry appeared to be in fairly good shape. I wonder what type construction deficiencies might occur during these slow economic times? It makes one think, doesn’t it? Stucco on Grass! 02/20/2010
 Don’t ask me why, but when I saw this picture, the first thing that came to mind for the title of today’s blog was Stucco on Grass. My daughter, Jackie, and I were watching “No Reservations” and what I immediately thought of was foie gras, the French goose liver delicacy. I am not a gourmand nor am I a particular fan of foie gras. In fact, I don’t think that I’ve ever had either foie gras or pâté de foie gras. Even though I may never have tasted this superb French delicacy, I actually do believe there are some similarities between the two. Let me point them out: First of all, foie gras’ literal translation means “fat liver,” it is from an over-fed and under-exercised goose, and it’s a specialty from the Alsace and Perigord sections of France. Just like you don’t want geese in your backyard, you don’t want part of your house laying on the grass in your back yard. [This similarity might be a stretch]. Secondly, with foie gras, the preparation is very specific with all steps and ingredients melding together to form a masterpiece. With stucco, it’s clear to see that when water gets between the layers of the outer envelope of the house, it breaks down the water-intrusion properties that protect your home. So, instead of getting a masterpiece, which is what home buyers in American have come to expect and demand, one gets something that resembles quite the opposite. NOTE: You can see the different layers that came off our home with the stucco because of the moisture. If you look closely, you can see that some of the sheathing (OSB) is stuck to the stucco. There is also rust on the lath (chicken-wire). This only occurs when there is a significant amount of moisture that has gotten trapped behind the stucco, weatherization barrier (tar paper, etc.) and soaked through the sheathing. And lastly, there is the similarity of price. With foie gras and Stucco on Grass they both are going to cost you a lot: the former to eat and the latter to remediate. Bon Appétit! P.S. For more on foie gras, visit http://www.answers.com/topic/foie-gras. For more on Stucco on Grass, please keep visiting Kathy’s Blog! Tar Paper OVER Window Flashing! 02/18/2010
 This picture is a close-up of one of the windows in our sunroom (See February 17, 2010 Blog). If you look closely, you can see the various parts of what everything looks like when the three layers of stucco (scratch, brown and finish coats) are removed. NOTE: 2006 Code requires the stucco to be 7/8th of an inch in total thickness for all three layers combined. The grey material is the flashing. Flashing serves an extremely important function: it helps keep moisture from getting between the tar paper and the sheathing. The tar paper provides a moisture barrier for your home. But flashing can only accomplish this if it is applied correctly. In our case, it was NOT! In our home, the tar paper was put on OVER the flashing (see picture). This is called reverse-shingling and is one of the reasons we had to have our home remediated. The tar paper is the dark paper in the picture. The correct way should have been to put the FLASHING OVER THE TAR PAPER instead of under it. This is why every room in our home which had a window and/or door had to be remediated. It was like an open invitation to moisture! Now, you might wonder about the staple holes that are used to connect the tar paper and the lath to the sheathing? Doesn’t water seep into these tiny holes? This doesn’t happen because the reason tar paper is used is because it not only provides a great barrier against moisture, it also seals itself around the staples. NOTE: There are different weights of lath. Make certain that the weight of both the tar paper and the lath is to current code requirements. Close-Up With a Nasty View! 02/17/2010
 I decided to do a close-up of yesterday's picture [February 16, 2010] that I posted to Kathy's Blog so that you can truly witness the damage that can occur to a home when the windows [and doors] are not installed properly and there is reverse-shingling below the windows, thus enabling the water to go directly behind the tar paper and the OSB Sheathing. (NOTE: Reverse-shingling is similar to putting the shingles on a roof from the top down, instead of from the bottom up. If it's done correctly (the latter) water should not seep into your attic, etc. If it's done incorrectly (the former) you're most likely looking at having to install a new roof and repair ceilings which have water marks and/or water dripping into your hallways and other rooms in your house). The windows that Bellevue Homes put in our home and that you are looking at were Malta Windows. This picture was taken before any repairs or mold remediation was done. It shows how bad the windows looked. Even though we wanted to donate our old windows, I believe there were 43 of them, we couldn't. All the windows and doors could not be reused because they were so badly damaged. If a window is not installed properly, it can buckle. When it buckles, one of the problems that occurs is that the glass seal between the panes breaks and moisture gets in between the panes and causes a "fogging" effect. John Anderson (no connection to Andersen Windows), Bellevue Holding Company, Inc.'s Warranty Representative, took some of the windows and the rest were discarded. We needed to purchase all new construction windows. By the way, new construction windows are more expensive than replacement windows. Typically, the movable part of the window (e.g., the "sash") needs to be replaced when it reaches 25 or so years old. We were prepared for this - not for replacing nine-year-old windows with new construction windows and doors. Sunroom With A Different View! 02/16/2010
 This is the way the outside of our sunroom (which faces East and looks out at the 17th Fairway of the Hartefeld National Golf Course) appeared on July 15, 2009 after the Pennland Contractors had taken off the stucco and the lathe (chickenwire). If you look closely, you can see quite a few problems. First of all, on the bottom of the far right window, tar paper (dark black) was reversed-shingled over the window flashing (grey). This caused moisture to run between the OSB Board (sheathing) and the back of the tar paper which, consequently, enabled the water to seep into the OSB and insulation (pink), thus providing the perfect breeding ground for Statybotrus Mold. In addition, the ban board which runs between the basement and the first floor was so wet it was peeling off. Parts looked as though they had disintegrated or would disintegrate into your hands. |  Kathryn M. Barto AuthorHi! ArchivesOctober 2010 Categories |
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