In a previous post about the finished units at Red Frog, the discussion turned to drywall materials and whether or not it was appropriate to use drywall in a tropical climate. Here's the quote from Tasboy's earlier post on the blog:
"...Along the theme of construction, I pointed out to Scott Harris, that after viewing photo's of our villa dated from Feb.07, that drywall material was defective on over hang areas of our Tortuga model. I have checked with several builders here in the US, and drywall is not a product that should be installed in a humid/wet climate, such as RFB..."
On this topic I posed the question to Scott in an e-mail on August 1 about the drywall material. My concern was if the above statement is true, were they any plans to change the choice of material when construction resumed? Here is a portion of his reply:
"...have been using Densglass Gold which is a super high quality mold resistant drywall..."
After the exchange I went to the Internet to find more information about this material and found it was made by Georgia-Pacific. So I shot off the following e-mail:
"I have a project we are considering building in Panama. It is an island locale, and someone suggested we use Densglass Gold drywall under the stucco. Does that sound like a reasonable plan? Thanks in advance. - Mick Orton"
To which I received the following reply:
"Yes for the exterior wall application (see attached brochure). For the interior surfaces I would suggest the use of Denser Plus Paperless Drywall (see attached brochure & product bulletins)."
Here are the 4 document attachments, Technical Product Guide, 2007 DAP Sweets, DAP Finishing Tips and AT Multi-purpose Primer, all very interesting reading... if you want to take a nap!
Bottom line is, I can see no reason why they would not tell me the truth. If another product would have been better for this purpose, I think they would have offered it. Questions?
Mick @ Lot 83
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3 comments:
There could be some confusion in terminology here. The DensGlass product literature refers to it as "gypsum sheathing," not drywall.
I was told (from a good source) that the ceilings of the terraces were made of drywall and the exterior walls were made of DensGlass. What do other complexes in Panama use - the high-quality resorts, that is. Just curious.
I glanced at the Technical Product Guide (but I didn't fall asleep!). Let's hope they followed the installation instructions, like they should not install any DensGlass below grade and they should use rust-resistant fasteners. Also: "Openings and penetrations must be properly flashed and sealed." If they had so many problems with the roofs leaking, that raises some doubts as to their construction methods.
Sarah,
You make some good observations. Perhaps drywall was used as a convenience. Both of the times it was used, I initiaited the converstaions and used the word.
My second thought is; are there other high-quality resorts in Panama? I have a friend whose sister is running a resort on the Pacific side. I will see what I can find out.
My third question would be, when the union contract is finally negotiated to settlement, will the workers have to pay attention to details and do it right?
But here's a bigger question:
"How long is the developer's liability in Panama?" In California it is 10 years before they are off the hook. I do not know if this is a federal or state law, but it would behoove us to find out.
I've seen pictures of some of the outstanding problems on villas that are under construction and Red Frog is powerless to fix them until the strike is resolved. So the time to get upset is when they are able to fix these issues and they don't.
If you visit Red Frog you will see that Densglass is used on the exterior vertical surfaces. It is not used on the inside or on the external horizontal surfaces. Everywhere it is not used there are three forms of damage: disintegration from direct water damage, surface mold from ambient humidity, and tape peeling from humidity absorption and expansion.
Valle Escondido, the finest and most advanced of the developments, does not use these materials for construction. They use cement bricks, pillars, rebar reinforcing, cement surfacing and ceramic tiles over corrugated steel roofs. Panamanians are familiar with these products and can complete building made with them to a satisfactory quality. Panamanians are completely unfamiliar with the products used at Red Frog and have not yet reached a satisfactory building competency.
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