About the Seminar
This two day seminar is guaranteed to impact everything you ever knew or thought you understood about windows, their installation, flashing, and related deficiencies common to residential and commercial applications.
Window failures are rampant in the construction industry, and can usually be traced back to product failures, improper flashing, or the use of incompatible materials. Yet, with the availability of specific manufacturer’s recommendations and nationally recognized standards such as the AAMA Window Installation Guide, ASTM Standards E 1105 (a guide for testing of windows), and ASTM E 2112, (standards for installing windows), why do some new window installations continue to fail or leak?
This seminar will look at these standards, and discuss details and information that must be interpreted to fully understand how they apply in real world installations. It will reveal the myths about how leakage occurs, and the fact that some of the published information contained in industry standards and material recommendations are inaccurate.
Did you know that when a flashing manufacturer recommends a specific (compatible) sealant to use with its flashings, that there is no guarantee that the sealant will actually adhere to the flashing? Do you know that some published flashing details will not work in actual installations? So how does an installer, designer, or expert know what products or details should be used or specified in a particular application? 
To answer these questions, Western Construction Consultants Association (Westcon), and the Forensic Expert Witness Association (FEWA), have joined forces to present two separate seminars for the industry that deal specifically with windows of all types, installed in buildings less than 4 stories tall.
WESTCON is presenting the Monday, November 10, 2008 seminar entitled, “Specifying, Installing, and Flashing Windows of All Types, with a Focus on Low Rise Frame Construction”, as the technical part of the event.
Westcon has invested substantial energy and money in developing a means to specifically analyze window installation and failures. They have spent months building full size mock-ups of exterior walls with numerous window installations following various industry guidelines. Water detection devices were placed in the walls under the weather resistive barrier (WRB), and devices were installed to measure the amount of water that penetrated a crack in the stucco. Each assembly was water tested, and the results were beyond what was expected.
The data from these test results will highlight many misconceptions the industry has about how windows perform, how leakage occurs, and what can be done to ensure and installation is water tight. The information and data from this testing will be used in a White Paper which will be presented to the ASTM Standards Committee for their review.
Following Westcon’s presentation, FEWA will be offering a companion seminar entitled, “Fenstration Failures and Forensic Findings” on Tuesday, November 11, 2008. This seminar will focus on post installation failures, and how the defects from these window installations are viewed, analyzed, and litigated by owners, insurance companies, and attorneys.
The seminar will discuss appropriate methods of testing windows for leakage, reliance on industry standards for window performance, how building owners and attorneys perform their 
discovery of defects, how experts can defend their investigation of window failures, and how insurance companies often will classify window failures as a “non covered loss”. This can affect the ability of both the building owner and installing contractor to look to their insurance companies for coverage of a claim.
This seminar will also feature tools that experts can use to help with their documentation and presentation of their investigational data, and will discuss the overall costs these failures contribute to the industry. Finally, there will be a panel discussion with window experts, attorneys, and insurance representatives that will discuss how window defects will be looked at, covered, and investigated in the future.
Speakers
November 10, 2008
David Green - Senior Associate with Wiss Janney Elstner Associates,
specializing in the design of curtain wall, cladding, and glazing systems.
He has designed, detailed, and overseen the construction of exterior wall
systems for various building types, including high-rise hotels and
condominiums, museums, high-end retail storefronts, educational facilities,
and office towers. Mr. Green is a licensed architect in the State of Hawaii
and is the founding chair of the Building Enclosure Council at AIA San
Francisco.
David will be covering Glass and Glass Installation
Ted Hart – has been a member of the glass industry since 1950 including 10 years in architectural aluminum manufacturing of store fronts, windows, window wall and curtain walls. Mr. Hart has been an expert witness in construction defect litigation for 28 years and wrote a monthly column on contract glazing for 15 years.
Ted will give an overview of the topics, and discuss some basic terminology. He will also summarize the day’s discussions.
Don Teixeira is the owner of Curtain Wall Analysis and has worked in the Curtainwall/window industry since 1980. He started his career with Curtainwall Design and Engineering where he was responsible of design, engineering and sales of aluminum systems for commercial buildings and mid to high rise residential buildings. His experience includes Unitized, Curtainwall, Window wall systems, Stick curtainwall systems and structural glazing systems, Monumental clear span systems, and sloped glazed systems.
Don will be covering the session on Window Design Criteria – AAMA Window Selection Guide and Code Requirements
Marty Lucas, of Lucas Consulting, LLC, is a licensed glazing contractor and has worked in the Curtainwall industry since 1979. He has experience in the fields of fabrication and installation of window, storefront, curtainwall, total vision, unitized walls, and panel systems.
Marty will cover Window Types and Materials and Storefront Windows (Block Frame Windows)
Chris Nelson is a Senior Consultant with Technical Roof Services, Inc and has 30 years experience with roofing, waterproofing, wall weatherproofing of all types in the capacity of workman, general contractor and as a consultant. His responsibilities are investigating problematic leakage and devising repair solutions of buildings of all types and systems.
Chris will discuss Window Installation and Flashing and show the Store Front Window Flashing Mock-Up Test Results
Jim Strong, a Consultant with Wiss Janney, Elstner Associates, has over two decades of extensive experience investigating and solving water leakage problems for a range of building components including roofing, plaza and parking deck waterproofing systems, facades, windows and below-grade walls.
Jim will provide information on aspects of Sealants and Sealant Joint Design
Harvey Abernathy is a principal at Aquatech Constancy Inc. (ACI), a multi-discipline construction consulting firm specializing in water infiltration, evaluation and performance testing of building envelopes. Harvey has 36 years experience in the industry and is a member of Westcon and FEWA.
Harvey - Laboratory and Field Tests
November 11, 2008
Pete Cruz - Fenestration Testing Laboratories (FTL) FTL is one of only 37 AAMA accredited testing laboratory and Pete Cruz is an Expert Witness, specializing in window performance, design, and construction defects FTL is accredited for testing Air-Water-Structural as well as Components.
Pete Cruz will present information on the testing of window components for air and water and his experiences as a forensic expert witness on past litigation and with product testing of all types for all types of applications.
Lonnie Haughton - Master Code Professional, is a Construction Codes & Standards Consultant with Richard Avelar an Associates in Oakland, CA. He has authored many articles on construction defects and code issues. He is a FEWA and WESTCON member.
Lonnie Haughton will present information on extrapulation in window testing on construction defect cases. He will discuss the background you will need to know for the decisions made when testing and extrapulation of numbers of defects based on standards and past cases.
“Lonnie Haughton will present information on extrapolation of window testing and surveys in construction defects cases. Citing standards and past cases, he will discuss the background you need to know for the decisions made when sampling results are use to extrapolate defects and damages to the entire project.”
Dana L. Duncan - Attorney at Law specializes in construction defect litigation representing developers, subcontractors and product manufacturers in cases involving commercial and residential construction.
Dana L. Duncan will discuss her experience in defending construction claims with window defects and what she has learned over the years from clients, underwriters and expert witnesses as it relates to windows in general.
Ann Rankin, Attorney at Law Specializes in construction defect litigation with extensive successful experience representing homeowners' associations and other property owners in disputes and transactions involving both residential and commercial real property. She is a member of WESTCON.
Ann Rankin will discuss her experience in pursuing construction claims for HOA's, and other building owners as it relates to construction claims and window claims. She will share her personal stories of dealing with underwriters, subcontractors and experts and what the Jury wants to know.
G.Geoffrey Wood Attorney at Law Construction Defect Litigation, Construction Law, Insurance Defense, Products Liability; Casualty Defense, and Personal Injury. He is a member of WESTCON.
Geoffrey Wood will discuss the process of defending a window subcontractor in construction defect cases. He will share his needs in an expert witness for the Window installer and general contractor when the need arises.
Jorge Mendoza- Litigation Animation, Inc. A consulting firm specializing in animation, photogrammetry, videogrammetry, visual analysis, 3D modeling and visibility studies. He is a member of FEWA.
Jorge Mendoza will discuss the technology available for providing compelling evidence in the form of court exhibits with 3 D modeling and animation. He will explain the possibilities for experts in window defects and what they may be up against in court on the witness stand.
Gary Hall - GHH Engineering GHH Mold Services Group has provided complete abatement services to schools, apartment complexes, condominiums, and residential properties, successfully remediated buildings with long term accumulated mold growth and initial airborne mold concentrations at 10,000 times background levels. He is a member of FEWA.
Gary Hall will discuss the resultant defect perspective of construction claims as it results to window defects and installations and what it means in extra cost to the repairs of the window installations.
C. Hugh Thompson, ScD, PE, BCEE–H T A Science & Engineering, Inc.
Hugh Thompson has more than 40 years of diversified experience in civil engineering, environmental engineering and management solving industrial and governmental problems involving hazardous and toxic materials with a focus on biological and chemical hazards including building condition evaluations.
He has worked with the chemical and aerospace industries; government at the state, federal, and international levels; and research and consulting organizations and has created organizations in industry, government, and consulting that have met complex environmental demands under severe time pressures while dealing with toxic and hazardous materials and he has developed and refined waste treatment and testing technologies including mold & other biological hazards and moisture intrusion.