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To: Moonman62
A friend of mine employed by a major university works in building maintenance. They are tearing down ‘green’ buildings built less than a decade ago due to deterioration. This story doesn't surprise me at all.
12 posted on 01/03/2014 9:10:29 PM PST by Right Brother
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To: Right Brother

Righto.

Many of the new and “green” building materials have, by definition, no history of how well they will stand up, particularly to moisture and humidity. And when they do develop a record, it usually isn’t good.

One example is OSB. It has largely replaced plywood in construction. It is both cheaper and “green,” since it can be made from smaller pieces of wood that would otherwise be waste.

It is entirely comparable in performance to plywood as long as it stays dry. Repeated wetting, as around windows, and it will quite literally disintegrate. Highly elevated humidity will also cause it to disintegrate eventually.

We once removed leaking EIFS stucco from a home exterior. Most of the sheathing under the EIFS was OSB, but there were a few sheets of plywood.

The plywood sections were discolored but structurally sound. Most of the OSB could be pulled apart with fingers.

The manufacture response is that the material is supposed to remain dry. My response: What is the chance that a building will get wet at some point over its theoretically 100 year life?


30 posted on 01/04/2014 3:27:09 AM PST by Sherman Logan
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