We thought that we might start out with a bit about our company name - Advanced Forensics & Inspections, LLC. Inevitably while at a networking event, particularly one where alcohol is served, a question about the word forensics comes up – usually followed by someone making this sound:
Many people think solely of crime scenes when they hear the word forensics, but Miriam Webster poses several definitions, including:
Belonging to, used in, or suitable to courts of judicature or to public discussion and debate;
Relating to or dealing with the application of scientific knowledge to legal problems
Forensics as it is commonly applied to building science denotes the use of a specific methodology to arrive at a conclusion which is previously unknown. The findings of our forensic investigations are all too often are used to settle litigation matters and our expertise has been called on by several courts for dispositions and testimony as an Expert Witness. That answers the question about forensics, but what specifically is Building Envelope Forensics?
Building Envelope Forensics is the science of analyzing buildings to determine the cause of air/vapor infiltration and water penetration within the “building envelope” – those components which wrap the building to keep the elements out.
Everything you see here and more, is considered part of the building envelope.
Sometimes problems are relatively easy for us to diagnose, such as a home where the gutters are missing, causing a leak in the basement. The building equivalent of a minor street crime, which wouldn’t even make it onto an episode of your favorite crime drama…
Most homes have gutters for a reason!
Other times the “crime” is complex and difficult to figure out. On one investigation, we diagnosed a home where water was leaking in through the live electrical box for the chandelier in the center of the dining room ceiling, repeatedly damaging the very expensive wood table and flooring below it. This water would sometimes appear to trickle in after a long stretch of days without rain, but sometimes also in substantial volume immediately during a rainstorm.
To solve that case, we used many tools from our detective kit: taking statements from the suspects (i.e. the home’s occupants, roofing and siding contractors), studying the crime scene (i.e. the house) under various conditions, looking for the fingerprints of water penetration with moisture probes, wet wall scanners, thermal IR imaging cameras and borescopes.
Police detectives study criminal psychology and know that cracking a complex criminal case often involves understanding the moves and motives of several persons. We study building science and we know that the cause of a water penetration in a home is typically a result of a series of failures between different systems. Understanding how these systems work together is often the key to solving a puzzle.
After some solid field work, we were able to determine that the leak was caused by poor workmanship during the replacement of the siding over a year prior. It was believed that workers pulled the second-story dryer vent out too forcefully, causing a separation in an elbow of duct work, which happened to be in close proximity to the electrical box for the chandelier. With four children in the home, laundry was a regular occurrence and a typical residential dryer can pump as much as 1 gal. of water (as vapor) out of a single 8lb. load of laundry! This moisture collected withinin the insulation between the trusses, and eventually condensation collected on the cool surface of the metal electrical box. There was the cause of water when it wasn’t raining, but what about the sporadic deluge when it did rain?
We found that the dryer vent was not set flush into the siding nor was it properly flashed (sealed) to the exterior sheathing. In the event of wind-driven rain from the southeast side of the property (which was uncommon for how this house was situated) where the vent was located, rain was forced in and quickly and traveled along the already damp space between the trusses by cohesion - the property of water molecules that allows it to stick to things and contributes to water flowing more freely over wet surfaces.
The ceiling was opened and the vent elbow was re-attached and sealed. The mold between the trusses mitigated and the insulation was replaced. Finally, the dryer vent was properly reset with the penetration properly flashed in to the sheathing.
Case Closed!
While interior mold and water damage is certainly less gruesome than a chalk-line body on the floor, we take our forensic work no less seriously when it comes to solving water problems at your property.
Feel free to make the "Dun Dun" sound as we conduct our investigation.