Leaking Sacramento Apartments – What Has Changed?

I recently visited the notorious Sacramento Apartments where extensive remediation work is underway.

Sacramento Apartments: Before

I looked at the repairs and asked, “What has changed?”  The answer I received was: “Nothing, really.”

Actually, the cladding had been changed from direct fixed, plastered monolithic Fibre Cement. An arched parapet was removed and the cladding is now a fibre and timber weather board mix with eaves and a small amount of plastered Poly.

I added that what I meant was, “What new methods or technology had been introduced to protect the building for the next 50 years or more?”

The answer to that question was “nothing”… except for one new innovation.  A completely new and innovative window and door flashing system that will not allow leaks at the window-to-cladding junction.  Apart from that their answer was spot on.

Sacramento Apartments: After

After all the talk and money and angst about leaky homes, what new methodologies and systems have been introduced to protect designers from leaky homes?

To be fair there is the cavity. That is good so long as it is not used as an internal downpipe as many cladding systems do. There is also the air seal around windows and doors which is very good sound technology.

But in terms of keeping the water out of the building in the first place there have been no advances to reduce the use of sealants as the main source of deflection. Sealants do not replace flashings. They should not and do not do the same job.

Yet here they are in some brand new houses I recently visited:

See images of how a flashing system works.