Mayflower makeover at Virginia Beach, Va.

Growing up, I spent many a summer here and south of here at Sandbridge. Mayflower Seaside Apartments, which recently had several hundred windows retrofitted with FastFlash products is just a short walk from these beautiful beaches. photo by Ben Schumin, courtesy Wikipedia.org.

As beautiful and fun as Virginia Beach, Va., is, it’s still a tough environment for a building — especially one that’s 60 years old, like 16-story Mayflower Seaside Apartments, within easy walking distance of water, sand and boardwalk.

Storms, up to hurricane force blow in from the Atlantic, humidity gets high, and the salt air can be quite corrosive. But wind-driven rain — and Virginia Beach gets more than its share — poses a particular problem as it hammers the building envelope.

Over the years, the venerable building developed major water infiltration problems. The problems grew bad enough that the owners hired Water Management Consultants & Testing, Destin, Fla., for remediation.

Mayflower Seaside Apartments, West elevation, July 2011, just before getting all its windows replaced, and rough openings waterproofed with FastFlash products.

Investigaton revealed, no surprise, that the building’s aging windows were major points for water ingress.

That meant taking out the old windows, and waterproofing — permanently, this time — the rough openings, before putting new windows back in. Product of choice — fluid-applied PROSOCO R-GUARD FastFlash, I’m proud to say. Certainly an appropriate choice, since it easily guns and spreads over the most irregular surfaces, whether they are wet or dry. Also, instantly waterproof, vapor-permeable, and tested to stop water getting into structural walls despite leaky windows, in conditions from a mild Spring shower to Category 5 hurricane wind-driven rain.

Shawn Derosier, BEI (Building Envelope Innovations), Clackamas, Ore., perhaps the leading the authority on FastFlash window retrofits came in to teach the retrofit procedure to the construction crew, and managed to take some great pics during the five-hour session. The windows in a vacant apartment served for the workshop.

This rough opening corner detail shows several interfaces where water gets into the walls. The surfaces are in pretty good shape here, Shawn said.

This photo shows where gaps that have permitted water ingress have begun to be filled with Joint & Seam Filler. Once all gaps, seams and holes are filled, it will all be covered by waterproof FastFlash.

Here's an upper corner of the rough opening. Everywhere you see pink Joint & Seam Filler, water was getting into the walls -- plus a lot of other places not yet (but soon to be) filled with Joint & Seam Filler.

The top of the rough opening gets its gaps and seams filled with pink Joint & Seam Filler. It's not Shawn's usual tightly edged job, because it's being done from inside the apartment, instead of from outside on scaffolding or a lift.

This lower corner is fully prepped for flashing. The Joint & Seam Filler is neater here than up top because it was easeir for Shawn to reach. Note the application tools on the sill.

Lower part of the rough opening is completely covered with red FastFlash - vapor permeable so water already in can evaporate out, but waterproof, so no more water can get in. Unlike peel and sticks, FastFlash will not delaminate - ever.

Here's the upper part of the rough opening, waterproofed with FastFlash. That's Shawn's hand holding on for balance, while the rest of him leans out the window to get the photo. That's kind of how he had to apply the products.

Here's a shot of the guys from the window retrofit crew putting into practice what Shawn showed them. Sealing these rough openigs will also help stop air leaks in and out of the building envelope, increasing Mayflower's energy efficiency. Photo by Guy Long, PROSOCO

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