July 2019 – April 2020
Beck Place condos are warehouse lofts and newer townhomes constructed in 2007 on a tight urban plot attached to a 60-year old newspaper warehouse and a 110-year old Bakery building. The building honors the rich history of the German Village district in which it resides while being carefully designed for modern comfort and convenience.
Occurrence that led to our involvement
Contractors Inc has worked on this property since 2011 to help property owners address systemic leaks. While our repairs stopped damage in the short term, we encouraged them to take a more comprehensive look in order to stop water infiltration damaging high-end finishes once and for all.
In June 2018, Beck Place hired a Forensic Engineer to assess the damage. He prepared a report and recommended more testing to identify potential points of failure. After finding water infiltration in many areas, he recommended we create a scope of work for a comprehensive roof and wall cladding replacement. This was prepared and put out in a bid. We were selected due to our ability to complete work in all the necessary trades, at a reasonable price.
Once we were awarded the job, we had to convince the German Village Historical Commission to issue a Certificate of Appropriateness in order to get permits and begin the work. We were able to advance the timeline of this process by convincing them to give us a desk review.
What we were tasked to do
The job began in August 2018 and included both low slope rubber roofing and steep slope shingle roofing. In order to access all the rooftops needing replaced, we had to remove decks and patios—to be rebuilt later. We used a self-adhering, 60 mil membrane roofing system from Firestone called Full Force. The Project Engineer, who grew up in the roofing business, had not seen this product before and was stunned by its efficacy. When the Firestone inspectors came out to review the work, they had nothing but praise for our application.
All of the stucco on the newer buildings had improper flashings and had to be removed. The flashing around the windows and doors had to be replaced as well. We installed a Weathershield sliding glass door at the rear deck transitions. Having new doors with the proper thresholds and jambs allowed us to properly wrap the exterior of the building. We used a two-layer Tyvek system to create a drain plane so the stucco can properly shed water to a weep screed flashing at the base of the wall. At this point, we had replaced everything that had leaked, resulting in a huge improvement.
For visual impact, we installed the new IPE Bison decking system on the rear side of these units. The tiles sit on pedestals that are adjustable, so even if you have a pitched rubber roof below, you can have a flat decking surface. They look great, and weather well. We also incorporated new wood posts into the building framing, and installed a black metal trim and railing system. Not only do these look great, but they are also very stout, something that could not be said about the railings installed previously. The decks are divided by cedar-clad partition walls to provide the needed privacy between units.
Challenges
The biggest challenge we overcame as a team was delivering all of this work in a very confined space. The production team and crews did a wonderful job getting the work completed while being respectful of the unit owners and the spaces they occupied. The residents were also very respectful and understanding of the work being done and were excellent partners in the project.
We have to give tremendous credit to the Board, as they were engaged, proactive, and helpful. The communication throughout has been the best of any project we have ever worked on. While we had some hiccups, as you always do, we were able to work through them all with the Board. They brought the right team together to do the work and helped with execution.
Overall, Contractors Inc is very proud to add this project to our portfolio, and grateful for the opportunity to turn Beck Street condominiums into a better place to live.
