www.deckexpert.com now points to our website

Completing the last stage of the transfer of www.deckexpert.com to Waterproofdeckcoatingadvice.com's ownership, we have finished pointing the DNS servers to our website.
Previous readers of deckexpert.com will find a completely different website, filled with valuable information, advice and links to manufacturer's. We welcome you to our community and hope you'll come back!There is now substance and an actual deck expert behind the name, not just a company reselling a web site name.
New readers probably won't know any difference so welcome to our site as well...

Why amateurs should not try to waterproof decks

So these pictures are from my vault of horrors...what you are looking at are pictures of a job that I bid to do the waterproofing for a tile deck. The contractor decided he could do it himself in Avila Beach and this is pictures of the results.
Metal lath stapled down with what looked like an Arrow T-50 staple gun, Pac Poly rolled into the lath and whole areas just missed. Flashings, well, that's a joke. A competitor of mine took the redo of the job from me when they apparently agreed to not insist that the flashings all be removed (hope they got a waiver on flashing and leaks) and replaced.
Then there's a picture of the job when after it was exposed to UV for about 6 months, it started to fall apart.
This is another example of a million dollar defect waiting to happen and I'm glad I won't have to have my insurance deal with it, my competitor can.

Picture of the Week-Cracked Magnesite and What Lies Beneath

Today I drove to Monterey to see a client whose decks we'll be starting in on in a couple of weeks. We needed to meet the contractor, agree on the final scope of worka nd coordinate the trades involved-a sheet metal man who will be doing the flashings and the contractor doing the repairs to the buildings. I had looke dat it before last year and it was pretty rough looking Magnesite then...

I walked up the stairs at this apt building and the Magnesite didn't look any better after another year of use. I could then see a couple guys working on the walkway from underneath. Walking down the stairs to where they were, I had just walked over this nightmare. Here's the pictures of the top and what it looks like from down below!

The cracked Magnesite has leaked for years, allowing mold mildew and dry-rot to totally detsroy the framing. This work will cost tens of thousands to repair. Lesson, don't let Magnesite go unselaed and cracks un-fixed or it'll cost ya...

Pacific Polymers is Sold to Illinois Tool Works

Saw a search term for Pac Poly that caught my interest, so I dropped on by their website and true enough, they have an announcement that they were acquired by Illinois Tool Works, a publicly traded firm.
Can't find any news about it at Illinois Tool Works site...
It says they have 850 decentralized business units...maybe meaning that each is a separate entity.
Anyway, it seems the industry is rife with big changes yet again. We'll see what changes come in at Pac Poly...

Building Downturn effecting the deck coating manufacturer's and contractors

Having spoken with a fair number of companies, both manufacturer and installers, they are all saying here in California that business is slow. One manufacturer told me confidentially that the manufacturing line may be halted until materials already in inventory are sold..another told me that they aren't seeing any new construction to speak of and that their business has dropped by 40% since last year.

A contractor told me that they were dead down in San Diego county...

Locally, I'm seeing some low bids from my competitors who due to their staying local nature, have to get work here. Fortunately I travel all over and my core business hasn't slowed down on rehab and maintenance work.

I am always grateful to my many repeat customers who remember me...you help keep us going and in turn, we take care of you.

Are the dead condo projects of today the defect nightmares of tomorrow?

Having read in both our local papers and statewide/nationwide publications the dire news of homebuilding sputtering to a stop amongst production builders; I read about several such local projects that was infamously featured in the Tribune when a local hard money lender went belly up, causing numerous projects to come to a screeching halt due to a lack of funding.

This one particular condo project in San Luis Obispo has been framed out, windows in, paper for stucco up and decks just starting to be dried in when it seems the money stopped coming in.

Now it's been sitting for months out in the weather- rain, heat cold, sun all being thrown at OSB siding, plywood and waterproofing materials that aren't designed for long exposure to the elements.

On some decks, there is plywood, delaminating, splitting, checking. On others, OSB, exposed where the work stopped with lath and cement down on most but not all areas.

All these areas and materials-what will be done when this job eventually starts back up again? These waterproofing materials are all compromised by weather and exposure. Mold, mildew and fungus dry-rot spores are all probably about, starting their mayhem.
Will a builder pull the materials off and start anew? Probably not, there's not going to be enough funding to do so-investors wnat their money out of the project, they already have to much in and the builder wants to "get 'er done" as I rip off Larry The Cable Guy's line.

It will be interesting to see what evolves when and if this project gets going again. What will the subs say about the weatherbeaten materials? Will they accept them and go over them? There's a saying in the industry of "You cover it, you own it."

If I was the deck guy on this project, I wouldn't be covering over any of the materials I saw yesterday on this job...

My prediction-today's construction projects like this one will become the new construction defect suits of tomorrow.