Water Pipes not Extended to Specifications

Copper water pipes were supposed to be extended to accommodate rainscreen assembly



















with space between the nut and the wall - like this:



















not with no space between the nut and wall - like this:



















We have not been able to screw our hose onto our taps since 2005



















Pipes were extended on some units, but not others. Our unit was not the only one excluded.

The strata paid high prices for proper repairs and high premiums for a 2-year warranty for labour, materials, and design - but for what good?

The Willis Warranty with Commonwealth Insurance expired on October 11, 2007 for materials and labour, and it will expire for water penetration on October 11, 2015. It does not cover diminution in the value of property, or failure to give prompt notice to the insurer of a defect or potential defect or loss.

The building envelope behind this tap looks to us like it will probably fail sooner than if the tap had been extended in accordance with the terms of the contract specifications.














It goes from bad to worse.

These plants are artificial.
We bought them after the building envelope project was completed because we can't grow our plants or flowers without being able to use our hose to water them.














We don't know what else we can use to screen the view between the windows of the buildings.

Instead of requiring Heatherbrae to correct the tap defects to allow us to water plants with our hose, council gave notice on March 6, 2009, of a proposal to amend the bylaws as follows:

"An Owner shall remove all planters, pots and decorative apparatus that do not contain live plants." So, that strata acts again to deprive us of privacy and expects us to remove the screen because the pipe to our tap was not extended so we can no longer attach our hose to water live plants.

We had to get new trellis planters in order to accommodate live plants, which we will have to water with a bucket, if we don't buy a new hose adapter.

This is unfair.

After the tree was cut down and replaced with a trellis planter, at our cost, not 407's, and the strata council refused for 20 years to enforce the bylaws to remedy the nuisance in order to preserve and protect the illegal acts and detrimental privileges of others, our prayer for relief must now go to a judge of the court.

All of this is sickening to us but we can't just keep living this way for all the rest of our lives.

Lights and Unit Numbers

Light Bulbs and Timers

If I recall correctly, when I was on council the lights on the garages were automated and a member would go around and replace the light bulbs at regular intervals because it was a strata responsibility.
Not anymore. Now our garage light is either on all the time or off all the time, depending on whether the bulb is burned out or not. This is dangerous and costly. Leaving the lights on 24/7 seems wasteful, the bulbs burn out too fast, and a visitor nearly fell in the dark because with just our porch light on at night this is all that they could see.

Here is how it looks with a flash bulb on the camera, and how it should look with if a light was working on the garage.

I don't know how it worked before, or if the matter will be addressed in the Depreciation Report, but I think the old system was a better one.

Unit Numbers
Unit numbers were originally located on the garage under the light where emergency services, taxi drivers, delivery services, and first time visitors could see all addresses easily when approaching

whether the destination was a unit that faces east or west 

day or night. This is 409 with the strata's automatic light on.
 













Address numbers on lower units were moved during the building envelope project from a light coloured surface under a light on the garage to a dark building out of the light where visibility is lost, particularly on units facing east like 409 where the numbers face in the opposite direction to a visitor's line of approach.

Now we try to warn new visitors that they may not be able to see our unit number unless they look backward from their approaching line of travel, or get out of their car, and we tell them where to turn around when they've gone past us.

Moving our addresses to a dark surface in a location with poor visibility increases emergency response times - when seconds count. If the rescuers can’t find you - they can’t help you.

Selling your unit? When potential buyers have a hard time finding the address they get a negative first impression which contributes to the stigma plaguing Sunridge Estates since 2003.

Moving numbers from the original location to a dark wall which faces away from approaching visitors on all of the lower southeast units makes it far more difficult for visitors to find their way through the complex - no matter who they are trying to visit

Its just a little thing, but easily visible addresses help the whole neighborhood, showing first time visitors if they have gone too far or not far enough down the road. In fact, revised residential building codes for new construction are requiring illuminated street address numbers in cities and towns across the state of California.  http://www.addressled.com/ I think we could very easily do better.

.

This photo shows the light on the garage when it is on at night and is on every lower unit throughout the complex in the line of sight of approaching visitors. Unit numbers were originally located here on a light background that visitors could easily see as they made their way through the complex. Since the numbers were changed owners are using coloured lightbulbs and balloons to mark their address.

This is 409's number in the evening with all of the automatic lights turned on throughout the complex - if you look carefully you might be able to see it














When we turn on our porch light approaching visitors still have to look backward from their line of travel and have very sharp eyesight to find 409.















We hang a brightly coloured wind sock - but it helps only a bit.














What visitors need is a good flashlight and instructions on exactly where to look.

People coming to our door who don't notice our unit number on the wall facing away from their approach, do notice the small area of stucco that was not covered with siding, As they stand at our front door they wonder if the building envelope project was just a cover up.














The writing on this white vehicle said that it was some kind of ambulance. I took the picture when I saw it creeping through the complex - presumably searching for an address in broad daylight. It begs the question - are obscure building numbers just a trivial annoyance to pizza delivery drivers - or could they be a more serious matter - like life and death?














Perhaps time will tell. Perhaps today's engineers and architects and owners will be gone by then. But, the older I get the more concerned I feel about safety issues.

I estimate that the problem could be solved for $100 http://www.ledress.com/

more http://onlinesignco.com/index.php?Itemid=147

or less http://www.ebay.com/bhp/lighted-house-numbers

We would like the address numbers reinstated back onto a visible spot on the garage. We would like  LED lit unit numbers so they are more visible on the dark new surface throughout the complex. Not just for our safety at 409, but for the benefit of all.

http://www.ledress.com/

Personal Injury

While living in this strata corporation since 1988 I have suffered personal injury from:

1. repeated exposure to pesticide spray escaping from neighbouring units
2. weeks of toxic sewer gas & dry drain traps following a strata repair which shocked the plumber
3. five 24-hour days of deafeningly loud noise during the strata's industrial air drying process after 510's Crane toilet tank broke in the unit above
4. toxic fumes from the strata's inappropriate application of exterior sealant around the interior of our windows throughout Unit 409
5. a fall down the stairs on carpets that the strata left slippery wet and soap filled
6. a back injury from our patio becoming dangerously slippery from strata's failure to maintain it, and
7. 10 years of unspeakable stress.

My health is damaged to the point that I feel like my life expectancy is reduced.

In 2005 my doctor told me that I have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which I promptly reported to the strata corporation. After that I don't know what, if anything, was unintentional and what was intentional. I do know that I was injured and that it was definitely avoidable.

1.2 Project Description .2 Design Intent Statements

.3 The work is to be completed on occupied residential buildings, and every effort shall be made not to disrupt the occupant's use of the building or create unsafe conditions.

It is my understanding that the man who was originally held out to be some kind of Heatherbrae boss, until he was removed from the project, was also the live-in boyfriend of an owner.

He told me a different chemical product was used around the windows inside our home, then he said something else was used, leaving me unsure for awhile of exactly what was used in this attack.

I eventually found out that Tremco 830 was used for sealing the interior of the 8 replacement windows in Unit 409 in June 2005.

The Hazardous Materials Identification System health rating for Tremco 830 is at the Serious level. Yet after I advised that I have lung disease and asked for something less toxic after first window this product was used in such extraordinary amounts that it hung like drapery valences and swag panels.



















General Requirements
10 Construction Facilities and General Controls
.16 Execution of Work within occupied premises shall cause a minimum interference with the use of the building. Maintain maximum safety to occupants during Work...

Knowing that I had lung disease - Tremco 830 was selected and applied in exceptionally large quantities, in many places without backer rod, in an unreasonable and foreseeably injurious manner that was clearly avoidable. Not one member of council took a look at the amount of sealant in our unit. Nor did they take a whiff of the fumes. It seemed to me like a targeted assault.


















A worker told my husband that Tremco 830 was supposed to be used outside to seal the window to the paper, that it should not have been used inside.



















Heatherbrae installed a door and 8 replacement windows in unit 409 that were significantly smaller than the openings, which were from the original windows and filled the correspondingly large gaps with sealant throughout the interior of our unit in quantities so excessive that when I came home the sealant was hanging down in drips up to a foot long. It looked like drapery valences. When I tried to remove it it was still so wet over a week later that it dripped onto our table and floors.



















Extracts from the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS)
Material Safety Data Sheet on this product said at the time:

• Non-sag gunnable paste
• May cause moderate irritation to the respiratory system
• Respiratory disorders may be aggravated by exposure
• Prevent inhalation of vapor - Avoid overexposure
• Wear air respirator when airborne contaminant level(s) are expected to exceed
  exposure limits indicated on the MSDS
• Use professional judgment in the selection, care, and use
• Use only in well ventilated areas. Provide maximum ventilation in enclosed areas.
• Use local exhaust when the general ventilation is inadequate
• HMIS Health Rating: 3 = Serious
• For Industrial Use Only

http://www.tremcosealants.com/fileshare/msds/985894_320_C.pdf
Whatever the actual products were, the oversized joints between our existing interior gypsum board and the new window frames were from about 1/2 to 1 inch wide. Foam back up rods were undersized and missing. The large amount of sealant used resulted in the product sagging under its weight and in some instances dropping out of the joint. It was such a large quantity that it could not cure properly.

What I removed was dripping days after it was supposed to be cured and what remained was off gassing for about a year. Tremco 830 was selected and applied in this manner in full knowledge that I had lung problems. A less odourous and less toxic product, such as Tremflex 834, would have been adequate if the replacement windows fit the adjacent wall components or the interior gypsum was refinished so all voids between the new window frames and the gypsum board were the smallest reasonable size.

This action was taken in full knowledge that I had lung disease. It forced me to rent a motel room for 6 weeks and caused painful breathing, personal injury, and trauma for more than a year. My lungs have never felt the same. The way they felt then and since makes me believe that my life has been significantly shortened as a result of these events.

The Willis warranty with Commonwealth Insurance covers reasonable living-out expenses for material and labour that render the residential building or portion of it uninhabitable. Of course, it did not take effect until 4 months after the damage was done, and it excludes bodily injury, including without limitation any liability arising from uninhabitability or health risk attributable to release of pollutants, contaminates, or irritants, or attributable to the presence of, or proximity to, hazardous or toxic materials.

 

****

I wrote and complained to strata to no avail.

June 28, 2005
One window in our downstairs bedroom was replaced, the strong fumes made my lungs burn, and I wrote to express my concern.

June 30, 2005
Heatherbrae replaced the other 7 windows in Unit 409 and applied sealant in such large quantities that when I came home it looked like this:















































I cannot find words to describe the overwhelmingly strong fumes. My lungs were burning for a year.

Backer rod was not added as required. The gaps cut around the 9 windows are 4 or more times larger than the gaps cut around the original windows. (Three of which still remain for comparison.)

In the photo below the top sample shows the thickness of sealant taken from around the replacement door. In comparison the bottom sample shows the average thickness around 8 replacement windows in Unit 409. A lot of the sealant was much thicker than the images below show.














Little or no foam backer rod was used to fill the gaps
instead sealant was used in large toxic quantities















July 5, 2005
Heatherbrae said the Tremco 830 was not properly applied
and they would speak to the guys who did it.

I lived in this motel for 6 weeks
When I went home I was exposed to noticeable fumes and
we kept our window open for a year or more
















I wore this mask and removed as much toxic Tremco 830 as I could, but my face was too thin for the mask to seal properly.





































the size of the backer I found was a lot smaller than the gaps that were supposed to be filled

















In spite of my complaints no report was made in the minutes. Presumably no other owner experienced an improper application in any other unit.

July 15, 2005 - Morrison Hershfield said that:

• Dymonic FC sealant when used for touch-ups is not expected to present a problem for individuals with respiratory concerns, particularly when used in very small amounts, but that the occupant should leave the unit during the day time, and
  
• it is not acceptable for anyone other than Heatherbrae to do the work.

It was never acceptable to us for Heatherbrae (the perpetrator) to do the work. Nor was it acceptable for Morrion Hershfield to claim that replacement sealant would be used in "very small amounts" - because the replacement windows that it had selected were so much smaller than the openings for the original windows that using very small amounts for sealing such large gaps was impossible.

The amount of replacement sealant actually used was in no way "very small amounts" as Morrison Hershfield alleged that it would be. Nor was just "used for touch ups" - it was used for complete, or nearly complete, replacement in some windows, such as in our bedroom. The amounts used in the last application were large enough to fill gaps that are so large that the required moldings are at least 4 times larger than the original moldings, some were even larger than that - such as in our living room where the molding had to be custom made to a larger size just to cover the gap around the window. The length of the drops below the window sills were lengthened also.

Although Dymonic FC's HMIS Health Rating was only Moderate, down from Tremco 830's rating of Serious, I think that the gaps around the ill-fitted replacement windows in my unit were far too large to be safely filled with it the way they were.

We think the replacement windows in unit 409 are too small for the openings and the resultant voids are too large to be filled safely with sealant. We think that if Heatherbrae had refinished the interior gypsum in our unit to eliminate the oversize voids between the new window frames and the walls, that a less toxic sealant more suited to interior use inside of occupied units, such as Tremflex 834, could have done adequate job and been a lot more safely applied in our unit.

We consider the choice of ill-fitting windows and toxic sealant applied as they were inside our unit to each be a defect in design and/or materials that should have been corrected as requested and that should never be allowed to happen again to anyone - anywhere - ever.

Although there is no evidence that the same types of sealants were applied in any other units in the same quantities as in unit 409 - or that any other occupants had given notice of having lung disease - other units were occupied by infants and elders, and we believe that windows of the correct size for the openings should have been selected for the sake of safety in order to minimize the gaps and corresponding exposure to any kind of toxic sealant.
http://www.registrocdt.cl/fichas%20especificas/listado_fichas/fichas/c16/TECPRO_sellantes_poliuretano_dymonicfc/descargas/pdf/960807_323_U.pdf

Morrison Hershfield and the project manager suggested that Heatherbrae was asked to install poly sealed with tape to the ceiling and walls to separate the windows from the interior of the unit for 72 hours. - Not surprisingly, Heatherbrae did not do so. I noticed, however, this form of protective measure being done in the building I worked in during a construction project at the Newport Public Health Services. It certainly did not look anything like our Heatherbrae project.

Instead of advising the strata council to attend at our unit to investigate or to take action against Heatherbrae, the strata corporation's lawyer, Stephen Hamilton, claimed to be satisfied that the work and materials were safe based on speaking to unidentified people who had no direct personal knowledge of the conditions in unit 409.

In spite of my pictures, complaints, health, and the extreme and prolonged smell inside our unit, not one member of council attended our unit to investigate the oversize gaps around our windows, the type and amount of sealant, or the method of application and toxic air quality that resulted. Without any kind of authorizing vote by council Mr. Hamilton wrote to us on July 21, 2005, stating that:

Should you continue to interfere with the Building Envelope Work in any way whatsoever, we have received firm instructions from our client to initiate legal proceedings against you in the Supreme Court of British Columbia and to obtain a Court injuction to restrain you from interfering with the Building Envelope Work. Such legal proceedings will be commenced without further warning or notice and all expenses including legal costs relating to the legal proceedings will be charged to your account for collection.

This effectively acted on us as a SLAPP suit, described fairly accurately on Wikipedia as:

A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation ("SLAPP") is a lawsuit that is intended to intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition. Winning the lawsuit is not necessarily the intent of the person filing the SLAPP. The plaintiff's goals are accomplished if the defendant succumbs to fear, intimidation, mounting legal costs or simple exhaustion and abandons the criticism. A SLAPP may also intimidate others from participating in the debate.

On August 2, 2005, I found out that, according to a technical representative at Tremco, the 830 product is typically used for exterior applications, as the high per-unit-volume of solvents in the product will cause the sealant to emit strong odours and fumes. The representative further stated that should the 830 product be used for interior applications, the interior space should be well ventilated until the sealant has cured.

There is no cross-draft in the 3-bedroom units and Heatherbrae provided no additional ventilation, so we paid $176.82 to rent an industrial fan.

Project Specifications Page 16 of 17 .7
Provide adequate ventilation during use of volatile or noxious substances. Use of building ventilation systems is not permitted for this purpose.

The sealants in unit 409 were applied in such huge quantities that it took approximately one year to cure enough to stop off-gasing noticable fumes. With respect to my respiratory concerns, I have been bothered by associated respiratory distress forever afterward.

• Over the next year our heating costs rose and security was compromised as a result of needing so many open windows during not just the summer, but the fall, winter, and spring as well;


• The sizes of the gaps around the new windows in Unit 409 and the sizes of the correpsonding moldings to cover them look like they are at least 4 times larger than the gaps and moldings around our original windows, and it was never acceptable to us to use such toxic sealant to fill such oversize gaps.

 

Fwd: Police Action and Criminal Charges - 'Yahoo! Mail'

Both my husband and I have taken turns serving on council. In 2003, the year Larry was on council, he found that there was little or no opportunity to vote or make decisions on matters addressed to council as management did not present them to the meeting. I found the same thing was true the year I was on council in 2001.

I don't think this was the idea of the good people volunteering on council. I could be wrong, but I think it has more to do with strata manager's relationship with the council presidents.

I base this conclusion on strata meetings that seem more like information meetings than meetings of a deliberative assembly; as well as a historical review of motions (and more importantly, the lack of motions) in the minutes of strata council meetings. I have witnessed this same style of management at council meetings that I have attended either as a member of council or as an observer.

Non-disclosure and oppression of interested owners became a far more serious problem during the years surrounding the building envelope project - and from the inherited policy asking owners to leave their correspondence in an outside mailbox - and not to send it to the strata manager where it must be filed in the records of the strata corporation - this could be a continuing trend.
Please click the image to read and back arrow to return.



















Material I delivered into the strata council mailbox with associated requests was not distributed to members of council and disappeared from the strata records without a trace. When I checked the strata council mailbox I saw that material I delivered to it was not picked up, at least not in a timely manner. Email from owners was not accepted either, according to council. Council repeatedly advised owners not to send correspondence to the strata manager. It is as if records of delivery, distribution, and content must be avoided. Even if email messages are deleted by the receiver in violation of strata legislation, at least the sender has a record proving they were sent, instead of nothing at all.

Mr. Mac made truly frightening threats and false accusations against me when I emailed a report on ventilation that had previously disappeared from the strata council mailbox. This conduct was so shocking and alarming that I felt obliged to forward that email on to all 9 owners that I had email addresses for as a warning of what was going on.

I have reproduced it below for 3 reasons:

1. owners may be ignorant - as Mr. Mac claims - however, ignorance has been wrongfully imposed, and owner attempts to investigate, participate, or find decisions voted on and recorded in the minutes are met with threats, accusations, and attacks of this kind, or worse;
2. the damage suffered from defamation and abuse is ongoing and increasingly serious; and
3. I have learned that censorship, bullying, and fraudulent claims must be exposed if abusive practices are to ever stop.

Please click the box of the top right of the image to view and the x in the close box to return.
Police Action and Criminal Charges



Publish at Scribd or explore others: Government Business & Legal



















From what I know, it is my understanding that one of the 9 owners that I shared Mr. Mac's email message with attached this bulletin to it, and together with a couple of other owners, circulated it around the complex. Even though it didn't seem to make much difference - it was good to see that there were others who cared enough to at least try to participate.

Shocking Expense

Owners paid about 6 million dollars in special levies in relation to the building envelope project - a Profit to the responsible builders and associated professionals and a Loss to corresponding homeowners and families.

• We paid about 30-50% of comparative market values at the time in special levies - it was a staggering amount
• Our share for unit 409 cost us approximately $100,000
• Defects in design, materials, and labour during initial construction - and again during the building envelope project - caused significant and foreseeable damage
• Following completion of the building envelope project I estimate that our property value was approximately $100,000 less than its comparative value when new
• The brotherhood responsible for leaky condos was willfully blind to foreseeable damage and is reaping enormous profits for their own wrong-doing
• Individual homeowners are crushed with cost and loss
• Insurance companies suffer as well
• The damage to families and indirect costs to society are immeasurable
• Every member of the responsible brotherhood should admit their wrongs, apologize, and try to fix the damage
• They deny responsibility, profit from the damage, and continue adding more - both immediate and long term systemic harm
• My mother would spank me if I tried anything that bad when I was a child. Do they need their mothers to tell them what's the right thing to do? Why do I have to play tattle-tale?

I think this is such a scandal that every instance should be reported in the news - just like any hockey game. The truth should never be kept secret, swept under the carpet and hidden in the closet in a conspiracy of silence and non-disclosure agreements, in what I would call crimes by those with "respectible" social status. Whether it be white collar crime or bare backed construction worker crime - what happened here should be a capital crime - not to be tolerated.

• There are laws to protect against negligence
• There are laws to protect against breach of contract
• There are laws to protect against oppression
• There are laws to protect against assault
• But there is no access to justice for us who can't afford a lawyer or a trial
• Even our access to legislation that we paid our taxes for is restricted by copyright
• It brings the administration of justice into disrepute
• This cultivates a more wasteful and dysfunctional society

It doesn't seem to make sense - but maybe it actually does.
Is it possible that it fits into a long term scheme with intended benefits for the powers that be?

• I was born in 1950
• My remaining potential for future earnings is quite limited
• The responsible politicians, architects, engineers, builders, and strata agents profit individually and collectively from the damage and cost that I have to pay
• It unlikely that I will recover from these costs enough to cover my end of life needs and care
• But for the actions of the responsible politicians, architects, engineers, builders, and strata agents I might live longer
• I can understand that this may be a way of reducing the economic burden of pension payments for an aging population - but it is not an honest or ethical practice

It is what it is - but whatever it is - something is wrong.
White collar crime should be exposed and reported just as much as the misconduct of the under-privileged, it should not be covered up with non-disclosure clauses, slapp suits, and limited liability. Once exposed it is less likely to be automatically tolerated. Society is more likely to impose punitive penalties when people are not kept in the dark - even if some find it more comfortable to live in a fool's paradise - at least until war or death.

**************************

Project Specifications were not easy for us to obtain, and from what I recall of the timing of any responses to our requests, before the work on our building was done they were withheld from us.

In spite of what owners paid in special levies most owners were not provided with material documents or the information needed to make informed decisions on the options available. We had no way of knowing either through the minutes or otherwise about most of the decisions being made on our behalf.

Even while my husband was a member of council his access to required and requested documents was obstructed and he was made to justify access. It was unreasonable, harmful, and upsetting.
I was not able to obtain copies of the material documents - until after substantial completion. The Project Specifications may have been better honoured if more owners knew exactly what they were.

Set 10
PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS

Building Envelope Rehabiliation
Sunridge Estates
For
The Owners, Strata Plan VR 2671
September 14, 2004
Project No. 5022071.02
bearing the seals of
Terra Shimbashi, British Columbia Registered Architect
and
D. Fookes 27562
Professional Engineer, Province of British Columbia