It is a normal expectation that a new school building will have a roof that works. So why are so many new school buildings having leak problems?

Having spent the better part of three decades in the roofing industry and participated in many roof and wall construction and replacement projects, it became apparent long ago that building designers were relying too heavily on the construction trades people to fine tune designs that become critically important later. Some of the most critical weather-resistant connections on a building are located at the intersections of differing building exterior materials, such as where a brick wall intersects a lower roof area. Vague construction drawings for these critical connections are, in my experience, the major source for leak problems. So why aren’t these designs improving over time as the problems are discovered? There appears to be a broad disconnection between the design community and the actual construction problems, for reasons so numerous that I can not possibly list them in this limited space. But let me be clear that the building designers are certainly not the only or main source for leak problems. The design and construction industry work as a group to create the problems. Working together they create many new buildings that won’t stop leaking.

If building owners will take the time to become enlightened on the weak points in the design and construction industry, they can take precautionary measures to effectively short circuit the problems. Let me share with you what an elderly and humble architect related to me after I asked him why so many building designers are leaving critical connections on construction drawings vague and/or under-defined. He told me that architects are usually good at one, maybe two of the trade specialties that go into a building. And here is what he said next that astounded me. He said that the people in the field assembling their specific trade items day in and day out are vastly more familiar with their particular trade than an architect could ever be. After pondering what he said, I concluded that if his notion was universally held or accepted by the design community, it would place a lot of faith, responsibility and destiny in the hands of the low bid trade contractors, roof and wall trade contractors included. The greater problem I see today is that low bid roofing and wall contractors are not known for quality, but more for speed. Speed in construction often results in a lack of attention paid to the details that require deep thought and consideration (time) in order to produce a weather-resistant structure. On jobsites today I see more roofing contractors with poor management and a workforce that is full of diminishing skills, experience and pride in workmanship. A far cry from what I witnessed 30 or so years ago when I started my career. Back then it seemed there was a much higher level of skill, competence and quality.

Blind Faith
A building owner typically relies heavily on a construction manager (CM) to detect and take action that will prevent construction and (maybe to some degree) design defects. But the CM is often more concerned with schedule and budget than quality in my experience. Of the CM’s I have worked with over a long period of time, none had a person on staff with the capability to identify design or construction problems that later resulted in roof or wall leaks. A project that is absent a person or firm to watch over critical design or construction issues related to the building exterior can result in misery for an owner later.

The Solution
Catching design and construction problems early in a project is the best place to address them. The worst place to address them is in the post-construction stage. But who would be able to detect the problems as they were developing in either design or construction? I introduce you to a construction industry term for that entity, a “building envelope specialist”. The building envelope is how the construction industry describes the horizontal and vertical surfaces of a building exterior which together make up a building’s weather-resistant shell. A building envelope specialist scrutinizes designs and construction of critical roof and/or wall connections, the kind of connections that are outrageously difficult and expensive to correct in the post-construction stage.

When new buildings have roof and/or wall leak problems from improper design or installation issues, litigation and the possibility of mold growth inside the building may follow. At this writing, one Ohio school district is in court 14 years after their roof leak problems became apparent within their new building. Can you imagine the waste of human resources and money this district expended over that period of time?

A building owner would do well to protect themselves by enlisting the services of a building envelope specialist to:

1. Prop up a building designer’s knowledge of the building envelope during the design phase of a project.
2. Sensitize the CM to critical installation issues requiring special attention during installation and construction.

Inclusion of a building envelope specialist on a new school construction project is the answer to avoiding new building leak problems. Until school districts understand this, there will certainly be more of the same, which is an avoidable shame.