Mark I Budget Research House, Commodore Park Subdivision, Halifax, N.S.

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Technical Note (National Research Council of Canada. Division of Building Research), 1960-01-01

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Mark I Budget Research House, Commodore Park Subdivision, Halifax, N.S.

Hansen, A. T.

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DIVISION OF BUILDING RESEARCH

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA

....

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JEClHl

Ii

II CAlL

NOTlE

No.

299

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

PREPARED BY A. T. Hansen CHECKED BY

FOR INTERNAL USE

APPROVED .BY R of oL.

DATE January

1960

ＮＮＺＮＮｐＮＺＮＮＺＮｒ］ＮＺｅｐＬＭＢａ］ｒ＾ＮＡＺｅＮＺＺＺｄｾｆｾｏｾｒ Re search Committee, National Rouse Builders Association

SUBJECT _{MARK I BUDGET RESEARCH HOUSE,}

COMMODORE PARK SUBDIVISION, HALIFAX, N.• S.

In order to obtain further information on the performance of the Mark I Budget Research House of the NHBA, arrangements were made to visit

4Ita

_{limited number of occupied Mark I houses located in the Commodore Park}

Subdivision in -Halifax, N.S. This visit was made on

23

September

1959.

The houses that were visited were similar to the ｯｲｩｧｩｾｬ Mark I

house built by George Hipel of Preston, Ontario. The plans of this house,

together with observations made during a visit to it in February

1958,

are

provided in Visit Report No.

38

of the Division of BUilding Research.

The houses in Commodore Park were constructed by the ｃｾｯ､ｯｲ･

Construction Company of ｈ｡ｬｩｦ｡ｾ and were built dl1ring

1958-59.

The writer

was accompanied on the visits by

Mr.

J.B. Sawyer of Commodore Construction

and

Mr.

and Mrs. Rex Heslop of Toronto.

House at ·-31.Vaneyfleld. "Road

ｾｬｳ house appeared to be in good oondition, both inside and out,

although same craoks 10 the plaster were noticed in the living quarters. Inspection of the crawl space in this house was impossible since the owners had laid linoleum over the access hatoh.

House at

34

Lewisburg Lane

The ｣ｾ｡ｷｬ space in this house was serving as a storage area 8S

well as a plenum. A dry bulb temperature

ot

_66°

_{and a wet bulb temperature}

of

60°

was measured in the orawl space, indicating a relative humidity of

about ＷＱｾＮ In the living area a dry bulb temperature of 70° and a wet bulb

ｾ･ｭｰ･ｲ｡ｴｵｲ･

of

63.8°

was measured indicating a relative humidity similar

to that in the crawl space. A.visual inspection of the crawl space.

revealed the framing to be in good oondition with no rotting taking place. Condensation was ocourring on the polythene vapour barrier behind the

.-.

- 2 ...

running down behind the batts and in some cases wetting them near the

bottom. The batts were installed vertically and not as a horizontal strip

as wa$ the ease in the Hipel house. In the writer's opinion, the result

was not a verY good job of insulation and it is suspected that the

insulation will not perform satisfactorily because,'with the batts draped loosely over the wall with air spaces between batts, muoh of the

insulation value of the insulation will be lost.

Il1'Spection of the living

area

Ittdicated, stair amount

ot

plaster

crac1(ing ｢Ｖｾｨ in the walls ｡ｮ､｣･ｬＱＮｩｾｧＮＧ .Although the cause of the

｣ｾｾｫｩｮｧ ･ｯｵｾｾ not ｢ｾ determined ､･ｦｩｲｬｩｴｾｬｹＬ ｩｴｾＬｹ be related at least in

p.rt to the sDr1nkags of the wood ｢･｡ｾ in the orawl space wbich supports

the centre bearing partition.

'!'he exteriorｰＮｩｮｰｾ､Ｚ plyWood appeared in good e andi tion and VfU!'y

little crazing of the f!nish'wasevident.

House at

42

Spikenard Str,et

Observations made in the crawl space of this hOuse indicated a

ＶＵＮＱｾ dry bulb temperature and a

62.1°

wet bulb temperature giving a

rela'tive humidity of about 85%. Observations in the living area' ipdlcated

8 dry bulb temperature of

69.8.°

and a wet bulb temperature of ＶＳＮｾ or a

relative humidity of about

71%.

Condensation was noted on the polythene vapour barrier behind

the mineral wool inSUlation on the crawl space walls. In some areas the

condensation had wet the insulation. The insulation was installed in the

crawl space in vertical strips similar to the house on Ｓｾ ｌ･ｷｩｳ｢ｵｲｾ Lane.

The floor framing was in good condition and no decay ｾ｡ｳ evident.

Exam'1na1ii'on or the 11ving quarters revealed some pIa

steI-cracking. ·Aga1n it was not possible to pinpoint the cause ｢･｣ｾｵｳ･ cracking

o-c:trurr'eu' -in both 'bear'1ng an1i n'on-bt!farl-n'g '--pa'rt1ti-ons and in the' 0,$iling.

The writer was informed that this house had ｢･･ｾ completed only

a few months. G-eneral Comment

The writer made a special point to inquire about the owners'

reactions to the amount of storage space provided. ｾｴ was surprising to

find that all owners interviewed were content with the space provided and were not partiCUlarly anxious to have more storage space.

It was interesting to note that 12-tt lengths of plywood were

ed to sheath the ends of the house. This eliminated the neoessity of

breaking the continuity of the end siding at the 8-ft height and installing

horizontal battens with flashing as was the case with the Hipel house. The

e1'f'eot was more pleasing" in the writer's opinion, than having the horizon-tal batten at eave height

....- .. .,..

The temperatures in the crawl spaces ｩｮ､ｾ｣｡ｴ･､ that ｴｾ･ houses

were not being heated at the time of the visito

It

was ｕｄ､･ｲｳｾｏｯ､ｄ

howeverv that the owners had been instructed to op&rate their blowers at

intervals. during the summer in ol&der to 'get some aIr pha.nge in the c,rawl

ｾｰ｡｣･ｯ Whether this was faithfully oarried out is ､Ｑｦｦｩ｣ｵｬｾ to sayo

It was also of interest to Dote that a

4/12

roof pitch was

being used: in these houses rather than the

3/12

pitch used in the original

Hipe! BUdget houseo

The Commodore Construotion Company makes ｳｫｾｬｬｲｵｬ use of colour

in painting the exterior of their hOllseso ThlsD together with the tact

that some imagination was used in the orientation of the houses and layout

ｯｾ ｴ｢ｾ dtreetsp gave the Commodore ｐ｡ｾｫ development'. pleasing appearaneeo

House at

42

Spikenard Street

In

addition to the three houses inspected by tbe writer another

house in this subdivision at

42

Spikenard Street.a! visited by DoC o

Tlbbetts of the Atlantio Reglonal Station of DBRo Mro Tibbetts visited

the house on 21 July

19590

_{and again on}

₁₆

_{Ootober at the request} ot _OMRC

to examine the conditions in the 'crawl space particularly the oondition of the tFamingo

Concerning the flrst visit Mro Tibbetts comnented as rQllow8g

WExamination ｾ･ｶ･｡ｬ･､ evidenoe of moisture and same tungi forma=

t10n on the bottom edges or the joists and condensed moisture on the metal

heating duct80 There was no evidence of moisture coming from the granular

underlay as the upderside·of the ｰｯｾｹ･ｴｨｹｬ･ｮ･ vapour barrier in the orawl

space was f'otWld to be c U o y o · , .

\l9'fhe housep reportedlyv has been occupied for only. sl10rt time

tol1uwingi"eoent completioRo Keeping in mind the wet weatner experienced

tn'this.rea this summer and the normal damp oonditions or a Ill•• hou8es> I

dO"!iot believe the condition now eXisting to be serious or ＮｶＮｾＧｕｄｵｳｵ｡ｬｯ

The cl"llwl space to date has had no benefit or heat f'rom the f\a:rDIIC8 or>

even an air change by the t.n unit on the furnaceo

"It would be well on damp 0001 days to operate the rumace tor a

short period in the morning or eveningo The tan should be used tel" 8i1"

circulation on d17 days coupled with SODle air ohange via windowsg eteo_D' 1n

the living are. itselfo A high relative humidity prevailed in the crawl

space yesterday and also in the living area as evidenced by oondensation

aD the .indow5o

Wlncidental to the main purpose ot the visit was examination of

the ceiling insulatioDo This in my opinion .as adequate and properly

astal1ed 0 6 0 0 In addition to the insulation .as a polythene vapoUl"

barrier also properly loaat.do

wA

visit to Mro Toddus house in the same "Budget House" grouping

." .

ducts0 Any original ｾｧＱ had apparent17 ceased to persist in the absence

of me:1l!1ltUl"eJotv

" ' 0 0 0 My w:151t todayl"eVilaled that the moistu1"e condition had

been ｀ｯｮＧ･ｾｴ｀､ｄ pllj)l!idbly by the int:Ri't\lcru.ot1on of hl)llt to the cJIlawl space

and .the dry-iDg out of thfl houl!le in genel"'81o !l!he1"e was DO ･ＢＧｩ､･ｮｾＮ of

ｭｯｾｾＮ on the ｷ｡ｬｬｾ of the crawl spaceD on ｴｨｾ ｾｴｯｰＩ surface of, the l'olythenemo1s'ture" blmI"rleI"D npr was tbere any evidence of moisture on the

ｵｮ､･ｲＵＱｾ･ of the moisture barrier which indioates that the 80il and gravel

in the 0rawl space ｾｲ･ in a dry at_teo

wThe fungi formation repowted earlier has Dot progressed nor

would ｴｨｩｾ be expected under dFY conditions prevailing in the crawl spaceo

'!'his formation i3 not unlike that witnessed in many new homes with eonven""

tional basements and I e.n ｓｾＸ no evidence of • condition that would b.

detrimental to the floor system in this hOUS60

ｶｾｗｨｩｬ･ measurementlS made todaY' show relative humidity 1n the

crawl space and in the living sre. to be higher than desirable", there is

no evidence to support the idea that the high relative humidity 1s caused

by the crawl spll©e condit1ofio

ｷｯｯｾ These houses are small and tightly built and ｵｮｬ･Ｘｾ the

ｯ･ｯｾＧｮｴＸ take some steps to provide air change and ｶ･ｮｴｩｬ｡ｴｬｯｾ｢ｹ the

ＧｯｰｾｮＱｮｧ of window8D dOOl"SD .tcoD • high humidity condition can ｾＮ expect.do

As in most cases where little air change 1s provided by ｴｾＬ occupants", a

build up in humidity can result over a relatively short period from ordinary dily to day use of water in washing", bllthins",clel1ning", etco

ll1looo There is no evidence to indicate that the owner rill