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I recently looked at doing some repairs to a 5 year old house that looks 10. The shake roof is failing, paint is peeling on the clapboard siding, and the windows are fogging throughout the house.
The shake roof is installed over 7/16″ osb which hangs out over the edge of the roof with no drip edge. Shingles are cupping badly, and some are falling off. There appear to be up to 1″ gaps between the shakes. The house has continuous soffit vents with inadequate roof ventilation. The only remedy I can see is to start over at the rafters.
The paint is peeling badly. The house has 1/2″ pine siding over some type of house wrap over osb also. I checked the moisture content of the wood and most is in the 10-12% range (it hasn,t rained for 2 weeks). The paint is peeling down to the bare wood and leaving a chalky residue on the wood. Any thoughts on the problem or solutions would be appreciated.
The windows were custom made by the cabinetmaker/builder. They are mahagony double hung, 4 over 4 with 1/4″ IG TDL glazings. Another contractor replaced some of the glazings a year or so ago, and thay seem to be holding up. The original glass is set in a bead of silicone with a stop mold on the exterior holding it in place. The only way to remove the glass is to take the sash out( the back of the house is 2 stories plus a basement), remove the stop, break out the glass, replace it, replace the stop and re-install the window. Performing this on 4-8 panes per window will take forever. Unfortunately, the problem continues to get worse and the labor to reglaze will almost cost what a new (not mahagony) sash would.
The original builder has washed his hands of it and refuses to return. The owners are sick because they are looking at a significant cost and having to refinance thier home to correct the problems.
Any insights or suggestions would be appreciated.
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Don't bid anything on this one, T+M only.
*Generally, I prefer to negotiate prices on jobs rather than to work on a cost plus basis. On a cost plus, you limit the profit you can make. Most customers cringe when they see your profit in the 18-20% range. It makes me cringe for the opposite reason. Actually, on jobs like this, I will sometimes mix cost plus and lump sum into the contract. Items I can get good solid bids on, I will bid outright, other more nebulous items I will do on a cost plus basis. Anyway, if I can get bids for the work from reputable subcontractor, I think I can cover the job and get a healthy profit. The customer is not even talking to other contractors (I think they all ran as fast as they could).
*Sounds like the original builder didn't have a clue on mositure control or other basics. Shakes on OSB!?!I'd tell the owners to talk to a good RE/Construction lawyer.>>The original builder has washed his hands of it and refuses to return.Sounds like a potenial mess. Consider whether the owners will be reasonable to deal with down the road after whatever it is they've ben going thru. Thyen consider whether life's too short.Don't do any repairs without (i) fully documenting what's there and (ii) fully understanding what the problems are: e.g., on the failing paint: if you fix the paint but not the cause, you're adopting the original builders liablity.Oh yes, sounds like a house that looks a heck of lot older than 10!
*I agree with you about adopting the old builders problems. The paint is the one I am most concerned about. With the siding moisture content around 12%, I don't believe that the problem is coming through from inside the envelope. I am wondering if the problem is from just a plain poor first paint job. Is there any way of knowing exactly why the paint is failing? I thought I would pull some of the siding off to see what it looks like behind it. Beyond that I don't know exactly what else to look for.
*Tom,As I understand it, the reasons for peeling paint failure are (i) vapor coming thru the siding and (ii) lack of surface prep before painting (raw wood being exposed to the elements, e.g., sunlight, for more than a couple of days.Are you getting the 12% fairly widespread?
*Yes, without getting on a ladder, I probed numerous places around the house. Most were about 12%, some as low as 10%. There were a few places where moisture had obviously been trapped and it was much higher. I think perhaps exposure to the elements prior to painting could explain the problem. If the house sat for a month between siding installation and painting, that could be the problem. Perhaps it was painted in a rainy season and the moisture level was higher at that point. Who knows?
*You have several different situations which together point to two causes.First, the moisture content of the interior is too high. Second, there are clearly some things the builder did wrong, like shakes over sheathing without a breathing space on the back surface of the shakes. If there are obvious builder errors, there may also be errors behind some of the harder to investigate problems, such as peeling paint. This whole thing is trouble, and the owner has a good case against the builder, but will need a lot of perseverance and professional legal advice. If the cost is significant to make it right (and it appears so) then a $100 chat with a lawyer experienced in construction litigation is money well spent.In the meantime, they must find a way to reduce moisture inside the house. Do bathrooms have fans exhausting outdoors (not into the attic!)? Does the kitchen hood exhaust outdoors? If it doesn't, the moisture just stays. Is the flue for the furnace and water heater tight? Is there a humidifier running amok? Turn off the water to the humidifier for the time being. They should leave a window cracked year round. Was a vapor barrier installed on the inside of the house, between the wallboard and the insulation, including the ceiling? Was the primer omitted? What do the back of the paint peels show? Did the builder use impermeable plastic on the outside instead of breathable housewrap he should have?I feel sorry for the owners. They've been stuck with a bad house through incompetence or fraud and it will be a long ordeal to make it right.
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I recently looked at doing some repairs to a 5 year old house that looks 10. The shake roof is failing, paint is peeling on the clapboard siding, and the windows are fogging throughout the house.
The shake roof is installed over 7/16" osb which hangs out over the edge of the roof with no drip edge. Shingles are cupping badly, and some are falling off. There appear to be up to 1" gaps between the shakes. The house has continuous soffit vents with inadequate roof ventilation. The only remedy I can see is to start over at the rafters.
The paint is peeling badly. The house has 1/2" pine siding over some type of house wrap over osb also. I checked the moisture content of the wood and most is in the 10-12% range (it hasn,t rained for 2 weeks). The paint is peeling down to the bare wood and leaving a chalky residue on the wood. Any thoughts on the problem or solutions would be appreciated.
The windows were custom made by the cabinetmaker/builder. They are mahagony double hung, 4 over 4 with 1/4" IG TDL glazings. Another contractor replaced some of the glazings a year or so ago, and thay seem to be holding up. The original glass is set in a bead of silicone with a stop mold on the exterior holding it in place. The only way to remove the glass is to take the sash out( the back of the house is 2 stories plus a basement), remove the stop, break out the glass, replace it, replace the stop and re-install the window. Performing this on 4-8 panes per window will take forever. Unfortunately, the problem continues to get worse and the labor to reglaze will almost cost what a new (not mahagony) sash would.
The original builder has washed his hands of it and refuses to return. The owners are sick because they are looking at a significant cost and having to refinance thier home to correct the problems.
Any insights or suggestions would be appreciated.