Tent City

This block of townhouses up the street from us is being gutted to address mold and rot in its timbers. Its an all-too-common problem here, thanks to an unholy alliance among the wet climate, lax building standards (for a period in the 1990s it was ok to use untreated pine in residential construction), and shoddy materials (especially some siding / stucco systems that were enormously popular around the same time it was ok to use untreated lumber). We have seen other projects start out like this and wind up switching to total demolition. Let’s see what happens with this one.

One of the first steps in many renovations here is to scaffold the entire structure and wrap it in plastic. That way, you can just keep working as the rain falls. It’s probably a thing that happens everywhere but I’ve noticed it a lot more here in NZ. If a project fails halfway through, you’re left with increasingly billowy sheets for months or years.