This is a good book. Does provide a step by step introduction to how to build things th-cam.com/users/postUgkxhgbP-6hUnXu_QRaoHgLztgsI0YF3HqR0 , also does offer some steps. Includes pictures to give you ideas for layouts and such. If you are looking for a guide, this is not exactly what you want. But if you are trying to familiarize yourself with the way that pole barn building and other out buildings, are made, then this will work just as you need it to. A few things in this book are a barn (of course), detached garage, storage building, and coops.
I appreciate these shows on repairs, upgrades, and remodels. Many of us aren't in a position to build a new home, but want to modernize our older homes. Looking forward to seeing the progress on this house
When I first started working as a Jr. Draftsman in an Architects office in Sacramento, my boss Alan Oshima taught me about allowing water a path out. He said, no matter what you do water will find it’s way into the building. Part of your job is to insure it has a way out. 40 years later & I remember that lesson as if it was Biblical. Thanks Matt.
Matt, these sorts of failure videos are priceless. I started watching your videos when I bought my first house three years ago and they got me curious enough to start digging into my walls- sure enough it wasn’t pretty back there. Vinyl over old T1-11 over very rotten studs and soaked fiberglass. Slowly rebuilding now based on your videos and who knows what would’ve happened if I hadn’t gotten curious and found your channel.
Looking at the siding around the back second floor window that you highlighted, I think we're looking at two generations of remodel. I think that the addition was put on somewhat earlier than your estimate. You can see the window trim from that period appears to have been narrower. The previous paint color at this time was some sort of gray green. Then a short time ago someone came in and flipped the house, redoing the window trim and painting the exterior white. That's why you're seeing the two caulk lines: one from the wider trim from the flip, and then the older original one from the narrower trim in the remodel. At least that's my take. Unless you think the gray green was primer, but I don't see how that would result in the offset strip around the window under the trim.
About 15 years ago my neighbor asked me to look at her leaking near flat roof over her new $$$$ kitchen remodel… The original contractor had a “crisis” mid construction, so she’d hired one of his 20 something laborers to finish the last 1/3 of the job which, somehow, was nearly all the exterior work. He didn’t have a vehicle so she loaned him one of the family cars to commute back and forth with. He was also a little short on tools but after I walked the job, I’m pretty sure he invested in an electric and perhaps 220V, turbo charged caulking gun. I agreed to have a look but as a concerned neighbor, NOT as the 30+ year frame to finish carpenter I actual am/was. In fact, when I do one of these types of “casual inspections” I insist on keeping one hand in my pocket while carrying a beer in the other so there’s no question that I didn’t magically absorb any responsibility/liability for anything. As soon as I entered the hallway to the kitchen I could smell and feel the moisture lurking beneath the drywall around the corner. If that wasn’t enough, the temporary solution of hanging a sheet of 4 mil poly from all four corners of the ceiling, sloping to the middle of the kitchen island where the ragged center drain hole was focused on a large All-Clad soup pot confirmed my fears. A brief tour of the second floor near flat roof deck with Spa tub off the master bedroom (and over the new kitchen) made me want to chug my beer and run back to relative safety of my own yard. Back downstairs and heading for the front door, my neighbor asks “what do you think the problem is”? “Everything” was my perhaps too honest reply. I was clear from the start that I didn’t want the job so my advice was to hire a pro to take it all apart and put it back together properly. Neighbor: “Well, what do think that would cost”? I said “the sooner you start, the less will cost but budget for at least $30K” (15 years ago). Neighbor: “OMG”. Summer passed with no sign of a new contractor beginning the repairs. My formerly friendly neighbor is no longer speaking to me or even acknowledging my existence. Fall arrived and the seasonal rains began. Tarps began to appear on that side of the house. Then more tarps. Spring arrived and the tarps came down. A crew shows up with more 220V turbo charged caulking guns. Fall comes again and the tarps reappear. Repeat tarp/no tarp/turbo charged caulking guns process for 6 years. This couple has now split up and the remaining spouse wants to sell the house. One of the top remodeling contractors in town shows up to begin work and I happen to have a young friend on the demo crew. They start by removing the moss covered Spa from the now-unsafe-to-walk-on roof deck, then they disassemble the entire kitchen below. They find black mold on the backs of the cabinets, soggy and crumbling black drywall, mushrooms growing in the fiberglas insulation and on all the blackened and mushy wood framing, respirators required. My six year old beer bottle in hand estimate to repair of $30K became a $155K “good faith” estimate/reverse investment in a relatively short time. The new neighbors seem nice but I hope they never ask me over to look at anything.
This is amazing content, thank you Matt. As someone who gets the gracious opportunity to be able to work in these kinds of homes here in Austin, this kind of content is great. Would love to see interior detailed video as well!
Thanks for the great info & it came just in time. Our build is a bit unusual, so there is a lot to consider with ventilation and water management. Good points about not sealing things in the wrong places. Thanks for posting!
Hope to see a follow up video on this one, specifically the air flow gap at the top / bottom of the window. Dying to know how that's done and what it looks like.
Hey Matt thanks for the Contin I’ve been watching for a long time I really think that we could benefit from a failure series. Showing the mistakes made by lack of knowledge or even worse lack of caring during previous construction projects
Glad to see some actual job site videos instead of the constant sponsored commercials. Might actually subscribe again if there is more of this to come.
@@adammacer so for an older house (similar to this age and style) that one is attempting to insulate and seal a bit better, would it be best to try to air/moisture seal right next to the insulation (with the insulation toward the interior side, and the sealing barrier on the exterior side), then sheathing of some kind, then vertical straps to make an air gap, then siding right on top of those straps? I live in Southern California, which is a very dry climate, and my parents recently got a small 1918 bungalow (in a kind of cottagey-craftsman style). It has stucco walls that I assume are hiding original siding in who-knows-what condition, and I dream of redoing the exterior some day!
@@twobluestripes Standard practice in temperate climates, if not using ZIP sheathing, is to put a waterproof & breathable air barrier (Tyvel/Typar) over the sheathing to protect it (in the same way the green coating on the ZIP system protects the wood board). Insulation goes between the studs and a Vapour barrier sits between the insulation and the drywall to prevent moist internal air from entering the structure. If you're running A/C in the house then that can change things with regard to where you put the vapour barrier (in Florida you put it outside the insulation to prevent the humid air outside from getting into the structure and then cooled) but I'm not sure what the standard practice is down there. I'd speak to a local contractor before doing anything.
I love these kinds of vids from you Matt. Following through practical application of quality building products in different situations with different constraints is invaluable. Very well done. Please make more like this and the building on an island if you enjoy making them.
Our house had some pretty severe rot under about half the windows. We discovered it when the house was about 15 years old. I feel this home owner's pain....
I guarantee the previous owner got 3 bids for that addition and like most people, chose the cheapest price. They just passed the turd down to the new owner.
@@DanDeuel Which part? The covered-up rot? No. Given Austin's current housing market, I would assume this house was bought with all cash and/or no contingencies or both.
Question if I may, when you leave gaps for rain or moisture to get in and escape out, are you not also leaving enter points for insects, like carpenter ants to get into the home? How do you solve one problem, but the create another?
There are lots of ways to handle that. You can use window screen inside, or other products that block bugs. When I resided my house I added a 3/8 inch gap between the siding and the house wrap. This gives a path for the water out. At the base and top we installed a spacer with a screen on it that stops bugs. I live in the rainyside of Oregon and am very cautious about water intrusion.
@@jeffreykershner440 thanks for your response Jeffrey. I know what you mean. I live on Vancouver Island so we get a lot of rain up here too. Cheers buddy 🍻
Getting ready to do repair work on the columns on the front of our house. Same type of moisture rot with standard pine one by material. The "getting moisture out" concept makes a lot of sense. Thankfully the structural interior wood is pressure treated and in good shape. The decorative trim base for the railings on the porch is just a standard finger jointed interior pine base molding. It is in really bad shape. What do you expect for a house built for about $79 a sq ft in the early 2000's?
great info as we are getting ready to do an addition to our house. we are working on our daughters 100+ year old house and it needs insulated and the inside has been all finished, how do we insulate from the outside without it looking like we punched a bunch of holes in the side of the house? House in Iowa
It looks to me like they put it up to temporarily cover the framing while they're doing their investigation. Notice there is no tape on the Zip board. This is one of the great uses for zip, and one I've used myself. You can create an "instant" weather barrier that holds up for months while you complete your work.
I’m redoing the siding on my 1925 house. It doesn’t have any sheathing just old shiplap siding. I want to put the zip system sheathing and Diamond Kote siding. We are also replacing the windows as well. It will be a big job but we are excited about it. I hope it doesn’t rot like this in a few years. Is there anything I need to look out for before sheathing and during the process?
Just tore into a house in the Augusta GA area, they do a strange thing here where they notch the ends of the joists (ceiling and floor) in order to hang them on an 1.5” ledger that is nailed into the center beam and rim joists. Until recently they allowed the rim joists to sit directly on block foundations and did not require them to be pressure treated. Wet are replacing all of the ledger hung joists as they are functionally 1.5” less than the dimensional lumber they’re made from (2x8 is only 6inch where it bears load on the ends) and split along the cut plane where they’re notched. The ledger is only held in by 1 row of 16d sinkers every 8 inches so any load, including the load bearing walls running across these floor joists (2x8s spanning 12 ft 😳), is only held up by 1 row of 16d’s! Freaking insanity. The rims are rotted where the added a deck and added a sun room abutted directly to the outside of the house and they did not put gutters on this house. So we are running mid span girders, joist hangers for all the new floor joists and existing ceiling joists, no roof load onto walls other than those directly on the center beam by using flush beams (glue lams). The 1K sq ft addition with trusses and adding gutters and the 1K sq ft garage with trusses and gutters. All gutters will discharge into French drains out to daylight. House will be wrapped, all interior stud bays sealed and possibly use aero barrier, exterior will be bricked. It’s a big job but man did this rot make me feel better as I’m not the only one going through this kind of thing
@TJP 81 out here they are building with southern yellow pine, which is quite close to Doug fir. Many of the notched ends have split along the grain on plane with the end cut of the notch. Some have a single toe nail on the top to hold layout, most of which were set way too close to the edge and have torn out under load. The ledger is only 1.5” instead of a 2x6 or 2x8, which allows only 1 course of nails hence the load being held up by 1 16d per joist. We looked at many properties out here and a majority showed failures of this system with joist end splitting, ledger failure from breaking, the nails pulling out and it sagging, and the ledger pulling out and the lead edge cracking off so the joist ends up being completely unsupported and hangin on by the toenail only. Very sub-par as far as my standards go, it may be legal but it’s a shoddy way to build particularly because it’s just as easy and far less work to land the full joist on a girder and have direct support without hanging.
@TJP 81 there’s no way that I would keep a splitting joist, relying on a screw to take the floor weight, I’m going to be replacing all the floor joists with pressure treated 2x8s and treat them with boric acid to combat rot and any potential termites in this climate, coupled with a dehumidifier. Overall I haven’t seen any of the 1.5” ledgers succeed, terrible way to build and even if back nailed a 16d holding that 120lb rating is insufficient.
@TJP 81 the building method used by notching the 2x8s to accommodate the ledger is so poor that 33% of the joists have cracked along the plane of the notch well over 3 ft along the 2x8 reaching the middle 1/3 span. The 2x8s span 11’9” so just under max span. In the places where the joists didn’t fail under the load, the ledger has pulled out or in many places cracked. It’s simply a really dumb way to build, and they are putting up brand new 1M$ + homes around the corner with the same method being employed right now; unfortunately this method was not a layout aid or a fix for a problem. We will be replacing all the 2x8 joists and using joist hangers and will be placing a new post and girder mid span so the new 2X8 joists will only be spanning 6feet. There will be no kid bearing walls that do not have direct support to a pier & post beneath them at the point where the load lands on the wall. Aka- built soundly. I appreciate you taking your time to reply and while I have used structural screws in the past to correct a delaminating member like you described, this situation is simply too far gone. So despite the labor required, we are going to do what the original builder should have done, and build it correctly.
@TJP 81 my dude, if you saw this stuff you’d probably slap me for buying it like I was Chris rock making fun of your bald wife, then put a match to it! Lol. Removing all of the joists was by far the easiest way, we have to jack the exterior walls up to install mud sills and replace the rims just to straighten it, get it level and bring it up to spec. For example the block perimeter does not have any of the cells filled with mortar. We are going to spray all the existing rim that isn’t rotten with boric acid followed by copper napthanate, seal up the crawl space vents, pull up the vapor barrier and install a dehumidifier. It’s by far the most in-shambles remodel we have tackled. Good thing we got a great deal on it :-) I’ll start posting videos and let you know so you can see it.
Austin is in climate zone #2 so it doesn’t have an interior vapor barrier. Zip Sheeting perms out so it doesn’t trap moisture. The damage came from bulk water being trapped. As long as the seams and penetrations are properly sealed that will not be a problem
Hi Matt, I didn't know where to comment to ask this question but, I'm about to move into a minivan to live in due to mold issues in my current environment,.. my question is, what insulation and flooring is best to use to keep in breathable and to avoid mold and condensation issues after I rip out the carpet in the minivan? Thankyou
I can't imagine what that buy price was only for the new owner to essentially re-do all the work. This is my biggest fear of ever buying a house: finding out after the fact of catestrophic failures.
I've lived in three houses my entire life, and all three were fixer uppers. Never again. Wife and I are moving later this year and I'm building an ICF house. Tired of spending thousands of dollars on repairs each year when I could just put that to a mortgage on a house with no problems
A public adjustor taught me a very important lesson. I have removed the word "rot" from my vocabulary. The magic phrase is "water damage." Great video, Matt!
I’m confused. You talk about having to replace structural studs around the window on the back of the house, but it obvious you’ve put new zip sheathing on that same stud. What gives?
Two things- First, the addition windows were installed flush with the siding, instead of directly on the sheathing. Window trim should be tight to the sheathing and butt the siding, not on top of the siding. Second- that great paint job was probably preceded by pressure washing which drove water through the siding and trim, causing the premature rot.
Im renovating a house for a customer built in the 60s-70s The Sill across the whole back side of the house along with the sheathing from ground level to about 12 feet up was mostly gone and we have continued to find issues all over the exterior, its been painted and caulked so many times and when I find rot its typically just paint thats still in the shape of siding with nothing but empty space behind it, Old houses weren't meant to be air tight and if you seal them up that moisture has no where to go, though in this case I feel it was mostly for cosmetic reasons and ignorance of the previous home owner.
I'd never use OSB for sheathing. Coated or otherwise, surprised you're replacing it with more OSB. Do we not see plywood fail as much because it's not used in the newer, crappy builds? Or is it actually better able to handle some water now and then?
All three, solid, ply or oriented strand, or even lvl and lsl need to be able to dry to either inside or outside, preferably outside if you care for comfort at the very least, and efficiency, air quality etc. OSB is not the problem here, it's moisture management (lack of it). Hell even particle board could survive in a proper assembly.
@@rolfbjorn9937 I guess plywood is more forgiving to occasional moisture intrusion. But yeah, things have to be able to dry. Rain screen should always be used.
Lord, lord, lordy. I bought an abandoned build in 2016, apparently dried in (in Northern Idaho), but with many, many issues. Short story long, revamped the HVAC, moved and/or replaced walls to meet code, R&R plumbing, pulled and replaced and/or reflashed EVERY window, rebuild two sets of stairs, pulled out and replaced all the electrical, added roof vents, and .... on and on. I was the homeowner/contractor, which due to my inexperience, was not a good thing, but due to my own "give a f**k" attitude, had pretty good results. I was able to improve the home everywhere, but couldn't afford to re-do everything. Point of the story: my carpenters set three exterior double-doors, and everyone was poorly done. The worst was the front door, which I fixed (the other two are going to be replaced and properly hung, flashed, etc., this summer). The framing on one side of the house was wracked, and no longer vertical. The carpenters installed the door in plain with the wall. I figured out the problem when I was trying to trim out the house over the winter. I hung a plumb bob and the bottom of an 82" door was 3 or 4 inches off center from the top. I was lucky the door even closed. I also noticed air cracks, clear line of sight daylight on that door. I waited until it was 45F, called a carpenter buddy to help out, pulled the door to reinstall it. I discovered that, unlike the window flashing which I closely monitored, those same carpenters DID NOT not flash the base of the door frame at all. In only six months, the floor boards and plate were rotting, and this door was under a dry porch! I pulled the floor boards, fixed the rot, added metal flashing plus caulk (pretty much whatever materials I had at hand, i.e. it was a short, cold day, and it's an hour drive to a building store), installed plywood in lieu of the rotted particle board (we were going to add a stone front entry, and needed the reinforcement of plywood in any case; joists were ok), and rehung the door properly. I was shocked that there was that much rot, that quickly. The house had been completed (foundation framing, siding, roof, some mechanical, etc) 3 or 4 years earlier, but I don't thing the rot was pre-existing my purchase of the home. We fixed a LOT of problems (e.g. non-load bearing supports for the front balconies and house overhang, I could go on and on), but what I could not afford to do was replace the siding. There was no airgap between siding sheets and the siding boards. The LP Smartside was also not properly installed with 3/16" gaps between the boards, didn't paint the cut board edges, didn't caulk the joints (plus the painters caulked them with the wrong caulk). There are buckled butt joints, and/or open joints everywhere. So, I'm pretty certain that even with house wrap, I probably have mold under the siding as well. We'll probably be selling this house, so I'll fix the siding as best as I'm able (3 story house 🙄), certainly correct any rot I find doing so, but I can't afford to have someone properly R&R all of the sidling. Plus, there's probably a 90% chance the next guys would do exactly what the first guys did anyhow. (Finding well trained, quality trades is nearly impossible.) I "rebuilt" much of this house, am proud of the quality we added to it, learned a lot, and now I'm going to build the next one from the ground up, using Matt's video's in part, as a guide. Hmmm, first thing I need to do is find the right G.C. - oh, yeah, and a new piece of land to build on.
I learned quite a bit from this video, but that Gerber Prybrid peaked my interest. I have the same knife and I use it everyday! One of my favorite purchases! Haha
Mold from refrigerant lines is from sweating, the suction line sweats like a cold beer can in the summer if the armaflex is not intact and sealed. Kinda but the owner wished they would have bought windows with a flange.
Matt is there any recompense from the remodel GC (or their insurance) to the current owner? Would you call this malfeasance or a general lack of workmanship by that contractor ?
@@wkobayashim a thermal camera can definitely help to see if you have moisture problems in areas. A simple poke of the window trim would tell you quickly theres water damage with soft wood.
@@michaelfranks341 those are valid points and all very true but have you ever seen an inspection report in Texas? I do a lot of repairs for some investors and am in pretty good with a pretty busy realtor and get inspection reports to estimate cost of repairs pretty regularly and they all look like copies of each other for the most part, they always fixate on the same basic things, none of which are any of the complaints that showed up at this house.
I will never buy vertical mulch, even if it has green paint on it. I know you love this "Zip system" thing, but it's still chipboard. If it gets wet, it's game over.
I was surprised to see that your guys did not replace the board under that back window before putting on that zip sheeting. It looked as though that rot was headed down.
Matt, I've been following your channel for about a year. I love the content and educational value you bring with your show. It's all about bringing our industry up as a whole. But...... make sure you take into account safety when filming your content. The 5' x 6' 4" scaffold isn't setup correctly and doesn't meet the manufactures nor OSHA's guideline for allowing a crew to work off of it. You mentioned your crew was at lunch so we can assume you had a team working on it and it is really outside of compliance. Just to name a few: missing ladder, missing inspection card "green tag", missing fully planked working platform, missing toe board, missing end safety rail, missing mid safety rail, missing safety swing gate, missing mud sill below screw legs. Maybe you could do a segment on elevated work platform safety or scaffold safety as falls account for a major portion of our industries injury's. I own Shirley Masonry out of Dallas. Keep up the amazing work. Much Respect....
And this is why your typical 2,000 sf home costs a freaking fortune to build and/or remodel. Regs, regs, & more regs. OSHA this, OSHA that. E.g., in CA, new homes must be built with solar. That’s great for wealthy folks (as they’d likely add it anyway). But all of these regulations, mandates, rules, requirements, fees, taxes, etc. make it impossible for the average person to be able to afford a house. STOP already! Sorry, but I don’t share your love for OSHA, a bloated federal bureaucracy, that should be abolished. OSHA’s existence is yet another example of the fed govt creating agencies to address issues that are more appropriately handled by state govts and private employers.
Can anyone in US build houses and be qualified to sell those? That I can understand, but aren't there any responsibility of build? In Finland we have 10 year warranty for builders for mistakes they make. I know, mistakes are made in here too, and customers are fooled by wrongdoers. But building houses isn't rocket science, and yet I see so much mistakes made in building in US as based on construction physics, it amazes me every time. I hope you can educate people enough to look right things in renovations, not only the good looks but the parts that matters.
Requiring a warranty would definitely incentivize builders to do the right thing more often. It would certainly increase the initial price of a home due to increased quality of materials and time on building, but that would likely reduce the cost of the home after a decade and beyond. Regulation (in the form of a required warranty period) seems like a plausible way to get there, because we've clearly seen what we're doing today isn't working -- it's inefficient to expect every home buyer to figure out how to properly vet a builder or know what costs are actually important.
Related type of issue if you are in snow country: if you have a shed with wood siding down close to the ground, you need to be fanatical about quickly getting any snow off that bottom six inches or so. It's when the snow sits and melts and the siding is damp for days, that the rot starts.
It seems to me that there are a lot of rot and mold problems in Austin.Where I live in the high desert northwest, rot is nearly non-existent. It's very very dry. We have hot summers and cold winters, but wood doesn't seem to suffer from rot or mold, unless there is ground contact. I'm looking at building a house soon, and it seems to me that I need to find a local builder that knows what needs to be done, and what doesn't need to be done for a structure to perform well in the local environment.
Climate differences, and poor construction science application. Always work with builders who know the proper techniques for the local climate zone and the good subs.
@@CelBloxICF finding ICF contractors in Calif or similar areas where it's not well accepted makes for an expensive bid. We went through this with open/closed foam and prices are still higher than others areas of the country where it's widely used. Same goes for metal roofs here with almost 3x what others areas of the US charge..
This seems to be pretty common for (not to group everyone in one pot as some know what to look for) newer builders working on older houses that were built for both airflow and water flow
Ok, here is one for you, about the caulking things and letting air in. We are told time and time again to caulk windows outside, tons of videos show how to caulk windows with stucco from the outside where the stucco meets the window. So are you saying that shouldn't be done so moisture can escape? Seems to contradict other information I have seen from other home maintenance websites. So how do you know when to caulk, and when not to, when you have information that contradicts the other? As for the rain screen, when you are the whatever owner down the line, we cant know any of this stuff thats been done without ripping stuff apart.
I'm not sure how people think caulking the bottoms of windows, siding, and flashings could be a good thing.. I've had customers tell me I 'forgot' the areas around all the bottoms.. A rain screen is a good thing, but very expensive on a reno and not why this failed. We've built without them for ages. Since I don't see any proper flashing on this addition, my hunch is that it was sided by someone who doesn't understand rain flashing and airflow. Your friend's words are only half the story, you do have to keep rain out too. I hope your solution works out, but too much water is getting in, and as you noted, made much worse by caulking the escape routes and air flow.
Mike Holmes had a episode of his show where they had to basically remove and replace all the outer sheeting. The osb was so water damaged it crumbled into mush. The house I think was only 7 years old
Serious question. Why would you not use zip on a house? What product is better and as cost effective/forgiving? It’s such a superior building product in every single way I can think of.
I don’t use OSB, especially in areas around windows. Plywood is much more resistant and has the ability to dry out whereas OSB never seems to recover. All of this other factors are important as well, but in damp climates OSB is terrible.
Wow terrible job on the back by your crew, they installed sob before removing all the siding now they have to replace 2x under the window which your new zip is covering.
Most new houses, especially spec houses here in Austin are built like that. Cheap "brick tape" flashing, or no flashing around windows and siding nailed on tight to the OSB. Should be illegal.
People outside the US will be horrified at the OSB porridge rubbish, predigested termite fodder. Would not be permitted on exterior surfaces in many countries outside the US. We don't make it, we don't import it, we don't buy it. The only time we see it is as packing crates. Was that ordinary untreated pine on exterior trim ...... Hell no.
This is a good book. Does provide a step by step introduction to how to build things th-cam.com/users/postUgkxhgbP-6hUnXu_QRaoHgLztgsI0YF3HqR0 , also does offer some steps. Includes pictures to give you ideas for layouts and such. If you are looking for a guide, this is not exactly what you want. But if you are trying to familiarize yourself with the way that pole barn building and other out buildings, are made, then this will work just as you need it to. A few things in this book are a barn (of course), detached garage, storage building, and coops.
I appreciate these shows on repairs, upgrades, and remodels. Many of us aren't in a position to build a new home, but want to modernize our older homes. Looking forward to seeing the progress on this house
When I first started working as a Jr. Draftsman in an Architects office in Sacramento, my boss Alan Oshima taught me about allowing water a path out. He said, no matter what you do water will find it’s way into the building. Part of your job is to insure it has a way out. 40 years later & I remember that lesson as if it was Biblical. Thanks Matt.
Matt, these sorts of failure videos are priceless. I started watching your videos when I bought my first house three years ago and they got me curious enough to start digging into my walls- sure enough it wasn’t pretty back there. Vinyl over old T1-11 over very rotten studs and soaked fiberglass. Slowly rebuilding now based on your videos and who knows what would’ve happened if I hadn’t gotten curious and found your channel.
☠️
I would love to see progress pictures of your house
any time I see vinyl I assume it's put on over a failed siding system.
seeing stuff like this it's wild so many investors are buying properties with no inspections or walk-through's rn.
@@negakurai they dont care, they just cover it back up again and try to get rid of it lol
You learn more from repair work on things that didn’t work than from new installs. Thanks for the video.
Looking at the siding around the back second floor window that you highlighted, I think we're looking at two generations of remodel. I think that the addition was put on somewhat earlier than your estimate. You can see the window trim from that period appears to have been narrower. The previous paint color at this time was some sort of gray green. Then a short time ago someone came in and flipped the house, redoing the window trim and painting the exterior white. That's why you're seeing the two caulk lines: one from the wider trim from the flip, and then the older original one from the narrower trim in the remodel.
At least that's my take. Unless you think the gray green was primer, but I don't see how that would result in the offset strip around the window under the trim.
Flippers need to burn in hell.
That's what I thought too!
I think the 10 year estimate on the rebuild is correct. but I agree with you about the flip.
Definitely, "double caulked", I don't think so lol!
This is a great video. You should make a video on how homeowners can look out for these problems when buying an older home. Thanks for the great work!
Do you replace the studs before adding zip sheathing on
About 15 years ago my neighbor asked me to look at her leaking near flat roof over her new $$$$ kitchen remodel… The original contractor had a “crisis” mid construction, so she’d hired one of his 20 something laborers to finish the last 1/3 of the job which, somehow, was nearly all the exterior work. He didn’t have a vehicle so she loaned him one of the family cars to commute back and forth with. He was also a little short on tools but after I walked the job, I’m pretty sure he invested in an electric and perhaps 220V, turbo charged caulking gun. I agreed to have a look but as a concerned neighbor, NOT as the 30+ year frame to finish carpenter I actual am/was. In fact, when I do one of these types of “casual inspections” I insist on keeping one hand in my pocket while carrying a beer in the other so there’s no question that I didn’t magically absorb any responsibility/liability for anything. As soon as I entered the hallway to the kitchen I could smell and feel the moisture lurking beneath the drywall around the corner. If that wasn’t enough, the temporary solution of hanging a sheet of 4 mil poly from all four corners of the ceiling, sloping to the middle of the kitchen island where the ragged center drain hole was focused on a large All-Clad soup pot confirmed my fears. A brief tour of the second floor near flat roof deck with Spa tub off the master bedroom (and over the new kitchen) made me want to chug my beer and run back to relative safety of my own yard. Back downstairs and heading for the front door, my neighbor asks “what do you think the problem is”? “Everything” was my perhaps too honest reply. I was clear from the start that I didn’t want the job so my advice was to hire a pro to take it all apart and put it back together properly. Neighbor: “Well, what do think that would cost”? I said “the sooner you start, the less will cost but budget for at least $30K” (15 years ago). Neighbor: “OMG”. Summer passed with no sign of a new contractor beginning the repairs. My formerly friendly neighbor is no longer speaking to me or even acknowledging my existence. Fall arrived and the seasonal rains began. Tarps began to appear on that side of the house. Then more tarps. Spring arrived and the tarps came down. A crew shows up with more 220V turbo charged caulking guns. Fall comes again and the tarps reappear. Repeat tarp/no tarp/turbo charged caulking guns process for 6 years. This couple has now split up and the remaining spouse wants to sell the house. One of the top remodeling contractors in town shows up to begin work and I happen to have a young friend on the demo crew. They start by removing the moss covered Spa from the now-unsafe-to-walk-on roof deck, then they disassemble the entire kitchen below. They find black mold on the backs of the cabinets, soggy and crumbling black drywall, mushrooms growing in the fiberglas insulation and on all the blackened and mushy wood framing, respirators required. My six year old beer bottle in hand estimate to repair of $30K became a $155K “good faith” estimate/reverse investment in a relatively short time. The new neighbors seem nice but I hope they never ask me over to look at anything.
That's the best story I've ever read in a remodel video. Thank you for posting!
This is amazing content, thank you Matt. As someone who gets the gracious opportunity to be able to work in these kinds of homes here in Austin, this kind of content is great. Would love to see interior detailed video as well!
Everytime I see videos like these I feel so thankful that 4' overhangs go around our entire house....
Thanks for the great info & it came just in time. Our build is a bit unusual, so there is a lot to consider with ventilation and water management. Good points about not sealing things in the wrong places. Thanks for posting!
Water issues are BIG business.. thank you Matt for sharing this though as I’m going into a home remodel ;)
What a terrific video. Great background for Joseph Lstiburek’s building science class, which I start next week.
Your many videos have led to a lot of material and design choices in our 1800's farmhouse rebuild. Thanks for your work!
This house is like a case study on what not to do. Great video.
Hope to see a follow up video on this one, specifically the air flow gap at the top / bottom of the window. Dying to know how that's done and what it looks like.
Hey Matt thanks for the Contin I’ve been watching for a long time I really think that we could benefit from a failure series. Showing the mistakes made by lack of knowledge or even worse lack of caring during previous construction projects
Thank you Matt, very helpful information.
Glad to see some actual job site videos instead of the constant sponsored commercials. Might actually subscribe again if there is more of this to come.
This video is prefect. Exactly the same situation at my house. Excited to see the follow up videos!
I would be interested in seeing how you do an air gap between the sheathing and the siding. Thanks for the video!
Vertical 3/4" strap over every stud
I think they did in a couple other videos
@@adammacer so for an older house (similar to this age and style) that one is attempting to insulate and seal a bit better, would it be best to try to air/moisture seal right next to the insulation (with the insulation toward the interior side, and the sealing barrier on the exterior side), then sheathing of some kind, then vertical straps to make an air gap, then siding right on top of those straps?
I live in Southern California, which is a very dry climate, and my parents recently got a small 1918 bungalow (in a kind of cottagey-craftsman style). It has stucco walls that I assume are hiding original siding in who-knows-what condition, and I dream of redoing the exterior some day!
@@twobluestripes Standard practice in temperate climates, if not using ZIP sheathing, is to put a waterproof & breathable air barrier (Tyvel/Typar) over the sheathing to protect it (in the same way the green coating on the ZIP system protects the wood board). Insulation goes between the studs and a Vapour barrier sits between the insulation and the drywall to prevent moist internal air from entering the structure.
If you're running A/C in the house then that can change things with regard to where you put the vapour barrier (in Florida you put it outside the insulation to prevent the humid air outside from getting into the structure and then cooled) but I'm not sure what the standard practice is down there. I'd speak to a local contractor before doing anything.
I love these kinds of vids from you Matt. Following through practical application of quality building products in different situations with different constraints is invaluable. Very well done. Please make more like this and the building on an island if you enjoy making them.
Our house had some pretty severe rot under about half the windows. We discovered it when the house was about 15 years old. I feel this home owner's pain....
Same here. Had a bay window with so much rot I was surprised it wasn’t on the ground
I guarantee the previous owner got 3 bids for that addition and like most people, chose the cheapest price. They just passed the turd down to the new owner.
@@crabkilla Isn't a house inspector supposed to catch that?
@@DanDeuel Which part? The covered-up rot? No. Given Austin's current housing market, I would assume this house was bought with all cash and/or no contingencies or both.
Love the subtle digs at Chip and Joanna.
Do you still need a sill pan under windows if you are using zip tape above, on the sides and the bottom of the opening?
Sorry about the house. I was trying to save money.
Hey, every dollar you save now is two dollars made later by the general contractor who gets to clean up the mess....
Ha! I see what you did there.
Didn't you make a "paint the cabinets, paint the hinges" flip video???
Question if I may, when you leave gaps for rain or moisture to get in and escape out, are you not also leaving enter points for insects, like carpenter ants to get into the home? How do you solve one problem, but the create another?
There are lots of ways to handle that. You can use window screen inside, or other products that block bugs. When I resided my house I added a 3/8 inch gap between the siding and the house wrap. This gives a path for the water out. At the base and top we installed a spacer with a screen on it that stops bugs. I live in the rainyside of Oregon and am very cautious about water intrusion.
@@jeffreykershner440 thanks for your response Jeffrey. I know what you mean. I live on Vancouver Island so we get a lot of rain up here too. Cheers buddy 🍻
Great information. Thanks.
how do you know if u ran into asbetcos?
Yikes! Thanks for the great info! 😎🌦️
Getting ready to do repair work on the columns on the front of our house. Same type of moisture rot with standard pine one by material. The "getting moisture out" concept makes a lot of sense. Thankfully the structural interior wood is pressure treated and in good shape. The decorative trim base for the railings on the porch is just a standard finger jointed interior pine base molding. It is in really bad shape. What do you expect for a house built for about $79 a sq ft in the early 2000's?
great info as we are getting ready to do an addition to our house. we are working on our daughters 100+ year old house and it needs insulated and the inside has been all finished, how do we insulate from the outside without it looking like we punched a bunch of holes in the side of the house? House in Iowa
Looks to me like your guys were putting zip on top of the rotted 2x4's
Saw that. Surprised Matt didn't say something, but sounds like they're going to get into it and address it.
It looks to me like they put it up to temporarily cover the framing while they're doing their investigation. Notice there is no tape on the Zip board. This is one of the great uses for zip, and one I've used myself. You can create an "instant" weather barrier that holds up for months while you complete your work.
I think he realized it was on video and quickly adjusted what he would say and do.
I’m redoing the siding on my 1925 house. It doesn’t have any sheathing just old shiplap siding. I want to put the zip system sheathing and Diamond Kote siding. We are also replacing the windows as well. It will be a big job but we are excited about it. I hope it doesn’t rot like this in a few years. Is there anything I need to look out for before sheathing and during the process?
Well Matt I enjoy all your nerdy ideas because they’re always interesting.
Just tore into a house in the Augusta GA area, they do a strange thing here where they notch the ends of the joists (ceiling and floor) in order to hang them on an 1.5” ledger that is nailed into the center beam and rim joists. Until recently they allowed the rim joists to sit directly on block foundations and did not require them to be pressure treated. Wet are replacing all of the ledger hung joists as they are functionally 1.5” less than the dimensional lumber they’re made from (2x8 is only 6inch where it bears load on the ends) and split along the cut plane where they’re notched. The ledger is only held in by 1 row of 16d sinkers every 8 inches so any load, including the load bearing walls running across these floor joists (2x8s spanning 12 ft 😳), is only held up by 1 row of 16d’s! Freaking insanity. The rims are rotted where the added a deck and added a sun room abutted directly to the outside of the house and they did not put gutters on this house. So we are running mid span girders, joist hangers for all the new floor joists and existing ceiling joists, no roof load onto walls other than those directly on the center beam by using flush beams (glue lams). The 1K sq ft addition with trusses and adding gutters and the 1K sq ft garage with trusses and gutters. All gutters will discharge into French drains out to daylight. House will be wrapped, all interior stud bays sealed and possibly use aero barrier, exterior will be bricked. It’s a big job but man did this rot make me feel better as I’m not the only one going through this kind of thing
@TJP 81 out here they are building with southern yellow pine, which is quite close to Doug fir. Many of the notched ends have split along the grain on plane with the end cut of the notch. Some have a single toe nail on the top to hold layout, most of which were set way too close to the edge and have torn out under load. The ledger is only 1.5” instead of a 2x6 or 2x8, which allows only 1 course of nails hence the load being held up by 1 16d per joist. We looked at many properties out here and a majority showed failures of this system with joist end splitting, ledger failure from breaking, the nails pulling out and it sagging, and the ledger pulling out and the lead edge cracking off so the joist ends up being completely unsupported and hangin on by the toenail only. Very sub-par as far as my standards go, it may be legal but it’s a shoddy way to build particularly because it’s just as easy and far less work to land the full joist on a girder and have direct support without hanging.
@TJP 81 there’s no way that I would keep a splitting joist, relying on a screw to take the floor weight, I’m going to be replacing all the floor joists with pressure treated 2x8s and treat them with boric acid to combat rot and any potential termites in this climate, coupled with a dehumidifier. Overall I haven’t seen any of the 1.5” ledgers succeed, terrible way to build and even if back nailed a 16d holding that 120lb rating is insufficient.
@TJP 81 the building method used by notching the 2x8s to accommodate the ledger is so poor that 33% of the joists have cracked along the plane of the notch well over 3 ft along the 2x8 reaching the middle 1/3 span. The 2x8s span 11’9” so just under max span. In the places where the joists didn’t fail under the load, the ledger has pulled out or in many places cracked. It’s simply a really dumb way to build, and they are putting up brand new 1M$ + homes around the corner with the same method being employed right now; unfortunately this method was not a layout aid or a fix for a problem. We will be replacing all the 2x8 joists and using joist hangers and will be placing a new post and girder mid span so the new 2X8 joists will only be spanning 6feet. There will be no kid bearing walls that do not have direct support to a pier & post beneath them at the point where the load lands on the wall. Aka- built soundly.
I appreciate you taking your time to reply and while I have used structural screws in the past to correct a delaminating member like you described, this situation is simply too far gone. So despite the labor required, we are going to do what the original builder should have done, and build it correctly.
@TJP 81 my dude, if you saw this stuff you’d probably slap me for buying it like I was Chris rock making fun of your bald wife, then put a match to it! Lol. Removing all of the joists was by far the easiest way, we have to jack the exterior walls up to install mud sills and replace the rims just to straighten it, get it level and bring it up to spec. For example the block perimeter does not have any of the cells filled with mortar. We are going to spray all the existing rim that isn’t rotten with boric acid followed by copper napthanate, seal up the crawl space vents, pull up the vapor barrier and install a dehumidifier. It’s by far the most in-shambles remodel we have tackled. Good thing we got a great deal on it :-) I’ll start posting videos and let you know so you can see it.
Thanks so much for some new information I got from this video. I have some work to do on my old house and have a better idea of what to look for
Does the newer remodel have an interior vapour barrier? If so, the zip shearing will recreate the same problem.
I am sure Matt has it figured out
You would have seen it when he pulled out the insulation.
Austin is in climate zone #2 so it doesn’t have an interior vapor barrier. Zip Sheeting perms out so it doesn’t trap moisture. The damage came from bulk water being trapped. As long as the seams and penetrations are properly sealed that will not be a problem
Hi Matt, I didn't know where to comment to ask this question but, I'm about to move into a minivan to live in due to mold issues in my current environment,.. my question is, what insulation and flooring is best to use to keep in breathable and to avoid mold and condensation issues after I rip out the carpet in the minivan? Thankyou
Again great info like always
I can't imagine what that buy price was only for the new owner to essentially re-do all the work. This is my biggest fear of ever buying a house: finding out after the fact of catestrophic failures.
over a million dollars.Listed for 1.2 last october and was then dropped to 1.1 and sold.
It can happen even with new builds
A home inspector would probably have missed the details that caused the water damage.
In big round numbers, what might these repairs cost?
I've lived in three houses my entire life, and all three were fixer uppers. Never again. Wife and I are moving later this year and I'm building an ICF house. Tired of spending thousands of dollars on repairs each year when I could just put that to a mortgage on a house with no problems
It sure would be nice to see a video on how to deal with rotting studs. Can a partial repair be made and how?
Excellent Video
A public adjustor taught me a very important lesson. I have removed the word "rot" from my vocabulary. The magic phrase is "water damage."
Great video, Matt!
Haha, yup, and don't ever say "mold", say "biological growth" or something else like that. Once you go on record its very difficult to take it back.
I’m confused. You talk about having to replace structural studs around the window on the back of the house, but it obvious you’ve put new zip sheathing on that same stud. What gives?
His guys were trying to cover it up so Matt wouldn’t find it.
Two things- First, the addition windows were installed flush with the siding, instead of directly on the sheathing. Window trim should be tight to the sheathing and butt the siding, not on top of the siding. Second- that great paint job was probably preceded by pressure washing which drove water through the siding and trim, causing the premature rot.
Looking forward to see how you handle the detail around the windows now that you will have additional material(s) between the studs & the siding
So how do i get you to come fix my house? It has a cancer that keeps growing the more i try to fix it 🤣
Im renovating a house for a customer built in the 60s-70s The Sill across the whole back side of the house along with the sheathing from ground level to about 12 feet up was mostly gone and we have continued to find issues all over the exterior, its been painted and caulked so many times and when I find rot its typically just paint thats still in the shape of siding with nothing but empty space behind it, Old houses weren't meant to be air tight and if you seal them up that moisture has no where to go, though in this case I feel it was mostly for cosmetic reasons and ignorance of the previous home owner.
Love all the nerdy content
I'd never use OSB for sheathing. Coated or otherwise, surprised you're replacing it with more OSB. Do we not see plywood fail as much because it's not used in the newer, crappy builds? Or is it actually better able to handle some water now and then?
All three, solid, ply or oriented strand, or even lvl and lsl need to be able to dry to either inside or outside, preferably outside if you care for comfort at the very least, and efficiency, air quality etc. OSB is not the problem here, it's moisture management (lack of it).
Hell even particle board could survive in a proper assembly.
@@rolfbjorn9937 I guess plywood is more forgiving to occasional moisture intrusion. But yeah, things have to be able to dry. Rain screen should always be used.
@@MrBaconis quality of OSB ha really improved from earlier iterations.
Better adhesives and heat/pressure thresholds during mfg
I'm pro ply myself too. The extra 10 bucks a sheet is worth it imo. It's just better product.
What do you think about wrapping with rhino u20 before siding
Lord, lord, lordy. I bought an abandoned build in 2016, apparently dried in (in Northern Idaho), but with many, many issues. Short story long, revamped the HVAC, moved and/or replaced walls to meet code, R&R plumbing, pulled and replaced and/or reflashed EVERY window, rebuild two sets of stairs, pulled out and replaced all the electrical, added roof vents, and .... on and on. I was the homeowner/contractor, which due to my inexperience, was not a good thing, but due to my own "give a f**k" attitude, had pretty good results. I was able to improve the home everywhere, but couldn't afford to re-do everything. Point of the story: my carpenters set three exterior double-doors, and everyone was poorly done. The worst was the front door, which I fixed (the other two are going to be replaced and properly hung, flashed, etc., this summer). The framing on one side of the house was wracked, and no longer vertical. The carpenters installed the door in plain with the wall. I figured out the problem when I was trying to trim out the house over the winter. I hung a plumb bob and the bottom of an 82" door was 3 or 4 inches off center from the top. I was lucky the door even closed. I also noticed air cracks, clear line of sight daylight on that door. I waited until it was 45F, called a carpenter buddy to help out, pulled the door to reinstall it. I discovered that, unlike the window flashing which I closely monitored, those same carpenters DID NOT not flash the base of the door frame at all. In only six months, the floor boards and plate were rotting, and this door was under a dry porch! I pulled the floor boards, fixed the rot, added metal flashing plus caulk (pretty much whatever materials I had at hand, i.e. it was a short, cold day, and it's an hour drive to a building store), installed plywood in lieu of the rotted particle board (we were going to add a stone front entry, and needed the reinforcement of plywood in any case; joists were ok), and rehung the door properly. I was shocked that there was that much rot, that quickly. The house had been completed (foundation framing, siding, roof, some mechanical, etc) 3 or 4 years earlier, but I don't thing the rot was pre-existing my purchase of the home. We fixed a LOT of problems (e.g. non-load bearing supports for the front balconies and house overhang, I could go on and on), but what I could not afford to do was replace the siding. There was no airgap between siding sheets and the siding boards. The LP Smartside was also not properly installed with 3/16" gaps between the boards, didn't paint the cut board edges, didn't caulk the joints (plus the painters caulked them with the wrong caulk). There are buckled butt joints, and/or open joints everywhere. So, I'm pretty certain that even with house wrap, I probably have mold under the siding as well. We'll probably be selling this house, so I'll fix the siding as best as I'm able (3 story house 🙄), certainly correct any rot I find doing so, but I can't afford to have someone properly R&R all of the sidling. Plus, there's probably a 90% chance the next guys would do exactly what the first guys did anyhow. (Finding well trained, quality trades is nearly impossible.) I "rebuilt" much of this house, am proud of the quality we added to it, learned a lot, and now I'm going to build the next one from the ground up, using Matt's video's in part, as a guide. Hmmm, first thing I need to do is find the right G.C. - oh, yeah, and a new piece of land to build on.
I learned quite a bit from this video, but that Gerber Prybrid peaked my interest. I have the same knife and I use it everyday! One of my favorite purchases! Haha
Excellent video Matt 😎
Mold from refrigerant lines is from sweating, the suction line sweats like a cold beer can in the summer if the armaflex is not intact and sealed. Kinda but the owner wished they would have bought windows with a flange.
Matt is there any recompense from the remodel GC (or their insurance) to the current owner? Would you call this malfeasance or a general lack of workmanship by that contractor ?
This is why you get an inspector before you close on a house.
@@Adam-uo2mc inspector doesn't have xray vision. No way to discover that rot without opening it up.
@@wkobayashim a thermal camera can definitely help to see if you have moisture problems in areas. A simple poke of the window trim would tell you quickly theres water damage with soft wood.
@@michaelfranks341 those are valid points and all very true but have you ever seen an inspection report in Texas? I do a lot of repairs for some investors and am in pretty good with a pretty busy realtor and get inspection reports to estimate cost of repairs pretty regularly and they all look like copies of each other for the most part, they always fixate on the same basic things, none of which are any of the complaints that showed up at this house.
@@apsdidit then fire those inspectors. If its a copy paste kind of report, dont accept it.
Hey Matt how about a video about best practices for showers and pans??
Excellent video.
I will never buy vertical mulch, even if it has green paint on it. I know you love this "Zip system" thing, but it's still chipboard. If it gets wet, it's game over.
vertical mulch, OMG thats perfect
Is that sort of stuff a health concern? When you say "rot" that means mold or something right?
I was surprised to see that your guys did not replace the board under that back window before putting on that zip sheeting. It looked as though that rot was headed down.
these videos are really helpful
Can we get a follow up on this??
Flipped house? So much of how basic the exterior is makes me wonder if part of the stupidity for its mistreatment was that it had been flipped.
Agreed.
It wasnt "mistakes" from the people who flipped it, they just covered up the issues and made their money and ran!
Flippers need to burn in hell. Along with all real estate investors.
Oh believe the bible because Jesus is coming back to judge these soulless house flippers and nasty realtors
@@abechavez1876 Wow that escalated quick.
Matt, I've been following your channel for about a year. I love the content and educational value you bring with your show. It's all about bringing our industry up as a whole. But...... make sure you take into account safety when filming your content. The 5' x 6' 4" scaffold isn't setup correctly and doesn't meet the manufactures nor OSHA's guideline for allowing a crew to work off of it. You mentioned your crew was at lunch so we can assume you had a team working on it and it is really outside of compliance. Just to name a few: missing ladder, missing inspection card "green tag", missing fully planked working platform, missing toe board, missing end safety rail, missing mid safety rail, missing safety swing gate, missing mud sill below screw legs. Maybe you could do a segment on elevated work platform safety or scaffold safety as falls account for a major portion of our industries injury's. I own Shirley Masonry out of Dallas. Keep up the amazing work. Much Respect....
Well observed. It's never ending training everyone on the site.
Appreciate that. Good comments
And this is why your typical 2,000 sf home costs a freaking fortune to build and/or remodel.
Regs, regs, & more regs.
OSHA this, OSHA that.
E.g., in CA, new homes must be built with solar. That’s great for wealthy folks (as they’d likely add it anyway).
But all of these regulations, mandates, rules, requirements, fees, taxes, etc. make it impossible for the average person to be able to afford a house.
STOP already!
Sorry, but I don’t share your love for OSHA, a bloated federal bureaucracy, that should be abolished. OSHA’s existence is yet another example of the fed govt creating agencies to address issues that are more appropriately handled by state govts and private employers.
Can anyone in US build houses and be qualified to sell those? That I can understand, but aren't there any responsibility of build? In Finland we have 10 year warranty for builders for mistakes they make. I know, mistakes are made in here too, and customers are fooled by wrongdoers. But building houses isn't rocket science, and yet I see so much mistakes made in building in US as based on construction physics, it amazes me every time. I hope you can educate people enough to look right things in renovations, not only the good looks but the parts that matters.
Requiring a warranty would definitely incentivize builders to do the right thing more often. It would certainly increase the initial price of a home due to increased quality of materials and time on building, but that would likely reduce the cost of the home after a decade and beyond. Regulation (in the form of a required warranty period) seems like a plausible way to get there, because we've clearly seen what we're doing today isn't working -- it's inefficient to expect every home buyer to figure out how to properly vet a builder or know what costs are actually important.
Um lots good points, but u said look at structural rot we haft to fix but u put new sheating on it ?
Matt, would you recommend putting Zip➡️Rainscreen➡️Hardie? Currently at sheathing on my personal house.
Related type of issue if you are in snow country: if you have a shed with wood siding down close to the ground, you need to be fanatical about quickly getting any snow off that bottom six inches or so. It's when the snow sits and melts and the siding is damp for days, that the rot starts.
Awesome video, as always!
@6:07 if you say "blessed recent" then you are not cursing but blessing.
It seems to me that there are a lot of rot and mold problems in Austin.Where I live in the high desert northwest, rot is nearly non-existent. It's very very dry. We have hot summers and cold winters, but wood doesn't seem to suffer from rot or mold, unless there is ground contact. I'm looking at building a house soon, and it seems to me that I need to find a local builder that knows what needs to be done, and what doesn't need to be done for a structure to perform well in the local environment.
Build with ICF and you won't have to worry about it at all.
Climate differences, and poor construction science application. Always work with builders who know the proper techniques for the local climate zone and the good subs.
@@CelBloxICF finding ICF contractors in Calif or similar areas where it's not well accepted makes for an expensive bid. We went through this with open/closed foam and prices are still higher than others areas of the country where it's widely used. Same goes for metal roofs here with almost 3x what others areas of the US charge..
I’ve never arrived so early for a buildshow release
How much would a repair like this cost?
hi matt I'm a old builder from Colorado .I wish you around when I was builder I did work in Breckenridge
“That’s a joke” 😂🤣😂
I'm curious to know if the home inspection noted any of the rot.
Is that the house done by PBS This Old House? In Austin? No way
Ooh, that would be interesting. Can you find any YT videos of that episode?
why did your guys fasten new zip panel to rotten stud beneath window you are evaluating??
This seems to be pretty common for (not to group everyone in one pot as some know what to look for) newer builders working on older houses that were built for both airflow and water flow
Ok, here is one for you, about the caulking things and letting air in. We are told time and time again to caulk windows outside, tons of videos show how to caulk windows with stucco from the outside where the stucco meets the window. So are you saying that shouldn't be done so moisture can escape? Seems to contradict other information I have seen from other home maintenance websites. So how do you know when to caulk, and when not to, when you have information that contradicts the other? As for the rain screen, when you are the whatever owner down the line, we cant know any of this stuff thats been done without ripping stuff apart.
Matt, you plan on removing all the old siding!?
I'm not sure how people think caulking the bottoms of windows, siding, and flashings could be a good thing.. I've had customers tell me I 'forgot' the areas around all the bottoms..
A rain screen is a good thing, but very expensive on a reno and not why this failed. We've built without them for ages. Since I don't see any proper flashing on this addition, my hunch is that it was sided by someone who doesn't understand rain flashing and airflow.
Your friend's words are only half the story, you do have to keep rain out too. I hope your solution works out, but too much water is getting in, and as you noted, made much worse by caulking the escape routes and air flow.
Mike Holmes had a episode of his show where they had to basically remove and replace all the outer sheeting. The osb was so water damaged it crumbled into mush. The house I think was only 7 years old
Serious question. Why would you not use zip on a house? What product is better and as cost effective/forgiving? It’s such a superior building product in every single way I can think of.
Matt you and your team should come build my Mountain Cabin in Southern Utah
I couldn't keep my eyes off that garish hippie house next door. 😬
I don’t use OSB, especially in areas around windows. Plywood is much more resistant and has the ability to dry out whereas OSB never seems to recover. All of this other factors are important as well, but in damp climates OSB is terrible.
I wanna tear up my house and find out what's wrong with it now
Wow terrible job on the back by your crew, they installed sob before removing all the siding now they have to replace 2x under the window which your new zip is covering.
Do you need to remove the windows to re-skin the house? I’m thinking about adding r-sheathing to my house.
I bet those refrigerant lines have been sweating inside that wall.
Wow. That looks soo expensive to fix.
Most new houses, especially spec houses here in Austin are built like that.
Cheap "brick tape" flashing, or no flashing around windows and siding nailed on tight to the OSB. Should be illegal.
OSB should be illegal in its current form. Zip sheathing is better but plywood is still king.
You talk about venting for moisture, but not how to exclude oests at the sane time
You heard him, there are some things we can learn from "This Old House" ;)
People outside the US will be horrified at the OSB porridge rubbish, predigested termite fodder. Would not be permitted on exterior surfaces in many countries outside the US. We don't make it, we don't import it, we don't buy it. The only time we see it is as packing crates.
Was that ordinary untreated pine on exterior trim ...... Hell no.
Your theme music is reminiscent of Dr. Who.