Sunset Pond Apartments

The Sunset Pond Apartments consist of 140 units in 2 eight-unit 2 story buildings, 5 twelve-unit 3 story buildings and 4 sixteen-unit four story buildings.

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

Project Key Participants

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.

XXXXX. was engaged by the mortgage lender to provide third party oversight and financial review.

Project Overview

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

Exposed concrete walkways over wood framing were covered with vinyl sheet waterproof membrane and the walkways slopes were adjusted to improve drainage. A cement fiber facia was applied to the walkways. The walkway support posts were wrapped with WRB and clad with cement fiber siding.

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.

Cantilevered wood deck structures were waterproofed with PVC clad edge metal and vinyl sheet waterproofing applied over the existing concrete. New facias were constructed comprised of WRB, sheet metal flashings and cement fiber siding.

Wood frame bridges with concrete topping provided wheelchair access to the handicap access units. The bridges were significantly decayed and were reconstructed.

Project Challenges

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.

Previous Repairs:

The stair towers were reconstructed the prior year. The facias, hand rails and waterproofing of the walkways transition to the prior repair.

Details were developed to transition to the previous repairs.

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.

Technical Challenges

Hardscape Transition at the First Floor Sidewalks:

The concrete was poured up against the vinyl siding at some locations.

Details were provided to remove the vinyl siding and fill the gap with a backer rod sealant joint. The surface of the concrete was treated with a cementitous sealer. The surface was then primed and polyurethane waterproofing was applied extending up the wall. Fine sand was applied into a finish coat to blend the repair to the adjoining concrete. The new building paper lapped over the vertical portion of the waterproofing.

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.

The overlying stringers were flashed to the vinyl waterproofing using a fabric reinforced polyurethane sealant, and finished with polyurethane waterproofing finish coat. The vinyl membrane was abraded and primed prior to application of the polyurethane.

Ventilation of the Walkways:

The Bellingham fire department would not allow vent penetrations through the lid of the walkways.

The lid was hung on steel hat channels and vented out through the facias maintaining the fire resistance of the lid while allowing air-flow to the framing.

Walkway Slopes and Post Supports:

The walkways were supported by a rim attached to the building at one side and by posts and beams at outside. The multi-floor buildings settled but the posts did not causing a reversal of the slope. Many of the walkways did not drain.

Careful measurements were taken and the posts were shortened to improve slope at the walkways.