09.3 - 1324 Alta Vista Ave - Conditions Assessment — original pdf

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1324 Alta Vista Avenue Demolition Permit Application Reasons for Needing to Demolish the Existing Duplex Structure at 1324 Alta Vista Ave. The 1968-built duplex structure has many major problems that cannot be resolved / repaired, despite now 30 years of costly efforts by the current owner, and reportedly major efforts also by previous owners. The downhill rental apartment is no longer inhabitable (vacant since 2021) due to building deficiencies and drainage issues that cannot be corrected. Water intrusion and mold / mildew a constant have been a worsening situation. Details of many of those issues are described below. The current owner has resided in the duplex at 1324 Alta Vista Avenue since early 1995. While some serious problems were revealed during the inspection performed prior to purchase, within a few months of residing in the main house, and responding to problems reported by the renters living there at that time, a number of major additional problems were revealed. One of the next door neighbors shared that the builder of the duplex did notoriously subpar work, and she wasn’t surprised by issues the owner was encountering. During the next 3 decades major repair work was done in efforts to correct those problems, but some of the most problematic conditions are simply not correctable. That determination was made over time through discussions with a number of builders /contractors (including one who previously lived in the main house), and many thousands of dollars in repairs. The 1968 –built duplex was constructed during a period when some construction practices were employed that were found over time to be problematic (e.g. aluminum wiring, cast iron sewer pipes having severe / sharp bends / mechanical joints under concrete foundations, and flat roofs). In a survey of buildings done in the neighborhood conducted by those working on historic preservation efforts this house was for reasons unknown categorized as “contributing”. Some key items of information noted for the house in the survey were in error, including “metal roof” and stucco. At no time did the house have stucco exterior (but rather inexpensive painted wood sheet siding with 2” painted cedar trim, with a portion of that replaced with cement board siding in 2014). The only metal portion of the roof was on the mansard trim areas that were installed in 2014 to replace the composite mansard roofing sections (see photo below). It is the owner’s and architect’s opinion that the existing house doesn’t contribute favorably to the historic charm found in the neighborhood. The main house portion of the duplex sits low into the hillside running from Alta Vista westward down Milam Place, and is dwarfed in profile from the street by neighboring houses that have much smaller overall square footage and footprints. 1 | P a g e 1324 Alta Vista Avenue Demolition Permit Application The owner hates having to demolish the current structure and rebuild completely for a variety of reasons, including sentimental reasons, costs and disrupting living circumstances, but the problems with the existing structure are too extensive and insurmountable. The owner has lived there for 30 years now and loves the location and neighborhood, and has spent well over $120,000 in repairs and attempts to resolve the major problems. Just 12 years ago the current owner did major exterior and interior work, recladding on the south side of the main house side of the duplex with cement board siding, painting, replacing unattractive composite mansard roof trim with high quality metal roofing, re-flooring inside, and replacing numerous interior fixtures. But within just a year after all that work, sewage sludge backed up the sewer line and flooded the floor of the downstairs office and laundry room in the uphill side of the residence with about an inch deep layer of sewage sludge. This was due solely to the major plumbing problems detailed below beneath the concrete slabs of both sides of the duplex. Pier and beam homes in the neighborhood that were built even many years before this duplex have the advantage of access to deteriorated or inadequate electrical and plumbing systems. This duplex doesn’t even have crawl space above the ceiling of the uphill / main residence side of the duplex for re-wiring work needed for the aluminum wiring, due to the flat roof and narrow space between the roof and interior ceilings. Below are details of many of these problems: General Problems with the Structure’s Layout / Architecture: The main residence/uphill side of duplex is sunk into the hillside with no view of or experience of the large front yard. Windows on that eastern wall of the uphill side of the duplex are high along that wall, with no windows facing the yard from the living room or kitchen. The only windows in the living room are doors with large glass panes leading out to a rear deck area that faces the window-less east wall of the downhill apartment. Both the living room and tiny / galley kitchen of the main house / uphill side of the duplex are therefore very dark. Previous owners converted a garage on the lowest level to a studio office. The laundry room is downstairs adjacent to that area. There is a steep narrow and dangerous curved stairwell between the main floor down to laundry room and office / studio. There is no space to correct that problem, and multiple persons have slipped down those stairs, fortunately with no serious injuries while the current owner has resided there. There is constant differential settling and movement of the seam of the main house where the slab on grade foundation of the upper level of the main house transitions to the framed 2nd level area of the main house. Apparently the slabs serving the two levels weren’t adequately tied together. When installing a massive uphill French drain the Owner found that the house had been built on fill, which exacerbates that differential movement / settlement. During the 30 years the current owner has resided in the house, the entire roof has had to be replaced at least four to five times, with multiple repairs required between each new roof. The roof has been replaced completely three times in the past twelve years. The owner spent Flat Roof 2 | P a g e 1324 Alta Vista Avenue Demolition Permit Application Thanksgiving eve of 2022 bailing out many full buckets of water that continued draining through the opening in the roof. Repairs couldn’t even be made to stop the leaking into the house until the rains stopped that weekend, and the roof could be swept / squeegeed of water that had ponded on the flat roof. Flat roofs are a “nonstarter” for most buyers due to those problems, and hugely detract from marketability and value of a home. They’re therefore not used much at all anymore for residential construction. Another homeowner in the neighborhood with a flat roof has shared similar stories. Left photo was of a 2019 interior ceiling damage from a leak in the main house flat roof, with full replacement done then. Below and to the left are photos of damage from a late 2022 leak in the new/replacement roof that was only 3 years old, and installed by a highly reputable roofer that many long-time neighbors use because of his professionalism and sound work. 3 | P a g e Aluminum Wiring 1324 Alta Vista Avenue Demolition Permit Application Immediately after purchasing the house the aluminum wiring throughout the duplex structure was crimped, which was deemed to be the best way to make the wiring as safe as possible, while still being able to inhabit the structure (and not remove drywall throughout to rewire everything). The flat roof and too-narow space between the ceilings and roof, along with the concrete slab on grade foundations, make it impossible to rewire without completely removing drywall through both sides of the duplex. The wiring has continued to be a problem, with fixtures and outlets arc’ing where crimped wires have loosened over time. Plumbing Problems As well as having old cast iron plumbing with severe mechanical joints that easily develop clogs, the builder did not install a cleanout for the uphill side of the duplex structure, and instead routed sewer lines from under the main house concrete slab under concrete that underlies a retaining wall and deck between the house and the downhill rental. The sewer line then runs across the full width of the slab of the downhill rental before reaching the one cleanout that serves the whole structure. The run of sewer line under the structure is so long that plumbers cannot snake the line, particularly given the severe cast iron elbows. After spending approximately $1000 on plumbing bills to try to clear a clog in 2014, and including the Austin Water Utility trying to clear the line from the City’s cleanout, the uphill side of the duplex has had to use only one type of toilet paper (which most persons opt not to use because it’s so thin -- Scott 1000 brand, which breaks up easily when shaken in water), so as to avoid clogs and having to clean up sewage on the floors due to clogs / back-ups. The builder used undersized P-traps under the concrete slab for the laundry room, as well as their being cast iron and rough from corrosion over time. Due to their being undersized, about every two to three months the laundry line begins backing up and has to be treated with Thrift drain cleaner to clear the line. To correct these problems extensive tunneling would have to be done under the foundation of the uphill part of the structure, and plumbing replaced under the concrete slab. The downhill apartment is on the same water service line as the uphill house. Both the hot and cold water lines serving the downhill apartment were located in the flat roof of that apartment’s carport, along with the gas line. This is a very dangerous location for the gas line whenever any roofing repairs have been needed for the flat roof. Both the hot and cold water lines leading into the rental apartment have frozen on numerous occasions, and those also are at risk of damage from nails or screws when repairs are done to the roof. “Galley Kitchens” (with no space for refrigerator in uphill / main residence side of duplex) The builder seemed to consider kitchens as “afterthoughts”, for both sides of the duplex. There is only about a 3 ft wide walking space between the stove and sink in both kitchens. For the uphill / main residence side of the duplex, the builder apparently forgot that the kitchen needed a refrigerator, as there was no space for even a small one, and an owner before me had to knock out a wall and constrruct a closet with a shed type door, through which a refrigerator can be installed from the outside deck only. There was no slab there (it’s 2nd level), and so was 4 | P a g e cantilevered out over a deck area. It is substandard construction, not insulated, and will only accommodate a small refrigerator. 1324 Alta Vista Avenue Demolition Permit Application Shed door on deck opening into knockout closet for main house refrigerator Chronic Drainage Problems Due to Inadequate Sealing of Walls (Waterproofing) and Failure to Install Retaining Walls When Building Originally Constructed Immediately after purchasing the duplex, and on multiple occasions during the 30 years of ownership, massive French drains were installed in efforts to prevent water from seeping into both sides of the duplex. The entire exterior uphill side of the uphill / main residence side of the duplex was excavated to re-seal the uphill buried face of the building and install a French drain that daylights downhill. That served to resolve seepage into the uphill side of the duplex. However, the downhil lside of the duplex cannot be accessed to do this. The current owner is a civil engineer who has over 40 years experience with water / wastewater and site drainage areas of civil engineering. She met with and hired multiple contrators over the years to take measures to try to mitigate the moisture / water intrusion problems particularly with the downhill apartment. There is a massive concrete slab that was poured (presumably by the original builder) between the uphill and downhill sides of the duplex. When the current owner purchased the property French drains were installed around the building in several locations in efforts to drain runoff away from the building. Sealing was done along building edges was done numerous times. However, all of these measure have failed to prevent water intrusion and even flooding into the downhill side of the duplex. The duplex’s downhill apartment has mold / mildew constantly reappearing along the east walls, where concrete overlies those problems along that wall. 5 | P a g e 1324 Alta Vista Avenue Demolition Permit Application The last long-term tenant of the downhill apartment was a professor of anthropology at UT. He had spent many years in Asian developing countries where he’d become quite accustomed to challenging physical living conditions. While living at the duplex, his rents were kept very low in light of the periodic water intrusion, and he just kept books / papers and valued furniture pieces away from the east wall of the downstairs rooms. For a period during his tenancy he subletted the apartment while overseas for a year. During that period there was an intense and prolonged rainstorm, and the owner had to go help the tenant and her boyfriend bail / mop up what was essentially a river of water pouring into the downstairs rooms of the rental apartment. Since the professor left in 2021, the downhill rental unit has been vacant. In being transparent with prospective renters about these periodic problems, renters are simply not willing to deal with such major problems (and shouldn’t be expected to). Below are photos of baseboards along that eastern downstairs wall of the downhill rental, only a couple of years after repairing and repainting all the trim throughout the apartment. The drainage problems are a constant source of water damage and mold / mildew. The downhill rental apartment is no longer inhabitable (vacant since 2021) due to building deficiencies and drainage issues that cannot be corrected, with water intrusion and mold / mildew a constant and worsening situation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The owner plans to rebuild a duplex structure where the current building stands but with smaller overall footprint, preserving all protected live oak trees on and around the property, and making best possible use of the natural grade so as to minimize excavation and disruption along the hillside. Efforts will be made to salvage and use or donate as many worthy elements of the existing structure as possible, including the pink brick used for cladding the building and for retaining walls. Once the existing structure is removed the architect and engineer will have a much clearer sense of the natural topography (beneath some of the problematic fill underlying the current structure) and can then work with the owner to finalize plans for the new duplex structure. The floor plan of the new main house portion of the duplex will be conducive to “aging-in-place” by the existing owner. The owner and architect believe the new structure will contribute much more to the neighborhood character and charm than the current structure. The owner prefers and appreciates architecture having charm characteristic to the neighborhood. She has a two-story detached addition at nearby rental property currently under construction for which the Historic Landmark Commission gave unanimous approval based on its aesthetic compatibility with neighborhood architecture. 6 | P a g e