Construction Informer

The initial hurricane Ike damage assessment is in from the Institute For Business and Home Safety (IBHS). After two days of surveying damage in Houston, Galveston and the surrounding areas the researchers discovered water intrusion at roofs was the greatest point of concern resulting from this storm.

As might be expected older roofs didn’t hold up as well as newer ones and the points of damage initially originated with the underlayment rather than the sheathing. Of course buildings in Galveston that weren’t elevated above flood stage received the worst damage. Newer shingle, tile and metal roofs performed well. The report didn’t define “newer.”

Interestingly, areas 50 miles removed from metropolitan areas had higher wind gusts. Houston damage was called similar to category 1 hurricane conditions, while those in Raywood were rated similar to category 2 conditions.

The IBHS recommends in this publication that roof underlayment in many of the Atlantic and Gulf States use a full layer of self-adhering polymer modified bitumen membrane that meets ASTM D1970. Outside of those areas where local codes don’t allow that system you can use other products like reinforced synthetic underlayment to substitute for 15# and 30# felt. They have a higher tear resistance and can survive longer in the elements before deteriorating.

Another option is at least 4 inches (w) of self-adhesive flashing tape used at all horizontal and vertical roof deck joints. Asphalt impregnated 30# felt installed with ring or deformed shank fasteners that have at least one-inch diameter caps and are spaced six inches along laps and 12 inches in the field is another option. This process also requires a self-adhering polymer modified bitumen cap sheet or a similar treatment applied with a hot mop method. Closed cell urethane based foam adhesive\insulation applied to the attic side of all joints between roof sheathing panels is another method of achieving secondary water protection.

You can see several photos of the damages to buildings from Ike here.

This isn’t the first source I’ve heard this from and I have done some independent research on the numbers and found it to confirm this trend - more people are living alone. This isn’t just in some countries, it appears to be affecting all developed countries. Recently Droog and KesselsKramer, both in Amsterdam and both involved in a project by the name of S1ngletown, mentioned in their press release that:

Young urban professionals choose to stay single for longer, older bereaved live for longer. In spaces designed for multiple occupancy we find only one. In vehicles with four seats, we routinely find a solitary driver, and in beds made for two, one lays down to sleep. Sources predict a third of the population of the developed world will be single by 2026. This shift will profoundly alter how we live and work in the future. It will affect buildings, products and services.

One of the ways builders are addressing the needs of singles is by using compact kitchens that come as complete units. One such product is called Circle® kitchen. As seen here the entire unit revolves, it puts everything at the users fingertips and it can be closed up when not in use.

I’ve wondered lately why people are still insisting on using so much money and space for their kitchens. Supermarkets can’t put out enough prepared foods, and busy professionals are going to meal planning centers where they do all the meal preparation in advance - in someone else’s kitchen. People are in love with the idea of cooking at home but the expensive cabinetry and appliances aren’t really getting the use it was thought they’d get. From an environmental perspective, new research suggests it requires far more energy for people to prepare meals at home than to buy prepared meals that achieve an economy of scale during preparation and cooking. New surveys about singles find they are eating out more.

Other demographic and lifestyle indicators go beyond singles. One report says that of people who live together, fully a quarter of them don’t sleep together, and, more people are now requesting dual master bedrooms. Astute architects, designers and builders are probably beginning to ask a lot more questions related to what clients really want to have in their homes.

Time and time again we relearn things. For a very long time buildings that were built in southern climates came almost automatically with wide verandas and wrap-around porches. One of the main reasons was it kept the sun off the sides of the building in the summer and made the structure cooler.

Of course those verandas took up a lot of room and they were a lot of maintenance. So, once air conditioning became affordable and the need to cram more and more structures on less and less space superceded thoughtful development, the verandas and porches disappeared, often being replaced with anemic-looking overhangs at entry points to the buildings.

Now, there are a bunch of buildings sucking up gobs of electricity in order to stay cool. When you add in the pavement and concrete that was lavishly poured in around these structures you have some wonderful heat sinks that require more and more electricity to keep them habitable.

So it isn’t surprising that the verandas are coming back, but these are not typical verandas. Carrying with them all the same benefits that might have been used to sell verandas 50 years ago these new verandas, called awnings, are cropping up everywhere. They are coming in an amazing array of styles, many looking a far cry from an RV awning - although there are those as well.

As these pictures show modern awnings offer some eye-appealing options. It may offend the architectural sensibilities of some I suppose, but for those paying the electric bill it might be time to give pragmatism its due weight. You can find out more at PAMA.

Getting definitive answers related to the suitability of materials for building is a challenging task. Sure there are a number of standards organizations like ASTM, ANSI and ASCE but navigating their massive repositories of information and then paying for the information once you find it adds to the frustration for someone looking for a few quick answers.

Industry groups and manufactures do their own testing and specifying but of course you have to view much of that information with the understanding that they are understandably biased in their assessments. The national government and other governmental bodies are supposed to be unbiased sources of information but all too often that isn’t the case. Or, worse the agencies issue statements that are not definitive.

Just as an example we could re-visit the age old discussion about what is better for sub floors - Exposure 1 plywood or Exposure 1 OSB. In this case the new versions of OSB that are sealed from moisture (sometimes called enhanced OSB) and are being hailed as the best answer given that a lot of subfloors get wet during construction. While manufacturer displays with water running over the surfaces of their products to demonstrate moisture resistance look impressive this is not what really happens when sub floors get wet. Then, there are all the edges of OSB that are cut edges that haven’t been resealed before being installed that open up points for water to be absorbed.

In a 2007 study done by the University of Tennessee enhanced OSB was shown to swell significantly when wetted while the plywood showed the lowest average thickness swell of any product. The report concluded that even enhanced OSB should be protected from becoming wet.

Earlier in an Architect Online article that covered the short comings of both materials there was no answer that either product was better than the other.

While citing some rather dated references another article recommended close scrutiny to the types of project, the moisture hazards and other factors when specifying OSB due to its potential for a 30 percent increase in thickness due to water penetration when compared to plywood’s nine percent increase.

Ultimately, in the struggle to get objective information about materials people are often left to assimilate the range of impressions available and come up with their own hybrid approach to deciding when and where to use those materials.

If you like taking some trips on the engineering side there are a few sites offering a lot of information that comes in handy for most any kind of building activity.

Daniel C. Smith, PE has some great definitions and specifications on its FAQ page.

For some free downloads and a lot more try Engineering.com. From solar energy to beams to handy calculators you can get lost for awhile here.

The BLM has an area devoted to standards related to various functions in CSI format. So you can download specifications for everything from general requirements to miscellaneous. These can come in handy as starting points for developing your own standards to include in contracts for example.

A really handy site is USG’s Design Studio where you can put in the desired characteristics of an assembly and the site will deliver the specifications to build it including CAD drawings. There is also a section devoted to LEED and seismic and sustainable ceilings.

Finally, for a CSI-related list of manufacturers and the specs, pictures and even CAD of their products there is Sweets Network. You can browse, or search, CSI categories and research products that are currently available to be used for those building efforts.