Edited by Ted Cushman and Jon
Vara
Contents:
Deck Researchers Scrutinize Railing
Attachment
Home Inspectors, Home Builders Consider
Construction Defects
Delisting of "Threatened" Flower Fuels
Criticism of Endangered Species Law
Flexible Gas Piping Involved in Fires
Caused by Lightning
Reinforced OSB Could Double Shearwall
Capacity
New Health Savings Accounts Combine Insurance,
Retirement Plan
Offcuts
Deck Researchers Scrutinize
Railing Attachment
A Virginia Tech task force examining the critical structural
details for residential decks and balconies released detailed
data and conclusions about deck-to-house attachments this
spring (see
"Load-Tested Deck
Ledger Connections," 3/04). Now the team is shifting its
focus to the other end of the deck. In a process that Virginia
Tech professor emeritus Frank Woeste expects to take at least a
year, the group will apply its mix of field investigation,
engineering analysis, and laboratory testing to railing and
rail post connections in hopes of identifying which details
will prevent death and injury and which won't.
Each year brings a fresh crop of deck structural failures,
occasionally with multiple casualties. Only the most dramatic
failures, like last summer's Chicago disaster that killed 13
partygoers, get widespread press attention; no one knows how
many deck calamities go completely unreported. But failures
that kill or injure people are common enough for Richmond, Va.,
attorney John Conrad to make part of his living defending the
resulting lawsuits, and Conrad has no trouble calling examples
to mind. He joined Frank Woeste and Virginia Tech wood science
professor Joe Loferski in presenting a three-day seminar titled
"Liability Issues, Design Data, and Inspection Techniques for
Wood Decks, Balconies and Porches" at Virginia Tech in
April.
"There are a lot more cases than people realize," Conrad told
JLC in February. "Usually it's the owner who gets
sued, because they are usually covered by insurance. That's the
economics of a lawsuit. But when the insurance won't cover the
damages for any reason, plaintiffs can also turn to the
designer or the builder." There's usually little room for
argument, adds Conrad: "If a deck falls down and someone is
hurt or killed, people expect the owner to pay. It's pretty
much time to get the checkbook out."
Loferski sometimes serves as an expert witness in deck-related
lawsuits. "I'll be hired by one party or the other, and my role
is to help these people understand what actually happened," he
explains. He says there's a reason the Virginia Tech team has
zeroed in on ledger connections and post and railing
attachments: "These are the two components on the deck that,
when they fail, people get hurt or killed. I have not heard of
anyone falling through a deck board, for instance. We haven't
heard of a single column that has collapsed due to buckling or
overload. The only ones we hear about are those two: the deck
ledger and the handrails."
In contrast to total collapses caused by a failure of the
ledger connections, says Loferski, railing failures usually
involve only one or two people. "When ledgers fail, it's
because a lot of fasteners let go at once. With railings and
rail posts, a catastrophic failure can occur when only one or
two fasteners fail. A couple of people lean over, and they
fall."
News reports about major collapses typically include a
bystander's opinion that the deck was overloaded with people,
but Loferski gives that notion little credence. "If you look at
the design code loads — 40 pounds live load plus 10
pounds dead load — it's hard to make that up with people.
Even if you had the whole deck full of 300-pound people, I
don't think you could do it."
For a railing, says Loferski, it might be possible in theory to
exceed code-specified design loads. "The design code load is
200 pounds in any direction, applied at the top of the railing.
In ASCE 7, the document that codes refer to for loads
on buildings, there's an additional provision of 50 pounds per
lineal foot of railing, and if the posts are 10 feet apart,
that would govern. That sentence from ASCE 7 didn't
get into the building code; but if you had posts spaced 10 feet
apart, and people leaning against the whole length of the rail,
it may be that you could overstress a post."
But in the real world, says Loferski, the railing failures he
knows about had nothing to do with overloading: The structures
were clearly inadequate. "One or two of them might have worked
when they were new, but even those were underbuilt. Typically,
the railings that failed were less than ten years old, and they
tend to be built with untreated wood that has deteriorated in
service, and with ungalvanized nails that have rusted. Often
people used finish nails or screws that were never adequate for
the design loads even before they started to rust."
Even as Loferski spoke, news reports indicated that the 2004
deck failure season was already underway. In late February,
seven men brawling at a New Jersey party broke through a
railing and fell 25 feet (five went to the hospital and two
left the scene, police said). And in DeKalb County, Ga., four
adults and two toddlers ended up at the emergency room with
minor injuries and charcoal burns after a deck collapsed during
a cookout. The six were fortunate, DeKalb County Fire
Department captain Eric Jackson told TV reporters on the scene:
"They were able to walk away."
Back to
TopHome Inspectors, Home Builders
Consider Construction Defects
Relations between home builders and home inspectors can be
uneasy. Some inspectors see builders as careless nail bangers
whose primary interest lies in slapping up houses as quickly as
possible, while builders tend to view home inspectors as
clipboard-toting nitpickers. But there's obviously a lot of
common ground between the two groups, and a recent article in
the
ASHI Reporter — the monthly magazine of the
American Society of Home Inspectors — describes an
ongoing effort by ASHI and the National Association of Home
Builders (NAHB) to share information of interest to both
groups.
According to the staff-written article, which appeared in the
magazine's February 2004 issue, informal networking between the
organizations began in 2002, when an ASHI official sat in on a
meeting of the NAHB's Building Products Issues Committee. At
subsequent meetings in 2003 and 2004, ASHI past president Rich
Matzen presented the results of a survey of members who
inspected new construction. Among the survey's reported
findings:
• Improperly installed flashing is a pervasive problem.
Almost a third of respondents reported that needed flashing was
often not installed at all. Of nine common flashing
applications listed, chimneys, roofing, wood decks, and windows
were identified as particularly troublesome by more than 50% of
survey participants.
• Problems related to site drainage were also common,
with 73% reporting difficulties with downspouts and 64%
mentioning improper backfilling.
• Errors in roof construction included valleys that
terminate at walls and downspouts that empty onto lower roofs.
Improper nailing was the most commonly reported defect
associated with shingle roofs.
• Bathroom fans are the most common source of
ventilation problems. Attic venting — including a lack of
vents and vents blocked by insulation or paint — is a
close second.
•"Plumbers are the most likely [trade] to be unaware
that they can compromise the structure and other systems in the
house as they complete their part of the job." One quoted
respondent put it more bluntly: "The most dangerous of all the
trades is a plumber with a Sawzall."
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Delisting of
"Threatened" Flower Fuels Criticism of Endangered Species
Law
Over the last decade and more, California builders and
developers have had to tiptoe around the Hoover's woolly-star,
an annual herb with gray fuzzy stems and tiny white or blue
flowers. The Interior Department added the plant to its list of
threatened species back in 1990. According to the government's
report at the time, the fuzzy little flower's restricted range
was under pressure from grazing sheep, encroaching non-native
plants, and the raging bulldozers of developers.
Now, after millions of public and private dollars have gone
toward efforts to preserve the plant's habitat, the government
has changed its mind. Upon further review by the officials, the
flower turns out to be nowhere near the end of its rope. On the
contrary: Hardy, adaptable, and with few natural enemies,
woolly-stars are busting out all over.
Critics say the case of the woolly-star is a prime example of
why the 30-year-old Endangered Species Act is due for a major
overhaul. Writing in the Sacramento Bee, attorney Emma
Suarez of the Pacific Legal Foundation said, "Billed as a
shield for vulnerable animals and plants, the Endangered
Species Act is too easily used as a sword by anti-growth
forces." Suarez said the law "invites the cynical use of junk
science to justify labeling hale-and-hearty creatures as
'endangered' in order to sideline housing construction,
agricultural production and other land uses.... In the case of
the Hoover's woolly-star, regulators decided that it was
'threatened' based on surveys that looked at only limited
regions and that had been conducted during a Valley
drought."
Interior's official announcements framed the delisting as a
success for its recovery plan for the woolly-star. But a closer
look indicates that the government's contribution to "meeting
the delisting criteria" consisted mainly of more people looking
for the plant — and finding it.
The plant showed up at higher elevations, in different
terrain, and in mixes with more different kinds of other
species than had been suspected. And biologists learned that
livestock don't eat the woolly-star, that it can handle being
stepped on, and that it recolonizes disturbed ground within two
growing seasons. In the Federal Register, the
government concluded: "Eriastrum hooveri is more
resilient and less vulnerable than previously thought."
The government didn't save the woolly-star, says Suarez: "What
saved the plant, if 'saving' is the word, was the rain. That's
the problem with the listing in the first place: It took
anecdotal information about a plant that was reacting, as all
other vegetation in the Central Valley does, to drought
conditions. Unless the 'recovery plan' included the Fish and
Wildlife Service making it rain, I can't see how anything the
FWS did really addressed the threat to the woolly-star —
if it ever was threatened."
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Top
Flexible Gas Piping
Involved in Fires Caused by Lightning
Corrugated stainless-steel tubing, or CSST, is much easier
to work with than traditional threaded black steel gas pipe
(see "Flexible Gas Piping Catching On,"
Notebook, 4/00).
Since 1988, when it was approved for residential use by the
National Fuel Gas Code, it's been installed in
countless new homes, and it's generally regarded as safe. But
according to some fire investigators, CSST is a potential
hazard in the event of a lightning strike.
J. Lyle Donan is vice president of Donan Engineering, a
consulting firm with offices in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio,
Kentucky, and Tennessee that specializes in analysis of
accidents, structural failure, and fires. An engineer and
NAFI-certified fire and explosion investigator himself, Donan
observes that since August of 2000, his company has
investigated seven incidents involving the vinyl-coated
flexible gas lines. "We think that's a significant number," he
says.
A fire was ignited in this crawlspace by
a lightning strike that arced from the flexible gas tubing to a
metal heating duct. The local fire department arrived in time
to save the structure.
In an unpublished article titled "Just Waiting on Lightning,"
Donan investigator Gary Woodall provides some particulars on
each of the incidents. In four cases, lightning struck the
metal chimney cap of a gas fireplace; in the remaining three,
lightning entered the house after striking a nearby tree and
passing through the roots to a buried gas line.
In all cases, the surge then passed along the CSST before
arcing to ground where the tubing passed close to another metal
object, such as a furnace duct. In at least four of the seven
events, the arc was powerful enough to burn one or more holes
in the stainless-steel tubing and ignite the escaping
gas.
The holes in the tubing wall are visible
in the photo above. The plastic insulation that originally
covered the tubing was burned away in the fire.
"This is something that's sneaked up on the industry," Woodall
says. The thicker wall of black pipe, he observes, is strong
enough to withstand such an arc. Woodall also believes that
CSST's flexibility increases its vulnerability to arcing during
a lightning strike. "The flexible gas line can sag down until
it touches a furnace duct that runs below it," he says. "That
doesn't happen with rigid pipe."
Woodall's article states that UL-certified materials had been
used in all the cases described and that no building code
violations were noted. It proposes several possible
countermeasures, including grounding of metal fireplace boxes
and placing sleeves of PVC pipe over the flexible gas line
where it passes over water pipes or metal furnace ducts.
Bob Torbin, an engineer with Foster-Miller, a Waltham,
Mass.based company that acts as a consultant to the
American Gas Association on technical issues relating to CSST,
confirms that there have been reports of tubing-wall failures
caused by lightning. "I'm familiar with what's going on," he
says. "But the fires are started by the lightning striking the
house, not by the gas escaping from the tubing. If lightning
hadn't struck the house, we wouldn't be talking."
Back to Top
Reinforced OSB
Could Double Shearwall Capacity
Researchers at the University of Maine have developed a
fiber reinforcement system for structural wood panels that can
boost the racking strength of a typical house wall by 20% and
double the shear values for an engineered stud-and-plywood or
stud-and-OSB shearwall.
Professors Habib Dagher and William Davids share a patent for
the new technology, which centers on reinforcing edge nailing
areas with a tough fiber-reinforced polymer, to enhance the
holding power of nails. Besides strengthening conventional wood
shearwalls, the pair expect the method to be useful with
panelized systems and narrow shearwall sections. For more
information, see the University of Maine's Advanced Engineered
Wood Composites (AEWC) website at
www.aewc.umaine.edu.
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New Health Savings Accounts
Combine Insurance, Retirement Plan
While general liability coverage is the most expensive type
of insurance that most builders have to purchase, employee
health insurance takes another big bite out of the budget. But
a provision in the Medicare bill passed by Congress last year
— which took effect in January 2004 — may reduce
health insurance costs for some.
The bill created Health Savings Accounts, or HSAs, which are
part insurance, part investment, and part tax shelter. Open to
anyone under age 65 who's not listed as a dependent on someone
else's tax return, they're aimed primarily at small businesses
and self-employed individuals who now have little or no medical
coverage.
In a nutshell, here's how they work: An individual (or the
individual's employer) purchases a high-deductible health
insurance plan from a private insurer. A policy must meet a
number of criteria to qualify, but the most basic requirement
has to do with the size of the deductible. An individual policy
must carry a deductible of at least $1,000 per year but not
more than $5,000; a family policy must carry a minimum
deductible of $5,000 and a maximum of $10,000.
The cash to pay those hefty deductibles comes from a separate
HSA account, which may be funded by the employee, the employer,
or partially by both. Annual contributions to the account can't
exceed the annual deductible on the accompanying insurance
policy. Money withdrawn from the account to pay medical costs
isn't taxable, and any cash that remains in the account at the
end of the year stays there and earns tax-sheltered interest,
as in an IRA account. It's possible to make withdrawals for
nonmedical uses as well, but those funds are taxed as ordinary
income, plus a 10% penalty for those under age 65. (A more
detailed and surprisingly readable description of the rules
governing HSAs is available on the IRS website at
www.irs.gov/irb/2004-02_IRB/ar09.html.)
The unanswered question at this point is how successful the
new accounts will be at reducing overall costs. Matt Hollister,
president of Business Benefits in Clinton, Mass., notes that
high-deductible insurance policies do reduce premiums but not
by as much as you might expect. "People think it'll cut the
premium in half," he says. "In most cases, the reduction will
actually be more like 25%. There are brokers and consultants
who can help you decide whether it makes sense for you."
Hollister also observes that HSAs are so new that relatively
few insurers now offer policies that are compatible with their
requirements. "Most of the big companies will probably have
plans in place by the end of the year," he says, "but they seem
to be hanging back for now."
Builders may want to take a similar stance, at least in the
short term. As with a new insulating sheathing or engineered
siding, there's much to be said for letting someone else take
the plunge first.
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Top
Offcuts
Thieves who stole a compressor and other tools from
a home under construction in Vancouver, Wash., evidently were
not professionals, according to a story in the
Vancouver Columbian: One of them left a clue behind.
The thieves' noisy Chevy Blazer attracted attention during the
theft from neighbors, who then got a good look at the vehicle
when the thieves drove past the house a second time. Police
stopped the Blazer three blocks away but had a positive
identification of only the vehicle, not its occupants —
until the home's owner discovered one of their wallets back at
the site, in the tank of his shop vacuum. "The investigation
went very smoothly after that," said a police sergeant.
If you sell kitchens, you'll like the sound of this:
Almost all American women homeowners say they want to renovate
the kitchen in their home, according to survey results
released by Wilsonart, manufacturers of countertop and flooring
materials. A poll of 1,128 women found that 68% of respondents
expected to renovate within the next five years, while 37% said
they plan to renovate within two years, and 15% within the next
six months.
Removing "abandoned" data cables during commercial
building renovations, as required by the latest National
Electrical Code, may pose a health hazard,
according to a March report in Environmental Building
News. Most communications cable is sheathed in PVC plastic
that uses lead as a stabilizing agent, says EBN. As
the cable gets brittle with age, it can release
lead-contaminated dust, allowing workers and building occupants
to unknowingly inhale or ingest the toxic metal. Although the
requirement to remove cables is already being enforced in some
localities, EBN says the issue of possible toxic lead
exposure has not been studied in depth.
Nebraska legislators have introduced a bill to repeal
the state's new sales tax on home repair and renovation
labor, reports the Omaha World-Herald. Facing
a budget crisis, the state started taxing remodeling labor last
October. Labor on new construction is not taxed, however, and
remodeling contractors say the tax creates an incentive for
citizens to buy new homes instead of maintaining their existing
buildings. But the new tax is expected to bring in close to
$160 million over the next four years and for that reason is
unlikely to be repealed.
NBA basketball legend Michael Jordan and his wife,
Juanita, are suing the Sto Corporation for consumer
fraud in connection with what they say is extensive
water damage, rot, and mold growth in the walls under the EIFS
exterior of their Chicago mansion, according to the Chicago
Tribune. The couple's custom home was built in 1992. When
they found moisture under the EIFS in 1999, they charge, the
manufacturer advised them that only minor repairs were
required. The Jordans say they have since spent $2.6 million on
engineering and repairs and had to move out while work was
done.
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