5 minute read
David Dunham
The Best Time for a Big Project The pandemic shutdown offers a sort of silver lining for property managers who have been deferring work
DAVID DUNHAM
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Everyone has been impacted during the ongoing pandemic and had their carefully laid out plans disrupted. In uncertain economic times, some building owners, AOAOs and managers are prone to put off needed repair or scheduled maintenance projects until the economy shows signs of strengthening. They may hold off on required re-painting, spall repair, waterproof coating, window sealing, garage repairs, deck coating, etc., for a year or more due to uncertain financial issues.
And as we had been in such a boom with peak condo and hotel occupancy numbers climbing for the past few years, many buildings have had a hard time balancing use with maintenance. It’s costly to shut down operations or offer discounts for the disruptions. This has led to some deferred maintenance, smaller phases or just addressing emergencies when they arise.
While this approach may make sense in the short term, it can be more costly in the long term than a complete project.
So, where’s that silver lining?
The current situation presents an opportunity for getting work performed now versus when you are near full occupancy. Barricading, coordination with tenants and public access can be much easier in times of low occupancy/demand. At this time, safety may be greatly improved due to lack of pedestrians or occupants in some of our empty hotels and commercial buildings. This could make projects safer and quicker. We are doing a painting and spall repair project which became so much safer as there are no longer hordes of people underneath our scaffolding. The barriers are much simpler for the client. We now have access to some units through the interior rather than having to hang a rig on the exterior, which is more costly.
Just think of the work that could be done in parking garages at this time when there are fewer cars present. We are currently working on a hotel garage that is thrilled to have this work completed now when there are minimal disruptions to their guests and operations.
Again, this time could be a very advantageous time to do work on some of our lower occupancy buildings and garages.
If funding is an issue, the building owner or AOAO might consider taking out a loan to fund high-priority maintenance and repair projects. Several local Hawaii banks have lending programs specifically geared to this need. Given today’s current low interest
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rates, a loan today will likely save the building owners and residents money in the longterm. Deferred maintenance is expensive!
For our AOAOs that find everyone home, it may be a good time to plan for your projects. Some contractors might be concerned with their backlog due to unknown future economic impact and be willing to offer a discount if they can schedule gaps in their schedules into the future.
Think positively and creatively for your property. We need to make lemonade out of the current situation. ❖
David Dunham is president of Kawika’s Painting, a licensed company that handles painting, spall repairs, roof coatings, water proofing, carpentry, walkway coatings and resinous flooring. Reach him at 848-0003 or oahu@ kawikaspainting.com.
backups. The stronger the material, the longer the material stays in the plumbing system. Napkins and paper towels are much stronger than toilet paper, thus take longer to break down. Wipes are the worse culprit—almost like flushing a cloth baby diaper down the toilet.
Why are wipes bad for your home or building’s drain pipes? The answer lies in the various components or substrates that the product is made from. Substrates are materials used to manufacture wipes. They are not secret ingredients. Specific materials used to manufacture wipes include cotton, viscose, plastic resins such as polyester (plastic fibers), polypropylene and polyethylene, rayon fibers and wood pulp. The materials used in baby wipes is a non-woven fabric similar to the type used to make disposable diapers and dryer sheets.
Items that should not be flushed down the toilet include: 1. Facial tissues, paper tissues (such as Kleenex) 2. Paper napkins 3. Paper towels 4. Wipes (commonly called wipes, wet wipes, clean wipes, disinfecting wipes, feminine wipes, hand sanitizing wipes, personal wipes, cleaning wipes, moist towelettes, etc.) 5. Disposable wipes 6. Disposable diapers (baby and adult) 7. Feminine products 8. Dryer sheets
The terms disposable or flushable wipes are misleading. They should not be flushed down the toilet. They may eventually biodegrade, but your drain piping system may not wait that long before clogging up.
The U.S. Composting Council has stated that a leading paper towel product biodegrades in 60 days or less. Your plumbing drain system is not going to wait 60 days or less, and there is a chance that you will experience a back-up before that time.
Multi-story condominium and apartment buildings are especially at risk of drain pipe flooding due to the number of floors in the building. The situation is bad, as raw sewage would end up flooding adjacent units and travelling multiple floors down the building. Not only will you have biohazard waste but there will be secondary health and safety issues due to mold growth as a result of the flooding.
A survey of 10 plumbing contractors resulted in all of them urging the public not to flush anything down the toilet except toilet paper. Keep in mind that toilets are not trash cans. Do not flush down the wrong materials.
Please remember my simple message: Save your pipe, don’t flush that wipe. ❖
Lance Luke is the owner of Construction Management Inspection LLC, and has been providing building inspection and construction management services for the past 40 years. Reach him at www.hawaiibuildingexpert.com or www.lanceluke.com or his blog at http://building.expert.
Lic.# BC 22156
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