Derrick Penner
Sun
Another round in British Columbia‘s leaky condo crisis is emerging among highrise apartment owners suffering from failures of window systems, wall cladding and caulking methods to keep relentless coastal rains out of their tower complexes.
Tony Gioventu, executive director of the B.C. Condominium Homeowners Association, said he knows of 15 highrise buildings that have suffered problems among his organization’s membership alone, and the extent of the problems are “almost impossible to estimate.”
Strata owners are also starting to turn to the courts with multi-million-dollar lawsuits against their buildings’ developers and contractors seeking damages for what they claim is negligence in the design and construction of their homes.
The strata corporation of 289 Drake Street, Parkview Tower No. 1 on False Creek, is one case. Its lawsuit claims that the building was improperly sealed, that windows weren’t adequately fastened to slab and an inappropriate roofing membrane led to leaks that caused damage that rendered the building unfit for habitation.
Gioventu said there are other suits in the system or pending, but it would be impossible to guess how many.
Gioventu’s association is dedicated to helping educate strata corporations on the steps they need to take to protect their buildings, and get through the steps required to get their homes repaired.
“It’s been a pretty daunting task,” he added. “We just get a new one finished, and another comes along the line.”
Gioventu said buildings constructed in the 1980s and 1990s are most vulnerable to leaks. During that period, the construction industry shifted toward using external stucco-insulation systems where stucco is face-sealed to insulation, which is in turn fastened to the building.
He added that the problems in highrises are not new, nor are they much different from problems in wood-frame, low-rise leaky condos that first emerged in the late 1990s.
Highrise leaks, he said, simply take longer to be noticed because the corrosion of concrete, steel and stucco occurs much more slowly.
“You’ll find the reasons for buildings having problems [to be] quite different,” Gioventu said. “Sometimes the wall system may be perfectly fine, but the window system failed allowing water to get in.”
Other times, he added, it is a combination of problems from design, to materials, to caulking and cladding systems.
“Everyone thinks it is a cookie-cutter, systematic failure, and it isn’t, because no two buildings are built identically, he added.”
Gioventu added that problems with leaks are not always solely the result of failed designs or materials. He said building maintenance that is neglected or inadequate to keep up with deteriorating elements of a building envelope can also aggravate problems.
Gioventu said the industry has been quick to respond to the problems and has given much greater care to all the elements that seal a building off from the elements, from design, to engineering and construction.
There is also now a legislated and regulated warranty program for highrise condominiums, and in many cases such warranties cover the cost of repairing damage to buildings.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005