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<br /> <br />must be taken in attaching the permanent part of the seal strip to the house. <br />If any adhesive material adhered and stayed in the snap area, it held the <br />expedient snap open and allowed water to enter behind the plastic. <br />It appeared that that corners (Figures 49 and 50) could be sealed easily. <br />The one possibility of water entry might occur in the corner where the snap <br />joined together. To seal this area, silicone caulk was placed under the snap, <br />on the underside of the plastic, and at the intersection of the plastic and <br />snap. This solution seemed entirely logical, but in practice it turned out to <br />be extremely difficult to stop leakage at the corners. <br />As the plastic sheet was pulled and the snap connections made along the <br />walls and around the corners, it was difficult to keep the plastic sheet from <br />wrinkling. The vertical sections would not remain straight and tended to <br />wrinkle. Wrinkles in the plastic under the expedient snaps allowed water to <br />enter and make the system ineffective. <br />In general, the system can be made to work, and with careful attention to <br />details, leaks permitting water to penetrate the walls of a building can be <br />prevented. Water entering under the base of the house can be handled by a <br />sump and pump system to collect and remove any seepage water before it gets <br />into and damages the house. <br />After several failures, this system was tested successfully. <br />Outside corners <br />A bulkhead was constructed to hold water for four tests performed on the <br />outside of the cube. The same problems were encountered in working with the <br />system as described for the inside corners, although the outside corners were <br />easier to work with and the plastic was not as easily wrinkled. <br />A second seal strip was found and tested (Figure 51). Again, there was a <br />small amount of leakage at the corners of the brick cubes in the four tests. <br />When dye (a very effective indicator) was used (Figure 52) to determine the <br />location of the leaks, the corners proved to be the weakest part of the sys- <br />tem. A better way to manage the corners of this system is apparently through <br />the fabrication of a one-piece molded corner strip. <br /> <br />Test Results <br /> <br />The snap-type flood-resistant system can be effective in keeping flood- <br />waters from a home or building if great care is taken in installation. This <br /> <br />61 <br />