Sustainable Building

Residential Construction has to be sustainable and resilient. Living in areas where street drains bring in water that floods the street every high tide tide is more than a sign.

It is no longer a question of “IF” but “WHEN.” Spending good money to replace the walls and trim and have to spend more later when the water comes back is wasteful.

Proactive Construction

Painted concrete floors, tile, stone, and throw rugs.

Walls, re-build them as you would a shower. There are so many products out to waterproof your walls (Latticrete is one that I have used and trust since 2010) and floors like a shower. They are applied like paint, roll the waterproofing up the walls a few feet or at least one foot.

While your doors and jambs are removed cover the framing and drywall edges heavily and with fabric applying multiple coats of waterproofing to create a dry envelope. Replace your door frame and casing with a mold proof product, asek etc.

Install a decorative stone or tile over the wall to cover the waterproofing or paint over with a heavy stucco.

Apply a stone or tile base molding from the wall to the floor. There are so many combinations to use that are inexpensive.

Doors, exotic wood doors that are water resistant are very expensive. What I have found as a builder that I always check to avoid sticky doors and warranty work is making sure the tops and bottoms of doors have 3 coats of paint applied. Most painters paint what you see and today you can use your phone camera to click a shot and check. This will help reduce moisture wicking into the door core. If you are going to use paint grade doors in your rebuild, make sure they are painted very well on all edges and sealed. Keep a hammer and nailset handy so the next flood you can pop the pin in the hinges and take the doors off and dry them. This will save your doors from water damage.

Go Vertical

The other Proactive result is to go vertical. Abandon the ground floor, take the roof off add a few lintels and block piers/footings and go vertical. Eliminate the hassle of water damage forever.

Yes the cost is more now, but what do you think you are going to spend on rebuilding? Flood insurance? We all know when you use your insurance the premium goes up after.