Extending the Lifespan of Your Buildings

Brick and mortar buildings are easily the largest annual expenses of any municipality and has a significant impact on the public and staffs’ experience. For example, if a roof water leak occurs in a building over a weekend it can quickly result in significant damage to the interior with possible mold development and structural damage. This creates an unsafe environment and possible disruption to daily operations. Sound familiar? This costly scenario could have been avoided by taking a few proactive measures and investing in ongoing maintenance. It is important to consider the full building ‘life cycle’ costs of your investment in brick and mortar (initial cost/utilities/maintenance expense/and possible impact on environment) affiliated with your facilities and in evaluating the return on investment of future solutions.

Some ‘top ten’ best practices to lower the overall operating costs and extending the useful life of your facilities include:  

1.     Maintaining a checklist of all your facilities.

This should include all building systems, make, model, year installed, supplier, maintenance provider, suggested maintenance time frames, maintenance activities and dates, utility usage/costs, and warranty information. Some large municipalities utilize facilities management software for this purpose. Some municipalities in documenting their facility assets choose to invest in ‘digital twin’ building scanning technology to fully catalog their existing capital assets and conduct collaborative virtual walk throughs with notes, specifications, etc. that can be accessed from the internet at any computer location.

Keeping maintenance records helps to identify equipment/systems that are costing more money to maintain than an alternative system. Charting expected life spans helps spread out replacement costs and down time when systems must be replaced.

2.     Checking the roofs of every building in your portfolio at six-month intervals. Pay particular attention to: 

• Flashing

  • Make sure all flashing is fully attached.

• Skylights

  • Check that seals are attached without cracks and check glass for any damage that may allow water to enter.

• Roof drains

  • Assure the drains are fully attached and cleaned out with no obstructions.

• Broken blisters on built-up roofs

  • If encountered, check on installation and warranties to get it fixed. If out of warranty, go ahead and make maintenance plans as this may cause a breach in waterproofing.

• Debris on roof

  • Clear off all debris that may damage the roof membrane, fall off into walkways, and possibly obstruct roof drains.

• Roof penetrations

  • In general, any holes or penetrations in the roof are possible sources of facility damage.

3. Don't defer maintenance or replacement dates—this will cost you more in the long run!

Time and time again, we’ve been called in to remediate damage caused by deferred maintenance. For example, a boiler that has extended its life span and does not have the detailed maintenance warranted, blows up which could have harmed visitors and staff, and results at best in extensive facility damage and building closure until fixed. The timeline for the replacement boiler is extended for many months due to pandemic delays. Additionally, when the unit was failing, the utility bills were excessive as compared to a new replacement unit. The moral of the story is to assess the full potential cost of equipment failure versus purchase of a new unit when reviewing options. Invariably, preventative maintenance will extend the life of facilities and facility equipment and knowing when to allocate for replacement units can pay for itself in reduced utility costs in addition to avoidance of complete equipment failure. 

4. Check that your mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP) systems are in good order--commissioning and change filters per specifications-calendar.

Maintaining your MEP systems will guarantee building comfort. Something as simple as changing filters regularly will increase efficiency and add life to air handling systems. Noisy motors may be a warning sign that it is dirty or about to fail and can greatly impede a conducive working environment.

5. Check your carbon monoxide and fire alarms are working at least two times a year.

Having alarm systems in good working order is extremely important since being warned of an issue could be a matter of life or death. Furthermore, nothing is more annoying than having a low battery alarm going off in the middle of operations or after hours requiring immediate attention. 

6. Conduct a thermography scan to determine where specific loss of heat and cooling is occurring (which will reduce monthly utility costs).

Thermographs can quickly find missing insulation, wet areas in a building system or missing grout in a concrete masonry unit (CMU) wall. They can also quickly identify sources of unwanted heat inside the building like old lighting systems.  With utility costs on the rise, considering the addition of insulation in the ceiling and walls, may make sense from a long-term investment perspective.

7. Conduct building assessment walk throughs every quarter of the year-with a checklist- to confirm all systems are in good condition.

Air and water intrusion should be at the top of the list when doing a walk through. These walk throughs are great way to discover small things before they become much larger, more complex, and costly challenges to address, like a leak in faucets or drainpipes. Turning off all the water sources and checking to make sure the meter isn’t still turning is an important method to make sure your plumbing system isn’t leaking. Also consider the heating/cooling set point at a temperature that is appropriate for the current season?

8. Check water heaters for signs of rust.

Evaluate your usage to determine if you need a tanked system or would an on-demand system be more economical. Make sure top off valves are piped to a drain. Is the unit well ventilated? Is an expansion tank installed? Water heaters are responsible for 11% of home fires.

9. Check your electrical systems.

Some electrical systems have aluminum feeds that require to be tightened periodically. Make sure breakers are working and correctly sized for the loads. Often new equipment is installed and the additional loading my not have been adjusted at the breakers. Sometimes junction boxes are serviced, and wires are left hanging out of the box.

10. Note structural issues.

Building settlement is a very common thing. A new building will settle the first year or two and then stop but sometimes there is a bigger issue. It is important to keep track of location and sizes of cracks in a building. If movement is allowed to continue, this could compromise the structural system not to mention your finishes in the building or could create trip hazards. When buildings move, this can affect doors closing properly creating a possible security issue. 

About Renaissance Architecture, LLC (‘Renaissance’)

Renaissance is an Oklahoma-based design firm that works with civic and education clients in defining architectural solutions that inspire community pride. Renaissance often teams with business partner, GreenLight 360, an Oklahoma-based building scanning solutions provider, to help clients accurately document their building assets and to define and implement plans of action that optimize their building investments. For more information see renaissancearchitecture.com and greenlight-360.com.