Michael Hamman

A DRAINAGE SYSTEM FOR THE CITY

michael — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:32:41 +0000

Where the buildings are built right to the property line, it is impossible to install a traditional drainage system on the outside of the foundation. We must install a system on the interior. Unfortunately, that usually requires removing the slab and replacing it. Usually, interior improvements must be removed as well. Once the slab is gone the ground is excavated to a depth of 8” below finish floor. Two trenches are then excavated, each one quarter of the way across the house and running the length of the house. These trenches are then tapered to create swales that also slope toward the drain point. Into each of these swales a perforated drain pipe is installed and connected together to exit the building. I always wrap these pipes in filter fabric to keep them from silting up and I install a cleanout at the upper end. I then install drain rock in the basement and compact it to a level 6” below finished floor. To prevent any water vapor from intruding I install a Visqueen vapor barrier, covered with 2” of course sand on top to break any capillarity action. On top of this goes the new reinforced concrete slab. Since it rests on fill, I always add additional reinforcement to the slab.

It is possible to dispose of the collected water on your property if you have enough land and if it is sloping in the right direction. However, it is a code violation for any of your water to pass onto your neighbor’s property, and you will be liable if it causes him any damage. Usually this water is disposed of in the city sewer system. A concrete sand trap is required to protect that system from any possible silt. All this is involved and expensive, but it is the only way I know of to guarantee a dry basement. Indeed, I am one of the few contractors that will offer a dry basement guarantee for seven years.

DRY BASEMENTS AND THE MYTH OF WATERPROOFING

michael — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:46:49 +0000

As I write this, it has been raining for a month and many who have a perpetually wet basement or garage are fed up to the point of doing something about it. I hope I caught you in time to advise against one of the many ineffective waterproofing schemes out there. Waterproofing by itself is rarely effective, and waterproofing applied on the inside of a slab or foundation is never effective. Water is relentless and inexorable. Even a system 99.99% effective will not keep you dry. The water will eventually find the flaws in the system, and to my knowledge (forty years experience), there is no perfect system. This was made apparent to me when I had the opportunity to visit the interior galleries deep inside the Glen Canyon Dam. We were over 100 feet below the surface of the lake and even with 20+ feet of high quality concrete between us and the water the walls leaked and the water had to be pumped out. Waterproofing applied to the outside has a better chance to succeed, for the pressure of the water pushes it into the wall, but anything applied inside will be pushed off by the pressure of the water. The only way to have a dry basement is to give the water someplace to go other than your basement. The walls and slabs must be drained. There is no other way.

The traditional drainage system is a French drain on the outside at the base of the wall. In an urban area such as ours, with zero lot line building, there is no way to install such a system, so many homes in the Bay Area don’t have any drainage system at all. The subterranean space was never intended to be living space and seasonal wetness was acceptable. With our modern lifestyles we often want to utilize these basement spaces. In my next post I will describe the scheme I have used with great success, retrofitting it into existing buildings, even those with water visibly flowing through the space. They are dry as a bone year after year, no dampness, and no mold,

WE DON’T NEED PLANS, DO WE?

michael — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 15:47:08 +0000

Part One

Drawings, or “plans”, serve two functions. They are an invaluable tool to use in creating the Plan for the project, and they provide a means of communicating that Plan to all the involved parties. Every project requires that many, many, questions be resolved. There is a tendency to resolve these issues as we go, in real time, and with real materials. I have actually had clients pay me to erect walls to “see” how the like them, only to tear them down and rebuild them. It should be obvious that this is an extravagant method of design. Sitting at a table with pencil and paper, one can draw dozens of wall arrangements and erase them until the optimal arrangement is achieved. Scale drawings allow one to insure the appliance will fit in the space, and that there is enough room for the door to clear the cabinets etc. Working out ALL these issues on paper in the beginning is the only way to insure the quality project everyone expects. When you open a door and the swing covers the light switch, or the cabinet doors bang into one another, or the window trim needs to be ripped to fit between the window and the wall, you know they did not pay for drawings. They decided that they would just work it out as they went along. In the course of construction, the wall switch goes in long before the door is installed and the window and wall are framed long before the trim scheme is determined. Few people will spend the money to rip out the wall switch and relocate it, or move the window after the walls are finished. The client simply lives with these little glitches. At the onset of a project, it may appear that it is cost-free to design as you go, but the cost to have everyone stand around while a decision is made, and then to have to make a decision when all the good options are precluded, is the most expensive way to build. Every page of drawing produced will save many, many times what it costs to draw. And figuring out every issue on paper is the ONLY way to insure the high quality project that everybody wants, and that all the pieces fit together correctly the first time. You would not start an expedition up the Amazon without a map, and you should never remodel a house without a full set of plans, because the glitches will eat you alive.

PLANNING IS A WASTE OF TIME, RIGHT?

michael — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 18:29:17 +0000

Way over half of all the project problems I have encountered in my 35 years of doing this are the result of non-existent or poor planning. Once a client decides to do a project, they always want to get started building right away and anything that delays that is seen as an obstacle. The urge to start sawing and hammering is almost irresistible, but resist it you should, for without a good and thorough plan, you will not get a satisfactory project. Every project, even a simple kitchen remodel, consists of hundreds of decisions, each with an almost unlimited number of possibilities. And each decision affects all the others. I get a lot of resistance from clients when I insist on knowing the appliance selections before we start. They, on the other hand, want to see the space before deciding. Obviously, we need to know this so we can create enough room for the appliance they want. All appliances come in a variety of sizes, but different stoves, for example, require different sized gas supplies, located in different places, and some require both electricity and gas. I cannot count the number of times we have had to tear out freshly painted walls to accommodate some last minute decision. At the beginning of the project, all things are possible, but at every stage of construction options are closed. Then, the client must either accept something less than they dreamed of, or pay a lot more to achieve it. I ask clients to even choose the color of paint they want because I have found that some colors work better with a high level wall finish. And knowing this in the beginning allows it to be included in the budget and schedule. Perhaps you have seen the shows on TV where they build an entire house in a weekend and hand the keys to a smiling client Monday morning. To achieve such a feat requires an extraordinary level of planning. Details down to figuring the amount of space each workman requires to perform his task without bumping the adjacent worker must be computed. Such meticulous planning may not be warranted on your project, but the more thorough you plan in advance, the more likely you are to get exactly what you want on time and on budget.

DEALING WITH BUILDING INSPECTORS

michael — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:44:53 +0000

Building departments and inspectors are widely perceived as being priests of some indecipherable religion known only to themselves. This is actually far from the truth, as inspectors are simply a type of cop who enforces the building code. This code is published and available to anyone (your contractor should have a copy).

Codes are indeed voluminous and complicated and, sometimes, subject to interpretation. Nevertheless, a contractor should be able to identify any “gray” areas in your project before starting and obtain clarification from the building department prior to starting. When a contractor complains that an inspector is requiring something completely unexpected, he is usually covering up for his unfamiliarity with the code or his error in estimating the cost of the project. All too often I hear horror stories about some expensive requirement imposed on a project by a building official completely out of the blue, “Who could have known?” Well, the truth is: the contractor could have, and should have, known about the requirement, and the owner should not have to pay.

Very occasionally, an inspector will indeed demand something outside the scope of the code, simply because it looks good, simply the way he likes to see it done. No one needs to comply with such demands. The first step should be to discuss it with the inspector and ask him to show you the section in the book he is referring to. If he cannot do this, there exists a chain of administrative relief, starting with his Chief and going up to the Director of the Department. Such appeals are generally successful as the Department does not want its inspectors making capricious and unsupported rulings.

SHOULD I GET A PERMIT?

michael — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:25:41 +0000

Often I get asked by those who want to start a remodeling project if we have to go through the tedious and time consuming process of getting a permit for the job from the City. The homeowner thinks that the job is small and that there is no need to bother with the hassle and the expense. But there are a number of important reasons for taking out a permit on your remodeling project:

First, of course, it is the law and there are significant fines associated with working without a permit. When you get caught it will cost you a lot more money and time to secure a permit that if you had one from the beginning.
It is difficult to hire competent contractors to do the work because, if they get caught working without a permit, they stand to lose their licenses.
Permitted work adds a great deal of value to the building when you sell it. This is especially true in a down market, with so many properties to choose from. Few buyers will buy a property with a lot of illegal work done on it. Remember, if the work was done without a permit, the work is, in fact, illegal and at some point, some future owner will need to legalize it or remove it. One cannot “grandfather” illegal work. Just because it is old doesn’t mean it is legal.
Obtaining a permit and having the required inspections during the course of construction is your best assurance of obtaining quality structural workmanship. (See my other Blogs to learn why this is so important)

As a buyer, one should beware of a building containing unpermitted work.

You don’t have a legal right to this work, be it a deck, a bedroom, or especially, an additional “illegal” dwelling unit. All it takes is one unhappy tenant or disgruntled neighbor to file an official complaint and eventually (It may take years but it will happen), the City will force you to legalize or remove the unpermitted work.
Any illegal work may cause problems should you wish to do any new work. You may need to “fix” the illegal work before you will get permission to do the project you have in mind.
Remedying unpermitted work always costs much, much more than you think it will. Negotiating solutions with the City is time consuming and stressful.
You may hear a seller say, “Don’t worry. I did everything to code. I just didn’t get a permit”. You should worry a great deal when you hear this, for it is never true. It is a code violation to do the work without a permit. Moreover, the person doing the work rarely even knows what the code requirements are.
And, finally, the only reason sellers don’t get a permit is to avoid some requirement of the code, some shortcut that will comeback to haunt you as long as you own the building.

WHY WORKMANSHIP IS IMPORTANT

michael — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:59:20 +0000

Most of us think of workmanship as the trim carpentry, tight fitting miters, three part crown molding, etc. But it is the workmanship you don’t see that is really important. We all have heard by now that shear walls comprise a key ingredient in preventing earthquake damage. Yet an improperly constructed wall can be totally worthless. In the Morgan Hill earthquake a large number of new homes suffered unexpected damage even though there were constructed to the MOST modern codes. Investigation revealed that the nailing was defective. Entire rows of nails never even hit a framing member. Florida requires extensive wind resistant construction, so officials were surprised to find enormous damage after recent storms. Again, investigation revealed faulty workmanship in constructing these buildings.

There are very few things in construction that have as big a payback as good structural workmanship. Simply putting the right size nail in the right place in a shear wall makes the difference between a building that survives an earthquake and one that doesn’t. The difference in cost is only a few nails, literally pennies.

In reinforced concrete the savings are even more dramatic. Rebar in a concrete structure adds enormous strength to the structure, many hundreds or thousands of percent more, yet that same rebar improperly located in the concrete even a few inches will be totally worthless. It takes exactly the same labor, and exactly the same material to do it right as it does to do it wrong.

Structural workmanship is difficult for the consumer to evaluate. The work is usually concealed by concrete or siding and, even when exposed, defects may not be apparent. The work may indeed “look” fine, but be totally worthless structurally. It is for this reason I always recommend doing the work with a permit. The building codes require the work to be inspected, often multiple times, by competent inspectors. This is the best way to insure the structural work is done right.

SOMETIMES THE CHEAPEST BID COSTS MORE

michael — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:07:09 +0000

Experience is important, but not just any experience. It must be experience in doing the kind of project you are planning to do.

A professional photographer wanted to renovate her home to accommodate studio space for her business. The project required raising the house, extensive foundation work, a two-story horizontal addition with two new baths, a kitchen remodel and other smaller renovations. She took bids from several contractors. A well regarded contractor with decades of experience in exactly this kind of work bid $380K. Another contractor with several years experience doing kitchen and bath remodels said he could do it for only $260K, so she went with him..

After spending over $200k, the work had slowed to a crawl. Little had been done for six months. Inspectors found many mistakes: steel beams in the wrong place, incorrectly placed walls that would not allow her expensive sliding doors to fit, nor would they allow the rear yard spiral staircase into the back yard. The contractor realized he had not charged nearly enough and was losing money, so he walked away form the project. Two years later, after spending another $480K, she had corrected the bad work and finished the project.

Unfortunately it is not unusual for projects to get out of control and require a new contractor. Typically, this happens when the homeowner hires someone on the cheap who underbids the project because he lacks the experience to properly estimate the cost. Let’s assume the amount of the competent bid is the true cost ($380k) of the project. The photographer spent $200k on the work done by her kitchen contractor, AND the cost to remove the bad work and finish the project (in this case an additional $480K, for a total project cost of $680K), plus she had to live through the additional year necessary to complete the job.

If you need open heart surgery, you are wise to have the work done by someone who does such surgeries all the time. The same advice holds true for your house remodel. You really don’t want to pay for your contractor’s on the job training. Remodeling costs enough if you do it right the first time. To do it again with a different contractor will cost more than you can imagine!

BEEN THERE-DONE THAT- IT’S A GOOD THING

michael — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 10:55:50 +0000

We have all heard the axiom that experience counts in the selection of a professional, such as a contractor. But have you ever wondered just why that is so?

No matter how well thought out the plan is and how specific, remodeling is full of unknowns and surprises. The more walls a contractor has opened in his career, the better able he is to anticipate what might be behind them. Fewer surprises translate into a smoother running project, on time, on budget, and with greater client satisfaction.

Recently, a friend of mine wanted to add a family room on the ground floor of her house. To do this meant that the garage had to be re-structured and she needed to move the driveway. The contractor, someone who had never moved a garage and a driveway before, agreed upon a fixed price of $85,000 for the complete project. Months later she told me she was reasonably happy with the project, but that the City had required a new sidewalk, curb and gutter, resulting in a sizeable change order of over twenty thousand dollars. “But of course,” she said, “who could have known that this would be required?”

A contractor experienced in this kind of work would have anticipated that the City would require these changes. If the contractor had addressed this in the beginning, my friend could have included the additional twenty thousand in the second mortgage she took out for the project rather than putting it on her credit card at an exorbitant rate if interest.