Unlike some politicians, I still work for a living.

One of the professional services I have been providing for years is peer reviews of other architects’ projects for building envelope water management and waterproofing. Construction defect litigation used to be a billion-dollar industry in California, and it hasn’t gone away, but architects and builders are getting much better at avoiding catastrophic and expensive failures resulting from unwanted water infiltration. Part of the quality control/quality assurance process is a peer review of design and testing of mockups on site.

The design peer review is often followed up during construction with mockups and water testing of vulnerable building envelope components, such as windows and doors.

Here we are at a multifamily project on the Peninsula earlier this week at “window school,” where representatives of the developer, contractor, window manufacturer me (the peer reviewer) implement and observe installation of a prototype window. Later, it will be water tested using ASTM E1105-15: Field Determination of Water Penetration of Installed Exterior Windows, Skylights, Doors, and Curtain Walls. If successful, the installation will be fully documented and will become the standard for hundreds of windows to be installed as construction proceeds.

It may seem simple to install a window, but it involves primers, sealants, self-adhering flashings, sheet metal flashings, fasteners and water resistive barriers that have to be sequenced and applied just right to be successful. Sometimes the window product itself is defective and has to be repaired or replaced.

Figure 1 - Tom Butt at "Window School"

Figure 2 - Building under construction

Figure 3 - Contractor installs prototype window at "Window School."

Figure 4 – Water testing an existing window at a state office building in Sacramento

Figure 5 - Preparing to test air infiltration at a mockup window in a Fresno state courthouse