During
winter and rainy months property manager and professional property management
companies need to be mindful of potential water intrusion problems with each
and every property in their portfolio.
Many buildings start leaking right after construction, but do not
manifest the water intrusion and building damage until years after the leakage
has started. Water intrusion can lead to
structural damage, rot, mold, termite, sick building syndrome and eventually significant
mitigation repair costs. A prudent property
manager will spend time during periodic inspections of the property to help
prevent these issues from occurring and also ferreting out any existing and
ongoing issues. A property owner should
expect nothing less from their property manager.
How Serious is Water Intrusion in Buildings?
Every year
hundreds of millions of dollars are spent investigation, diagnosing, repairing,
and mitigating water intrusion problems in all types of buildings. Interior environmental problems such as mold
can occur if the conditions are ripe, water intrusion occurs, and the interior
mechanical systems do not mitigate the moisture creating a potentially toxic concoction
and subsequent mold production. The
mitigation efforts required after a mold infestation are significant including
usually displacing any occupants of the building. The environmental companies must scrub down
the interior, must prevent mold spores from moving from room to room, and must
remove and clean interior components which have become contaminated. This is not a small effort, nor an
inexpensive one.
Water
intrusion also can cause significant damage by rotting of structural members
and interior components concealed by floor or wall coverings which can go
undetected for many years. Other areas
consistently exposed are the window and door openings where framing and
window/door flanges intersect. These
intersection, if not properly flashed and sealed, are water entry points that
also are sometimes difficult to detect.
Why do Buildings Leak?
There are
many areas of potential water intrusion points of entry into buildings
including the roofing systems and appurtenances, the angled intersections of
the building systems including wall to roof intersections, the building
openings like doors and windows, and the sub areas, foundations, and downspout
discharge locations. Gravity, building
intersections, kinetic forces, wind, rain, air currents, pressure differentials
and lack of maintenance all play a part in water intruding into buildings. Property managers need to be familiar with
the tell-tale signs of potential water intrusion points, specifically they
should be mindful of all of these areas during their periodic inspections of
their portfolio of properties.
What is the Best Way to Diagnose a
Leaking Building?
The best way
to diagnose a leak is to identify the area which is affected and single out
each and every component that is attached to the area which has manifested the leakage.
If the property manager can not
specifically identify the precise cause of the leak they should immediately
contact a competent licensed contractor to evaluate and correct with
expediency. Any delay in repair can
result in increased costs, and possible loss of rent due to a tenant being
displaced.
Speed is Critical in Mitigating a
Leaking Building?
Even though
a property manager cannot prevent all of the possible water intrusion problems with
a property they can be mindful of the potential areas which are susceptible to
leakage and monitor those areas during their periodic inspections. The old saying an ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure is never as true as in preventable water intrusion problems. Prudent property managers spend significant
time during their periodic inspections of their properties to help their owners
from having to deal with water intrusion issues. Ultimately this leads to a greater return on
investment for the property owner which is the ultimate goal for the property
management company.
No comments:
Post a Comment