CCP 07-06-1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

------ I .,-" , I Peter J. Berger -I 3715 Chatham Court Arden Hills, MN 55112 Apri126, 1995 ,::~--, 'dU ;:~:-::: I ',.- .. I Brian Fritsinger City Administrator City of Arden Hills I 1450 West Highway 96 Arden Hills, MN 55112 I Dear Mr. F ritsinger: I As we discussed over the telephone last January, I would like an opinion from the Arden Hills City Attorney as to the City's responsibility to it's citizens to assure that houses constructed in the City of Arden Hills meet all applicable state and city building codes at I the time of construction. My current residence was built for James A. and Christine Nichols by Bancon Inc. in e. 1979. We purchased our home from the Estate ofJames A. Nichols in August of 1993. About 10 months after moving in, when repairing what appeared to be a thin settling crack in the sheetrock of a bedroom, I noticed a slight musty odor. Well, one thing lead to , another, and I discovered considerable structural damage to the frame of my house caused by years of moisture damage through the stucco siding. All this damage was the result of my house being built without a weather resistant barrier installed under the stucco siding. I I spoke with Fred Driver who is a Building Code Representative with the State of Minnesota Building Code Division. Mr. Driver stated that Minnesota State Building Code I in effect when my house was built, required "two layers of type 15 felt be installed as a weather resistant barrier under metal lath to separate it from wood based sheeting". Metal lath is used as the base for stucco siding. Therefore my house was built by Bancon I Inc. and approved for occupancy by the Arden Hills Building Inspector, with a material defect in violation of Minnesota State Building Code. Mr. Driver also stated that this part of the code is mandatory and did not need to be adopted by the City. , I I -, ,