The idea of buildings that are not designed to be permanent yet we decide to
keep around inspite of their poor materials puts an image in my mind of a
building that ends up being surrounded by repair scaffolding on a regular
basis, perhaps all of the time.  As the technology of scaffolding changes
over the years the appearance of the building is "renovated" or updated.

I imagine some of the buildings in NYC seem to be in a state of continuous
repair as problems with the intended approach change as layers of problems
are uncovered in the renovation process (due to not enough investigative
work up front), contractors or owners suffer financial difficulties, weather
halts construction, etc.

We have a project like that here on our campus (SUNY College of
Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, NY).  A somewhat difficult
terra cotta gutter/roof repair project on a circa 1913 building suffered
first a blow-off in a Labor Day wind storm and is now looking like it needs
a completely new concrete deck due to delamnination at the rebar level.  The
top 2 to 2-1/2 inches of the four inch thick deck can be removed with a snow
shovel.  Investigation with a chipping hammer blew a hole through the deck.

I think we're talking change order, perhaps as big as the original
contract...

The project was originally to extend from late one construction season to
the mid point of the next.  The roof has been leaking down two floors into
the structure since the work started and it looks like it could go on that
way for another full season.

Historic preservation issues come to play as the easy (and to my mind
questionable) solution of pouring a new concrete deck (or adding a steel
one) over the old would raise the roof level.

The problem was found after the Labor Day storm blew off portions of the
foamed-in-place roof (shades of EIFS?).  The vibrations of the deck when a
worker jumped on it were also a sign it may not've been all it should be...

Still glad you didn't bid it Ken?

-----Original Message-----
From: Marilyn Harper [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, March 19, 1999 7:50 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: HP and crummy construction materials


     What is the appropriate treatment for a building that wasn't intended
to be
     permanent?