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newstfionline · 6 years

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How water damages a flooded house—and what can be saved

By Aaron Steckelberg, Bonnie Berkowitz, Armand Emamdjomeh and William Neff, Washington Post, Sept. 14, 2018

Often it’s not the wind from a hurricane that does the most damage, it’s the water, particularly when a storm lingers and dumps huge amounts of rain over one area. But sometimes, a waterlogged house can be saved.

“A high water depth doesn’t mean the home is destroyed,” said Claudette Hanks Reichel of Louisiana State University’s Agricultural Center, who has written disaster recovery material for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “But if a house was already structurally compromised by decay, termites or very poor construction, then the flood could be the last straw.”

So what does a major deluge do to a house?

Cracks the foundation: Serious foundation damage is common in areas where the soil is mostly clay and where most homes are built on concrete slabs. Many coastal areas fit this description. Saturated clay expands unevenly and lifts parts of a slab, causing it to crack or break. Embedded pipes can rupture, exterior walls can crack, the roof can sag. As the soil dries and shrinks, it all gets worse. Sometimes, moving water erodes the soil from below the slab, and a poorly secured house will simply float off its foundation. No one should enter a house that looks cracked or off-kilter before a structural assessment.

Jams (or breaks) windows and doors: Jean-Pierre Bardet, a geotechnical engineer and dean of engineering at the University of Miami, said one of the first signs of foundation damage is that doors and windows won’t open or close because their frames have become distorted by the shifting house, sometimes so much so that the glass twists and breaks. Glass could also be broken by floating debris.

Weakens drywall: Water weakens regular drywall, and the paper facing provides food for mold. If drywall is soft, crumbly or moldy, it has to be replaced. Plaster and other materials may dry, but walls and ceilings that were in contact with water still need to be gutted down to the framing so that the insides can be cleaned and dried to prevent mold.

Soaks insulation: Most insulation used in homes is made of fibers or foams that hold water, so it has to be replaced if it gets wet. But other types, such as closed-cell foam, don’t absorb water and can survive a flood.

Degrades sheathing: Many common types of structural sheathing--the large panels between the framing and the outside of the house--are a composite of wood chips or other porous material. Those will absorb water, swell and lose strength. Plywood sheathing probably will be fine after it dries out.

Temporarily swells framing: Here’s some good news: Most homes are framed with solid wood lumber, which usually withstands flooding quite well unless it sits in water for weeks or was already damaged. Even if the wood soaks up some water and swells, it should return to shape and maintain its structural integrity. All framing has to be cleaned thoroughly and dried quickly to prevent mold, which flourishes in warm, moist areas.

Wrecks (some of) the electrical system: Hurricanes can cause flooding from two types of water: freshwater (rain) and saltwater (storm surge). Electrically speaking, rain is better, because saltwater is corrosive. Any outlets and switches that were underwater need to be replaced regardless. But some of the wiring may survive, pending a building inspector’s approval.

Ruins appliances: Reichel said that insulated appliances, such as refrigerators and ovens, are almost never salvageable because water penetrates the insulation. Washers, dryers and microwave ovens may be usable after they are examined by a professional.

Contaminates furniture: Most upholstered furniture, mattresses and draperies should be tossed. Floodwater from a storm is a nasty soup of microorganisms from sewage leaks, chemical spills and everyday contaminants. Properly cleaning all but the most valuable pieces would probably cost more than replacing them. Soaked particle-board furniture will fall apart, but pieces made of hardwood, metal, concrete, plastic and glass should be fine after they are thoroughly cleaned.

Spoils (some) flooring: Any carpet and padding that was covered in water will have to go because it’s just too hard to clean. Laminate flooring will usually peel apart. Hardwood floors may survive with a lot of TLC, such as removing a few boards here and there to let the others expand so that they don’t warp. Some tile may just need to be cleaned, but even usable flooring may need to be temporarily removed to clean and dry out the subflooring.

Homes that took the brunt of a hurricane’s winds or were caught in fast-moving floodwater are likely to be damaged beyond repair.

However, some flooding involves relatively calm water that simply rises higher and higher until homes are inundated but not destroyed. This means many homeowners will have to do a painful calculus: Is the house worth saving?

“The deeper the water, the more extensive and expensive the restoration project,” said Reichel. “It’s not just the cost, it’s the ordeal, and the time and competing for contractors and materials. It’s a horrendous, stressful situation.”

People who choose to fix their homes have a chance to make their houses more resistant to future floods. Here are a few recommendations from the LSU AgCenter:

Rebuild the house at least two feet higher off the ground than the area’s zoning requires. (It is also pricey but possible to raise an existing house.)

When restoring walls, use closed-cell foam insulation and flood-damage resistant sheathing and wallboard. Leave drainage space so that water or mud can be cleaned out without tearing up the walls.

Choose flooring for the first level of the house that is made of ceramic tile with water-resistant mortar, interlocking tile, concrete or other nonporous material.

Elevate important items, such as major appliances and HVAC components, off the ground.

Reichel said these measures cost more initially but can save money and headaches if another flood occurs. “If you can’t afford to do everything,” she said, “anything you do will reduce your damage next time.”

#flooding #flood damage

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aurorarestorationexperts · 6 years

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How water damages a flooded house — and which parts can be saved

As the waters from Hurricane Harvey recede in Texas and Louisiana, the owners of more than 100,000 flooded homes are getting a good look at what is left.

“The damage to the houses is going to be tremendous,” said Jean-Pierre Bardet, a geotechnical engineer and dean of engineering at the University of Miami. Thousands are beyond repair.

Often, however, a waterlogged house can be saved.

So what does water — not a small leak but a major deluge — do to a house?

Cracks the foundation

Serious foundation damage is common in Southeast Texas and Louisiana, Reichel said, because the soil is mostly clay, and most homes are built on concrete slabs. Saturated clay expands unevenly and lifts parts of a slab, causing it to crack or break. Embedded pipes can rupture, exterior walls can crack, the roof can sag. As the soil dries and shrinks, it all gets worse. Sometimes, moving water erodes the soil from below the slab, and a poorly secured house will simply float off its foundation. No one should enter a house that looks cracked or off-kilter before a structural assessment.

Jams (or breaks) windows and doors

Bardet said one of the first signs of foundation damage is that doors and windows won’t open or close because their frames have become distorted by the shifting house, sometimes so much so that the glass twists and breaks. Glass could also be broken by floating debris.

Weakens drywall

Water weakens regular drywall, and the paper facing provides food for mold, Reichel said. If drywall is soft, crumbly or moldy, it has to be replaced. Plaster and other materials may dry, but walls and ceilings that were in contact with water still need to be gutted down to the framing so that the insides can be cleaned and dried to prevent mold.

Soaks insulation

Most insulation used in homes is made of fibers or foams that hold water, so it has to be replaced if it gets wet. But other types, such as closed-cell foam, don’t absorb water and can survive a flood.

Degrades sheathing

Many common types of structural sheathing — the large panels between the framing and the outside of the house — are a composite of wood chips or other porous material. Those will absorb water, swell and lose strength. Plywood sheathing probably will be fine after it dries out.

Temporarily swells framing

Here’s some good news: Most homes are framed with solid wood lumber, which usually withstands flooding quite well unless it sits in water for weeks or was already damaged. Even if the wood soaks up some water and swells, it should return to shape and maintain its structural integrity. All framing has to be cleaned thoroughly and dried quickly to prevent mold, which flourishes in warm, moist areas.

For the full article on the Washington Post click here.

Read More Here: How water damages a flooded house — and which parts can be saved

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createartwithme · 6 years

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Clay Fairy House Lesson Improved!

Ceramic fairy houses have been part of my middle school art lesson plans for many years, but this year I wanted to kick it up to a higher level and stretch their clay hand-building skills! To do that we added a couple major components to the existing requirements of the project: it must have a base (flat or on a hill) and it had some type of water feature (fountain, pond, birdbath, etc).

Objectives:

Students will be able to define the given clay vocabulary.

Students will learn slab construction and hand building techniques.

Students will create an original clay house demonstrating good craftsmanship using slab and hand-building techniques.

Students will draw at least two preparatory sketches of ideas for the house, base, and water feature.

Students will give the appearance of water by adding glass beads to water features that are structured to hold the beads.

Supplies: Sax Low Fire Moist Earthenware Clay, small cylinder to roll slab onto for house (we used our water cups, but you could use paper towels rolls that were cut down), ceramic sculpting supplies-Sculpt Pro 15 Piece Pottery and Sculpting Art Tool Set, Masonite panels covered in canvas & secured, Mayco Stroke & Coat Glazes-(2oz set) or Pint Set A or B

Preparation: Wedge the clay into large grapefruit-size balls OR slice clay from block 1.5″ thick then cut in half for the house and a 1/2″ thick for base, two per child for the base and the house (plus a few extra).

Delivery:

Two-dimensional: a SHAPE that can be measured in two ways: by height and width

Three-dimensional: a FORM that can be measured three ways: height, width, and depth

Free Standing Sculpture: a type of sculpture that is surrounded by space on all sides

Additive Sculpture: sculpture made by adding materials onto to the form.

Examples of clay fairy houses and gnome homes: http://lunabluecreations.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html, https://www.honiglicht.de/, https://www.keramik-fleury.de/

Ceramic Techniques:

Hand-building: building pots using the only the hands and hand-held clay tools

Slab: clay is rolled into thin sheets or slabs and then formed into shapes or forms.

Pinch: shaping clay by inserting the thumb of one hand into the clay and lightly pinching/ pressing with the thumb on the inside and fingers on the outside while slowly turning the clay to enlarge the center opening of the clay.

Coil: creating ceramic forms by rolling out coils of clay and joining them together by the slip & score method.

Scratch and slip: (DEMO) To attach two pieces of clay, scratch the surfaces to be joined several times with a needle tool and apply a small amount of slip or water on both sides. Press the surfaces together. Be sure not to over-wet the clay, which will cause it to become too soft and slimy. This is important to do because as slabs dry they tend to pull apart and pieces could pop apart or off. To make an even stronger bond, roll a very thin coil of clay and push it inside the joints where the walls meet.

Demo Subtractive and Additive methods. Demonstrate how to cut windows & doors

Stages of Dryness

Wet or plastic: very wet and mold-able or shape-able (will slump over)

Leather hard: wet but slightly stiff (a wall can stand up with out slumping), can be carved into (subtractive technique) and clay can still be added on with score and slip method

Green-ware or Bone dry: all moisture is dried out, will break if you try to bend it

Bisques-ware (first firing): stone hard

Glaze-ware (second firing with glaze)

Cylinder House Slab Construction: (Video Tutorial coming soon!)

Cut a piece of paper the height of the cup (or whatever you are using as a base shape). Tape the paper onto the cup.

Roll out a slab using 1/4″ slats that is slightly longer than the length of the cup.

Cut the slab and roll it onto the cup. Allow about 1/2″ overlap and trim the excess clay.

Score and slip the clay together.

Use modeling tools to smooth the joint together.

Remove the clay from the cup and use the modeling tools to smooth the inside joint together.

Students Working:

Shaping the House

You can either leave the fairy house in the basic cylinder shape or you can give it a rounded shape. To give the house a rounded shape, place the cylinder so the side is resting in the palm of your hand. GENTLY rub the inside of the house with wet fingers to shape it. Putting more pressure from the inside will bulge out the side and create the rounded structure. Do this carefully-make sure you don’t get your clay too wet or too thin! If you are applying texture from a roller or sheet, you need to apply it to slab before cutting out templates. You can add drawn texture or simple imprinted texture after it has been constructed.

Doors, Windows and Base

After you have the desired shape of the house, start to add windows and doors. Follow the same method as we did on the clay castles. Video Tutorial: Clay Slab Castle with Moat and Glass Beads- Part Four: Add Door, Windows, and Window Extras to Castle

The base can either be flat or on a hill.

For a flat base, roll out a slab larger than your house. Figure out where you want your house to be and score and slip it to attach it to the base.

For a base with a hill, roll out a slab larger than your house. Get a plastic bowl and place a paper towel or a piece of plastic wrap on top of it so it doesn’t stick! Lay the slab on the bowl and gently press it down until it molds to the bowl form. Figure out where you want your house to be and score and slip it to attach it to the base. Keep the bowl under the base until 1 day after you let it start to dry out.

Adding Extras (Fences, Paths, Foliage, Ponds, & Water Features)

Finish the piece by adding extra special elements like fences, bridges, grass, paths, stones, bushes, logs, and flowers. You also can add some type of water feature to the design. It can be a stream, pond, fountain, or moat. If you want to use the glass beads to look like water you MUST form a solid enclosed structure that will hold the beads so that when they melt they will not leak out. In other words, there can be no gaps or spaces so that the beads are held securely in the structure.

When completely finished, scratch your name into the piece (on the base or the side of the house) & set on a bat labeled with your name & today’s date in Kiln room to dry. Leave bowls under bases for 1 day of drying. Loosely wrap plastic wrap around it to dry for 2-3 days. Take plastic wrap off and finish drying for 5-10 days until ALL moisture it out.

Glaze and Glass Beads

Completely glaze the house and base (except the bottom). For water features, apply a water color-blue (light or dark), blue-green. If you constructed a water feature to hold beads, I will add the glass beads before placing in the kiln.

Finished Pieces

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If you choose to use ANY part of this blog (graphic, pictures or written text), please link back to Create Art with ME!

Clay Fairy House and Gnome Homes with Glass Beads Clay Fairy House Lesson Improved! Ceramic fairy houses have been part of my middle school art lesson plans for many years, but this year I wanted to kick it up to a higher level and stretch their clay hand-building skills!

#blue glass beads #ceramic fairy house #ceramic lesson #clay fairy house #Clay Lesson #fairy houses #glass bead #glass beads in kiln #glass beads melt for water #glass for water #gnome homes #mayco glaze #middle school art lesson #ms art clay #Slab Construction

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