Drying shared walls near Frontier Villagewhen one unit is not the whole job

Walls and floors between attached homes are built to separate fire and sound, and that makes them awkward to dry. A party wall may hold two layers of drywall on each side, with a gap and possibly insulation in the middle. Floors between levels often have sound-damping layers or concrete toppings that hold water and release it slowly. Water gets in at the top or along the base, and evaporation has very little room.

The other half of the problem is that nobody controls the whole assembly. If your side is opened and dried while your neighbor's stays closed and damp, moisture can sit in the middle and move back. A moisture map that stops at your front door is not really a map of the loss. That is the main thing to remember if you live around Frontier Village or in any shared building: ask for readings on every side that could be wet, including the unit above and below.

For how the equipment works, see our main structural drying page. The sections below look at what changes when a building has several households and a manager.

Census figures from 2020 show about a quarter of occupied Lake Stevens units are rented, so this is a common situation here. If you rent, your landlord or manager generally decides how the building gets dried, and you should not authorize anyone to cut walls on your own. You can still ask reasonable questions. How long will the machines be here? Do I need to move things? What happens to my belongings?

Your belongings are usually your own responsibility, through a renter's policy if you have one. Photograph everything that got wet, and keep damaged items until you have spoken with your insurer. If running the equipment affects your power use, ask the manager how that will be handled. Put your questions in writing, as a text or email gives you a date to refer to.

Repairs in a shared building take longer than people expect. Walls that separate units may need to be rebuilt to keep their fire rating, and that work may need a permit from the city. Plumbing and mechanical work on shared lines may also need a permit, whereas electrical permits come from Washington Labor & Industries, the city notes. Do not let anyone close up a wall until all sides have been confirmed dry. If repairs are delayed, leave the wall open and keep humidity under control, as the EPA suggests, below 60 percent. ^[4]

Check who you are dealing with, too. An association may need proof of registration and insurance before a contractor can work on the property. Washington L&I's Verify tool shows you whether a registration is active, and whether there are any citations or bond lawsuits. ^[5]