IRC research aids building rehabilitation

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Canadian Property Management, 8, 7, pp. 13-14, 16-18, 20, 1993-12-01

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IRC research aids building rehabilitation

Gallagher, J. F.; Knoll, H.

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I RC re se a rc h a ids building re ha bilit a t ion

N R C C - 3 7 0 2 9

G a l l a g h e r , J . F . ; K n o l l , H .

D e c e m b e r 1 9 9 3

A version of this document is published in / Une version de ce document se trouve dans:

Canadian Property Management,

8, (7), pp. 13-14, 16-18, 20, December 01,

1993

The material in this document is covered by the provisions of the Copyright Act, by Canadian laws, policies, regulations and international agreements. Such provisions serve to identify the information source and, in specific instances, to prohibit reproduction of materials without written permission. For more information visit http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/showtdm/cs/C-42

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•

•

K

HENRY

&

All buildingS and structures stand-ing in a seIsmically active zone are subject to pOSSible failure unless they can cope with lateral and other forces induced by an earthquake. Older buildings with unreinforced-masonry bearing walls can be at partiCUlar risk. Most buildings with unreinforced masonry bearing walls were built before the 1940s, some in earthquake-prone areas of west-ern Canada and Quebec. Such walls are typically constructed of two or more layers of bricks side by side. Continued on next page. ful an audit requires a team of experi-enced building science profession-als with expertise commensurate with the scope of the audit.

G.4,LLAGHER tion of t h e building. On this basis, a coordi-nated pro-gram of activities to maintain or upgrade the building in a cost-effec-tive manner can then be established. One aspect of cost-effective-ness is that an audit can detect possible prob-lems early.

In the IRC manual, Proto-cols for Building Condition Asses-sment, protocols for the major ele-ments of buildings have been included, such as structure, envelope, lighting, interior finishes, mechanical, electrical, elevators, and life safety systems. Each protocol defines the

scope of the audit, the aUditing pro-cedure, the components and tneir characteristics to be assessed, and the evaluation criteria. Key to the protocols are detailed checklists that draw attention to possible problem areas. Any problem that is identified in a checklist is amplified with explanatory comments about its cause, recommendations for remedial action, timing and priority. The scope of an audit can vary considerably, depending on the general condition of the building

SYSTEMIC EVALUAT161'( ｾｪ and its systems - and the amount

IS BASIC TO ANY of money that the owner is

pre-REHABILITATION pared to spend. Building accessibili-ty, lighting and acoustics, for example, would not necessarily be included in every bUilding audit, but whatever the scope, to be success-The first step in the rehabilitation

process should be to determine sys-tematically what upgrading is required, or Whether it can be avoided altogether. IRC has just published a manual containing technical protocols for carrying out extensive bUilding audits. A build-ing audit, bebuild-ing a thorough assess-ment of the state of the components or systems of a build-ing, serves to give its owner or manager a clear idea of the

condl-T

results of recent research carried out by the National Research Council's Institute for Research in Construc-tion (IRC) in support of technology development for rehabilitation. This information, supplemented by building science principles, will assist building managers and con-sultants to plan and carry out reha-bilitation projects.

Deteriorating building stock, a changing real estate market, and evolvmg patterns of use have creat-ed challenges for property man-agers across Canada. For a variety of reasons, they are tending to rehabilitate buildings rather than demolish and rebuild. With heritage buildings, rehabilitation may be the only acceptable decision.

Rehabilitation of buildings is accounting for an increasing share of design and construction activities in North America. Rehabilitation becomes necessary when a building has to be made safer and more ser-viceable, or when it has to meet dif-ferent needs. The structural components of a building over the years may lose their capacity to carry loads, or what was for decades an office building may become a library and therefore its structure may require an increased load-carrying capacity. And being an old building, it may have been designed to standards that are now considered inadequate. For exam-ple, older building codes ignored seismic hazards, but current codes do not: the use of unreinforced masonry in buildings higher than two or three storeys in earthquake zones is no longer allowed because it cannot withstand the horizontal motions that occur in buildings dur-ing an earthquake.

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Guidelines for Seismic Evaluation of Existing Buildings.

The procedure presented in the manual is meant to be the prelimi-nary screening phase of a multi-phase procedure which Identifies potentially hazardous buildings. BUildings thus identified need further evaluation and should be analyzed in more detail by a professional ･ｮｧｩｾ

neer experienced in structural design. Be-cause the screening pro-cedure is based on a perfunctory inspection,

In some cases,

haz-ardous detail will not be identified as such. Conversely, buildings identified as potentia!ly hazardous may prove to be adequate.

The gUidelines docu-ment presents a checklist designed to uncover weaknesses in the build-ing bebuild-ing evaluated. Their objective is to identify structural deficiencies that have been observed in past earthquakes to lead to failure and falling of structural components

Continuedonpage 16.

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IRC have addressed this quandary by developing practical guidelines to help engineers, property owners and managers to deal with these challenges. These are contained in two companion publications: Manual for Screening of Buildings for Seismic Investigation: and rent code requirements would be very costly. For historic buildings, upgrading could significantly com-promise their heritage value. Yet the potential hazard to fife and property cannot be ignored. Researchers at

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To provide buildings with earth-quake resistance, some type of anchorage or bracing must be installed.

To identify, evaiuate, and upgrade the stock of older buildings to

cur-Continued (tom previous page.

By contrast, reinforced masonry walls are built with hollow concrete or clay blocks, at least 150n:m

wide, with the vertIcal cores rem-forced and grouted.

Unreinforced masonry buildings can be haz-ardous even with moder-ate earthquakes. 1YPical problems include:

• insufficient anchorage of the walls, parapets, and cornices to the floors, so that they tend to fall out;

• lack of integrity of the masonry so that it dis-integrates under earth-quake forces;

• where the building height to wall thick-ness ratio is high, the walls can buckle under lateral loads.

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can assess whether a fire safety design meets the life safety level required by the National Building Code and whether this design is the most cost-effective one.

One of the benefits of such risk-cost assessment models is that they provide designers with a means to determine whether innovative designs provide protec-tion eqUivalent to that required by the codes. If the risk factor is the same or less with the changed design, one can then conclude that the design is equivalent or better, and therefore acceptable. At the same time, one can look at the cost factor and decide whether the cost is advantageous.

Innovative designs may be required, for exampre, to maintain the character of a heritage building, or they can permit greater freedom in choosing deSign parameters to reduce costs sigmficantly or possi-ble to respond to a special need. For example, as a result of rehabili-tation, a building often affords

dis-For over 30 years, Total Power has earned a reputation for innovative engineering, quality manufacturing and customer satisfaction. We will work with you to match our rei iable systems to your specifications. Call the experienced, single-source supplier for friendly professional advice. The expected risk to life is a figure

for the expected number of fire deaths in a bUilding during its design life. The second parameter, the fire cost expectation, is the direct fire protection costs and pre-dicted losses as a result of fire spread. On the basis of these mod-els, building science professionals with various fire safety designs. They are user-friendly programs that allow one to evaluate two decision-making parameters: one is the expected risk to life in a building fire, the other is what is called the fire cost expectation.

TO PROVIDE BUILDINGS WITH

EARTHQUAKE RESISTANCE, SOME

TYPE OF ANCHORAGE OR

BRACING MUST BE INSTALLED.

16 CANADIAN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

RISK-COST ASSESSMENT FOR FIRE SAFETY DESIGNS

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and to partial or total collapse. The methodology and criteria are based on life safety, not property､ｾｭ｡Ｎｧ･Ｌ

and therefore satisfy the basIc hfe-safety objective of the National Building Code. They do not, howev-er, comply with specific

requirements of the National Building Code, which are appropriate for the design of new build-' ings.

The information in the two publications pertains to all existing bUildings across Canada that are suspected of posing a potentially serious risk of loss of life and injury should a strong enough earthquake strike.

abled persons greater access into it. Hence, such a building may eventu-ally have a higher occupancy of per-sons whose life would be particularly threatened in case of a fire. IRC fire researchers are collabo-rating with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation on a project to determine ways of achieving the best possible level of fire protection for disabled persons. To do this they are using the risk-cost assessment models.

IRC is also applying the models in collaboration with Government Services Canada (formerly Public Works Canada) to assess how the rehabilitation of two office buildings affects Ilfe safety. With one building, the current use is being retained but more storage rooms are required; with the other, the use and occu-pancy are being changed.

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ENERGY MANAGEMENT Whereas concerns with the struc-tural integrity of a building and its fire resistance clearly deal with life safety, consideration of thermal upgrading, moisture control, and lighting are mostly matters of pro-viding the occupants with comfort at the lowest possible demands on resources. Thermal upgrading, however, does have structural Implications.

Upgrading the thermal perfor-mance of existing walls, both in terms of energy use and comfort, usually calls for insulation, an air barrier assembly, and a vapour barrier in the wall system. But a tighter envelope wIth bUildings made of older materials according to outdated construction tech-niques can court problems with the durability of solid masonry walls. These are walls of natural stone, brick or concrete block, and mor-tar. Their durability is especially important because they are often load-bearing.

The designer's concern is usually with the amount of insulation to place into a wall cavity so that some heat still flows to the mason-ry. The heat is necessary to prevent surface condensation on the interi-or surface. But it is not just the movement of heat through the envelope that needs to be properly controlled; the movement0 air and

moisture does as well. Some mate-rials may combine the vapour-and air-barrier functions. For example,

Continuedonnext page.

• J·Eleven Food Stores • Appleby College

• Bayview Village Shopping Mall • Canada's Wonderland • Cltipark

• Cityof Calgary

• City of Etobicoke • CityofMarkham

• Cityof Toronto - Parks & Recreation • City of Vancouver

• Downsview Shopping Mall • Etobicoke School Board • General Property Management • Greenwin Property Management • Hudson's Bay Company • Insurance Company of S.c. (ICBC) • Manitoba Public Auto Insurance • Menkes Property Management • Metro Toronto Housing Authority

READER REPLYNO. 33

• North York Branson Hospital • Northshore Board of Education • Peel Non-Profit Housing Authority • Ramada Inn

• Realster Management • Royal Bank of Canada

• Scarborough Board of Education • Scarborough LIbraries • Shelter Canadian Property • Tandem Realty

• Toronto Dominion Bank • Toronto Sun • Trinity College • Truscan Realty • University of Victoria • Village of Marmora • Wendy's Restaurant • York University

CANADIAN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 17

this activity, IRC recently retested the airtightness of six Canadian office buildings it had tested about 20 years ago. The retesting was done to determine changes In air-tightness levels, for in the interven-ing years five of the six buildinterven-ings had been retrofitted to improve air-tightness. On retesting, four of these five retrofitted buifdings were found to be more airtight that 20 years ago. The building that had not been retrofitted was 23% leakier. The results suggest that most older office buildings can be retrofitted to improve their airtightness and hence to reduce their energy con-sumption because of reduced air infiltration.

Although indoor air quality and ventilation are critical elements of the indoor environment, lighting has become a prime focus as well. Lighting accounts for 40% of the enersY consumed in commercial and Institutional bUildings, making it an obvious target for energy man-agement initiatives. Intensive efforts are also underway to improve the impact of lighting on Continued on page 20. ty is becoming an issue. The perfor-mance of ties can be extended by keepins water ingress into the wall to a minimum. Generally, attention to details concerning air barriers plays a role in this, as do flashing, caps, and drips at window sms.

Air leakage is now believed to be the major cause of deterioration of the building envelol?e. Because of its direct relationshIp with energy use, airtighteninlil is usually incluil-ed in the rehabilItation of bUildings. As an indication of the wisdom of

READER REPLY NO, 65

of the problems that may arise is the accelerated corrosion of the wall ties that connect the exterior cladding to the structure. Metal ties provide lateral support to the cladding and transfer wind and seismic loads on the cladding to the back-up wall. Once wall ties have rusted through, the exterior cladding can, and often does, fail. With the number of insurance claims related to exterior cladding on the increase - especially for high-rise buildings - their

durabili-\8 CANADIAN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Continued from previous page. foil-backed gypsum board provides the necessary low vapour perme-ability for a vapour bamer and the rigidity and low air permeabilIty needed as part ofthe. air ｢｡ｲｲｩｾｲＮ Insulation of the Intenor of solId masonry walls will often prove ｦｾ｡ﾭ sible when combmed wIth effectIve control of indoor moisture and air flow.

Without adequate moisture con-trol in the space between masonry cladding and the back-up wall, one

l3-W lamp might actually consume l6W when its ballast is taken into account. Some ballasts draw pro-portionately more power than that.

Finally, the efficiency of a fixture depends partly on the size and shape of the lamp. CFs are sized dif-ferently from incandescents, so for the best results, fixtures should be specifically designed for the particu-lar type of CF lamp to be used.

The whole exercise of reha-bilitation may seem to be more pre-occupied with evaluation and planning than with getting on with doing the actual work. Now-here, however, does the need for an evalua-tion phase become more obvious - and appreciated -than with the preservation of buildings with heritage value. From the ini-tial decision to preserve a building, the project moves through con-tinuously doc-umented phases of research, analysis, and design before the actual preservation measures are undertaken. The concern is that, without such expert scrutiny, pro-posed construction strategies or products can do more damage than good. This process is therefore meant to promote the cautious use of modern technology and materi-als, so that today's actions may not become tomorrow's disasters in preservation. This circumspection prevails throughout the building rehabilitation industry.b

BUILDING PRESERVATION

Jim Gailagher is head of the pUblica-tion service at NRC's Institute for

Research in Construction. Henry

Knoil is afree-lance writer and editor, based in Ottawa.

continuedfrom page 18.

the comfort, satisfaction and pro-ductivity of building occupants.

IRC's lighting group recently com-pleted a comprehensive evaluation of compact fluorescent (CF) lighting systems with the assistance of several collaborators. Potentially these lighting products can use five times less energy than incan-descent bulbs and last up to 13 times longer. The international study revealed that CFs will not nec-essarily realize their full potential except unless operating under cer-tain conditions. First, best perfor-mance is usually at room temperature. But some do reason-ably well in extreme tem-peratures, once they stabilize. To prevent heat build-up around the lamp, fixtures alloWing good venti[ation should be used. On the other hand, it is usu-ally best to enclose CFs inside a globe or diffuser when 0l?erating them In the cold. There is considerable variability between the performances of the various products in the heat and the cold, so the

manufacturer's speciflcations should be considered carefUlly. There is great variability in other regards as well. Accordingly, it is essential that the lighting situation and technical literature are studied carefully in order to come up with an effective and suitable system.

Second, CF products are cost-effective only if used for a minimum time during the day. Depending upon electricity rates, this minimum is usually more than two or three hours and rarely less than 1.5 hours. Third, because they take some time to warm up (half an hour or longer in some cases). CFs should not necessarily be used where full light output is required immediately. Fourth, all CF [amps require ballasts. Ballasts themselves consume power. A CF system with a

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