We live in New York State and recently had 3 additions put on our house. The contractor started in November with the large room (a great room), put in foundation(crawlspace)/I-Joists/T&G sub-flooring/walls/ZIP sheathing and then moved on to the other 2 additions without putting the roof on the room. He finished the other 2 additions including ZIP roofing but by then it was Christmas and he could not return until spring (we had a bitter 2015 winter). I asked him at least twice if the floor in the great room would be ok through the winter and he assured me that it would be fine (it has a protective seal and reads 180 days w/o sanding). The first mild day in spring (April 11) I pulled up the one sub-floor panel they had not nailed down and found mold all over the I-Joists and bottom of the subfloor throughout the crawlspace. We had it sampled by an environmental home inspector and it showed 6 different types of mold spores. The contractor and city building inspector claim it should not have happened and that they had never seen this before ((I think it’s pretty clear that the rain/melting snow flowed through the T&G joints, the subfloor had pools of water). My questions are (1) was this responsible building practice? (2) what are my options? When I went into the crawlspace, I also noticed he hadn’t put a pressure-treated plate around the foundation and had bolted the I-Joists into the concrete with a foam pad in between (turns out he mis-measured the floor and it was too high for the existing floor in the house so he eliminated the sill to compensate). Would it be possible to take the 3 walls (balloon construction, 19 feet high) down individually and replace the flooring and then reinstate the walls? Thank you for your help.
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Mold in winter?
If they used Zip wall, did they also use Advantech flooring? If they did, call the company. Their warranty with take care of the subfloor if it is considered necessary by them. Huber(manufacturer) is a good company. I have seen this and judging by the time frame and time of year, I will guess the mold is only surface and is manageable. All wood products mold and have mold. PAUSE FOR ARGUMENTS... If you take away the moisture and the humidity, witch you will when you properly condition the space. The mold won't grow any more. It is cleanable from the surface and you can seal it in if your choose.
A bigger concern to me is the joists directly on the foundation, not necessarily because there is no plate, but because the fastening process escapes my imagination. I am not saying it can't be done, but not using BEST practices. However, if your contractor is legitimate, and will stand with you and not opposed to you, all of this is manageable with no end worries.
Mold in Winter
He used Dryguard Enhanced OSB (Georgia-Pacific).
I think you are right ... he had the sill on and a few I-Joists, realized his mistake, removed everything and went directly through the I-Joists into the concrete. The bottom of the I-Joists got pretty hammered with the bolts going through.
"If within a period of two
"If within a period of two hundred (200) days from the date of your Product purchase, the Product requires edge sanding due to edge swell caused by moisture absorption, and you provide GP with written notice of your claim within those two hundred (200) days, GP will, in its sole discretion, reimburse your reasonable, documented out of pocket costs of edge sanding."
That's about the weakest warranty one could make, and note that it does not say that the stuff is waterproof or that it wll prevent seepage to areas below it. Nor does it say that it won't mildew. It simply won't require edge sanding. (Or if it does require sanding they might pay the pittance required to sand it.)
Just about anyting is possible. The question is: Who is going to pay for it?
Sounds like you have lost confidence and trust with your contractor. Perhaps with good reason. You may want to hire a local 3rd party home inspector to help restore your relationship. If you don't, then I'm sure a local lawyer will be happy to charge you a larger fee to do so. In any event, it will cost you money. In any event, my guess is that you won't restore your relationship with your contractor for free on this forum.
this sounds like 1/2 a story to be honest. I dont know why the contractor left the first addition without a roof, that is unusual.
In regards to the pt sill and joist mistake, those will have short/long term serious implications that I would want fixed.
1/2 Story
Not a half story. The roof involved laminated beams, T&G ceiling, 2X6 perpendicular to the beams, spray foam insulation and then sheathing. It was all in the blueprints and he knew it from the beginning. I think the real mystery is why he started in the order he did after he backed us up into winter. We would have been fine with him coming back in the spring to begin the 3rd room.
regadless of what the sequence of material, what was his reason for not putting a roof on, not stopping where he was fixing the problem vs placing the joist on masonry and bolting them?
my brother in law is in up state ny, pottersville/schroon lake area...managed to work thru the winter.