Open with care

Even within buildings experiencing recurring moisture-related issues, visible surfaces of interior finishes do not always provide an accurate indication of the underlying conditions within the exterior wall assembly.
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Expansive grout as anchor fill

In stone veneer construction, the panels’ lateral support is typically provided by anchors connecting the stone veneer to a backup structure. Some lateral support anchors project from their attachment at the building structure, and are engaged within a slot or kerf cut into the stone thickness.
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Expanding focus on movement

Many building components (including the structure itself) are required to accommodate in-service dimensional changes associated with thermal and moisture variations, as well as reversible and irreversible movements created by other types of structural and environmental loadings.
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Complex corrosion

Galvanizing is one of the best ways to protect steel, but the complex series of reactions necessary to prevent corrosion can be undermined by exposure. When hot-dipped galvanized steel is first exposed to the atmosphere, near-pure zinc at the surface reacts with oxygen to form zinc oxide.
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Coming unbolted

Expansion bolts are commonly used to support new structural attachments in masonry or concrete. For example, expansion bolts are often installed into concrete spandrel beams to hold up new steel relieving angles, which, in turn, support building cladding such as brick or stone.
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Storefronts: Test the subsill

Widely used in buildings ranging from retail/office complexes to hospitals, storefront and window wall systems are specified for ground-level fenestration and entrances, and for punched and horizontal bands (or ribbons) of windows.
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Interface issues

Preformed silicone transition membranes are increasingly used to integrate fenestration components with the building’s weather-resistive barrier (WRB). This is thanks to increasing recognition of their important role in maintaining WRB continuity at vulnerable transitions between dissimilar exterior wall systems.
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Four ways to fix a problem

After suffering property damage, the last thing a building owner wants is another failure of the same system. After determining the failure’s cause, an appropriate and durable remedy should be designed and implemented.
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