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— Property Management Quarterly — August 2015
by Michelle Z. Askeland
Property Management Quarterly
reached out to several professional
service firms and asked each for
top priorities managers should pay
attention to while preparing for the
coming cooler seasons.
Many elements on the outside of
the building greatly impact opera-
tions on the inside. The most obvi-
ous is the heating, ventilating and
air-conditioning unit. The top three
considerations managers should
plan for are rooftop unit preventa-
tive maintenance, cooling tower
and chiller shut down, and boiler
preventative maintenance, which
could include replacement before it
gets cold, if needed, said Rick Das-
sow, CMI Mechanical CEO.
Dassow suggests a 16-point
checklist for the fall rooftop unit
inspection. The list, which includes
10 elements to check, such as the
burner controls, ignition and drive
belts, also includes maintenance
tips, such as cleaning the fresh-air
intake screens, and observing oper-
ation of the entire control system.
Additionally, moisture manage-
ment is critical, said Jason Lien,
EnCon United executive vice presi-
dent. In building enclosures, moist
insulation can be equivalent to not
having insulation, which creates
higher heating costs.
Property managers should be dili-
gent when looking for leakage and
should make repairs as soon as any
leaks are detected. “The best time
to look for leakage is after a bian-
nual wash down or during a rain
event,” Lien said. These inspections
should occur in the fall and spring
to limit damage caused by a failed
weather barrier system.
A key to a majority of this main-
tenance is to be proactive rather
than reactive. “It takes years, even
decades, for the roof to wear out
or for the caulking in the build-
ing to fail,” said Dave Homerding,
marketing manager for Weather-
sure. “Yet, when there’s a big storm,
it becomes an emergency, even
though it was actually something
that needed to be attended to for a
while.”
At least once a year, an inspection
of the roof should be performed. If
it’s a new roof, the property man-
ager or the building engineer can
do this, said Homerding. If the roof
is reaching the end of its lifecycle,
a roofing professional should be
called.
While modern roof systems do
wear out eventually, people work-
ing on or near the roof cause most
problems. “Every time people go
on the roof, there’s a danger that
they’re causing a problem,” he said.
“It’s always a good idea to have a
log of who goes up there, who’s
allowed on the roof and what
they’re doing.”
Managers should walk the perim-
eter and the curbs of the roof,
which are the areas where most
problems occur. Another common
problem area is the drain. Make
sure there’s nothing – rags, leaves,
pebbles or anything else – clogging
the drains, he said.
Inside the Building
Inside the building, it’s impor-
tant to protect the investments
you’ve already made, especially in
common areas, said Tia Jenkins,
president/architect at Kieding. “It
might appear to be common sense
overkill, but late autumn and winter
bring bad weather into the building,
so we make sure that walk-off mats
(hopefully with some design appeal)
are placed at entrances, stairs, park-
ing garages and elevator cabs,” she
said.
It isn’t enough to simply have
matting in the entries; it’s also
important to inspect the matting
each year, said Carmen Flores, pres-
ident of Millennium Maintenance
Commercial Janitorial Service.
“Matting helps reduce debris from
shoes, like ice-melt,” said Flores.
“Once the ice-melt has entered into
the facility on noncarpeted floors it
can become a janitor’s nightmare,
because the ice-melt causes a haze
on the floors, which is not eas-
ily recognizable when janitors are
cleaning at night. Many times the
floors may require a specialized
chemical that is designed to remove
the ice-melt.”
Proper matting also helps reduce
damage to carpeted areas. Some-
times, when the damage is done to
the fibers on the carpet, ice-melt
or other debris does not respond
to traditional carpet cleaning. The
irreparable damage could lead to a
more costly full carpet replacement,
she said.
Outside the Building
In parking structures, moisture
management is important as well
because it carries magnesium chlo-
ride (de-icing material) that causes
corrosion and increases repair cost,
said Lien.
Also, within a parking facility, it’s
important for managers to prioritize
safety and lighting, especially after
daylight-savings time, said Jenkins.
For landscaping, it’s wise to aerate
the lawn as it transitions into the
cooler seasons, which provides for a
healthier lawn the following spring,
said Matt Schovel, commercial land-
scape care consultant for Swingle
Lawn Tree and Landscape Care.
Also, fall is the ideal time to fill in
bare spots by seeding, which makes
the turf less susceptible to disease
and weeds, he said.
Trees should be watered every
three to four weeks, as long as tem-
peratures are above freezing. Pay
special attention to tree care and
watering in November through Feb-
ruary, which are the driest months
in Colorado. “Be sure your main-
tenance plan includes this critical
component,” he said.
And fall fertilization is wise
because it increases the productiv-
ity of soil by increasing nutrient
availability and encourages root
growth. “Trees and shrubs with a
healthy, productive root system
are far more likely to survive win-
ter with fewer dead branches and
increased spring growth,” he said.
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Maintenance
