Why Rebuild Together?

Good morning all! As we kick off the Season of Rebuilding I thought it might be helpful to share a bit more detail around each of the projects and more importantly the “Why” behind each. As a quick refresher, we are targeting upgrades/replacements of key items: boilers, roofs, air handlers,  and parking lots.

New Boilers: 

Status - currently being installed and should be fully operational by the middle of October. While our old boiler was still working there were significant signs that an upgrade was due. The boiler was over 20 years old, ran at best 70% efficiency (estimated to be significantly less today after 20 years of use), and was suffering from significant corrosion issues on the internal heating coils. Additionally, the old boiler had  no ability to differentiate the heating needs of the building. Whether it was a cool fall day or a sub-zero freezing day in January, the boiler would kick on full blast and consume significant amounts of natural gas.  Our new system is quite a bit more advanced and is able to provide scaled heat to the building based on a variety of conditions to maintain a comfortable internal temperature. Overall it is estimated that we will see a  significant reduction in our monthly heating bill as the new units are rated at 97%+ efficient. 
Total cost approximately $165K.

Roofs:

Anyone who has ever replaced their roof at home has probably heard the term “useful life” when talking to roofing contractors. This is a common industry term to describe the most likely lifespan of a product to help set expectations for how long something should last.  Useful Life is also key in how manufacturers set warranties. As most of us know, sometimes products fail inside the warranty time frame and are replaced by the manufacturer.  Other times, the product continues to work far beyond the useful life expectations (bonus for us when this happens), but at the end of the day, everything wears out.  This is the situation with our roof: we are well beyond the useful life expectations of our roof (a pleasant surprise as we have been able to put off a major upgrade for several years). Jim and our roofing contractors have done a fantastic job of extending the life of our roof through patches and constant monitoring, but we are seeing a pattern of more and larger leaks. As you can imagine these leaks can cause other issues within the building, leading to larger expenses if not caught quickly. A new roof will provide significant protection against future leaks and will come will a significant warranty that will eliminate repair costs for the foreseeable future.
Estimated costs ~$255K.

Air Handlers:

Very similar to our roof, the 2 air handlers we have focused on have far exceeded their useful life.  The chlorine inside the pool area was extremely harsh to AHU-2 and has significantly degraded its heating capacity into the Teen area and was never equipped to provide air conditioning.  RTU-5 (roof top unit 5) was meant to provide Heat and AC to the kitchen, hallway, bathrooms and upstairs of the facility.  Over time the AC stopped working on that unit and given its age and condition, there is no ability to repair the AC, so currently it only provides heat.  Finally, I am sure you have noticed a louder than normal noise coming from this unit.  The noise is driven from general wear and tear/age of the unit and can be quite distracting to those areas of the building.
Total cost for both units ~$263K.

Parking Lots: 

As many of you have noticed, the long Rochester winters have taken a toll on our parking lots.  Pot holes are sprouting up throughout the lots, and cracking has allowed grass and weeds to grow up through the pavement. Additionally, over time the parking lots have shifted on where they sit against the curbing.  Unfortunately winters will continue (it is Rochester) and the current damage will only grow over time.  We will continue to mitigate the damage as much as possible, but the ultimate solution is to shave off the top several inches of the current lot and re-pave/re-paint parking lines. 
Total cost ~$182K.

Feel free to reach out if you have any further questions about the proposed projects.

Paul
Facilities Director