Page 1 - CooperatorNews March 2022

March 2022
COOPERATORNEWS.COM
appropriate action is for the contractor to give a detailed calendar of
construction, detailing when the work will be at its most noisy, when
they will use drills, etc., so tenants can plan accordingly.”
Bill Mackey, a senior project manager with Becht Engineering in
Boston, makes similar observations about exterior projects involving
clapboard and other types of siding. “In a recent replacement job,” he
says, “we had nail pops on interior walls that backed up [to] exterior
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When the topic of exterior maintenance comes up, it’s important to keep in mind that
when it comes to multifamily properties, even projects that focus on a building’s ‘envelope’
are by no means limited to just the façade or roof. Projects like repointing; brick, clapboard,
or siding replacement; ornamental repairs; and window replacement, while fundamentally
exterior, can require access to and use of interior spaces—and can sometimes cause disrup-
tion and damage to those spaces. The key to successful execution of such projects is selecting
a competent professional to do the job, managing it correctly, and perhaps most importantly,
maintaining proactive, transparent communication between board, residents, and contrac-
tors throughout the duration of the project.
Not-So-Good Vibrations
Giulia Alimonti, senior architect with CTLGroup, an international architectural and en-
gineering firm with offices in New York and Chicago, says, “There are always concerns about
the effects of exterior work on building interiors and apartments because there are shared
walls or surfaces. Many residents have artwork on their interior walls that back up to exte-
rior walls. Depending on the work to be undertaken, there may be vibrations through the
wall. Notice should go out to all residents to remove all objects from shared walls. The most
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Car owners know that in order to op-
erate their vehicle legally, they must have
it professionally inspected every year. An
older car might need some relatively mi-
nor repairs or adjustments to bring it into
compliance with state emissions require-
ments, but for most, getting that manda-
tory approval sticker is a simple, inexpen-
sive, predictable process that takes maybe
half an hour.
Like cars, buildings—and even indi-
vidual apartment units within them—
must undergo periodic inspections, but
residents are often less aware of these re-
quirements. Even if they are, they might
not know what elements need inspection
and when, who is responsible for actually
conducting the inspections, where access
is required, and how the resulting reports
are filed.
The first thing to know is that build-
ing inspections for co-ops and condos are
much more complicated than getting that
annual sticker for your car. Requirements
and timelines vary by locality, by size and
type of building, and in some cases, by
the building’s age and maintenance his-
tory. There are inspections that take place
outside of the building, others that cover
interior common elements and specific
systems or mechanisms, and still others
that happen within individual units. Each
requires different strategies and levels of
planning, facilitating, insuring, and com-
munication. On top of all that, inspection
laws change frequently—often in reaction
to a structural or systemic failure in anoth-
Exterior Projects,
Interior Problems
Good Planning & Communication Make All the Difference
BY A. J. SIDRANSKY
Building Inspections
Up & Down, Inside & Out
BY DARCEY GERSTEIN
Maintaining Aging
Buildings
Older Structures Have
Special Concerns
BY A.J. SIDRANSKY
Nothing lasts forever, even with good
maintenance—including most building com-
ponents. Exterior elements are perhaps most
subject to wear and tear in any climate. Their
construction and material type dictate their
maintenance needs and repair schedules; ma-
sonry façades clearly have different needs than
wood or clapboard fronts. But with a good
care program and a bit of attention to detail,
façades, roofs, and other crucial parts of mul-
tifamily buildings can live out—and perhaps
even surpass—their useful life, regardless of
what they’re made of.
Building a Schedule,
Scheduling a Building
For the best results, periodic maintenance
projects and ongoing maintenance programs
alike should follow a regular schedule over
the long term. Even if a building’s façade is
expected to last half a century or more, it’s still
going to need monitoring, maintenance, and
repair in order to not just last that long, but
to perform its function optimally during that
time.
“In New York we have Local Law 11, which
in essence requires a maintenance program for
façades,” says Alan Gaynor, a principal with
Boddewyn Gaynor Architects, a firm based in
New York and active around the country. Lo-
cal Law 11 calls for inspection every five years
and mandates the timely repair of whatever
elements are found to be damaged or dete-
riorated. Implementation of the law was the
result of several incidents where large chunks
of building façade detached and fell, hitting—
and in some cases, killing—pedestrians. “My
own building is going through this work now,”
says Gaynor. “It can take a long time. We are
inspecting every square foot of the façade and
repairing it.”
Though Local Law 11 serves in some way
as a forced maintenance program, the ques-
tion is whether additional inspections and
maintenance can extend or improve the life of
a masonry façade. According to Gaynor, it can
continued on page 15
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