July2017

Should We Reserve Monies for Siding/Trim Replacement? By Andrew Amorosi, P.E, R.S., Principal

The Falcon Group, Engineering, Architecture & Energy Consulting

C apital Reserve Funding Analysis has a primary purpose to offer recommendations for the amount of monies an association should budget on a yearly basis for the future replacement of commonly owned elements of a single or multi-family community. The analysis and recommendations provide an important guideline that helps aid in the bypass of possible future special assess- ments of the individual unit owners. Building finishing systems or siding, whether EIFS (syn- thetic stucco), stucco, wood, vinyl or even aluminum or adhered stone veneer, have often been carelessly elimi- nated or omitted from the capital reserve funding of many communities. Common reasoning is that there is a pre- sumption with regards to siding that it should “last for 40 or 50 years”, or “it should last as long as the building”. Unfortunately, many aging communities are now being faced with the hardship of replacing siding without the nec- essary funds to do so. In some cases, the result has been significant impact on the residents of the community due to

© iStockphoto.com

the associations imposing special assessments upon resi- dents of the community, which can be extremely costly and a large financial burden. While premature replacement is more common with EIFS, stucco surfaces and wood style siding, associations with vinyl or aluminum siding are also being affected. Siding manufacturers have come a long way in providing an improved product and superior warranties for the materi- als, which affords some assurance of protection; however, there are many factors that affect the performance and use- ful life of a siding material or building finishing systems that tend to be ignored and forgotten. Community associations should be made aware and sufficiently educated of the potential problems that could arise. EIFS/Stucco EIFS, stucco and adhered masonry veneer (faux stone) systems rely heavily on the adequacy of the initial installa- tion to function efficiently and effectively. A system that has CONT I NU E S ON PAGE 26

24

J U L Y , 2 0 1 7