A few years back I noticed a strange phenomenon when passing by the Events Center. It looked like the building was moving. As it turned out, the siding was moving, buckling in the heat of a hot summer day. This just added to my curiosity into EC construction methods. My first was during construction watching the wallboard, Tyvek and siding after heavy rains. Things just did not look right but what could I do. Now we have a consultant’s report paid for by the City Council and edited by the administration before anyone else could look at it. I am surprised the administration did not take out the few morsels we could find. Apparently the mayor did not understand what he was reading or he would have used my redacting tools I offered at City Council on January 2, 2017.
Anyone who has studied water flow issues, will find a lot to discuss when looking at photo 6.
For almost 3 years I have been asking about water flow out of the wall. The consultant’s report admitted there is a water issue behind the siding but they did not want open the walls to get a deep look. It would be hard to justify the consultant’s cost to open up the walls and then close them up at their expense. They did only receive $25,000 to tell us we have a lemon waiting to squeeze our future infrastructure budgets.
The photo given to us to study tells much, but you have top look. As someone who has tried to educate people about water flow out of this building, I noticed one thing right away, the notch cut into the base plate to let water out. About half way between the vertical studs, there appears to be a notch cut to let the water out under the blue Styrofoam so it could drain out under the siding. In our heavy rainfalls, with the spray foam applied to prevent water from embarrassingly flowing over the sidewalk, this gap allows the water to back flow into the building. Nice touch.
Consider the rust, not that there is rust in the base plate but how much is there. Look at the rust “climb” up the sides of the base plate and the rust climb as it appears on the vertical metal stud.
Now look at the interior wall side of the base plate where the Sheetrock is screwed on. Notice the rust on this side of the base plate? There never should be any there.
Consider the moisture wicking or climb, happening in the Sheetrock stain shown. I was taught many years ago to never let Sheetrock touch concrete flooring because it will wick up and ruin the wall board. If the stain is not being seen now through the interior paint it will eventually leech through, and then it will be too late.
Look at the concrete floor, do you see the stain leeching out toward the bottom of the photo? Water has been flowing quite regularly into the building.
During the presser, the consultant’s report was noted, they did not look anywhere else but where the SMG management told them to look and the closet was the only place they opened up to look.
It appears to be acknowledged the consultants did not do wall moisture visual inspection or metered testing anywhere else. They could have lifted carpet along the edges to verify if there were issues.
Did the consultants use scopes to look inside the siding? They make no mention of any attempts. Endoscopes are cheap these days and can give amazing results with photographic proof of conditions. There are holes in the siding so large a small GoPro could be dropped in so an endoscope easily could have be inserted.
Why didn’t they drill a 1/4 inch hole in the Sheetrock and put an endoscope in and look at the inside of the walls?
Since the outside temperature was close to our winter starting, there was no way to do a heat study. It is interesting the consultants did a basic job saying there is an issue with summertime heat buildup in the walls. Expansion and contraction of the steel siding is an issue to be dealt with for years to come. The Tyvek can only handle a certain temperature range. I believe we will need a monitoring system installed and then setup wall ventilatation so heat buildup does not compromise the integrity of the the minimal Tyvek water barrier installed by the CMR and specified by the architects. So my eyes were not deceiving me when I watched the walls move. The consultants confirmed my sightings as a cause for future damage potential.
To sum up photo #6 is get ready for more fun to come.
You did a good job explaining the issues with the study and what couldn’t didn’t get done. It’s clear this was a Band-Aid study to appease people.
I’m wondering about mold. It takes years to become a problem but breathing it is a serious problem. Mold loves wet Sheetrock and insulation. This is a public place with large crowds. The city could become known in the future for a concentration of ‘Huether Disease’.