CREJ - Property Management Quarterly - August 2015
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 operations on the inside. The most obvious is the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning unit. The top three considerations managers should plan for are rooftop unit preventative maintenance, cooling tower and chiller shut down, and boiler preventative maintenance, which could include replacement before it gets cold, if needed, said Rick Dassow, 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 operation of the entire control system. Additionally, moisture management is critical, said Jason Lien, EnCon United executive vice president. In building enclosures, moist insulation can be equivalent to not having insulation, which creates higher heating costs. Property managers should be diligent 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 biannual 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 maintenance is to be proactive rather than reactive. “It takes years, even decades, for the roof to wear out or for the caulking in the building to fail,” said Dave Homerding, marketing manager for Weathersure. “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 manager 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 working 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 perimeter 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 important 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, parking 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, president 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 non-carpeted floors it can become a janitor’s nightmare, because the ice-melt causes a haze on the floors, which is not easily 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. Sometimes, 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 chloride (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 landscape 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 temperatures are above freezing. Pay special attention to tree care and watering in November through February, which are the driest months in Colorado. “Be sure your maintenance plan includes this critical component,” he said. And fall fertilization is wise because it increases the productivity 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 winter with fewer dead branches and increased spring growth,” he said.