JOB SEARCH

I have been really busy trying to get a new job. I have been working with this company XYZ for two and a half years and have become extremely technically proficient. I am in line to recieve a salary and get benefits but their offer is below market for someone of my skills and experience and so I give them a counter offer that is reasonable and I back up that offer with evidence as to why I think it is reasonable. XYZ talks to me for quite some time and never gives me any real evidence that my counter offer is unreasonable. I have since started looking for a new position at several other firms. Hopefully I will find one that meets my needs. I have at least one interview set up and I am hopeful. This job sounds great and is in a different field but doing similar work. I think I will have a great time. Wish me luck. If any of you that read my blog are looking to hire someone with my skills I will post a link to my resume, give me a response.

Nathan

Newest sketches from my water color sketch book

Notice how wonderfully these older windows were designed. The head has large overhanges and the sill has a curved bar that counter flashes an up turn leg. This is an excellent example of how in the past the designers and constructors used really great design when building.

MORE PORTFOLIO QUALITY WORK

I have uploaded some new images of art I created while in Italy. Please enjoy and recognize my rights to this content.

Portfolio drawings

These images are from my portfolio. I created these pen and ink drawings and watercolors while visiting Italy as part of a foreign study program in landscape architecture. I drew approximately 300 drawings in that 3 month trip. I hope you enjoy these drawings. The origional Duomo Trento drawing stayed in Italy at friends that we stayed with as a thank you gift for letting stay with them. I am going back to Italy and spain for three weeks with my wife and some family friends. When I am there I will create some more drawings to add to my portfolio. I will continue to add drawings from my portfolio in the future. I hope that those of you that enjoy aspects of my blog will pass on the address to your friends and family to help get the word out. When I get more time I will post some more educational posts until then.

Thanks,

EIT EXAM

I am preparing myself to take the EIT/FE exam in October. This means I will need to learn some pretty intense mathematics before then. I don't have a formal engineering education as someone who has a bachelors in landscape architecture and 74 credits towards a masters in construction management most of my knowledge with building science came from experience. I have worked for a couple of great firms, a sole proprietor who taught me loads about construction and got my hands dirty in the field actually constructing stuff. The other firm arguably the premier building science firm in the US and Canada. Based in Vancouver and has the brightest minds in building science working directly for them including me. I don't want to mention them because I think they have there reputation to protect and having me work for them may tarnish it.

I have prepared for the Engineers In Training Exam by creating a schedule and studying each day a different section until I have a fundamental knowledge of all the sections on the test. I feel that the test is made to separate the men from the boys and is a necessary step to becoming a professional engineer. I am lucky that they are giving me the chance to take the test. I thought it would take longer for me to acquire the experience but my education must have made a significant impact.

I will try to keep those of you that are reading this blog up to date on the progress as I go through the study materials and prepare for the test.

Thanks

Membrane Terminations at Concrete Curb Walls

I have drawn the following membrane counter flashing details for membrane terminations at concrete curb walls. Each of these details are acceptable solutions. The sprung locked flashing fit into the concrete block out is the preferred option because it does not rely on sealant. Another option is to cast the flashing into the concrete creating no sealant required and eliminating the need to maintain the sealant joint.

The other flashing with the gumlip seal offers a cheap effective solution with a sealant joint that is easily inspected and therefore maintained.

Tell me what you think?





















The drawings on the Left is a depiction of a notched concrete wall with spring locked counter-flashing and the right is a depiction of a sheet metal flashing termination with gumlip seal.

DISCUSSION OF OLD VS. NEW CONSTRUCTION

In this article I will attempt to explain why some old buildings still perform after a hundred years while some newer buildings built in the 70's 80's, 90's and today are failing.

First performance is relative, I rate performance on the existence of water on moisture sensitive materials that given time will cause those materials to deteriorate. This definition is debatable because some may believe that performance is that the structural system is protected as the exterior layer is destroyed as a sacrificial layer for 5-20 years. I disagree but for this illustration we will characterize performance as a wall that manages the water in such a way that eliminates quick deterioration of the building.

We will explain the factors for differences in building performance by addressing the following reasons:

Quantity of insulation
Wall assemblies more tolerant of moisture
Quality of detailing
Exposure conditions (macro and Micro)
Complexity of building form (more details)

In older buildings insulation was not required by the building code. Developers builders, and contractors just left out the insulation and relied on the mechanical system to make the dwelling comfortable. In newer buildings insulation is installed in every cavity.

In the drawing on the left the old wall section shows the lack of insulation the existence of air leakage from the interior to the exterior (drafty) and the lack of an air barrier or weather resistive barrier. In the image at the top you see similar conditions except a layer of building paper is used and stucco is used as the water shedding surface.

Lets look at the science of the insulation as part of the wall assembly. Buildings fail because water reaches sensitive materials (wood, steel), the temperature is sufficiently high enough for mold to grow or rust to form and the material doesn't dry out.

When you have a drafty assembly with no thermal insulation the assembly can effectively manage the water that gets behind the siding. This factor is not the only one that contributes to envelope failure.

The detail at right shows the weakness of the newer assembly. This wall assembly is not tolerant to moisture because any water that makes its way past the siding sits and accumulates against the building paper. This water will cause the building paper to disintegrate after continued exposure and water will run sideways or find back laps in the materials. once the water has found it's way to the sheathing that is made of relatively weak materials like wood chips and glue mold grows and is sustained as long as it remains moist and warm.

Air leakage although reduced is not eliminated and can cause localized damage as moist warm air leaks through small imperfections in the wall assembly.

To have this assembly perform perfection must be achieved in the construction and maintenance of the assembly.

I have believe that our architectural knowledge and quality of design has both deteriorated and advanced at a very high level. First the deterioration is caused by reduced design fees and quickened construction schedules and the ability to transfer the problems off to the future owner. The advancements have occurred by consultants that have filled a niche left as building problems have increased and designers have contracted the risk out to professionals who work only with those specific issues.

In older buildings window system contained elements seen in today's more advances building designs and most definitely contributed to better performance of the older wall assembly. The image at right illustrates an older window detail re-drawn for illustration purposes. Note the sloped sill and hidden flashing that redirects any water that enters the window opening back to the exterior.

Exposure conditions have changed since buildings began to fail on a large scale. Buildings are being built taller and with fewer overhangs and cornices. Buildings are built near the water and include many more windows and penetrations.

Buildings are also more complex than they used to be, a typical 1920' s office building will be a box with over hangs and cornices inset windows and one main roof. The building illustrated below is just as described a box with punched windows and lots of cornices and overhangs over critical junctures.
The picture at right shows a modern new construction that includes a multi -roofed, multi faceted facade with lots of penetrations including stair bays that allow water into the building and need to be waterproofed at horizontal surfaces. This building is much more complicated than the older building and is going to take great care to keep from becoming damaged.
















In conclusion older buildings performed because of many reasons and those reasons have caused a greater need to be careful when designing and constructing a building. These reasons sometimes require a professional firm that understands the science behind the failures and can develop solutions.

BRICK TIE WATERPROOFING DETAIL

I have attached a brick tie waterproofing detail to this blog to add to my database of building envelope details available to broaden the general building envelope knowledge. Please comment and discuss the potential negatives or positives to this approach and design.

South Lake Union

South Lake Union is undergoing major changes, but those changes have not yet made that neighborhood ready for most home buyers.

I have lived in the South Lake Union neighborhood for since August of 06. I also work across the street from my home so I am constantly in the neighborhood and this is where I find all my services and entertainment.

I have listed the positives and negatives for those of you thinking of buying here. I am not a real estate salesperson trying to get leads or trying to blow some smoke up your @$$ this is my best opinion based on experience.

Negatives
- The neighborhood is full of cars and roads it is urban and has an urban noise level.
- Trees are not as plentiful as many other places and the exhaust can be overwhelming.
- Storefronts are empty in the new alley 24 project.
- Grocery stores are several blocks away, the nearest is Whole Foods (expensive and their prepared foods at this one are terrible and very poor value)
- The next closest grocery is QFC in capital hill which I like to shop at but because of the significant hill I usually have to drive.
- The restaurants in the area are usually focused on limited clientele including the wealthy at the waterfront, the businessman at the fast food joints, and the youth at the new trendy South Lake Grill. Family friendly food establishments are hard to come by.
- Cafes are expensive.
- No bookstores, or libraries in the neighborhood.
- Constant construction
- Large transient population compared to quieter Seattle neighborhoods like Wallingford, Fremont, Ballard, Maple Leaf, etc.
- Mercer is really a mess, constant traffic, congestion.
- I walk most places and find the terrain is a bit hilly to downtown.
- The feeling of most of the neighborhood is one of a workers commuter businessman going to work.
- Schools are limited to private ones.



Positives
- Taco Del Mar has its regional headquarters here and has the friends and family free lunch on occasional Tuesday's.
- There is a block party held at the Denny park playground that has some good bands and is really fun, even for the kids. We always had something to go do, especially since we could walk to the Seattle Center which has the Pacific Science Center which is great for kids.
- The new projects going in are really changing the neighborhood for the better.
- Alley 24 is a great project with a comfortable alley that has mid block access and storefronts that wrap into the alley creating a comfortable feeling, it is also well lit and contains plants (bamboo)
- The use of plants could be more extensive and I would like to see some vertical garden walls but the fact that some planting exists give the pedestrian and comfortable separation between the cars and the buildings.
- The new Alcyone apartments building, http://www.alcyoneapartments.com/home.asp, are beautiful and create a really comfortable street scape. The stoops and patios in front of the units bring out the private and create a sense of ownership.
- The plantings in front of the Alcyone are nice I will post a couple of pictures I have taken to give you a sense of the place.
- The whole foods is a nice place, but again empty storefronts.
- The proximity to downtown is the best asset, close to all that downtown has to offer within walking distance.
- The kid friendly elements include the park in front of the Alcyone which has been redone and is really great.
- The REI flagship store has a kids play tree house in it that is great in the winter to take the kids there to romp around the place, there is a world wraps that is OK but a little pricey for the quality.
- Once the waterfront park is redone the neighborhood should be in a renaissance and would be ready to get into. I see several parallels to the neighborhood creation that several developers in Vancouver Canada have done. These include quality construction, landscaping, developing apartment and well as for sale housing. I also see the fixed sales center for Vulcan which is a standard Vancouver thing.
- People are starting to come in droves to the area once enough come I am hopeful that some of the necessary services will come too.
- The corner restaurant to the Alcyone is an Irish pub and it is really nice, I watched several Sea hawks games there last year and I thought it is well designed and operated.
- The best coffee in the area is Vivace's when their game is on otherwise it is Uptown Espresso.
- Vivace's is open till 11:00 pm and has Internet, that is where I am writing this post.
- The next big development for Vulcan is going to be the flower block directly north of the Alley 24 project and that is a pretty good location with retail and park on either side. The one draw back is the block looks onto the insurance company parking garage.


This list is not the complete definitive but a start to help potential residents understand what they are getting into.

Discussion of Brick Window Details

In studying the design and install of brick window openings I have come up with some nice details that show the head and sill conditions for the brick using reinforced precast lintel at the head and a three sided precast stone sill. The water resistive barrier and the air barrier are created by using Tyvek as the WRB and the water shedding surface is the brick.

There is some debate about the longevity of Tyvek as a WRB behind brick due to its life span vs. the lifespan of brick. Other more suitable options include liquid applied membranes (LAM). Wetflash is a new LAM that shows promise as an easy to install, inspect and use product that is vapor permeable, robust, and flexible.

I designed the brick to have Stuc-0-Wrap's Flexflash SA membrane in 2" x 2" patches at each brick tie to ensure a seal for the long term at those penetrations. Some people like to put pressure treated battens behind the brick at 8” o.c. to ensure the Tyvek holds to the building and doesn’t get holes created due to wind pressure against the membrane.

I invite all those interested to comment on the details included in this post to help them be improved. I will also answer any questions regarding why I designed certain elements the way I did. Tear em apart, that is how I get better.

Thanks,

Serious Pitfalls in Public Offering Statements

New condos are popping up all over Seattle, Bellevue and the rest of Washington and new buyers are finding that the Public Offering Statements are full of information written in a very technical manner. In this blog we are going to look at one specific area of the public offering statement and how it may leave the consumer in trouble if not the buyer doesn't understand what is in the report.

The term "Buyer Beware" never held so true since these new reports have made their way into purchase and sale agreement. Buyers are able to read the report but don't understand what they are saying. Does the typical buyer understand what 90 minute building paper backlapped behind the prefinished backsloped head flashing without end dams mean? Probably not and if this is the case you need an expert to explain what this means in regards to the long term use of the condo, and the protection of this important asset.

We are talking about the building envelope survey or report in the back that shows pictures of the building with the siding removed and the detailing around the windows and base of wall conditions. These pictures are often unclear and in black and white and so illegible that even a trained expert cannot understand what it is supposed to show. It identifies the type and manufacturer of the different waterproofing materials and makes not judgment or warnings about the quality or longevity of the products mentioned. These reports are now in the public offering statements of new and conversion condominiums because of a Washington state law requiring them.

The following link takes you to the PDF of the HB 1848 bill.
http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2005-06/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/House/1848.HBA.pdf

In short developers compromised with condominium purchasers by including condition assessment reports in the public offering statements and the condo owners have to go through arbitration before direct litigation.

Arbitration is a way of settling disputes between two parties using a trained arbitrator in the field that the claim is made. In other words the developer and the condo association are going to be bring a case to the arbitrator who is someone in the architecture, construction, and building envelope arena. The home owner is going to present the case that he bought a building and it has fundamental design flaws that the developer knew about and he sold the project at market rate prices and should have fixed those flaws before selling the building as a condo. The association's lawyers will have a building envelope expert show photos and give testimony that the building is damaged and the flaws were caused by the faulty design and construction. The developer is going to bring the Public Offering Statement, which has a report by a building envelope consultant that shows flaws in the design and construction that if not fixed will cause leakage and damage of the building. The developer will also show signed evidence that the homebuyer had at least 7 days from acceptance of the offer to review the public offering statement and decide whether the risk is worth it. The arbitrator, being very familiar with these types of reports and the type of writing and will find them to be quite clear and that they are adequate notice of the potential for damage of the project. The arbitrator will find for the developer and award the condo association nothing to fix their building. The real cost for poor quality construction is not integrated in the sale price and people are getting fooled.

The fools are these purchasers who glaze over the reports in the back of the public offering statement, they will be stuck with mandatory one time assessments of the entire cost of re-siding a building including installing new windows, roofs, patio waterproofing and below grade waterproofing. These costs are considerable and should be reflected into the price of the original unit. Eventually it will be, but by that time the developer will be off creating the next building and the condo owners will see the value of their condo drop 40%.

The best way for condominium purchasers to protect themselves is to have a building envelope consultant that writes these reports explain the risks evident to them in the report in the back of the Public Offering Statement. Find out if you have a quality building and if not renegotiate the price to reflect the future reduction in value if the project has problems. Create a strategy to protect yourself from the eventual depreciation if you have purchased. When to sell is a big question that can be answered if the report were reviewed.

Contact me to find out who you can talk to regarding these public offering statements and how to reduce your risk.

(206) 442-1192
Nathan