Building Envelope Remediation at Canterbury Court

Project Participants | Project Overview | Project Challenges | Technical Challenges

Canterbury Court consists of 178 units in 2 eight-unit 2 story buildings, 6 twelve-unit 3 story buildings, and 5 18 unit three story buildings.  

The buildings were constructed in 1994.  The building owner settled a lawsuit against the builder in 2001.  The building exterior was replaced in 2001.

Exterior Research and Design, LLC provided a summary specification, details, and to provide contract administration.

Western Exterior Service, Inc. was engaged as the general contractor initially to perform limited work during the development of the specification and subsequently to carry out the work to the entire project.  The project manager was Mark Reichlin.  The Superintendent was John (Jack) Kuljis.

Gary Swenson SE. of Swenson Saye Faget Engineering provided analysis and recommendations for repairs to the wood frame structure were excessive damage had occurred.

Paul Daltas, of Surveys Inc. represented the lender for the complex refinance

Back To Top

The project consisted of; removal of all vinyl siding and house wrap.  A new Weather Resistive Barrier (WRB) was installed complete with; window flashings, transition flashings, and vents.  The original siding was reinstalled along with new trim materials.  

Cantilevered Exposed concrete walkways over wood framing were covered with vinyl sheet waterproof membrane. A cement fiber facia was applied to the walkways.    

Wood frame deck structures supported by posts and beams were at an advanced state of decay and were significantly reconstructed, incorporated a new vinyl sheet waterproof membrane.   New facias were constructed comprised of WRB, sheet metal flashings and vinyl siding.  

Each post of the stair towers assemblies were inspected using a drill to determine if decay was present at the center of the post base.  Many of the posts required replacement.  Those posts not replaced were treated with borate wood preserving Impel Rods to increase the life cycle.

Back To Top

Maintaining Access for Tenants Through-out the Project:

The original specification was developed to replace the surfaces in like kind.  Walkway repairs were specified as for removal of the concrete walkways, installation of new waterproofing, and pouring new concrete topping.  The tenant’s ability to access their units would be severely disrupted while carrying out this work.

An alternative system was developed to apply new vinyl sheet waterproofing over the existing concrete.  The surface was prepared and the membrane was applied with no scheduled closures of the walkways.  The tenants had access to there units throughout the remediation.  

Emergency Exiting:

A ‘Building Access and Emergency Egress Plan’ was developed and implemented.  The plan was not a permit requirement, but was implemented nevertheless to provide a base point for continued training of our staff on the importance of tenant access during working hours and during hours that we were not on site.  The plan was submitted to and approved by Whatcom County.

Lender Participation:

The owner had been unable to refinance due to the building defects and the pending litigation.  The spread between the original, and current market for interest rates was significantly affecting the cash flow from the properties.

The specification, the construction contract, and the consultant’s contract were submitted to a third party engineer for review in behalf of a new lender.  The owner was able to refinance at the beginning of the project.

A procedure of parallel review of progress billings allowed the banks engineer to also review each invoice package in a timely manner.

Back To Top

Stair Stringer Transitions to Waterproof Surfaces:

The existing stair- stringers transitioned to the new waterproofing, and facias.    Flashing to the wood stringers was technically difficult.

Custom sheet metal caps were fabricated from PVC clad metal and installed over the underlying stringers as a component of the waterproofing.  The caps provided great protection and were attractive.

The sides of the stringers were flashed to the WRB using a fabric reinforced polyurethane sealant.

Sagging Eaves:

The eaves of the buildings were not well supported and were sagging severely.

The eaves were jacked up.  Knee braces were constructed and installed at a corner where the load would be transferred to a perpendicular wall.  The knee braces were attractive and the buildings look much better.

Intermittent Decay In Stair Tower Posts:

Each stair towers was supported by 6 10”x 10” fir posts.  The bases of the posts were originally wrapped with cedar to hide the hold down connectors.  The cedar wraps trapped water around the base and about 10% of the posts needed replacement.

The cedar wraps were removed.  Every post was visually inspected.  Those that were decayed were replaced a second inspection was made by drilling ?” diameter holes to the center bottom of the posts.  The removed shavings were inspected for hidden decay.  The holes were then injected with a liquid borate based wood preservative.  The following day a glass borate preservative Impel Rod was placed into the holes which were then capped.  The borates will provide a lasting protection, and the caps can be removed in five years to reapply the preservative. The wraps were left off the bottoms of the posts.

Deck Structures Were Not Draining:

The deck structures were connected to the building and supported by posts at the outside corners.  The some buildings settled to a greater degree than the posts resulting in a reversal of the slope.

Posts were removed, shortened and reinstalled.  The rim at the closets was disconnected and lowered.  All the decks drained well at the end of the project.

Deck Fascias Did Not Interface Well With The Building:

The face of the decks was made of treated wood and allowed water to enter where it met the siding.  It looked horrible.

The fascia was reconfigured and clad with vinyl siding.  The end result is watertight and attractive.

Back To Top

Contact Us. Email : markr@exteriorservice.com