- repeated exposure to pesticide spray escaping from neighbouring units
- weeks of toxic sewer gas & dry drain traps following a strata repair which shocked the plumber
- 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
- toxic fumes from the strata's inappropriate application of exterior sealant around the interior of our windows throughout Unit 409
- a fall down the stairs on carpets that the strata left slippery wet and soap filled
- a back injury from our patio becoming dangerously slippery from strata's failure to maintain it, and
- 10 years of unspeakable stress.
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
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.
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.
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