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Buying a Condo – Part 2 / Document Review
Buying a home in a condominium differs in a number of significant ways from buying one in an independent “neighborhood.” Condominiums (in fact all community associations) have by-laws, covenants, and budgets, to which you will be bound as an owner.
Governing Documents
An examination of the associations’ documents (especially the budget) is essential. Operations are obviously funded by unit owners and your share could be considerable. Monthly assessments can approach, or even exceed mortgage payments.
Reserve Studies
A reserve study should have been performed within the last three to five years and they should have been provided as part of the sale packet given by the seller. If not, be wary. In some jurisdictions (such as The Commonwealth of Virginia) they are mandated for specific intervals. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requires reserve studies every two years for certification and they won’t underwrite loans for first-time buyers in uncertified associations.
Reserve studies can be difficult to interpret for the uninitiated. Nonetheless, there are things to look for.
- Reserve studies should be performed by qualified organizations, based on engineering or architectural criteria. Reports with discussion of the involved elements are preferred over simple tables.
- Most community associations fund by the “cash-flow” method, which should cover a minimum of twenty years.
- There’s no simple formula for funding reserves, but lenders have tightened requirements and may deny a loan if annual funding is less than ten percent of the total operating budget. There should be some discussion from the author regarding the adequacy of reserves funding.
Engineering Studies
There may also have been engineering studies performed to evaluate specific systems and/or investigate problems. Disclosure laws usually require that they be provided to potential buyers.
There are differences, beyond the obvious, between older and new condominiums. In Part 3 to follow, we’ll go over some that should be considered.
Things To Look For When Buying A Condo-Part 1
Physical Inspection
When you buy a condominium you’re also buying into the building that encloses it, as well as every other building in the association and everything else intended for common (and limited common) use. You’ll be paying to operate, maintain, repair, and (when the time comes) replace them.
With that in mind, it would behoove you to inspect those elements. Detailed inspections are not practicable and space doesn’t allow for comprehensive discussions of every possible element or condition, but certain basic principles apply. In essence, if something doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t.
A simple walk through the property can be revealing. If the grounds are littered with construction materials (shingle remnants, siding, sheet metal, brick pieces, etc.) there’s reason for concern. If buildings exhibit bulges, missing cladding materials, excessive cracks, or other conditions that seem out of the ordinary, there are questions that need to be answered.
Parking garages with excessive and/or displaced cracks, exposed steel reinforcement or broken tendons (usually characterized by “cable” loops at the undersides of slabs) will probably require some degree of rehabilitation in the near future. Gutters in garages are almost always installed to collect water from leaks through defective waterproofing systems.
One thing buyers frequently fail to consider is noise. If you inspect the unit at a time when nobody is home in neighboring units, it could be misleadingly quiet. It might annoy your realtor, but try to arrange multiple (at least two) visits during hours when the neighbors are likely to be home and active.
While detailed inspections by prospective buyers are not usually possible, detailed professional inspections have likely been performed and reports would have been generated. In Part 2, to follow, we discuss documents you should review to help inform your decision.
The Importance of Building Rehabilitation
A study was recently done in three cities (Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington, DC) to measure how neighborhoods are affected by the presence of older buildings. The study used spatial analysis to determine the role that building age plays on a neighborhood by measuring forty performance metrics. Some of the criteria included cultural vibrancy, real estate performance, transportation options and the intensity of human activity in the area. The study found that neighborhoods that protect older buildings are more culturally vibrant, economically sustainable and rich in opportunities than neighborhoods with new developments. Older buildings have a host of benefits, including being highly walkable, attracting a younger age group, allowing cultural outlets to thrive, supporting local economy as opposed to chain businesses and therefore allowing greater opportunities for entrepreneurship.
This study is the first of two phases in a multi-year project. The second phase will be looking at markets with high levels of vacancy and disinvestment.
To learn more, visit:
What’s In A Word?
Words can have a number of meanings and can even change meanings with time. This is especially true of terms specific to a technology or industry. Following are definitions of a few roofing and paving terms that people outside those trades (such as board members) may hear and not fully understand.
Overlayment – Placement of a new roof over an older covering or placement of a new asphalt surface course over an existing pavement.
Resurface – Install a new layer of asphalt (overlay) onto an existing pavement. Should not be confused with seal coat.
Seal coat – Apply a coal tar or asphalt slurry over asphalt pavement.
Tar – Stuff that dinosaurs got stuck in; the nasty stuff in cigarettes. Should not be confused with asphalt used in paving and roofing.
Coal tar – A byproduct of steel smelting used for producing pavement seal coating and interply waterproofing in some roofing systems.
Fishmouth – What a fish eats with; distorted membrane lap in roofing, resulting in an opening.
Shark fin – A closed fishmouth in roofing.
Spud – Tool for removing aggregate surfacing from a roof; the act of removing the aggregate; tater.
PRMA roof – Protected Roof Membrane Assembly, wherein the membrane is adhered, applied or laid onto the roof deck and is covered with a layer of insulation and ballast.
Ballast – Heavy materials (typically stone, concrete pavers, etc.) placed on a roof to hold down insulation or loose-laid membranes that might otherwise be blown off by wind.
Loose-laid – Not fastened or adhered.
Mud – Roof cement.
#$%! Gooey %&*@ – Roof cement.
Alligatoring – Interconnected cracking in pavement; pattern characteristic of depleted asphalt flood coat in roofing.
Flood coat – Hot (liquid) asphalt applied over top ply in built-up roofing system, usually followed by small aggregate surfacing.
Stoning – Installing aggregate surfacing in a flood coat on a built-up roof.
Resaturant – Material intended to rejuvenate asphalt in pavement or roofing by replacing depleted volatile constituents; waste of money.
Consultant – Someone who knows a hundred ways to make love, but doesn’t know any women.
Pitch pocket – Roof flashing consisting of a receptacle for sealant (or pitch), placed around an opening through which utility lines or other items penetrate a roof.
Protect Against Job-Site Hearing Loss
Restoration and construction job sites can be dangerous. Surprisingly, one of the most common job-site related injuries is occupational noise induced hearing loss. The equipment used on- site is extremely loud and over 30 million U.S. workers per year are exposed to noise levels that are high enough to cause irreversible hearing loss. Hearing loss can occur when a person is subjected to short but loud, intense noises as well as extended exposure to noise at a lower level. When a person has extended exposures to loud noises, sometimes the effects are so incremental that they may not even realize that they are being affected.
High decibel noises damage the inner ear, the delicate structure that converts sound vibrations into nerve impulses that the brain decodes. When the inner ear is damaged, you can have a decreased ability to hear and can eventually become deaf. OSHA guidelines for exposure to loud noise vary on a sliding scale depending on the severity. Exposure should be limited to 8 hours at 90 decibels, all the way down to 1 hour at 105 decibels, and 15 minutes or less at 115 decibels. For comparison, an average rock concert is around 110 decibels, while jet engines and jackhammers are about 120 decibels.
The good news is that hearing loss is preventable. Occupational noise induced hearing loss can be minimized by rotating workers on and off noisy tasks to limit the amount of time they are exposed to loud noises, or by using equipment with lower decibel ratings. The most important preventive measure is the use of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). This includes earplugs and earmuffs, which provide a barrier between the noise and the inner ear.
LEEDING The Way
In November 2013, the U.S. Green Building Council approved the implementation of the new LEED v4.
One of the biggest changes from LEED 2009 to LEED v4 is the importance of transparency. This means an increase in the disclosure and awareness in building product composition and manufacturing processes. Three different areas of LEED v4 address this issue of transparency: reporting the sourcing of raw materials, reporting of environmental impacts and disclosing of material ingredients. Tools that are used for measuring transparency include Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), Product Category Rules (PCR) and Health Product Declarations (HPD).
Building Life Cycle Impact Reduction credits can be awarded by using a large percentage of reused or salvaged materials, or by conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and comparing it to a baseline building. There are also Disclosure and Optimization credits that can be given, which encourage building material manufacturers to disclose significant information about their products. In an attempt to make the adjustments easier, if LCA shows that a building is not environmentally-friendly, it can still be awarded LEED credits for disclosing the information.
Is Your Building Suitable For Solar Power?
Solar panel systems are lighter than most people expect. Generally, they add less than 4 lb. per square foot of load to the roof. Most construction after 1970 is designed to support much greater loads than this and may not require structural upgrades. Buildings older than 1970 may need some structural work before the solar panels can be installed. Another important factor is the age and condition of your roof. A roof in poor condition is a cause for concern and repairs or replacement may be needed prior to installation.
Where to put the solar panels is important for maximizing the exposure to sunlight throughout the day. The orientation for maximum efficiency is due south. Southeast and southwest are also efficient orientations if you are unable to put panels directly due south.
Shade is a limiting factor for many solar panel networks. Different types of panels react differently to shade. A poly-crystalline panel will have a reduced output in the shade but a mono-crystalline panel will stop production all together. If shade is unavoidable, it is best if there are limited shadows during the optimum production hours (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) The location of your building, in terms of latitude, determines the ideal angle of tilt for the panels. In Maryland, at a latitude of around 40 degrees, the best tilt range is between 20 and 40 degrees.
The number of panels needed is based on several factors. First, the average amount of energy that you want to generate and your building consumes a day is needed. Your monthly electricity bill can be then be used to see how much power your solar network needs to produce to keep up with your energy demands. An average sized solar panel produces around 100 watts per day. The amount of panels needed is based on this number as well as how efficient the angle and location of the panels are.
More on Pervious Concrete
A previous blog entry “Escaping the Hardship of Hardscapes” was an introduction to pervious pavement. Here we get a little more in depth.
We hear a lot about impervious surfaces such as parking lots, creating run-off that can be detrimental to both human and environmental health. One of the solutions being used increasingly is pervious concrete.
Pervious concrete uses many of the same ingredients that normal concrete uses- cement, water and gravel. The main difference is that little to no sand is used in the production of pervious concrete. This creates voids that allow water to flow through the pavement quickly. Typically, 15-25% voids are achieved, which allows for the flow rate of water through the concrete to be between 3-8 gallons per minute per square foot. The water is then stored in a coarse gravel layer underneath or allowed to percolate into the underlying soil.
So the main question: Is porous concrete strong enough to be do the job of normal concrete?
The answer is yes. Normal concrete used for pavement has an average compressive strength ranging between 3,000 to 5,000 psi, which is the same for pervious concrete. While it cannot be used for all applications, it can be used for a wide range of projects. The most common applications include parking lots, driveways, sub-division streets and sidewalks. Unfortunately, pervious concrete is not a viable option for highly traveled pavement. Pervious concrete has a rough textured, honeycomb surface, so when there is a large amount of traffic on this concrete, tire shear can loosen the aggregate on the surface.
Watch for an upcoming article about the special maintenance procedures needed for pervious pavements!
Cassie Ties The Knot
ETC would like to extend a heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS to our staff engineer, Cassie Park (a.k.a. Cassie Thompson) and her new husband Andrew! They were married in Port Republic, Virginia on May 17th.
We’ll have to say, you sure make one fine-looking couple. Wishing you many happy years together…..and welcome to the ETC family, Andrew!
In The Know with Stamped Concrete
We routinely encounter stamped concrete in the course of our work and a number of issues seem to be commonplace. Where exposed to chemical deicers, particularly sodium chloride (salt), scaling/spalling is present far more often than not. Salt reduces the freezing point of water, thereby potentially increasing the number of damaging freeze-thaw cycles.
Concrete is porous and readily absorbs water and ice formation exerts enough pressure to break concrete. Salt is also hygroscopic and will draw more water into concrete, increasing the hydraulic force produced by freezing. Air entrainment (introduction of agents to produce uniform, microscopic air bubbles) helps reduce vulnerability to freeze/thaw damage by providing chambers into which freezing water can expand.
In larger installations (such as paving for roadways and parking lots, pool decks, etc.) we have found that random cracking is the norm. Cast-in-place concrete of any significant size (stamped or not) will inevitably crack. Weakened planes (control joints) are normally formed or cut into concrete to influence where those cracks manifest and the key word here is “influence”. If control joints are properly spaced (24 to 36 times the slab thickness) and of sufficient depth (at least one-quarter of the slab thickness) they’re usually effective, provided the concrete was properly mixed, placed, and cured, and the underlying soil is firm enough to support it.
Concrete strength is a function of mix ratio (amounts of Portland cement, sand, gravel, water, and chemical admixtures). Of particular concern is water. The strongest concretes have just enough water in the mix to ensure hydration, but the drier the mix, the harder it is to work with. More water makes the paste more plastic and workable, but that produces a weaker concrete and promotes cracking. As the concrete cures, it loses water, which means it loses mass. It shrinks, and more water translates to more shrinkage. When shrinkage is restrained (such as by supporting soils) tensile stresses develop and concrete is weak in tension. Plasticizers can be added to make concrete more workable with less water.
Proper curing is a key step in controlling the rate of shrinkage (slow is better and produces stronger concrete). According to standards published by the American Concrete Institute (ACI), at least seven days of wet curing is needed for non-rapid setting concrete. Wet-curing entails placement of soaked burlap or other fabric over the concrete and covering it with plastic sheeting, along with re-wetting as needed. A less costly, easier, but less effective alternative is the use of curing agents (usually waxy coatings intended to retard evaporation). Rapid curing is a major cause of cracking in concrete and placement during hot weather accelerates the process, especially in the absence of wet curing.
Stamped concrete has its place in modern construction and we’re not suggesting it be avoided altogether, but you should be aware of its limitations. As with any type of construction, quality is essential to performance. We strongly recommend development of detailed specifications by a qualified engineer and inspections of placement operations by a qualified professional are also essential.
Why Do Retaining Walls Collapse?
The YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrNluXrrHKY of the recent retaining wall failure in Baltimore after several days of heavy rains highlighted to many how devastating a retaining wall collapse can be. While we were not involved with this situation, we are currently working on several retaining wall replacement projects that resulted from collapses.
There are typically two causes for a retaining wall failure. The first is old age and the associated general deterioration of the structural integrity of the wall. As the wall ages and decays it gets to the point that it is not strong enough to support the weight of the soil behind the wall , so it becomes overloaded, and fails. The second is saturated soils, usually from rain, due to a lack of a proper drainage system behind the wall.
A drainage system usually includes a layer of gravel, drain pipes, and weep holes through the wall that allow water that tends to collect behind the wall a way to exit. Retaining walls are not typically designed to resist the weight of soil and water. So when hydrostatic pressure builds up behind a wall, it can become overloaded and fail.
Hosting a Deck Party? Read This!
The safety of exterior, wood, elevated decks, balconies and porches has dramatically increased as a result of Building Code changes made via lessons learned from structural collapses. One of the causes of deck collapses is lateral loads, which can be hard to quantity.
Recent studies by the Washington State University revealed significant information from laboratory experiments on full-size decks where cyclic side-sway and impulse loads were applied. In the experiment, when a cyclic (i.e. rhythmic) load was applied the people on the deck synchronized with the force and magnified the lateral load.
The study concluded that lateral loading caused by the occupants will often exceed the worst-case loads expected from either seismic or wind events. This result can be alarming, since high wind and seismic regions are well defined, but a dance party can break out anywhere.
For detailed information about the experiment conducted please visit http://www.structuremag.org/ , publication January, 2014