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Exterior of Houston arena rusting

Intial construction of foundation causing moisture build up
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Progress of exterior painting at the Claude Parish Memorial arena, when rusting of foundation was discovered.

On Oct. 17, 2017 at the District of Houston council meeting, it was reported that during the exterior painting of Claude Parish Memorial arena, several areas of exterior metal sheeting were found to have extensive deterioration due to moisture being trapped against the steel.

According to the report, sheet cladding of the arena extends to 25 millimetres or less from the ground surface and in most spots the surface next to the wall slopes back towards the building, which traps water there.

“This is a result of both foundation settlement and the build-up of material next to the foundation,” stated the report.

The cladding also did not have drip flashing installed during the arena’s initial construction, which divert the moisture of the cladding away from the foundation.

“The painting contractor sand blasted all exposed areas which were affected by rust, which identified more of the affected areas,” stated the report.

A special primer was applied to chemically bond with the rust to inhibit further rust on the panels.

It was also mentioned that the wooden sill plate in the lobby of the area has also started to rot and the fasteners have begun to loose their ability to hold the cladding.

“In discussions with the senior facilities operator, it was decided that to fix this problem the moisture drainage issues must first be deal with, then the deteriorated sill plates would require replacement, then proper drip flashing and insulation would need to be installed, and finally new cladding would need to be installed which would be pre-painted to match the new paint,” stated the report.

Don Hounsell, manager of engineering and operations for the District of Houston said, “This is one of the buildings that will be up for building assessment soon, under our building assessment plans. At that time the whole building will be investigated to determine how bad the problem is.”