Well... I did chop off my long hair, but the job has remained unchanged since 2011and gets a haircut and a real job. Dude, you've changed.
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My New Studio Build (perhaps overly detailed)
- Thread starter silky smoove
- Start date
Back from vacation. I need to get back to work, but... Bleh... You know when you get back from vacation and you need a vacation from your vacation to recover? Yeah, that's me at the moment. In the next few weeks I'll get back to it. I'm going to tear down the partition wall, finish insulating, get my inspections wrapped up, and then frame in the revised partition wall. That's likely all the work that will get done for the remainder of 2016. In 2017 I'm going to secure a HELOC and sprint towards the finish line. I'm thinking spring, or very early summer 2017 is when I'll have the doors open.
You can do it man! So close man! I remember the early permit battles, seems like a lifetime ago
It does seem like a lifetime ago. It was nearly a year ago when those troubles began. I'm glad that I'm through the worst of it, but there's still a lot to do. Fortunately everything I have left to do this year is quite manageable. I'm confident that I'll be able to get it done by the end of the year, but I'm also not going to spend every single weekend working myself excessively to do it. As you'll all see in my next paragraph, there's simply no reason to do so at this point.
I would happily keep plugging away at it over the remainder of 2016, but if I'm being completely honest I've run out of funds from the sale of my previous house (after putting 20% down on my new house, remodeling part of the basement for my wife's office, doing a few random projects around the house, buying some furniture, and getting the studio as far along as it is to date). Since everything from here on out has to either come from my day-to-day funds or from a line of credit, I want to spend some time building up reserves before launching into the next phase of construction. As I mentioned previously I recently received a pretty heavy promotion at work and will see two more pay increases over the next couple months. All of that will make funding the remaining construction efforts with a HELOC very easy. I'm unwilling to open a new line of credit like a HELOC while I still have some outstanding credit card debt that I'm aggressively paying down. Once all of that is clear I'll happily wrap myself up in even more debt, but at least the studio will be complete.
So that's that... Talk about laying all your cards on the table huh?
Concerning delays on a building project....
In some areas, building permits have expiry dates. A new permit is required if the previous one expires.
Let's assume that you take out a building permit for a phase of your project. If the building regulations change before the project is completed, does the inspection hold you to the new requirements or is it based on what was in force when a permit was issued?
In some areas, building permits have expiry dates. A new permit is required if the previous one expires.
Let's assume that you take out a building permit for a phase of your project. If the building regulations change before the project is completed, does the inspection hold you to the new requirements or is it based on what was in force when a permit was issued?
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You make a good point, which is why I'm pushing to wrap up the inspection-required elements (site drainage and exterior wall insulation) by the end of the year.
My wife's parents have been in town for the last few days, so I haven't spent any time in the studio working. This weekend I'll be out there working to tear down the interior partition wall so I can get this thing back on track. More to come!
Right when I was about to get back to work there's a rather unexpected delay. 
Over the weekend I was going to start tearing down my recently built partition wall (see previous posts in the thread as to why I'm doing that). It just so happened that @Marial was stopping by to pick up a pedal he was buying from me. While he was at my place I took an opportunity to show one of the folks who've been following this thread from the beginning the studio space in its current condition. I gave him the tour and on the way out the door I noticed a small pool of water in the corner that was trapped by my perimeter sealant. The good news is that the sealant job was effective at making a water/air tight seal around the sole plate of my structure. The bad news is that water is somehow making its way into the structure!
Over the weekend of the 15th and 16th we had a fairly nasty wind and rain storm (for Seattle which is typically very mild). Nowhere near as bad as the forecasts would have you believe it was going to be, but for Seattle it was a pretty big deal. I've inspected the roof, the siding, the gutters, and the eave vents, and nothing appears to be an obvious culprit. This leaves me with two possible conclusions:
1. During the rainstorm the gutters couldn't keep up and as a result they filled, over-topped and backed up the roofing at the eaves or into the eave vents. This is unlikely since the gutters, downspouts and drainage outfall are all clear.
2. The wind, which was blowing the rain sideways, effectively sent the rain straight into the eave vents. This is perhaps more likely, but also more concerning. If this means every time there's wind and rain simultaneously I'll end up with water entering the structure it will have to be dealt with in a more comprehensive manner.
Regardless, there's a 10-year warranty on the structure. I've contacted the building supplier and they're prepared to re-roof, re-side, re-flash, re-vent, etc. the entire building if necessary to track down the culprit. I told them to start a warranty claim, but not execute it just yet. Over the next couple weeks, as time allows, I'm going to peel back the insulation near the area where I found the water and do some inspecting. I'll probably go as far as having my wife soak the building with a garden hose while I'm standing inside of it to see if I can recreate the leak.
Over the weekend I was going to start tearing down my recently built partition wall (see previous posts in the thread as to why I'm doing that). It just so happened that @Marial was stopping by to pick up a pedal he was buying from me. While he was at my place I took an opportunity to show one of the folks who've been following this thread from the beginning the studio space in its current condition. I gave him the tour and on the way out the door I noticed a small pool of water in the corner that was trapped by my perimeter sealant. The good news is that the sealant job was effective at making a water/air tight seal around the sole plate of my structure. The bad news is that water is somehow making its way into the structure!
Over the weekend of the 15th and 16th we had a fairly nasty wind and rain storm (for Seattle which is typically very mild). Nowhere near as bad as the forecasts would have you believe it was going to be, but for Seattle it was a pretty big deal. I've inspected the roof, the siding, the gutters, and the eave vents, and nothing appears to be an obvious culprit. This leaves me with two possible conclusions:
1. During the rainstorm the gutters couldn't keep up and as a result they filled, over-topped and backed up the roofing at the eaves or into the eave vents. This is unlikely since the gutters, downspouts and drainage outfall are all clear.
2. The wind, which was blowing the rain sideways, effectively sent the rain straight into the eave vents. This is perhaps more likely, but also more concerning. If this means every time there's wind and rain simultaneously I'll end up with water entering the structure it will have to be dealt with in a more comprehensive manner.
Regardless, there's a 10-year warranty on the structure. I've contacted the building supplier and they're prepared to re-roof, re-side, re-flash, re-vent, etc. the entire building if necessary to track down the culprit. I told them to start a warranty claim, but not execute it just yet. Over the next couple weeks, as time allows, I'm going to peel back the insulation near the area where I found the water and do some inspecting. I'll probably go as far as having my wife soak the building with a garden hose while I'm standing inside of it to see if I can recreate the leak.
That storm may have been blessing, occurring early enough in the building process that the fault could be found (and hopefully fixed) without too much disruption.
I was starting to go through withdrawal with no updates here. Shame that a leak is the first new thing up! Good luck clearing that up!
Mother nature has a way of overwhelming the best of measures taken. But things can still happen.
Eve vent penetration seems like a good bet. Could it be from the ridge vent? See the first few pages. They demonstrate how ridge vents are not designed to meet the same standard.
Invalid Link Removed
If you do any infiltration testing with a hose, water will run along a string. If you put it where there's a leak, it will follow the path of the string into a pail. It can be helpful.
Eve vent penetration seems like a good bet. Could it be from the ridge vent? See the first few pages. They demonstrate how ridge vents are not designed to meet the same standard.
Invalid Link Removed
If you do any infiltration testing with a hose, water will run along a string. If you put it where there's a leak, it will follow the path of the string into a pail. It can be helpful.
I was feeling a little guilty for not updating this thread in quite a while. I'll get more exciting updates up very soon.
Anything is possible, especially when dealing with rain blowing sideways. That said, given the location of the pooled water on a very level floor, and the fact that roofing was installed well (I worked for a roofing company while in college and know what to look for in terms of deficiencies), I don't suspect the ridge vent was the culprit.
I'm going to make a point to verify that the gutters are clear this week. I'm sure they are, but I might as well check. If they're clear and the whole thing is flowing smoothly that will trace it down to sideways rain, which fortunately doesn't occur often in Seattle, but will still need to be addressed for the times it does.
My building guy just called back and said that one of his installers suggested checking for leaks around the entry door which, according to the installer, is a far more common place for water intrusion than through roofing, siding, or any source of venting. One more spot to blast with a hose I suppose, haha.
In the image that you posted, on the right side of the puddle, there's what looks like a brown stain on caulking. It could be lighting.
I'm wondering of this is where the water came in, from behind the insulation.
I'm wondering of this is where the water came in, from behind the insulation.
The brown stain was a framing nail from the dislodged joist hangers that had been sitting partially in the water resulting in rust. I have no doubt that the water came in and ran down behind the insulation, but that's not the source of the discoloration.
I missed the nail on the far right. Just to be clear, I was referring to what looks to be stains on the caulking shown below. There's a chance that if you removed that portion of the insulation, it would still be wet back there and you might be able to trace it to the entry point.
On Wednesday I was able to pop out to the studio and check to see if any further leaks had developed. Wednesday was a good day to check because it rained hard all day long. Not a single drop inside the structure despite the heavy rain. I checked the gutters and while they have some wind blown debris in them, they still had 90% of their capacity. This narrows the search down to one of two culprits:
1. The wind blowing the rain sideways allowed it to enter the eave vents.
2. The wind blowing the rain sideways forced rain into a leak around the entry door.
Scenario 2 is fixable. Scenario 1 is a building design flaw that will require a warranty repair and a potentially large revision to the venting scheme. I'll know more tomorrow when I peel back the insulation near the leak and by the door.
I think scenario 1 is unlikely considering they've never seen it before and they build TONS of these structures all over the Seattle area every year.
1. The wind blowing the rain sideways allowed it to enter the eave vents.
2. The wind blowing the rain sideways forced rain into a leak around the entry door.
Scenario 2 is fixable. Scenario 1 is a building design flaw that will require a warranty repair and a potentially large revision to the venting scheme. I'll know more tomorrow when I peel back the insulation near the leak and by the door.
I think scenario 1 is unlikely considering they've never seen it before and they build TONS of these structures all over the Seattle area every year.
As of last night I'm 99% certain the leak is coming through the door.
We've been experiencing the wettest October on record here in Seattle. Total rainfall for the month was a whopping 10.5" which is quite a bit for this area. As such the soils are all completely saturated. There's an old tree that's long since been dead in the city's right-of-way at the end of an alley immediately adjacent to my property. The tree is over on the hillside and without a living root system it couldn't hold onto the saturated soils and fell onto my property yesterday. I went and grabbed a cheap corded electric chainsaw from Harbor Freight yesterday to deal with it when I got home from work.
What does this have to do with studio building, or anything specific to my leak? To plug in my newly acquired chainsaw and get to cutting limbs I needed to pop into my studio building and grab the extension cord. As soon as I opened the door I noticed that the door's threshold was soaking wet. The door had been closed since Wednesday October 26th, so water intrusion through the threshold was not something I expected. Additionally, there was water inside the structure once again. This time, since it had been raining all day, was still raining and showed no signs of stopping, there was a clear path of water from the door threshold over to where the water had pooled previously when @Marial and I noticed it the first time back on October 24th.
This all makes sense given that there hasn't been water in any areas other than right by the door. In other words; If it were an eave vent leaking it would potentially show up in other areas of the building since they run the full length of the structure on both sides. As of today it's bone dry everywhere other than this one spot by the door, which was now suspiciously wet across the threshold and showed a clear flow path of water.
I'm declaring the mystery solved and have a call in with my building guy to get a warranty repair going. I'll pop out to mop up the standing water tonight and will continue to do so until it's repaired.
We've been experiencing the wettest October on record here in Seattle. Total rainfall for the month was a whopping 10.5" which is quite a bit for this area. As such the soils are all completely saturated. There's an old tree that's long since been dead in the city's right-of-way at the end of an alley immediately adjacent to my property. The tree is over on the hillside and without a living root system it couldn't hold onto the saturated soils and fell onto my property yesterday. I went and grabbed a cheap corded electric chainsaw from Harbor Freight yesterday to deal with it when I got home from work.
What does this have to do with studio building, or anything specific to my leak? To plug in my newly acquired chainsaw and get to cutting limbs I needed to pop into my studio building and grab the extension cord. As soon as I opened the door I noticed that the door's threshold was soaking wet. The door had been closed since Wednesday October 26th, so water intrusion through the threshold was not something I expected. Additionally, there was water inside the structure once again. This time, since it had been raining all day, was still raining and showed no signs of stopping, there was a clear path of water from the door threshold over to where the water had pooled previously when @Marial and I noticed it the first time back on October 24th.
This all makes sense given that there hasn't been water in any areas other than right by the door. In other words; If it were an eave vent leaking it would potentially show up in other areas of the building since they run the full length of the structure on both sides. As of today it's bone dry everywhere other than this one spot by the door, which was now suspiciously wet across the threshold and showed a clear flow path of water.
I'm declaring the mystery solved and have a call in with my building guy to get a warranty repair going. I'll pop out to mop up the standing water tonight and will continue to do so until it's repaired.
