Building Officials Association of Texas BOAT

Our BOAT has floated.  BOAT is a Preferred Provider approved by the International Code Council. We should have joined years ago.  This group of professionals has several conferences a year for program of quality education and training for the Building Professionals including Builders, Building Officials, Contractors, Municipal Inspectors, Real Estate Inspectors,Architects, Engineers, Plumbers, Fire Protection Personnel, Code Enforcement, Permit Technicians, Electricians,and Environmental Health and Safety Personnel, as well as its own annual convention.
The conferences are run by The Building Professional Institute (BPI)  This teaching group is a combination of Building Officials Association of Texas (BOAT) and the Construction Research Center (CRC).
We, as home and building renovators, need to keep up with all building codes, which are the minimum, well thought out practices for home repair, additions and rejuvenation. They are the law of the land and city building inspectors are law enforcement officers. They can fine you, condemn your property and throw you in jail. One roofer threatened one and Federal Marshals were at his home the next day. Glad it wasn't the FIB.
Obviously insurance carriers don't know this because they say they won't pay for something unless the city writes a letter saying it is an enforced code. you think the city might? Hell no! These are laws. I have to point out that a particular code insurance companies want us to ignore could cause the death of firemen. Plus I could be sued for not following code or manufacturer's minimum specifications.
Finally, I'd like to thank Lawrence Crowe of the Irving Building Inspections for encouraging us to join. 

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com

   

Death by Falling Chimney

My sabbatical, a very long Saturday for my Jewish friends, has terminated and we are about to start deluging you with stories, procedures, certifications, new products and old plus other bs.

This last year was a wet one for the record books. And before it was over the last few months were really wet. Thus began the masonry leaks and devastation..

In the past we saw full brick chimneys with plywood/mortar caps, erode and spall. So much water was suspended by continual drizzle, rain, cool weather, lack of sun, that nothing would dry out. Once these chimneys were saturated it became one drop in and one drop out...one gallon in and one gallon out. I mean everywhere. No amount of roof work, counterflashing work or chimney cap work would help. Time for the masonry coating.

Those poorly build and cheap zero clearance chimneys that were made out of cardboard rotted away. Those cheap ones with one ply of brick over a framing and felt or blackboard, really started to leak. But the worst is yet to come:chimneygeddon. All across North Texas feom Las Colinas to Rowlett, in Carrollton and every area built up since the cities looked the other way on rules concerning masonry supported by masonry all the way to the foundation or at least set on steal posts and beams, the chimneys are starting to list and crack. Wood framing under heavy masonry has always been against code but it was overlooked. Even just outs set on wood framing. !0...9..8..7..6..5.. run away. People will die.

We had one chimney leak and and its insides revealed no bones. One ply brick with no framing or waterproofing sitting on wood. Weight with rubber legs. We tore it down, built a frame and put artificial brick by Exteria. This use to be called Nailite. I love it. The color looked so much like the brick on the home no one can tell. Strong, lightweight and elegant, if brick can be elegant.

Anyway, have your chimney looked at before it kills you.

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com

   

Argon Gas in Windows

Windows today have argon gas filled in between the 2 or 3 layers of glass of the sealed insulated glass unit.  The question arises quite often; how long will the argon stay in the windows?  The short answer is there are to many variables to be specific, but an average of 20 years is a realistic answer.  The argon actually leaks out of the glass, not through the seal, unless there is actually seal failure in the window.  Glass has pores just like your skin.  You can't see them usually, but they are there, and they expand and contract like most other things on Earth.  The argon escapes in very small increments over time through the pores in the glass.  The purpose of argon is to insulate.  Argon is heavier than oxygen and acts as another barrier for radiant heat.  So you could say that your windows will lose a small portion of the insulating value with which they started every year.  Don't get too worried though.  The argon is not nearly as effective as the Low E coatings which actually reflect the heat off the glass.  If you live in the South, argon helps, but you would probably never notice a difference.  It would also probably not affect your energy bill either.  The winter is when argon would help the most because it insulates as opposed to reflecting heat.  In extreme northern climates argon would be most effective because the weather stays cold much longer.  Bottom line - don't sweat losing your argon gas from your windows.  Concentrate on getting a better Low E coating on your glass, especailly in the South.

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com

   

Roofers and Travel Agencies: Don't Use Hotwire.com

We roofers travel a lot. We have trips sponsored by wholesalers, as ABC-Bradco just sent my girlfriend and I to Costa Rica for a week, manufacturers, as in the GAF Master Elite conference last year in Salt Lake City, and the NRCA and Texas Roofing Contractors Assoc. annual conventions. Then there are training seminars and out of town offices. I mean we spend thousands and thousands are spent on us. So a good travel agent or discount program is very important. I've used Susan McCarley at MK Tavel and had great results. For quick trips we've used hotels.com with great success but one company put the screws to us and I'm going to tell the story.

I had to rush to Houston so I asked one of my secretaries to book me a room in Kemak Boardwalk area and she went to Hotwire.com. She picked a room she thought was just a short distance from there not knowing how bad traffic can be in Houston. She even got the insurance. What a waste. It covers almost nothing.When she told me where she had booked the room I had her cancel within ten minutes or less from the time she set the reservation. When Hot Wire refused to refund the money I had to beg to talk to a supervisor. Finally I got to a gal who said she would check it out and get back with me. Never got another response and never got my money back. I had told her that I would let everyone know what had happened. She didn't care. Thus the measly $309.06 I lost to Hotwire.com will cost them tens of thousands of dollars from me and if GAF, Certainteed, Owens Corning, Mastic and Plygym, Angie's List, ABC-Bradco Supply, Southern Shingles, The Roofing Supply Group, Gulf Eagle Supply, Lansing Building Products, Shelter Distribution, Norandex, Southwest Roofing Supply ( a division of Huttig), Versico/Carlisle, Bitec and many others who listen what I have to say here. They probably will avoid Hotwire.com too. Also a lot of roofing companies read this blog as well as people with roofing questions. Readership is in the thousands every month and many of those are executives.

Plain and simple: no service was offered, a button was mistakenly pushed and the mistake was corrected immediately. These people are crooks and do not respond as they said they would. But what do you expect from thieves? The truth?

All of these organizations spend anywhere from $100,000.00 to a couple of million a year on travel as well as have tens of thousands employees among them who will here of this. We could be talking about possibly hundreds of thousands of travel dollars over the next few years. I always say "to vote at the cash register." If you don't spread the word your friends might get victimized too.

Jon Alan Wright

Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows

1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310

Irving, TX 75061

972.251.1818 Office

214.718.3748 Cell

972.554.8090 Fax

jonwright@jonwrightroofing.com

www.jonwrightroofing.com