The Concrete Network Publishes Info Booklet on Pool Decks

Click our headline to go to the Concrete Network-

Yucaipa, CA June 11, 2008 -- Pool decks have become an important facet in transforming the pool and backyard area into a mini-resort area. The Concrete Pool Decks catalog, made available on ConcreteNetwork.com, is a convenient source of information for homeowners, builders and designers who are considering a concrete pool deck and want to understand the versatility and affordability of decorative concrete.

One of the most important considerations for any pool deck is the type of material to be used. This catalog features information on the available patterns, colors, textures, designs, and styles possible with decorative concrete. Featuring 13 pages of full-color pool deck photos offering great ideas for planning a project. The catalog also provides information on popular stamp and stenciling patterns, exposed aggregate applications and more.

"The benefits of concrete are many. It can provide an extremely durable surface, as compared to a wooden deck or even stone," explains Silvano Salvatici of Sublime Concrete Solutions. "With the new techniques for stamping and applying decorative concrete, any look can be created at a fraction of the cost."

Decorative concrete has opened the doors to creating pool decks that complement the exterior of the home and meld with the outdoor environment by incorporating other features like lighting and sound, spas, waterfalls and more.

Have an existing pool deck? There is no need to replace the entire deck. Decorative concrete overlays and toppings, highlighted in this catalog, allow homeowners the option to spruce up and existing deck. Textured and colored overlays can be applied over just about any surface. Some companies offer a spray-applied texture coat that provides the same decorative options, but also offers a slip resistant finish.

Read more about concrete.

Established in 1999, The Concrete Network's purpose is to educate consumers, builders, and contractors on popular decorative techniques and applications. These include stamped concrete, stained concrete floors, concrete countertops, polished concrete, and much more. In 2007 The Concrete Network Website had over 11 million visitors researching decorative concrete.

The site excels at connecting buyers with local contractors in their area through its Find a Concrete Contractor service. The service provides visitors with a list of decorative concrete contractors throughout the U.S. and Canada, and is fully searchable by 23 types of decorative concrete work and 202 regional areas throughout North America.

Life Paint Announces Training Class, Scheduled for July 24, 2008

Click our headline to go to Life Paint's contact page for more info;

Life Paint announced the date of their "HOW TO" Clinic and Live Demo of their line of deck coating and concrete coating products to be Thursday July 24, 2008 at their plant at 12927 Sunshine Ave in Santa Fe Springs CA.

The 4 systems that will be discussed and demo'd will be the Texture-Crete System with Acrylic Stain, The AL metal lath cementious system for plywood decks, the MACoat System, for concrete decks and their Epoxy System for interior concrete floors/garages.

Sign up today for this event; pre-paid admission is only $25.00, but you'll pay $50 at the door if you just show up. RSVP to Leonard Moraga by 7 18 08, tell him you saw the information here at our blog!

PCBC Humming With Activity

Winding it down today, PCBC was pretty busy from reports from several manufacturer's I know are displaying.

Mer-Ko, with parent Parex/LaHabra is there...they got some serious real estate tied up in prime spot...

Pli-Dek has a nice looking booth too. Pli-Dek has snappy new literature and binders at their booth waiting for you.

I got a great sample from Multi-coat, their Slatex Systems Below Grade Waterproofing system on a mini-cinder block.

Lots of interesting products, not much new on decking this year that I've heard of. I saw one manufacturer, Quick Drain has a cool stainless steel trough with a snap in cover that looks like it might be adaptable to waterproof decking.

One thing to remember when venting decks in California; new codes require vents that won't let embers in. Gunter Manufacturing 916-652-7424 has 'em. Fire safety is not something to trifle with. These vents will keep you in complaince with California Willand-Urban Interface fire code program.

AVM, Westcoat and Excelelnt Coating/Tufflex are there too, so stop by the show and see the many products and solutions to your building needs.

Plastic Balcony Waterproofing Used on Building in England

From "Ye Olde Englande" comes this story about plastic (cold liquid applied) waterproofing...read on ye merry wenches and wags...

BALCONIES FIT FOR A KING
building
Liquid Plastics
26/06/2008

Liquid Plastics provides Balcons Deco system for King Street Housing Society

26th June 2008 – Liquid Plastics, manufacturer of quality seamless protection systems, has supplied a Balcons Deco waterproofing system to protect the balconies of the new-build Wulfstan Way Flats in Cambridge.

Designed by architects Bland, Brown, and Cole the flats will provide sheltered accommodation for the elderly. The biggest challenge during the project for Deejak Builders (Rushden) Ltd, the main contractor, was to complete the balcony waterproofing within three weeks.

Tower Asphalt Ltd., one of Liquid Plastics’ Quality Assured Contractors, applied the system; “Decothane Balcons is a liquid applied membrane, which makes it easy to dress to intricate detail areas,” comments Keith Marzetti from Tower Asphalt Ltd. “As all building works were virtually finished, this also helped us to complete the project with minimum disruption and provide a highly durable, seamless waterproof finish.”

The concrete balconies at Wulfstan Way had a complete Balcons Deco system installed consisting of two coats of fully reinforced Decothane Balcons, with a decorative paint flake mix broadcast into a third coat and sealed with Balcony Sealer 60. Not only could this system be quickly completed, it is also cold applied and therefore no heat or naked flame were necessary.

The addition of a paint flake mix to a coloured coat of Decothane Balcons allows the system to provide a highly aesthetic finish, not only pleasing to the eye but also highly durable and guaranteed to remain waterproof for 10 years. A skid inhibiting agent is also added to the Balcony Sealer to ensure that the surface is suitable and safe for pedestrian traffic – particularly important for this project because of the need to meet full mobility standards.

Tom Hanks Loses Construction Defect Lawsuit After Losing at Arbitration

Actor Tom hanks lost his bid to sue his contractor in Idaho after a Judge threw out the case on a technicality; he'd already lost at an arbitration, where his contractor was awarded 1.8 million or so.

Now Hanks also faces a lawsuit against him, possibly for spiteful or improper purposes in regards to his lawsuit, for damages and costs of defense.

Click the headline and read all about it...

APA The Engineered Wood Association, answers a question on T & G Plywood for decks and roofs

At the APA Website was this question on T & G Plywood...read more at APA by clicking our headline...

Help Desk Question: Panel Edge Support - What Role Does Tongue-and-Groove Play?
Posted At : August 31, 2007 1:15 PM | Posted By : Merritt Kline
Related Categories: OSB,Code,Plywood,Help Desk,Floors,Roofs

APA Help DeskQuestion: What purpose does tongue-and-groove (T&G) serve on a roof deck or balcony with inhabited space below? What are the advantages of using T&G in an exterior deck application if, for example, the deck is a subfloor to an exterior balcony with waterproofing and 2-inch topping slab over inhabited space, or a low slope roof deck?

Answer: Tongue-and-groove edges are a type of edge support for wood structural panel sheathing. Other types of edge support appropriate for roof sheathing are edge clips (H clips) and lumber blocking.

The purpose of edge support is twofold.

1. Assure that panels meet minimum load capacity requirements when loads are applied near a panel edge.
2. Limit differential panel deflection when loads are applied near a panel edge.

Roof deck sheathing requires edge support when panels are applied over framing spaced greater than certain specified spans.

Balcony and outdoor deck sheathing must meet floor sheathing requirements. Edge support is required for all floor sheathing applications unless 1/4-inch minimum thickness underlayment or 1-1/2 inches of approved cellular or lightweight concrete, or 3/4-inch wood strip finish floor is applied. Acceptable forms of floor sheathing edge support are: T&G, or lumber blocking.

Is one method of edge support superior to the other? What is the strongest method: T&G, blocking, or H clips?

Although appearance is not typically an edge support consideration, when appearance is important, T&G may be the better choice.

Properly installed, lumber blocking is the strongest of the three methods. Edge clips, the least; however, for roof deck sheathing applications, edge clips are perfectly satisfactory and may facilitate proper panel spacing.

Picture of the Week-What Kind of Quality Does 40 Cents PSF Get You For Resealing Decks?

So I have been doing repair and a lot of deck coating replacement work on these Mer-Kote covered decks down south. A cold call has paid off in quite a bit of work and I am grateful...so when they asked me to bid to reseal all of their decks, less the ones on tap for replacement,I was was psyched. There's a lot of decks and a lot of square footage here so it was a bid of around 100k for me.
As I said, they are a Mer-Kote slip sheet system deck coatings. Someone spent a lot of time sloping these decks to drains in 3-5 locations on many decks (yes they are big! 700 sq feet each +). However, wear and tear from long term tenants who use these decks hard caused many to begin failing because of sun burn, grills burning areas, plants and contiguous building failures.
The remaining decks got cleaned and resealed by a competing bidder, who was actually a painting company. They did the job using Life Paint sealer color matched to the specifiactions of the management company.
I saw some of the decks that got redone...and this is what they looked like.
How long does anyone want to bet they'll last? Next rain?

The job came down to dollars and sense, we bid it to spec, the painter bid it to what he decided to do.
Pressure was them and then paint what's ;eft. A couple areas were so blasted apart we had to re-do them.

Contractor Jon A Gratzol, Inc. Has Excellent Booklet Online Regarding Deck Waterproofing and Prep

I found Jon A Gratzol Company's website on a Google search.
Serving only Western Washington state, Jon has the same attitude I do when it comes to waterproofing; we're the most important guy on the job, and if you don't like it, we'll walk if the conditions aren't right to enable us to perform the quality job we expect to perform for you. If your not going to do your part, Hasta La Vista Baby...it's not worth putting our name onto your project that is destined to have problems later because of existing problems today.

Substrate, sloping, plywood type, gapping, all things discussed here is in Jon's booklet.

Read Jon's booklet and learn yourself something by clicking our headline to go to his pages. I recommend it.

ASSOCIATION'S MAINTENANCE DUTIES- Reprinted from www.davis-stirling.com by Adams Kessler

From Adrian Adams desk comes this reminder to HOA's about maintenance responsibilities. For more articles, information, humor and more, visit our friends at
.



Reprinted from www.davis-stirling.com by Adams Kessler

ASSOCIATION'S MAINTENANCE DUTIES

Questions regarding maintenance duties are quite common. Operating through their boards of directors, associations have the following duties:
1. Duty to Inspect Common Areas. Boards must inspect the common areas every three years and prepare a reserve study listing all major components, the remaining useful life of those components and the cost to repair or replace them. Civil Code §1365.5(e)

2. Duty to Investigate Complaints. Whenever boards learn of common area problems, such as cracked sidewalks, roof leaks, plumbing backups, etc., they must investigate the problem. Corp. Code §7231(a) They don't need to personally inspect it, they can rely on managing agents, plumbers, etc. to investigate and report back to the board. If an owner reports a flood inside his/her unit, the board must determine if the leak is originating from (i) the owner's own plumbing, which is the owner's responsibility to repair, or (ii) the common area, which is the association's responsibility to repair. Civil Code §1364(a) Exclusive use common are will depend on your governing documents.

3. Duty to Repair. Regardless of fault, repairs must be made. If the leak is an owner's responsibility and he/she refuses to repair the damage, the board has three options: (i) initiate daily fines until the owner repairs the damage, (ii) repair the damage and bill the owner for reimbursement, and/or (iii) go into court for an order that the owner either repair the damage or step aside and allow the association to repair it (and assess the owner for reimbursement). The severity of the damage will determine the steps taken.

4. Duty to Disclose. If repairs to the common areas are deferred, the board must disclose to the membership the deferral and the board's plan for repairs. Civil Code §1365(a)(3)
Adrian Adams


Very truly yours,

Adrian Adams, Esq.
Adams Kessler PLC

AIA Trust's "White Paper" on Risk Management Ideas For Condominium Projects

Everyone has to deal with insurance and risk when building, developing and designing condo's-including the Architects. Very often builders form LLP's that just develop the condo you are looking to buy. When all the sales are closed, often the LLP is closed too, leaving entities that are still around to deal with the lawsuits from HOA attorney's.

This White paper from the AIA Trust, issued in April 2006 and authored by attorney G. William Quatman, FAIA, Esq of Shughart Thomson & Kilroy, P.C. in Kansas City MO, discusses the condo crisis and defect suits from the Architects' side and discusses how to deal with the problems in condo building.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Here are the highlights of the attached White Paper on risk management as relates
to condominium projects:

There has been incredible growth in the housing market nationwide. Construction
defect litigation has exploded in several states, drawing aggressive plaintiff law firms to
what has become a “cottage industry” of filing suits on behalf of condominium owners
and Homeowner Associations (“HOA”) against developers, contractors, architects and
others for actual or alleged defects. Some architects and contractors have dropped out of the condominium market due to suits and high insurance. Insurers for contractors have invoked exclusions in new policies for any residential construction and insurers for architects charge increased premiums and require a supplemental application for
condominium projects. With many condominium projects developed by single-purpose
LLC’s, which are dissolved after all the units are sold, the unit owners and HOA’s often have no recourse against the entity who sold them their unit. As a result, many sue the contractor and architect.

As of January 2006, a total of 27 State Legislatures have passed “Right-To-Cure” Acts
(or Construction Defect Acts) that are aimed to reduce suits by requiring the HOA and
the condominium unit owners to give advance written notice of a defect to the contractor prior to filing a lawsuit. In 14 states, the law also protects architects. See Appendix G for the full text of these statutes and hot links to the actual laws. These laws set out a pre-
claim procedure whereby the contractor (and sometimes the design professional) have
the right to inspect the property, conduct testing, and then offer to repair or settle the dispute, or to deny liability, before any lawsuit is filed. In a few states, the HOA must give advance notice to the unit owners and explain the options and the cost of litigation. In at least one state, the HOA board must send the owners a copy of the contractor’s responseto the claim and a vote is required before suit can be filed. These laws can greatly assist in reducing costly litigation, however in nearly 75% of the states there is currently no protection for the architect. AIA has lots of work to do in this area. Of the 27 states with “Right-To-Cure Laws”, only 14 of those include design defects or specific mention of architects.


CLICK THE HEADLINE TO READ THE ENTIRE PAPER AT AIA TRUST

Roof Deck Rehab in Morro Bay

West Coast Waterproofing (805-331-0700) recently completed the replacement of a 1000 square foot roof deck in Morro Bay.

The house was built apx 12 years ago, using a Dex-O-Tex slip sheet system installed by a local contractor. The deck installation wasn't done correctly from the start, the owner had problems with the job from the get go, and Crossfield had to inspect the job and make recommendations to repair problems left from the original install. Sloping issues, venting the slip sheet and ponding water all contributed to the early demise of the decking system, leaving the owner with little choice but to repalce it way sooner than should have been necessary.

In looking at jobs, one thing I always ask about is what the intended use is going to be. One of the uses for this deck was that a hot tub would be placed on the membrane. That information should have been enough for the installer to realize that Dex-O-Tex Weatherwear's system probably wasn't a suitable choice for this install, as the slip sheet must be able to "move and slip" over the substrate. Since a heavy hot tub was going on, this would restrict the movement.

We recommended tearing off the existing membrane, reusing the flashings if possible.
After stripping it off, we found only a couple of rusted areas of flashings, replaced those and then installed a Desert Crete decking system over the plywood deck.

The new deck looks great, the owner is very happy and we're confident knowing that the home will be well protected for years to come.

West Coast and I would be happy to quote you on your next job. If your interested in our high quality work standards, using high quality waterproofing materials from reputable manufacturer's with 80+ years of manufacturing experience, you should call me.

Price or quality? You can't get quality and a low price, you can only achieve quality when the applicator has the time needed to do his job correctly. Details count in waterproofing and when price counts more over quality, quality suffers, and so will you and your client.

Builders and contractors with high standards who value quality over price should call; those who value price over quality should not disturb us and instead call our competitors who need work and will price your job for speed, not quality.

Former Mer-Kote Employee Busy in Court

Former Mer-Kote salesperson David Krubinski has been busy in court lately, judging from our review of cases in the So Cal court system.

A suit filed against former employer Mer-Ko Parx/LaHabra resulted in some type of settlement from what we can tell from the information at the court website,

and in Riverside County, an ongoing suit under the Negligence category has Mr. Krubinski listed as a plaintiff and a defendant, along with long time Mer-Ko applictator WICR, Inc listed as the same thing, plaintiff and defendant.

Looks like there will be some interesting twists and turns on this case...

see below for the public information I was able to find on court web sites.



Superior Court of California, County of Riverside
www.riverside.courts.ca.gov Page: 117

HONORABLE - Judge William R. Bailey
----------------------------------------------------------------------
DATE: 06/27/08 DEPT: 01
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. CASE #: INC052479 TIME: 8:30
CATEGORY: Negligence
CASE NAME: KRUBINSKI VS AGNEW
HEARING: Trial Setting Conference


PARTIES: FIRMS/ATTORNEY'S
Plaintiff:
DAVID KRUBINSKI SEIFER & ASSOCIATES PLC
CAROL KRUBINSKI LAW OFFICE OF JOHN W. TOWER
PREMIER MECHANICAL SERVICES IN THE MORRISON LAW GROUP
MARVIN W AGNEW LAW OFFICES OF JOSEPH A ROMAN
WANKE INDUSTRIAL COMMERICIAL R LAW OFFICES OF JOSEPH A ROMAN
WICR & MWA CONTRACTING LAW OFFICES OF JOSEPH A ROMAN
MURDICA CUSTOM CONCRETE INC BREMER & WHYTE, LLP
DENNIS THERIEAU WAIT & COLFER
PANCHOS CONCRETE INC JAMPOL ZIMET SKANE & WILCOX LL


Defendant:
MARVIN W AGNEW LAW OFFICES OF JOSEPH A ROMAN
WANKE INDUSTRIAL COMMERICIAL R LAW OFFICES OF JOSEPH A ROMAN
WICR & MWA CONTRACTING LAW OFFICES OF JOSEPH A ROMAN
DEW ROOFING INC KOLETSKY MANCINI FELDMAN & MOR
PREMIER MECHANICAL SERVICES IN THE MORRISON LAW GROUP
DENNIS THERIEAU WAIT & COLFER
MURDICA CUSTOM CONCRETE INC BREMER & WHYTE, LLP
BENEDETTI CONSTRUCTION MANAGEM HUGHES LAW FIRM
TANDEM WEST GLASS INC WAIT & COLFER
MARC AVRIETTE & COMPANY BONETATI SASAKI KINCAID & KINC
CHARLES SCICLI PLUMBING LAW OFFICE OF MARK J. SKAPIK,
DAVID KRUBINSKI
CAROL KRUBINSKI
MARVIN W AGNEW LAW OFFICES OF JOSEPH A ROMAN
WANKE INDUSTRIAL COMMERCIAL RE LAW OFFICES OF JOSEPH A ROMAN
WICR & MWA CONTRACTING LAW OFFICES OF JOSEPH A ROMAN
DEW ROOFING INC KOLETSKY MANCINI FELDMAN & MOR
MURDICA CUSTOM CONCRETE INC BREMER & WHYTE, LLP
CHARLES SCICLI PLUMBING
CURTIS SHUPE PRO/PER
DENNIS LAW OFFICES OF WAIT & CHILDS
DEW ROOFING INC KOLETSKY MANCINI FELDMAN & MOR
PREMIER MECHANICAL SERVICES IN THE MORRISON LAW GROUP
DENNIS THERIEAU WAIT & CHILDS ATTORNEYS AT LAW
MURDICA CUSTOM CONCRETE INC BREMER & WHYTE, LLP
BENEDETTI CONSTRUCTION MANAGEM HUGHES LAW FIRM
TANDEM WEST GLASS INC LAW OFFICES OF WAIT & CHILDS
MARC AVRIETTE & COMPANY BONETATI SASAKI KINCAID & KINC
 Superior Court of California, County of Riverside
www.riverside.courts.ca.gov Page: 118
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Case No. Case Title Case Type Filing Date Category
07CC09768 MAZOR-KRUBINSKI VS PAREXLAHABRA INC FRAUD 09/11/2007 CIVIL - UNLIMITED

Participants
Results 1 - 10 of 120000000000<>
Name Type Assoc Start Date End Date
LINDBORG & DRILL LLP ATTORNEY 09/11/2007
MER-KOTE PRODUCTS, INC DEFENDANT 09/11/2007
TIM MCDONALD DEFENDANT 09/11/2007
ALLEN MATKINS LECK GAMBLE MALLORY & NA ATTORNEY 10/03/2007
PAREXLAHABRA, INC DEFENDANT 09/11/2007
STONE ROSENBLATT CHA PLC ATTORNEY 10/03/2007
I.C.R. SERVICES LLC PLAINTIFF 09/11/2007
MATERIS-FRANCE DEFENDANT 09/11/2007
DAVID LEON MAZOR-KRUBINSKI PLAINTIFF 09/11/2007
PAT MILLER DEFENDANT 09/11/2007

Hearings
Results 1 - 10 of 280000000000<>
Event Scheduled Date Start Time Dept Judge
MOTION FOR SANCTIONS 05/27/2008 09:00 C33 GLASS
MOTION TO COMPEL RESPONSE TO REQUESTS FOR ADMISSIONS 05/27/2008 09:00 C33 GLASS
MOTION FOR TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS 05/27/2008 09:00 C33 GLASS
MOTION - OTHER 05/27/2008 09:00 C33 GLASS
MOTION FOR SANCTIONS 05/06/2008 09:00 C33
MOTION FOR SANCTIONS 05/06/2008 09:00 C33
MOTION TO COMPEL FURTHER RESPONSES TO FORM INTERROGATORIES 05/06/2008 09:00 C33
MOTION - OTHER 05/06/2008 09:00 C33
CHAMBERS WORK 04/28/2008 02:32 C33 GLASS
MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER 04/15/2008 09:00 C33 GLASS

Register of Actions
Results 1 - 10 of 191000000000<>
ROA # Docket Entry Filing Date Filing Party
196 CASE DISMISSED WITH DISPOSITION OF REQUEST FOR DISMISSAL 06/10/2008
195 REQUEST FOR DISMISSAL FILED BY PAREXLAHABRA, INC ON 06/09/2008 06/09/2008 PAREXLAHABRA, INC ON 06/09/2008
194 REQUEST FOR DISMISSAL FILED BY I.C.R. SERVICES LLC; MAZOR-KRUBINSKI, DAVID LEON ON 06/05/2008 06/05/2008 I.C.R. SERVICES LLC; MAZOR-KRUBINSKI, DAVID LEON ON 06/05/2008
193 REQUEST FOR DISMISSAL SUBMITTED BY PAREXLAHABRA, INC REJECTED ON 06/05/2008. 06/05/2008
192 NOTICE - OTHER (OF UNAVAILABILITY) FILED BY MCDONALD, TIM; MILLER, PAT ON 06/02/2008 06/02/2008 MCDONALD, TIM; MILLER, PAT ON 06/02/2008
191 MINUTES FINALIZED FOR MOTION FOR TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS 05/27/2008 09:00:00 AM. 05/29/2008
190 NOTICE OF RULING FILED BY MAZOR-KRUBINSKI, DAVID LEON ON 04/02/2008 04/02/2008 MAZOR-KRUBINSKI, DAVID LEON ON 04/02/2008
189 ORDER - OTHER (CASE MANAGEMENT ORDER) FILED BY PAREXLAHABRA, INC ON 05/09/2008 05/09/2008 PAREXLAHABRA, INC ON 05/09/2008
188 ORDER - OTHER (CASE MANAGEMENT ORDER) FILED BY MAZOR-KRUBINSKI, DAVID LEON ON 05/09/2008 05/09/2008 MAZOR-KRUBINSKI, DAVID LEON ON 05/09/2008
187 NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT FILED BY MCDONALD, TIM; MILLER, PAT ON 05/08/2008 05/08/2008 MCDONALD, TIM; MILLER, PAT ON 05/08/2008

Deck Expert Continues Quest to Be Listed Applicator-Attends Mer-Ko/Parex "Fundamentals of Mer-Ko Seamless Decking & Waterproofing" Training Class

(click our headline to go to Mer-Ko's website)

Continuing my quest to understand Mer-Ko's deck systems and to become a listed applicator, I was in Torrance Thursday morning; the weather cooperated and while it was warm and sunny, left the thermostat turned down somewhat, unlike what most of California is feeling for heat currently.

Approximately 28-30 persons gathered under the outdoor tent to watch Mer-Ko's in house installer/product tester Ken Rhodes demonstrate the correct installation procedures for the Shur-deck and the Weather Deck systems, as well as the Pedestrian and Auto Deck urethane systems for use over plywood and concrete substrates.

I learned lots of new things, specifications have changed on these products as Mer-ko makes refinements and improvements, so installers take note. Seemingly simple things too, like when on a long run of laying down the slip sheet, if you run short, be sure to stagger the short laps to opposite ends of the deck.

Mer-Ko introduced their new "Prep-Seal", a required step now in the Shurdeck application over bare plywood as a moisture barrier so that the plywood doesn't absorb the water out of the Shurdeck construction coat.

Also introduced was Mer-Ko's new pigmented sealers; now manufactured and developed back in house, after being subbed out for a few years. Mer-Ko Business Manager Susan Foster told us the product was better and cost the same.

A mix of a couple architects, a couple HOA rehab contractors and Mer-Ko applicators were in attendance with myself and there was lots of questions thrown about, and I think it resulted in a nice meeting with everyone learning something new.

Mer-Ko talked more about their future plans and developments, it appears that being owned by a company with cash can make things happen, and things are happening at Mer-ko...

PCBC NEXT WEEK!

Be there or be square?

Should be interesting to see who is there this year, what's being talked about (soft market) and building products...

See you there on Wednesday...

Crane at Aspen Co. Job Site Collapses with 10,000# Pot of Waterproofing, Injures Worker

A crane collapsed with a pot of waterproofing at the end of it's hook, causing injury to a worker at a new building being erected at Snowmass Village, near Aspen CO.

Click our headline to read the story at THE ASPEN TIMES website.

When The Onion Spoof's HOA's, You Know You've Made It...

Follow the link to "The Onion", Americas Finest New Source, for this funny spoof on HOA's and the humor that can evolve from the ordinary mundane things we argue and make rules about...

Elite Crete announces Advanced Training Seminar This Weekend In LA

Elite Crete LA, on Rose Avenue in Signal Hill, announced a training session on advanced decorative techniques this coming weekend.

Click the headline to get a registration form.

If business is slow, decorative finishing may help you bolster your bottom line...

Our 6th anniversary passes by quietly this week...

It was dated June 6th, 2002, the employment contract I have in my files from the first company to hire me as a salesperson/estimator for waterproof deck coatings and we opened up our office in a historic building/warehouse in San Luis Obispo...and the rest is history, as they say.

Pretty funny now to think about how it all went down...a guy who was the sales man for Deck masters of Lake Forest CA, talking his boss into letting him hire me and sell jobs for them...funny stories, our office building burned, tales of a crew of our guys who got carted away by immigration, the truck gets impounded...

So here it is 6 years later, I'm celebrating a small milestone and look forward to providing you with news, entertainment, advice and service, along with great decking products in the central coast area of California.

Waterproofdeckcoatingadvice.com is going dot MOBI

Yep, that's right, we'll be on your mobile phone soon enough with our special sized version of www.waterproofdeckcoatingadvice.com's mobile web site, sized just for your cell phone screen.

We're working on a small site that will have basic information and advice on all things deck coating related.

Check back soon for further updates!

Pac Poly Web Site Friendly To Users Who "Habla Espanol"

Out of many websites for deck coatings, I've only found one whose website is "bi-lingual", that of Pacific Polymers.

A link at their home page to an all Spanish site is certainly friendlier to Spanish speakers than just an "English only" web site and will certainly bring in more users to their site and ultimately using their product.

Another nice feature of the site is the coverage calculator for their materials; allowing a fast way to get an estimate of how much material you'll need and what. I did the BT-90 below grade waterproofing to 90 mils dr film thickness on 1200 square feet.
The calculator tells me I need 4 gallons of primer and 90 gallons total of BT-90 in three applications to achieve 90 mils. Now I can call Whitecap or Smalley & Co. to get pricing on the totals I need...very useful tool indeed.

I wish other manufacturer's would put up Spanish websites. I know a lot of my guys aren't great when it comes to reading and writing in English, but are fluent and able to read Spanish!

A nice website all in all from Pac Poly...

Sure Signs That Business is Slow....and My Prediction That a Few Deck Coating Companies Will Fold Before Long. In the meantime, it's the wild wes

Around here in San Luis Obispo/Santa Maria/Paso Robles area, there were a number of big projects going on...multi=family housing, apartments, production single family...most of it is stopped dead in their tracks, homes not selling, foreclosures way up, business down.

Went by my competitor's office in Grover Beach after looking at a small job in GB. I don't know how many trucks he has, but 7 of them were lined up side by side, idle in the parking lot out front.

Last week I was talking with the owner of a large manufacturer of deck coating materials; he was telling me that sales were off from last year by 40%.

I heard in last week passing that the owner of a deck coating company in San Clemente had his house foreclosed on by the bank...sure enough, a quick check of public records shows a "Reconveyance" title was recorded on May 12th. Sad to see a family down on their luck...

A Westcoat installer/general contractor related to me at at CAI luncheon in Orange County on Tuesday (6/10)that he was "way off" from last year.

One installer told me that their deck coating business is way down, and below grade work was now accounting for more than 70% of their business. He complained that companies he's never seen before in the deck coating business are now pushing in, seeking to increase their cash flow wherever they can.

I've seen that too, painters who now do deck coatings and waterproofing, general contractors who are doing their decks "in house" rather than sub out the work, in an effort to control costs and keep more of the pie to themselves.

These days it's very much "buyer beware" as low ball bids will grab a buyers eyes and they may be lured in by the scent of a low cost and one of two things may occur; one you'll get hit with cxhange orders for "work that wasn't included on your bid" because they ignored it until they had you in a contract, or two, you'll just get a crappy job that doesn't address all the issues you have.

Waterproofing isn't something one does when business is slow, waterproofing is something one does because it requires an expert and you as the contractor are expected to have that expertise.
If you don't have the required expertise to properly inspect and bid a job, please stay in your comfort zone and pass on the bid to someone who knows what they are doing...

I think we'll see a time not to far away when companies start dropping out, victims of over leveraged business and personal homes that they can't support with their current cash flows and income...

BACKGROUND SEARCHES USING COURTHOUSE PUBLIC DOCUMENTS REVEAL VERY INTERESTING REULTS Construction Defects, Breach of Contract, even criminal!

I like to think I'm tech savvy, yet always I find a way to get humbled by a tool on the Web I never saw; like the PACER system for Federal Court actions.

Emboldened by my new tool, I then got the thought in my brain that the other courthouses are online too! Duhhh...so when you want to know about a company your thinking of doing business with, these tools will help you separate the wheat from the chaff.

So off i went to the world of online courthouse records. Having spent a little time there, searching some names out and seeing what came up, boy was I surprised! One company I worked for from Lake Forest/Aliso Viejo has a few civil actions against it or did, one very large installer in Orange County has/had a wrongful death action brought against them, and yet another installer/manufacturer company had about 20 actions against it that I found in Orange County and San Diego alone. Construction defect allegations, breach of contract, declaratory relief were the main actions brought up in the suits I saw on line. The Los Angeles website site is having difficulties so I couldn't search that site.

Civil actions, criminal, domestic, all manner of records are available with which to do your research and do back ground checks on potential companies your considering to do your work on waterproofing your deck.

I even found a criminal record on someone in one search...didn't say what it was for though. I think one must go to the courthouse to see the actual records.

Now, one must consider that I don't know, nor did I research, the disposition of any of these cases mentioned. I can only say that one must make decisions based on knowledge available and I would say that if it came to it, I would probably pick the company that had "only" 4 lawsuits recorded against it than one that has 15 or more...but that's just me.

The links below take you to a new tool to getting information on the dirt behind anyone your thinking of dealing with...a good tool to put in your arsenal. Have fun storming the castle!


san diego superior court

click here for the orange county civil court search page

Many Deck Coating Manufacturer's Still Need to Re-test and Upgrade their ICC reports

ICC-ES.org's website is a great provider of information. One item they provide free of charge to the public for their education and edification, is access to the thousands of reports on file with them regarding the fitness of a particular product for an construction application.

Much like Underwriter's Laboratory, where you wouldn't buy a product for your house like a lamp or tv that wasn't tested and approved by UL, you probably don't want to buy a building product that hasn't been approved by one of the industries trusted stalwarts, ICC.

Of the eighteen listed approved products on ICC's website for Division 7 Traffic Coatings, only 11 carry the new "ESR" tag before their report number.

Evaluation Service Reports supersedes the older "Legacy" report that a fair percentage of products are still living off of. These reports will need to be updated and converted to the new ESR reports if the manufacturer's of these products want to put the product onto new construction in the future as new code requirements must be met.

The new ESR report holders products all meet the new 2006 International Building and International Residence Code's. California has adopted a new code recently too, in 2007.

We advise that you be careful on putting down products that aren't converted or updated to the ESR reports. Substantial testing (and costs) are performed on the products to test them against the new code requirements. Click the headline to go to ICC's site for a full list of products with the "ESR" tags vs. those beginning with "ER". Installers need to be very careful, as do inspectors and architects and builders in what goes down on their buildings meets the intended fire codes.

Manufacturer's such as Mer-Kote's Weather deck and Shurdeck, AVM's Elasto fiber deck 100 Roof and Walking Deck system, Life Paint's AL system, and Excellent Coatings are the bigger companies/products awaiting an updated report. One should check with them directly to find out the staus of any new reports they may be expecting. See the list of manufacturer's at our website at
for contact information.

Although the new ESR reports do meet IRC and IBC, their are restrictions on the products in certain instances, so be careful to review each product under consideration. For example, both Pli-Dek and Hill Brothers products have wind resistance ratings that are much higher than others such as Westcoat's ALX system, which is restricted to buildings 40' in height in certain wind zones up to 80 mph (mostly the coastal areas). Desert Crete on the other hasnd is approved for wind up to 100 mph on buildings 60 feet in height in Exposure B zones.

I advise a careful review of each product to ensure it meets the original intended use and specifications. Consultation with experts is always advised, manufacturer's want to sell product, so one needs to be careful when cultivating their advice and opinions.

Builder & Developer Magazine Features Article Predicting That "The Perfect Litigation Wave Gathering Speed"

Don't know why May 2008's issue of Builder & Developer Magazine is just hitting my mailbox, however, inside the issue is an article by litigator Joe Ferrentino of Newmeyer & Dillon LLP in Newport Beach CA.

Joe's article discusses the "Right to Repair law" known as SB-800 and reviews what rights builders have and steps builders must take to protect those rights. The author predicts a coming wave of litigation brought about by plaintiff attorney's who fins easy targets in homeowners, who are unable to sell their homes due to current market conditions and see nothing to lose in tying up a property that isn't selling with litigation to recover for "defects".

Joe advises builders to carefully reviewing their risk management strategies as all the ingredients for the perfect litigation wave are present...
One thing the article doesn't discuss and is important to note, builders have to give maintenance manuals and owners are expected to maintain and inspect to be able to make claims later on "defects" that were instead caused by a lack of proper maintenance.

Read the article at Builder & Developer by clicking on our Headline above...

Ouch! These Condo Owners In Sarasota FLA Get Hit With Big Assessments to Fix Waterproofing Problems

My news feed this morning sent me this tip on a condo in Florida that has big waterproofing problems discovered in 2001 when Tropical Storm Gabrielle water tested the building...
and it apparently failed in a huge way.

A big mess of subcontractors, the developer, the waterproofing consultant, the architect and everyone else dragged in to the suit has bogged down the legal process and now the owners are special assessing themselves an average of $12,000+ (assessments are based on the square footage of your unit) to pay an estimated 3.15 million in repair costs and design fees.

Click our headline to go to Sarasota and read their article on these residents misery...

Log Cabin Home with Dex-O-Tex On It.

Not really a Picture of the Week, but some interesting pictures never the less...

My buddy Dave DiBaggio of Masterseal is doing this job in Orange County...not a typical house that you think you'd see in the OC, but a real log cabin up in the canyons and mountains above Anaheim.

This is the email I got from Dave describing the job...very cool job, very cool home. Call Dave at Masterseal for your next deck coating job in the OC, Dave will "Do It Best" he's a master and has 20 years experience as an applicator and manufacturer's rep. 949-355-5031 gets you the master direct, tell him I sent ya!

Hi guys,

This is the 3000 sf Fracture Resistant Membrane System installed for use under spaced wood decking and flagstone on the xxxxxxx Residence in Silverado. They are the ones who pressed for the 10 year warranty.

Metal lath + A-81 basecoat, A-81 sloping, 40 mils Barrier Guard with RPII fabric and Resistite protective coating was used. It was flood tested by the freak deluge last week (Williams Canyon is the next one over) and did not leak.

Flashings were stainless steel with SS nails and primed with AF Bondcoat.

Drains were Thunderbird copper balcony deck drains and tile drains with copper nails. The metal lath was held back to avoid contact with the copper and two plies of Barrier Guard and RPII fabric were installed around the drains for extra protection.

Lexel co-polymer sealant was used at all metal joints. The substrate was 3/4 ich - 1 inch exterior plywood (no OSB).

Plan on coming out to see this one in a few weeks. Its a
$2.5 custom log house type construction job that will make the OC magazines when its finished.

Picture of the Week a 62.5 degree difference!

So yesterday in San Luis Obispo, I'm finishing up securing a couple of posts on a deck we just redid, and I'm kneeling in the sun on the deck and put my hand down on the coating...ouch damn that's hot!

I wonder how hot? So I got out my new infrared thermometer...and measured. Hot deck, cool deck in the shade. What a difference...62 degrees cooler!

So even though it wasn't that hot (80's), you can see what your poor deck goes through with the torture tests. Can't wait until summer and I'm down Palm Springs way o see what readings I get out there.

"SUIT HURTS CONDO SALES" Blare the headlines...

This mornings headlines on my news feed featured this condo in Denver...


Suit hurts condo sales
Beauvallon HOA fights developer
By Margaret Jackson
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 05/30/2008 10:22:44 PM MDT

Owners with units for sale in the towering Beauvallon building at East 10th Avenue and Lincoln Street are struggling to sell their units because a lawsuit against the developer is dissuading potential buyers and hanging up financing for anyone still interested.

The suit, filed by the homeowners association, stems from alleged construction defects in the two-tower European-style condo building. It adds an extra layer of difficulty for owners already grappling with a deflated housing market and competing with lower-priced foreclosures in the building.

"If there's a lawsuit between the builder and the HOA, most lenders will not lend on it if it's in process and not resolved," said Chris Starks, senior loan officer at First Class Financial Services. "They're just trying to protect themselves. That's just standard lending practice."

Click the headline to go to the rest of the story...

Of the 26 properties listed for sale in the 210-unit Beauvallon, 12 are either in foreclosure or listed for less than the seller owes on the mortgage. Some real estate agents said they have cautioned their clients about purchasing in the building.

Several residents and sellers in the building declined to comment on the building or the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed last year against developer Craig Nassi and BCN Development, Swinerton Builders, Darlene Sandoval and Big Horn Plastering, gives a laundry list of problems with the building.

Improperly installed copper and metal roofing resulted in water damage to the penthouses and other units. Water damage to the units also occurred because of improper installation of exterior wall vents, balconies and decks, according to the lawsuit.

Deck Expert Endorses Depiction Software's Imaging Software as best software to buy that will increase your decorative coating business.

Having been sold on this software by the graciousness and care shown me by Diane Squire at World of Concrete, despite a horde of people clustering around, that and a 30 day money back guarantee...cause I'm thinking, like at most shows where I buy something that looks slick and will make me money, I am many times disappointed.

Not so with this software. I had to learn it and you will too, but learn it and work it and watch as maybe's and we'll get back to ya's become a thing of the past. Never mind lugging samples around of stuff that customers don't want to see.

Simply take out your digital camera (you do have one right?) take a picture or two of your customers project, then load the pictures into the software. In a few minutes, you can have sample images up on your screen of what the clients project will look like with a new finish on it. Thousands of images are available and you can add your own. Amazing...and so easy too.

As your clients get excited about what they're seeing, your asking the closing questions that gets you to take a contract and print it out on your HP portable printer, because you'll need to be ready to print out a contract with this software in your arsenal.

Buy this software and you'll leave your competitor in a workshop, making samples, while your closing their customer...or the next competitor will close them with Depiction Software. CLICK OUR HEADLINE TO GO TO DEPICTION'S WEBSITE

Big case in Santa Barbara area hotel defect case

Saw this lawsuit case on a google search...interesting reading so go ahead and click on the headline to read it

Waterproofdeckcoatingadvice.com's vistors hits new high!

Here's some stats from our web stat's

Continuing to prove it's worth, our website last month shattered the record number of visitors we got in March (3390 visits) and April's high of 3957 visitors by 291 visitors, to reach 4248 visitors!

While most are still visiting us with common key words and search phrases, I always like to look and see what uncommon searches led a visitor to us. Someone wanted to know "what kind of cement does Desert Crete use?" to find us. Someone else was looking for deck coating seminars.

Web searches always look for someone to install decking, someone was looking for Pli-Dek installers last month, another was looking for Dex-O-Tex at Home Depot.

Strange requests that led to a visit included "waterproofing a wine barrel". I can't tell you how to waterproof it, but I'll empty it for you...another searcher was looking for suntan lotion information and became so engrossed with our website they forgot about suntan lotion!

Someone else is looking to open a deck coating business, they wanted to know "how to run a successful deck coating business".

Seems someone always wants to know about problems on decks too; due diligence is recommended and we have the information to do it with...one wanted to know about urethane disadvantages and another wanted to know about Westcoat ALX performance. Another searcher wanted to know if Magnesite had asbestos in it. Answer is yes, up through the 60's and 70's Magnesite was made with asbestos...take all proper precautions!

Well I hope in filling your head with these trivial stats, we didn't remove anything of real value!