We were contacted by a city government to address a number of issues with their city hall. The building was a very old structure that had been expanded and modified over the years. At one point, it had served as a gas station with a covered drive through lane. A later owner filled in the open areas with walls and created additional office space.
The city had a difficult time with their building because the additions and remodeling was often done without understanding all the implications of their changes. The building experienced widespread leaking through the roof and walls. They were also concerned about failure of a column that was moving and leaking. We performed an assessment of the building to determine the apparent causes of the distress. Because the city had a very limited budget to perform the repairs, we helped them identify low-cost solutions to their most critical issues.
One example of their problems was a leaking skylight. At some point in the past, someone added a skylight over a stair. Unfortunately, the location was right next to a roof parapet that made it nearly impossible to properly waterproof. However, the client liked the skylight, and did not select the lowest cost option of filling in the roof in that area. We performed a roof elevation survey to determine clearances and distances; then we designed a replacement skylight that improved water flow on the top of the skylight, eliminating the dead zones that were nearly impossible to waterproof.
