Keep the water out

Concrete block, particularly lightweight concrete block, is not weather tight if you do not apply a water repellent coating to it. Water repellent coatings usually last between 2 and 10 years, depending upon the exposure of the building and the competence of the applicator. As a rule of thumb, penetrating water repellents last longer because they are not as prone to ultraviolet degradation as surface coatings are. I recommend Silane and Siloxane-based coatings because of this longevity.
If you want to read more about water repellent coatings for concrete block, go to the web site for the National Concrete Masonry Association at www.ncma.org Look for an icon labeled “E-Tek”. Click on this heading and it will take you to another web site where you can download technical articles. I suggest you download:
Tek Note 8-1A - Maintenance of Concrete Masonry Walls
Tek Note 19-1 - Water Repellents for Concrete Masonry Walls
My favorite flashing/weep system for single wythe walls is called Cavity Vent. It is a strip of corrugated plastic that you install at the base of the wall, where the block meets the foundation. I like the product because it is fast and easy to install and it does not deteriorate over time. Structural engineers like it because it does not interfere with rebar placement and it does not cause shear plane weakness at the base of the wall. Go to www.masonrytechnology.com and click on the drawing of “Cavity Vent” to see more information about this system.

So, what is really happening????

The Denver Post is reporting that things are looking better in the residential market:
"Home prices in metro Denver rose in April from March, bucking a national trend of declining home values, according to a report Tuesday from the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.
April's 0.8 percent monthly gain in metro Denver compares favorably with a 1.4 percent decline the index reported across 20 large metro areas that included Denver.
And it represents the first month- over-month gain in Denver captured in the index since August, about the same time the subprime-mortgage mess tanked credit markets."

But on a different floor of the same News building, the Rocky Mountain News is reporting that things are continuing to get worse:
"Sales of new homes tumbled for the sixth time in seven months in May while median prices kept plunging, underscoring the depth of the nation's housing woes.
The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that new homes were sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 512,000 units in May, down 2.5 percent from the April level. The median price of a new home sold last month fell to $231,000, down 5.7 percent from a year ago.
The report on new home activity in May followed reports Tuesday that showed record home price drops in April, indicating the nation's housing slump is not only deepening but also widening to include previously untouched parts of the country."

Do Masons Float?

We're about to send several raftfulls of masons down the Arkansas River. It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. They hit the river at 8 a.m. We should know soon thereafter if they sink like a brick.

My wall has a crack in it. Should I be concerned?

That depends on where the crack is, and how it has been behaving. Some cracks are caused by simple masonry expansion or shrinkage and are normally not a cause for alarm. Other cracks, such as over a door or window opening, could lead to instability and can be very serious. Contact a structural engineer to help you out - especially if you have noticed the crack getting wider recently. Find out the cause of the crack before attempting any repairs.
The type of repair the engineer chooses depends on if the crack is active or dormant . Active cracks open and close with regular cycles of temperature, loads, or foundation movement. Either cure the source of the movement and repoint the crack with mortar, or use a flexible crack filler such as sealant. You can also cut in a new movement joint at a convenient location, and then repoint the original crack. Dormant cracks that have not moved in several years are usually safe to grind out and repoint with mortar.

Gas prices nail construction

According to the labor department, the wholesale cost of building materials for new home construction rose 3.4 percent in April, over the same month last year. The primary cause for the price increase - the surge in oil prices. Prices have gone up for steel, aluminum, copper, concrete, asphalt and plumbing fixtures, among other materials. Pain at the pump is now pain at the jobsite. $140 a barrel oil is adding to damage done to the housing market by poor mortgage lending practices, a weak dollar and foreign investment in the credit market.
Hopefully the G8 finance ministers will do more than just talk about the soaring oil prices when they meet in Japan over the next two days.

Glimmer of Hope or Glint off an Iceberg?

Apparently there's a small glimmer of hope that the residential market may be starting to turn. There was a tiny drop in the number of days that existing houses were on the market. Between January and May the average days a house sat on the market was 89. Last year during the same period, a house sat on the market for 100 days. This 11-day difference, according to a real estate broker, indicates that the market will improve in 2 years. Of course with a turning radius like this, it resembles the Titanic, which didn't turn in time and sank.
Here's a link to the Denver Post story about the housing market turn-around http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_9556442

More residential market numbers

The freefall in Denver's residential construction market is apparently continuing, with first quarter reports showing that there were 2,081 permits issued for homes, condos and apartment units. Same period last year there were 3,649 permits pulled, according to Home Builders Association data. The good news is that while the residential market is tanking, the commercial market is moving & shaking. Denver's commercial masons are all busy. Nobody's bored and the hoddies are all running hard. That's the yin and yang of the construction biz.

Here's what the Rocky had to say about the residential market:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/10/new-home-starts-hammered/

Hmmmm... and we have a worker shortage because why???

Two articles in the same issue of the newspaper -

1. President Bush has signed an executive order requiring contractors and others who do business with the federal government to make sure their employees can legally work in the United States.

2. The FBI uses old technology and workers without enough training to do security checks on people applying for citizenship and other immigration benefits, a government audit found. The problems have led to a large backlog in name checks and are affecting people wanting to become naturalized or become legal residents, and those bringing in foreign workers for businesses, said the audit issued Monday by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine.

Help save a historic brick building damaged by tornado

On May 22, 2008 northeastern Colorado was hit by several powerful tornadoes. The town worst hit, Windsor, is home to an historic 1899 flour mill. The mill, affectionately called the Windsor Mill, was placed on the 2002 Colorado’s Most Endangered Places List. CPI listed the mill at that time because the (now former) owner was running out of funds to continue upgrading and restoring the massive four-story brick and stacked lumber building. The damage caused by the tornado simply devastated the mill. The half of the building that is stacked lumber sustained limited visible damage. The brick half of the building lost the roof and all but the first floor. Pieces of the building lay strewn across Main Street into the weekend following the tornado.
Though most of the historic fabric was demolished on the brick portion of the mill, enough remains to cover the exterior wall in original brick. The current owner of the mill is still assessing her options and will hopefully choose to restore/reconstruct the beautiful and significant Windsor Mill. To offer letters of support or advice, please address all correspondence to Cynthia Torp, via Jonas Landes. Jonas can be e-mailed at jlandes@coloradopreservation.org

Masonry city

I do a lot of walking and as I'm going around Denver I see a lot of buildings under construction. Despite the economy, a lot of people are building and a lot of people are building with masonry. This weekend I saw a 2-story house at 44th and Wolff that is being veneered with brick, a strip mall on Sheridan being constructed of block and brick, and an office building being constructed with masonry. In between were miles of neighborhoods of brick homes, banks and office buildings of brick and block, and masonry commercial structures of all kinds. I think in the entire 34 miles I walked this weekend (training walk for a fund-raising event), I did not go a single block without seeing a masonry building. This town has class.

Proof of what a masonry ordinance can do

Even in this economy, communities built with a masonry ordinance in place fair better than those that don't. Here's proof - While home values are crashing throughout Denver and homeowners are finding themselves upside down, the homes built in Lowry are increasing in value. Lowry is in Aurora where they adopted a masonry ordinance in 2003.
Here's an excerpt from a Rocky Mountain News article about the Lowry development:
"Homes at Lowry have increased in value far more than the Denver area as a whole, and that includes Cherry Creek, Congress Park, Hilltop, Montclair and Washington Park, according to a report released Thursday by the Genesis Group.
The Lowry Redevelopment Authority hired Genesis, a housing research firm, to do an analysis as the authority is launching its final residential phase, the 600-home EastPark at Lowry Boulevard and Yosemite Street.
Genesis Group analyzed initial and subsequent resale prices for detached and attached homes at Lowry from 2000 to 2007 and found that homes on the former Air Force base appreciated at an average of 8 percent per year.
Last year, Lowry homes rose on average by 2.6 percent, while the overall metro area lost 0.5 percent in value, according to Mike Rinner of the Genesis Group.

read the entire article at http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/05/lowry-homes-enjoy-top-price-gains/

Homebuilder pulling out of Colorado

As the residential market continues to face the double-whammy of foreclosures and overstock of new homes, things are looking bleaker for the homebuilders. While many are slashing prices and dumping houses at drastically reduced rates, one homebuilder has decided to leave the Colorado market entirely. Beazer Homes, which owns Sanford Homes, has built developments in many of the Denver suburbs. But no more. Their love affair with Colorado's formerly open farm fields is over.
Here's the Rocky Mountain News article about it.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/03/beazer-homes-pulling-out-of-state/