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Important Notices

Terrace Level Owner & Resident Suggestion Sheet

The T-Level homes in Greenbriar were built below grade. In some cases as much as 12 feet below grade. What does this mean? This means that part of your home was built, in some cases, 12 feet underground. Being built below grade can present challenges unique to you as a T-Level owner. Over the years, the majority of the problems we have found in T-level homes are linked to overlooked homeowner maintenance responsibilities. The most common overlooked maintenance items are the windows and the air handlers.

Windows
Each owner owns their windows. The windows are not owned by the condominium. In many instances we have found a problem with the original (34 years old) single pane glass windows. The have outlived their lifespan and are now leaking. In addition, the weep holes located in the window tracks are clogged. This gives the water that enters this track nowhere to drain and it ends up penetrating the window sill area causing damage to your home.

Air Handlers
We have found the older air handlers to have rusted condensate pans, dirty filters, and dirty coils. The air handler needs to be maintained. Preventive maintenance should be performed on your air handler at least 2 times a year (spring and fall). There are service companies that can provide this service for you, if you cannot do it yourself. It is recommended for T-Level owners to run your fan on the air handler 24 hours a day to filter and circulate the air.

Dehumidifier
It is essential to have at least one dehumidifier in your home. We have found humidity readings as high as 68% in some T-level homes. This creates a moist environment and can make your home prone to mildew. A dehumidifier will pull the moisture out of the air providing you with a drier environment. It is a worthwhile investment.

Proper Insurance Coverage
Given the additional issues that can face a T-level owner we recommend that you make sure you have adequate homeowner insurance coverage. Effective October 1, 2008, Maryland law changed increasing the owner’s responsibility for the deductible amount from $1000 to $5000. This means that you, the owner, are responsible for the first $5,000 of any covered claim. Now, more then ever it is imperative that you make sure you have the proper homeowner insurance coverage as you are now responsible for the first $5,000 of damages to your home. Non-resident owners must be sure to insure their home to cover the $5000 deductible pass through.

June 2007

Dear Greenbriar Owners,

The Board of Directors wanted to alert you to a potential construction problem in your home. The contractor who originally installed the drywall in your home may not have used enough nails or screws to fasten it. The drywall can come loose and may fall.

There have been a few reports of this with the first report being received in 1999. An owner in Phase III recently experienced the problem, thus prompting the Board to send out this letter again.

Your homes were built in the 1974 to 1977 time period depending on which Greenbriar Phase you live in. Less than ten homes out of the 729 homes have ever reported the problem. So you may not have one. But it is worthwhile to take time now to inspect your ceilings and walls. You should look for lots of nail pops, cracks at the drywall seams, a bowing of the ceiling. You may also be able to see how many nails were used to fasten the drywall. They should be seven inches apart if installed correctly.

The third floor ceilings will be the most likely problem area, but not the only problem area. A contractor could have installed the drywall incorrectly in any home. The ceilings, however, are where all the prior problems were found.

To repair the problem you may be able to use screws and refasten the whole area. If the drywall is bowed, you may need to replace the sheet of drywall in that area. If your drywall is bowed or hanging, take action immediately to brace it so it does not fall. If you have this condition, call a contactor immediately or if you need immediate help, call the Greenbriar office. We will have the mechanics do a temporary repair and bill you for the service call.

Greenbriar obtained a legal opinion from their attorney about the responsible party to pay for the repair. The attorney cited sections of the legal documents and concluded that each individual homeowner is responsible to make their own repairs. It is doubtful that your homeowners insurance would pay for the repair, but you can talk to your insurance agent about it.

If you find a problem, please share the results with us by email or call the Greenbriar office. If you want to be sure to avoid problems, you could hire a contractor and have them rescrew all your ceiling drywall. I hope this information is helpful.

Sincerely,

Stephen R. Bupp, PCAM®
President
CVI
Agent for Greenbriar Condominium Phase I, II and III

Lead Testing Report
Greenbriar Phase I, II, III
Testing date: February 24,1997

Testing Protocol:

An XRF inspection is a surface-by-surface investigation to determine the presence and level of lead on a painted surface, included but not limited to walls, baseboards, doors, windows, and other architectural building components. The results of the test are derived from reading the calculation that the XRF equipment exhibits during the inspection of each area. There can be a degree of variation in different types of XRF equipment. The technology used for testing was an XRF analyzer made by Radiation Monitoring Devices in Watertown, MA.

Paint Chips are collected when necessary for laboratory analyzing to determine the lead content by weight by a known standard acceptable under Federal and State guidelines to distinguish between high lead readings based on factory-applied primer and lead paint applied over the primer.

Averaging of XRF readings is done when the measurement identifies an inconclusive reading making it unclear if the positive reading is from the paint or the substrate beneath. Three XRF readings on the same component will be averaged to determine the overall lead content

All testing and analyzing procedures conform to the requirements of the State of Maryland under Maryland House Bill 760. However, this report does not represent a certificate of compliance under Maryland House Bill 760.

Test Results:

Interior: NOT TESTED

Exterior/Common Areas: 12 Buildings were tested and determined to contain lead levels equal to or less than the Maryland Regulatory limit