Since my last entry, Santa Barbara has experienced a number of winter storms including one that started on December 17th and lasted until the 22nd dumping over 9 inches of rain on Santa Barbara. This is what is known as Nature's Awesome Water Test and it has very successfully demonstrated where our house is not completely waterproof..... We saw some water come through the roof where the roof is compromised to allow holes for the solar panel conduit and the stench pipes for the master bathroom and laundry. On one hand, this is okay because the roof is technically not finished. The roof has been covered with the SharkSkin, but, prior to installing the metal roofing, we will have further sealing of these holes in the roof which will guarantee a leak-proof roof. On the other hand, we cannot have water coming through the roof even before it is complete because the contractors will be installing insulation and drywall prior to the completion of the roof. Why can't they just finish the roof first you ask? Good question. The answer lies within the heirarchy of installation which goes as follows:
The metal roofing cannot be put on until the stucco has been applied to the exterior of the house because the metal flashing of the roof has to go over the stucco.
The stucco cannot be applied to the exterior of the house until the drywall is installed. The drywall has to be installed first because the weight of the drywall may shift the wood which would crack the stucco and the nailing of the drywall could also cause cracks in the stucco.
The drywall cannot be installed until the insulation is in.
The insulation cannot be installed until the walls are dry which means the roof needs to be waterproofed, i.e. the metal roofing has been installed.
But the metal roofing cannot be put on until the stucco is done.....The stucco cannot be applied until the drywall is installed....The drywall cannot be installed until the insulation is in.......The insulation cannot be installed until the metal roof is complete.....
So you see the dilemna?
To stop this crazy cycle of construction, our contractor has climbed up on the roof in the pouring rain and applied more caulk to the holes in the roof. The rain stopped on the 22nd and we had three relatively dry days. Then Christmas day, we received another 1 inch of rain - a smallish natural water test - which tested this new layer of caulking. We are happy to report that the additional caulk is holding the water on the roof and out of our walls!
So that is the story of the holes in the roof. Needless to say, the insulation was not installed in the week of December 20th because it was too wet. We look forward to the insulation installation when the house dries out.
Nature's Awesome Water Test also showed us that there were a few problems with the windows, namely the art glass windows. Unfortunately, it appears that the waterproofing strips that the art glass company provided with these windows has turned out to be not so waterproof after all! So our diligent contractor will be resetting the art glass windows with a different waterproofing technique.
The rain has slowed the progress of construction, but it has saved us from the complications of dealing with these leaks with the insulation and drywall already installed. For this, we are extremely happy. And we can credit this good luck to our insistence that the entire interior of the house be sprayed with Copper Green!
However, on the 22nd of December, Copper Green reared its ugly head once again. On this date, two managers from our contracting team visited our amazing house and were appalled at the overwhelming smell of Copper Green that was still so prevalent in our house (Peter and I cannot smell it anymore).
On December 23rd, I received a call from one of the managers requesting a meeting on December 28th to talk about the Copper Green. That is very nice. I now have five days to wonder and worry about what they are going to say, but it also gives me five days to research Copper Green to make sure I have ammunition in case I need it.
Fast forward to the 28th.... We met with the two managers and the meeting was quite civilized. They are strongly concerned that the smell will permeate through the drywall, especially on a hot day, and will create very poor air quality in our house. So they are suggesting that we put on two more coats of primer, fill any large gaps in the framing (there are not very many thanks to Shimmy) with foam to seal in any potentially wet Copper Green, do extra caulking in the drywalling installation, and then add ERVs in two locations in the house. An ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator) is an air transfer device which has two 4 inch ducts; one to exhaust stale air from inside the house and the other to supply fresh air from the outdoors to ensure that there is sufficient air transfer in the house. Apparently, by doing these extra steps, our house will be super sealed to the point that there will be very little air transfer from outside to inside so to ensure proper air transfer, they want to install these ERVs.
We realize that we all thought we had already painted all the interior walls with two coats of primer - thus the White Christmas. However, this, apparently, was not true. The walls had been painted by One Coat Cundy and thus only had one coat of primer applied. And this was where most of our confusion was created. So they will spend the rest of this week painting the Copper Green treated walls with primer (again) and waiting for it to dry to ensure this time the Copper Green is covered.
If you are still reading this, I am surprised! One last note......
As we start this new year, we know that this will be the year in which we will be able to move in to our amazing new house!