Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

Stucco-clad walls and clay tile-capped roofs typify many of this museum’s buildings.

Highly-elevated moisture levels were found within the stucco-clad walls, often below flawed construction details.

Embedded moisture and probable fungal decay concealed within walls was confirmed at various locations with penetrating probe instruments.

The PL:BECS evaluation report identified specific locations of elevated moisture embedded within exterior walls.

Santa Barbara, California
Client: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and Schacht-Aslani Architects
Dates of Service: 2009-2011

Project Summary: The expansive campus of this museum includes many distinct buildings built over decades. Though most of the structures are Mission-style, wood-framed, stucco-clad buildings, some consist of concrete or concrete masonry, and include wood-sided and stone masonry walls. Sloped roof types are primarily capped with clay tiles, but roofs of composition or concrete shingles also occur. Low-slope, membrane-capped, roofs include asphaltic built-up and modified bitumen types, as well as a few single-ply membranes.

In spite of Santa Barbara’s generally sunny and benign climate, most of the buildings display various symptoms of moisture infiltration and associated decay, as well as damage caused by infestation by ants and termites.

PL:BECS Services: PL:BECS was retained to evaluate the exterior enclosure systems of six buildings, uncover flawed construction elements, and identify locations of probable infiltration and decay.

Our investigation revealed numerous flaws with the design and installation of the stucco cladding, clay tile roofs, wood windows, low-slope membrane roofs, and related elements. Consequently, many locations of highly elevated moisture content were found within the exterior walls and roofs. The PL:BECS report included detailed maps of the building elevations and floor plans identifying specific locations of elevated moisture and probable decay. Concealed decay within some of these elements was beginning to affect structural integrity of certain building portions. Our report also explained the construction flaws leading to such problems.