The Build Process - Compare Job Progress to Job Plans - Part 4

Information collected from the site is reviewed and compared with the project plan to determine if the project is on time, the resources (both material and personnel) allocated were sufficient and of the right type, and the actual state of the project conforms to the schedule. Effectively comparing the project’s progress to the job plan enables you, as the customer, to bring the project manager’s attention to an area of the project most in need of attention.

Take Corrective Action

The corrective action necessary requires decisions to be made by the project manager and addresses questions that are technical in nature and relative to an actual issue that may be the cause of or result in a delay.  Your input may be required, time to time, to agree with a proposed solution to an unanticipated event.

Typically, this may be something as simple as where the tile can be stored indoors, an alternate location to keep a family pet, or setting aside an area in the yard to stage materials. Or you may find the discussion involves dealing with a cost overrun, material shortage or substitution.

Whatever the issue, your input will be required to help guide the project manager and it is necessary you, as the owner, agree to the proposed work arounds, or offer alternate solutions.  Unfortunately, you may find making these kinds of decisions bring you out of your comfort zone because you lack sufficient expertise and knowledge to know if your decision is the best one to make.

Whatever the case, deviations in the project plan must be noted.  Failure to note these issues and deal with them will result in a job that will end up behind schedule, over cost, and not conform to the contract documents.  The result of not taking corrective action is the equivalent of not monitoring the project at all.

Collect Historical Data

This involves collecting data about what has happened.  The type of information collected validates the work as the project progresses.  This requires measuring walls to validate they were built the required length, are the needed width, and placed in the correct location. Walls built in the wrong location happen more often than you may realize.  The same goes for lowered ceilings, bulkheads, and chases for mechanical elements such as ductwork and plumbing.

The drawings are your authoritative source of information indicating where the electrical, plumbing and HVAC rough-ins are to be placed, the sizes for openings for doors and windows, and show the tile installation patterns. Comparing the as-built conditions to the design requirements needs to be done as the work progresses in order to identify or pinpoint any deviations from the job plan.  Also, prior to any material being installed, the material needs to be inspected and validated to ensure they match those specified. A record of this inspection needs to be kept available along with any photographs taken.

The historical data collected serves two purposes: first, to serve as a basis for planning future jobs; and second, to serve as a thorough record of actual events in the event claims for non-performance arise.

The purpose and importance of describing the components of the Project Control Cycle was to help you understand what they are and the underlying concepts behind all the actions and steps used to properly control, monitor, report, and record the status of the project.

By understanding how the project is managed and monitored you are empowered to know if the project is doomed or can be saved. It’s not enough to understand how things are to be controlled, you also need more information describing when an activity is to take place, who will be doing what, how long it will take.  This information is contained in the Building Schedule.

The Build Process - Project Control Cycle Components - Part 3

The project control cycle applies just as readily to activities such as demolition, installation of  plumbing fixtures, floor and wall tile, and painting as it does to the suppliers who are providing the materials and products used to build your renovation. Your project’s success, and especially for a seemingly small one like a bathroom, needs to follow a Project Control Cycle  because one small deviation can have a significant impact on the progress of the work.

Here is a more detailed explanation for each of the Project Control Cycle components.

Set Initial Goals

The first task in the project cycle is to set goals for each of the activities. This step needs to be completed before the job is awarded to the contractor to do the work.  Many of the goals you are required to identify are the project pricing, materials selected, and the completion of the contract documents such as the detailed working drawings, scope of work and specifications.

The pricing allows you to arrive at an initial cost for the project. The working drawings, scope of work, and specifications identify who is going to do the work, where it’s going to be done, what materials are to be used, and how long the project will take. Simply put, the budget for the construction should not exceed the costs anticipated in the estimate nor can the time planned in a schedule exceed the number of days permitted.

Why? Under the terms of the contract, expectations for the budget and schedule are clearly disclosed.

It is important these initial goals are established and agreed to in writing before any work starts. Knowing what these goals are allows you to measure the project’s progress enabling you to address issues in a proactive rather than a reactive manner. So if your scope of work outlines a task needs to be completed in 1 day, and 3 days later the task is still not complete, the damage this delay causes to the project becomes extremely evident, especially if it’s the early stages, such as the site preparation activity.

Establish Job Plans

Establishing your project’s Job Plan is a three step process.  

First, the job is broken down into its composite parts or activities.  

The second step is to plan and optimize the activity for maximum efficiency.  For example, some of the activities may be Site Preparation, Demolition, Mechanical Rough-in, Framing, etc..

Lastly, with the activities identified, these are then strung together in a realistic order of work.  This order of work is converted into a diagram and calculations are applied to determine at what time and on what dates the activity should take place.  

The result is a plan you can use as a guide for all of those involved with building the job. The job plan is used to effectively cope with the inevitable changes that will occur.

Monitor Progress

Monitoring progress of the project is a two step process.  

The first part is carried out on the job site at regular intervals and involves monitoring the actual events occurring. This may happen once or twice a day, typically being at the beginning and half way through the day.  The purpose of this monitoring activity is to determine who is on site and/or confirm if the materials have arrived or are available for the work scheduled.

The information gathered from the monitoring activity is compared to the working drawings to confirm the work is being done to meet the design developed. The specifications are consulted to ensure the correct materials delivered are those purchased. Jobsite health and safety practices and standards are important, and the trades doing the work are observed to confirm they are meeting those standards.

The second step of the process is to monitor the schedule, or schedule monitoring as it’s called, and this is done on an activity by activity basis to measure if: the work starts on time, is performed within the time allocated, and is completed according to the schedule.  Schedule monitoring is done at all stages of construction, from set-up to the final cleaning. This includes the performance of all of the required inspections too.

Building A Deck - The Wrong Way

My deck sucks.

Yep, whoever built the deck for the previous owner of my home was a complete dolt.  After reading this you're probably going to feel a great deal better about your deck.  Although my deck situation definitely makes me feel "Not OK", you'll probably end up feeling quite a bit of "I'm OK" after reading this. 

Glad to help out and make your day, by the way.

Deck Builder Dude: Who Are You?

After buying my home and placing the existing deck on life support for the last few years, it's time this deck is taken down and forgotten. Mind you, it has served its purpose to remind me that out there, somewhere in deck-building contractor land, there is some guy out there building decks stupidly.

So where do we begin our voyage of discovery?

I guess from the ground up would be the best thing to do.

As we all know the thing that hold up our houses, skyscrapers, and decks is the soil or dirt on the building lot.  The best and only type of soil to build upon is undisturbed soil.

Take a look at the creative approach deck builder dude took to solve the issue about putting a post on disturbed soil close to the foundation.  The solution - there is no contact with any undisturbed soil, or any bearing surface for that matter - period.

The post is suspended with an air gap close to 3 inches separating the underside of the post from anything that would offer it support.  Disturbed or undisturbed soil.

Well, you may think this is a bad thing.  Actually, it's a good thing, especially when you look at the beam to post connection up above.

Two Posts Are Better Than One

Typically, the beam to post connection is just pure compression.  The beam collects the live and dead loads from the deck joists above.  The post accepts these loads and transfers them down into the soil below. Undisturbed soil that is.

 Well, deck builder dude must have had one too many during this summer holiday project.  To be on the safe side, two posts were installed.  The beam is connected to the shorter post with three nails and to the longer post, one screw and one nail were used.

Since neither post bears on anything, deck builder dude could have used chewing gum and binder twine for this connection.

I mean, come on.

My quick calculations tell me the live load this one post is supposed to carry is about 2,880 pounds, plus or minus 10%.

When you consider the amount of weight the post and beam connections need to transfer between one another, you want more than one screw and one nail to be doing the job.  To be fair, on the other side of the "beam" deck builder dude used two screws for long post and four nails for the shorter post.

Oh, and never, ever, ever use nails or screws to hold up a beam like this. This type of beam connection needs to have a cleat nailed to the face of the post below the beam.

I bet right about now you're feeling pretty "I'm OK" about your deck, aren't you. 

It gets better.

Joist Hangers and Hand Grenades

Floor joists, whether used for an exterior deck or for your home need 1-1/2 inches of bearing surface to rest upon.  When you have a flush connection, say between a ledger board and a floor joist, you use a joist hanger to provide the bearing surface required.

The tricky part about joist hangers, at least for deck builder dude, was knowing you needed to insert the joist into the joist hanger for the system to be effective.

So for all you wanna-be deck builder dudes out there: placing the joist hanger near the joist just doesn't cut it.  The joist must rest inside the joist hanger.

So what happens when you run out of joist hangers?

Well, you can go buy more, or, hey wait a minute, why not make your own?

And that's exactly what deck builder dude did.

Yep, believe it or not, the ends of this beam are supported using home-made joist hangers fashioned out of sheet metal.  Deck builder dude did a pretty good job of making these hangers look real, but to be real, a joist hanger is engineered to provide you with the stiffness, strength, and nailing pattern required.

Mind you, this connection may not have seemed critical because, after all, just four feet away to the right, deck builder dude installed those two posts I talked about earlier.

Accuracy or Precision? Take Your Pick.

Speaking of nailing patterns, as was mentioned, every joist hanger is engineered to carry the load a floor joist may be carrying. A 2 by 10 joist hanger will have more holes in it for you to drive a fastener into than a joist hanger for a 2 by 6 joist for example.  That only makes sense since bigger joists are capable of bigger loads before they fail.

Once again, deck builder dude shows us what their opinion on the matter is.  To this particular individual, properly nailing a joist hanger is optional.

You have to give deck builder dude credit though. They managed to get the joist to sit in the hanger on this one.

Back to the joist hangers. The joist hanger manufacturers make it dead-simple to use their product.  Place the joist inside the hanger, and where there is a hole, drive a fastener into it.

Over 60% of the required fasteners for this connection in the photo are missing.

Fascinating.

Oh, and can you see the difference between the "real" and "home-made" joist hanger? The home made joist hanger is dented where deck builder dude used those wee thin rusty nails.

Is There More?

Oh, there is just so much more to this project deck building dude messed up.  This is just a small sample of the type of idiocy that exists in the deck they built for the previous owner of my home, and the type of service that's out there.

If you're a homeowner, be aware, because this deck builder dude may be the guy building your deck.

To stop deck building dude dead in his tracks, hire a professional to design your deck for you. Create a scope of work and get a building permit.

Get a permit.

Did I say that already?

The only person you're helping by not getting a permit is deck building dude who is tired of all those inspectors telling him how to do things and messing up his zen.

If you're buying a house, have it inspected by a qualified professional, like me, who can spot deck building dude's handiwork right off the bat.

Together, we can stop deck building dude cold in his tracks.

Exterior Insulation and Strapping

Here's the reason why dumb contractors are a mouse's best friend.

First, a little background.  The exterior of the house was insulated with foam insulation.  When you hear that the walls of the house have been upgraded to exceed code by having exterior insulation applied to the walls, your first thought is "Wow!  That's fantastic!!"

With a little bit of investigation your initial "Wow!" factor quickly turns into an overwhelming sense of WTF!? 

Check this out.  Exterior foam insulation was installed and then strapped with 1x3 spruce strapping.  Umm, to me it's pretty obvious something is amiss.  

Need a clue?

It's the writing on the wall - it's sideways.

The manufacturer's installation instructions simply state:

• Tongue and groove (T&G)edge panels install horizontally.
• Fit joints tightly.

Well, the manufacturer is pretty clear on how things need to be done.  Install the panels horizontally and fit the joints tightly. Never mind the nailing pattern which is completely botched as well, or the fact the joints remain open and untaped.

Like, how dumb is the contractor? How blind or ignorant was the homeowner who hired the dumb contractor?

All of this indicates this energy retrofit is a major fail because the dumb contractor did everything they could to screw it up. The ignorant homeowner didn't read the writing on the wall, nor did they take the time to educate themselves about how the product they purchased should be installed either.

Then we have the strapping installed by the dumb contractor and how this dopey dude became the best friend a mouse could ever hope for.

Here's a corner detail.  Strapping is installed so it creates a raceway from the bottom to the top, with a convenient means to gain access to all parts of the wall, behind the siding and parts beyond.

See that wee hole? That's a hole chewed by a mouse.

Oh, and don't get me started on the golf towel used to "fill a gap" in the insulation. Of course it made a great home for the mice.

I hate mice, but I hate dopey dumb contractors even more.

Building Permits And Your Property

You're either interested in purchasing a home that has had previous structural work done to it or you are interested in selling your home that has work done by you or a previous owner, the big question is: Was a building permit issued for the work?

The answer to this question is important for two reasons.
 
First, if you are looking to purchase a property and it's clear previous work was done, you need to be sure the work performed was done in accordance with the building code.

Second, you, the homeowner, will have to pay to have the work brought up to code and prove the work meets the building code requirements, even if it was the previous owner who did the work.

Let's take a look at what the implications of previous structural work done to the foundation of your home would mean.
 

Previous Structural Work

Underpinning or bench footings often indicate a problem area that had previously existed with the property. For most older homes this is either a result of inadequate footings below the foundation wall, poor soils, or some other equally important and significant structural issue.  The importance of discovering previous structural work like this, whether done by you or a previous homeowner decades ago, is the work needs to be backed up by a building permit and engineering reports too.

If it's found the structural work is non-compliant, you're looking at a significant cost to have the work brought up to the standards necessary. So if you are serious about making an offer on a property and are thinking the lack of a building permit is something you can ignore, better think again.

What Are Your Options?

If you own a property and are unsure if prior work on the home was done with a building permit, you have two options to exercise; both help you to discover if there was a building permit issued.  The first method is to conduct an anonymous search to determine what permits the municipality has issued for your property in the past. The other method is to contact the municipality directly to determine what work was done and under what building permit.

If you discover your home has unpermitted work and have no intention of having the work inspected by the municipality to determine if it meets the building code requirements, you must disclose the unpermitted work to the next buyer so they are aware of the risk they are assuming when purchasing your property. 

If you are looking to purchase a home and it has been disclosed there was unpermitted work done, the larger risk is you, as the buyer, may not be able to get financing for the house. That means even if you were interested and ready to buy the property because it has a great finished basement apartment perfect for your family's needs, you may not get financing.

If you want to bring the work up to code, then you will need to work with an architectural professional to help document the existing condition and open up portions of the covered work to show the municipal inspector how the structure was put together.  You will be responsible for all costs associated with bringing the work up to code.

So if you hear your contractor suggest you can do the work without a permit, contact your municipality to double check.  It's in your best interests to do so.

Finishing Your Basement

Back in April I wrote about the dangers of finishing your basement - the wrong way. Moisture, or water, was the culprit I said, and you needed to ensure you had bulk water management systems in place before doing anything.  Evaluate before you renovate, was and still is my message.

I also mentioned there were solutions out there and all you had to do was find the right person to ask. Well, since I've written that article I've been asked what the right way to do things is.  That means I'm the go-to guy for this type of information, so here is what you need to do to create a healthy basement.

Insulated Wood Frame Walls Need Two Sides to Dry Out

 

A typical method used to insulate basement walls is to build a wood frame wall, leave a 1 inch air space between the wood studs and the concrete wall, fill the stud bays with fiberglass batt type insulation, and then cover the interior side of the assembly with a sheet of 6 mil polyethylene vapour barrier. With the plastic sheet installed on the warm side of the wall, this limits the wall to only being able to dry out towards the exterior. 
 
Since basement walls are unable to dry out towards the exterior because the ground is damp, and with the tight film of plastic preventing walls from drying out towards the interior, the result is the small amount of water that does make its way into the foundation walls moves into the framed wall and stays there, trapped.

The Better Way to Finish

The better way to finish your basement is to create a wall and/or floor assembly that enables the walls and floor to breath. Using permeable materials allows moisture to travel through them and this helps both the foundation walls and/or floor slab to dry out. The excess water vapour is managed by using a dehumidifier. To construct wall and floor assemblies that help damp concrete to dry out will require you to use vapour-permeable materials like EPS for insulation, latex for paint, and cork for flooring, for example.

All of these finishes allow water to move through them. Although it’s impossible to keep your foundation and floor slab from getting wet because they are in contact with the ground, using a wall and floor assembly that allows the walls and/or floor to dry out is the better solution.

A Final Word Of Warning

A more common water issue impacting homeowners in developed areas in both the US and Canada is urban flooding. Paul Kovacs, executive director at the insurance industry's Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, points out that, according to his research, basement flooding has emerged as one of the fastest growing causes of losses and extreme damage in Canada, costing $2 billion just in direct insurance payments annually. You can read the full study here in Urban Flooding in Canada.
 
The Center For Neighbourhood Technology in the United States has published a case study on the Prevalence and Cost of Urban Flooding in Cook County, IL, and say “the economic and social consequences can be considerable: experts estimate that wet basements decrease property values by 10 - 25 percent.” For a home with an appraised value of $300,000 that’s a monetary loss of $30K to $75K.
 
So before you decide to finish your basement make sure your bulk water management systems in place work, understand the risks associated with flooding, and when making your finish material selections, chose permeable finishes that breath so things dry out when they get moist.
 

Why You Should Not Buy That House

Would I Buy That House?

Ok, I wrote a post to let you know if you were asking yourself the question  "Should you buy that house?" there was help available.

Here I am going to describe some common scenarios some of my investigations uncovered. My advice, you don't buy that house, or if you do want to make an offer, you need to factor in the risk of owning a non-compliant, damaged, or failing home because of the following reasons.

Location, location, location and your emotions aside, your decision to ignore the "tells" of a property may be very costly.

Encroachment

Take a look at this property.  The setbacks for the rear yard are indicated in red, the exterior side yard in tan, the front yard is yellow, and the interior side yard is blue.  The outline of the house is in dark brown.

The only setback not impacted by the location of the existing structure is the front yard.  Adding to the complication of this scenario is the detached garage owned by the neighbour towards the rear of the property. Their garage encroaches onto the property.

If you wanted to add to or modify the house, there would be a great deal of non-conforming issues impacting your ability to develop a plan or design easily. The cost to address the existing issues would probably be equivalent to building a new home.

The only reason to buy this property would be to demolish the existing house and start new, and build within the available allowable area defined by the setbacks.

Would I buy this house to live in?

I would, but the offer would just be for the value of the lot.

Foundation

The foundation of this home has been so neglected and plagued by water issues over the years, it's starting to fail.  You can trace how the water flows along the outside of the foundation wall with the wettest area located at the window for some strange reason.

The damp conditions in the basement would make it unsafe to store anything down there since it would just become smelly and rot - perfect mold food. The moisture problems plaguing this home's foundation make it a serious risk to both the occupant's and home's health.

To fix this problem properly would require the demolition and replacement of the foundation at a cost of nearly $120K CAD.

Don't get me started on the rusty cast iron downspout or the wooden floor joists embedded in the concrete foundation wall either.

Would I buy this house to live in? No, but I would buy for the value of the lot only.

Structural Issues

There are some really weird structural issues out there.  Check this interesting scenario out.  What attracted my attention to the "beam" were a few things.  The first was it was bare, meaning unprimed, then there was the missing lateral support, and finally the rather odd shape to it too.

Upon closer inspection I was surprised to discover the "beam" was not your typical web and flange style configuration, instead the thing I was looking at was a salvaged train rail.

Then there is the questionable floor framing in the background for the stair opening.

This house had a great deal going for it, until you took the time to look at it just a little closer.

If I were to go ahead and renovate the basement later and have an inspection performed, as the owner I would be liable for the costs involved in making the floor structure compliant, and you can bet the pads for the posts are not adequately sized either.

This would be too risky a proposition for me unless, of course, the offer made discounted the risk I would be assuming as the owner.

Would I buy this house? Maybe, but there would be a big write-down in price because of the non-compliant framing and use of a non-approved building material.

Buyer Beware

These are just three examples of different houses with very big yet different issues.  If you are looking to purchase a property, be aware that the charm and uniqueness of the building also may also have its fair share of challenges and encumbrances too.

Before making an offer, determine the risk associated with the non-compliant work or failing infrastructure. 

If you are unsure what the risks are, then ask someone, like me, to help you find them.

Disclosure And You

As the seller of your home you may be asked to sign a Seller Property Information Sheets or SPIS. In some locations they are mandatory, but in Ontario, they are voluntary.  So what is the purpose of a SPIS anyway?

The current law is that a vendor is not under obligation to disclose glaring or apparent defects of quality.  So, if you as the seller of the property are aware of quality issues such as product performance, you don't have to let anyone else know about it.

If you do chose to go ahead with a SPIS for the property, the question now is do you have the knowledge necessary to accurately answer the questions? What happens if there there is a latent defect that makes the property unfit for living in or dangerous after you sign the SPIS? Are you required to disclose that too?

If you as a buyer walk into a property and discover the seller did not want to sign or provide a SPIS for the property, your first and last thought needs to be what is it they're trying to hide?

One of the criticisms about using the SPIS is you probably don’t understand many of the questions let alone know the correct answers to provide.

So, to help you out let's take a look at couple of the questions to see what information can be provided.

Encroachments, Registered Easements, or Rights of Way

Here are some definitions to help you out.

Encroachment:

"A situation in real estate where a property owner violates the property rights of his neighbor by building something on the neighbor's land or by allowing something to hang over onto the neighbor's property. Encroachment can be a problem along property lines when a property owner is not aware of his property boundaries or intentionally chooses to violate his neighbor's boundaries. This is also known as structural encroachment."

Registered Easement:

"An easement is an interest in another individual's land or property. Easements are typically created by express grant, by implication, by prescription or by necessity. Additionally, easements are classified as negative or affirmative. A negative easement gives the holder the right to prevent another individual from doing some act. Possessors of affirmative easements are entitled to go onto someone else's property for specific purposes."

Rights of Way:

"Right of way is when someone gets approval from someone to travel across their property. It gives that person a type of easement, so that they can use the owner's land to access public places on certain areas of his/her land."

How do you determine if there are any encroachments, registered easements, or rights of way?

Get a property survey prepared.  The property survey will show you where the easements and rights of way are, where the location of the building is on the lot, and other features such as a driveway location, for example. Once you have the survey, be sure to have a professional examine it to determine if there are any issues you need to disclose.

Zoning

For the Province of Ontario, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing defines your zoning by-law as:

"A zoning by-law controls the use of land in your community. It states exactly:

• how land may be used
• where buildings and other structures can be located
• the types of buildings that are permitted and how they may be used
• the lot sizes and dimensions, parking requirements, building heights and setbacks from the street."

You can read more about zoning by-laws here or download Citizen's Guide 3 Zoning By-Laws.

Some may say these rules are too restrictive and you, as the property owner, should have the final say as to how you use your property.  That's all fine and dandy if you're a sociopath and lack empathy, but you have neighbours and they also have expectations for their quality of life and enjoyment of their property too.  The zoning by-law describes what type of buildings, business activities, and lot coverage are allowed for you and your neighbours.

To find out information about your property's zoning by-laws, phone your municipality and ask for the Planning or Land Use Department.  They will be happy to provide you with the information, especially if you have plans for building.

Drainage

It's common law you are not allowed, under any circumstance, to drain surface water from your property onto another privately owned piece of property. Period.

If you build a fence, mound up dirt, or do other "improvements" to your lot, you may have impacted the drainage plan for your property.

To prove the drainage plan and your existing property are still as one, a topographic survey is required.  The information for the topographic survey can be combined with the property survey.

Moisture and/or Water Problems

The scope of this questions pertains to the building envelope which is composed of the roof, walls, and foundation.  Anything that gets wet from weather or ground or surface water is impacted.  If there was a leak with any of these systems and it was repaired, it needs to be disclosed.

Considering the vast majority of lawsuits involve leaky or wet basements, it might be worth it to acknowledge if you have a basement and just like every other basement, it used to be a wet, damp, and moist environment.

Buyer and Seller Beware

I'm often surprised to walk into homes people have recently purchased to discover a number of defects waiting for them to deal with. The number one issue is always a leaky or moist basement, closely followed by zoning or encroachment issues, then by hazardous materials in building products.

The first thought that comes to mind is why didn't the previous owner disclose the problem? This is followed by how can the previous owner or buyer be so unaware of how serious an issue this can be?

As a building professional, there are a number of scenarios I've seen that really made me upset for the owners of the property.  I remember one case in particular.

It was a young family who had purchased a property in a part of the City that is now being gentrified.  Their intention was to purchase the home, renovate the areas needing repair, and live there for quite some time afterwards reaping the rewards of their being the first into a neighbourhood in distress.

They showed me the existing kitchen addition they wanted removed and replaced.  Their hope was to reuse the foundation, extend the basement into the area under the kitchen, and make the kitchen the heart of the home.

When examining the existing structure it became apparent the foundation was non-conforming, as was the plumbing, wiring, and framing too.  A number of red flags were thrown.

Then I asked if they had a property survey, to which they replied, yes they did have one. I took one look at the survey, walked over to an area inside the kitchen, pointed at the floor and said "According to your survey, your property line is here, meaning, your neighbour owns this side of the room and all of that exterior wall too."

The reaction received was curious, in that the young mother picked up her child, sat down in a corner, and held the child up as a shield. The young father stood there looking at me dumbfounded as all the blood drained out of his face.

So begins their adventure in home ownership.

If I was a sociopath I would have signed them up for a renovation contract and bled them dry but instead I felt a great deal of sorrow for them. We discussed a strategy for them to pursue in order to become better informed.  What they needed to do was:

• Have the state of the home (property, structural, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC) professionally assessed
• Prioritize findings
• Decide on how to move forward (move, renovate, or demolish and build new)

In Ontario, it's buyer beware, although there have been recent court decisions holding the seller and realtor accountable.  Here are a few to note:

• Rampersad v. Rose, [1997] O. J. No. 2012 (Ontario Small Claims Court) 
• A leaking basement case.
• McQueen v. Kelly, [1999] O. J. No. 2481 (OSCJ) 
• Another leaking basement case.
• Stone v. Stewart, [2009] O.J. No. 1674 
• Leaking basement again.
• Riley v. Langfield   [2008] O.J. No. 2028 
• A flood that had happened in the basement
• Swayze v. Robertson, [2001] O. J. No. 968 (OSCJ)
• Leaking basement
• Gallagher v. Pettinger, [2003] O. J. No. 409 (OSCJ)
• Hid evidence of moisture in the basement
• Moore v. Page, [2002] O.J. No. 2256 (OSCJ)
• Structural defects and water leakage
• Kaufmann v. Gibson  [2007] O.J. No. 2711
• Not being truthful about conditions of the home
• Hunt v. 981577 Ontario Ltd., [2003] O. J. No. 2051 (Small Claims Court)
• Ongoing obligation to report changes after disclosure was made

So, if you are in the process of buying or purchasing a property, take the time to educate yourself so both you and your family are protected. When looking at a home, forget about stuff like paint colour, whether or the carpet works for you, or if the kitchen looks dated.  That's emotional tug at the heart strings stuff and when the lights are out, meaningless.

If your roof leaks, your house encroaches into neighbouring property, or there's mold in your basement making you and your family sick, these are serious issues requiring significant time, energy, and money to repair.

Purchasing and selling property is a business decision and you need to be informed about what your obligations are to both yourself and family as a buyer or seller.  Be safe. Be aware.

Mold and Your Basement

There is a serious disaster in the making that is going to impact the majority of homes with finished and/or insulated basements. If you are considering finishing your basement, moving into a basement apartment, or are buying a home with a finished basement, you need to sit up and take notice.

You may be putting your health at risk.

"Fiberglass batt insulation, 2X4 wood or steel stud framing, and a poly vapour barrier is commonly used practice for insulating basements throughout Canada.  This however is a recipe for disaster."  This isn't just hype.

The U.S. Department of Energy has published a short article and describes recommended basement insulation systems to use, and they mention moisture problems are "compounded when an impermeable vapor barrier such as plastic is used on the interior because it will trap moisture in the wall."

This is unfortunate because most, if not all, new home construction in Canada since the mid 1980s use the fiberglass batt and framed wall or blanket insulation system featuring a well sealed 6 mil polyethylene vapour barrier installed on the warm side of the wall assembly.

The result of this construction methodology is moisture wicking through your foundation is trapped inside the insulated framed wall assembly. Due to the low drying potential of the wall assembly, mold starts to grow.

If you think your home insurance policy is going to come to the rescue for you, home insurance policies "typically do not cover water damage caused by 'maintenance' problems. These include slower, ongoing problems like continuous water seepage or repeat leaks, ongoing humidity problems, problems related to your landscaping or drainage on the property, or condensation" says Karla Kant in her article "Home Insurance Guidelines: Mold Facts and Coverage".

The "The American Society of Home Inspectors estimates that 60% of U.S. homes have wet basements. Even well built and sealed basements that would not have mold under normal circumstances can develop mold growth from high humidity" says Robert G. Miller, Forensic Construction Expert.  You can read more here about Basement Air Quality.

"Mold occurrence in new homes has become so endemic that builder's liability insurance coverage limits the insurance carrier's liability to a few thousand dollars, if it covers mold issues at all" says Dr. Richard A. Wolfe, in his article Mold Occurrence in New Construction.

The conclusion I make from having read the information provided in these articles is managing moisture and how it impacts the building is serious, because if ignored, the consequences to you, your family's health, and the health of your home will be disastrous.