May 22, 2008
TO: Village Palos Verdes Homeowners
Re: Information and Update – Restoration Project
Dear Village Palos Verdes Homeowners;
It was a pleasure meeting many of you at your homeowners meeting on April 10th. We hope that you found the evening very informative and helpful in your understanding of who Design Build Associates, Inc. is and what our function will be moving forward as Construction Consultants for Village Palos Verdes Homeowners Association.
For those members who were not able to attend, please feel free to visit our web site at www.dbuild.com in order to gain a better understanding of our qualifications and experience. You will see that we have helped a multitude of homeowner associations though the trials and difficulties of a renovation and restoration project just like yours.
The VPV Board of Directors requested that we assist them in responding to various homeowners and their concerns about the strategy to move this project forward. Recently there was a communication sent to homeowners by a group of individuals who refer to themselves as the “Concerned VPV Homeowners Committee”. The four page correspondence contained a suggested two part solution. Part 1 discussed in detail how the siding should be cleaned and stated that, “Cleaning off the black grime on our cedar siding will restore the hidden color of our cedar – dramatically improving the appearance of our complex.” Part 2 discussed the repair to areas already beyond the point of cleaning and comments that “Over 99% of our cedar siding boards are in great condition.”
Part 1 of this letter states “Our cedar siding has not been cleaned in thirty years and goes on to state that “…our cedar is one of the best grades available and should last up to 100 years.” The reality is that a high quality clear cedar siding, properly installed and regularly maintained can last 100 years. The cedar on your buildings in not clear cedar (clear cedar does not have knots like your siding does) therefore, this is NOT in the “best grades” category for cedar siding. Based on the amount of shrinkage we seriously doubt that is was kiln dried or even acclimatized before it was installed and it was certainly not pre-primed before it was installed as recommended by the cedar siding industry. The siding installed has never been treated or sealed, but left to “weather naturally”. This too will shorten its useful life. If wood siding is expected to reach its full life expectancy it must first be good quality, properly dried and acclimatized, primed on all six sides before it is installed, and then “regularly maintained”. This maintenance would include cleaning and re-sealing every three to five years. This must be done from day one, not starting 30 years after it was installed. The intent of this regular maintenance is to prevent shrinking, warping, twisting, and to prevent the boards from separating one from another. This is not something that you can do retroactively in order to save your siding. Nailing or trying to screw down warped or twisted wood siding will not work. Caulking joints that have already separated is not recommended, would be expensive, require an annual re-caulking and would certainly not look aesthetically pleasing. Much of the caulking information listed in the references provided by the Concerned VPV Homeowners Committee referred to caulking and chinking (filling cracks in something) of log homes. These are quite different products and applications from cedar siding.
“Part 2” of the proposed solution is to repair areas where needed and states that “99% of our cedar siding boards are in great condition.” This figure is presented without basis and a simple walk through the property easily reveals, to even the untrained eye, far more damage and problems to the cedar and the exterior wall system. The recommendation to caulk the gaps between pieces of siding (according to the letter, “the gaps can be properly repaired with caulking at a low cost.”) is an incorrect statement because there is no “proper” caulking that is recommended to perform this task for this application. Caulking can be used to fill slight cracks around trim, windows and doors, however, where the boards have separated and pulled apart, caulking is neither a “proper” nor recommended repair by any qualified, quality conscious contractor. Caulking cannot be used as a substitute for siding.
For your building exterior walls to function properly it is important to understand that the cedar siding is only one component of a system that is designed to kept moisture and UV rays out of your homes. The cedar is the first defense against these elements. The second defense and element in this system is the building paper behind the siding. Because the cedar was not a higher quality, was not properly primed on all sides before it was installed, and has never been sealed since, it is not performing its function of protecting the building assembly. It has allowed, and continues to allow, moisture and UV rays in behind the siding, thereby causing the entire “wall system” to fail. This added moisture behind the siding exacerbates and accelerates its deterioration. Therefore, the intent of this repair cannot be a mere cleaning to “restore the hidden color” of the cedar as this recommendation will not accomplish anything except potentially making the problem look a little nicer for a short while. The purpose of the project must be more than a superficial cosmetic fix or what we would normally refer to as a temporary, or “Band-Aid” repair.
Having successfully completed numerous projects similar in age and construction to VPV it is Design Build’s opinion that the exterior envelope must be deconstructed so that repairs to the underlying original construction deficiencies and resulting damage can be made. Without this type of approach water will continue to shrink and twist the siding (allowing more water behind the siding creating conditions for mold growth), ultra violet rays will continue to rot the waterproofing barrier behind the siding, termites will not only continue to eat the siding but will move beyond the siding and into the structural elements of the buildings (which they have already done in some locations) and costs for future repairs will skyrocket. A proper renovation of the current exteriors will provide integrity to the structure and to the wall system, it will provide materials that will reduce on-going maintenance costs, thermal and noise reductions and will provide the Association with a long term warranty which it has never had. None of this will be achievable with any other attempted repair scenario.
As we stated above, the original cedar siding material was not properly primed before it was installed, was not constructed correctly, and was not maintained appropriately. We would also concur with your previous construction experts that in addition to the issues with the siding, there are a multitude of other original construction defects that are affecting VPV. These defects include the lack of waterproofing paper under some areas of the siding, the incorrect installation of flashing around doors, windows and other penetrations, the lack of and/or incorrect installation of foundation steel post base anchoring hardware, missing steel beam hangers (saddles), incorrectly sloped porches (directing water into the structural framing), missing sheet metal flashings at floor to wall interface, no drip screed installed below the siding and, missing sheet metal flashings/coping installed at top of walls. These original construction defects have shorted the life span of the structures due to their absence and/or incorrect installation. Please allow us to state as unequivocally as possible; the components that make up the exterior envelope system on your buildings needs to be replaced, or be substituted with other materials, and underlying components need to be repaired and the waterproofing elements replaced. The longer the current conditions are allowed to exist, the deeper the damage will move into the building structure and the repair cost will continue to go higher and higher. “Band-aid” repairs will only allow the deterioration conditions to accelerate and the damage to the structure will increase. Repairing structural damage is far more expensive than repairing and/or replacing the siding and the exterior wall system. Your association is already experiencing structural damage as a direct result of some of these conditions. The quicker these conditions are corrected, the less costly the repairs will be for the association.
Our experience of over 22 years working with homeowners associations correcting these kind of problems tells us that associations that try to put “band-aids” on issues, such as VPV is facing, will pay far more in the long run for the proper fix than if the repairs were made correctly in the first place. We understand that replacing the exterior components of VPV will be a major burden for the homeowners. However, by not taking on this project and fixing it properly today, the association will face much greater challenges in the very near future.
Design Build Associates will be providing VPV with monthly updates in order to keep all homeowners informed of the progress that is being made. If you have questions about what is going on please feel free to put your questions in writing and forward them to Joanne Pena, your property manager. She in-turn will forward them on to us and we will respond to them either in a letter like this to all homeowners or in correspondence directly to you. We hope that this letter has been helpful in providing a better understanding of the conditions that exist at VPV and the reasons the Board is moving this project forward in an effort to protect everyone’s property and financial interests.
Design Build Associates, Inc.
Professional Construction Management
Homeowner Ltr Rev.5-22-08b.docx