Window washers are expected on Wednesday March 13th to clean the exterior of the locations impacted by the 01/03 Riser and branchline leaking. This is of course weather permitting. Windy conditions and precipitation would force them to reschedule.
This will be isolated to windows below the 14th Floor, and to the ’03 Studios and ’01 Master Bedrooms.
(Window washing for the rest of the building is expected later in the spring. We await warmer weather, so that our spider kill efforts are more effective and efficient.)
A few things for everyone to be aware of at this time:
1. Workers will continue coming and going from locations with wall openings to coordinate repairs as they are able. As of now the majority of this work is from the 12th floor down to the 4th floor. Our team will be in touch with Owners and residents on a case by case basis to continue these efforts.
2. There are locations that still have fans and dehumidifiers. As disruptive as they are, to prevent mold, mildew and further property damage, they need to remain in place. ServPro has advised they will be returning to do moisture testing on Friday March 8th, so locations with equipment now can expect it to remain at least until then. Once it is removed our team will gear up to repair any openings.
3. WINDOW WASHERS are expected on Wednesday March 13th to clean the exterior of these locations. This is of course weather permitting. Windy conditions and precipitation would force them to reschedule.
Moving forward, we are laying preliminary groundwork to replace this entire riser. This starts with making a plan and presenting it to the PTCA Board. It will be from 5501/5503 down to 301/303. Because of these experiences, and because of what we observed, it’s our opinion this needs to be done sooner rather than later. The Board will need to consider and formally approve any such plans. Of course between seasons would be the best time to do this, so our team is mobilizing fast to make this happen (if the Board so chooses) before we are deep in summer weather.
Thank you EVERYONE for your continued and amazing patience with this ongoing challenge.
More to come. Please stay tuned.
Heat Service Has Been Restored To The 01/03 Riser – Thank you to all our residents on that tier. Your patience with this situation, and everyone’s help and cooperation in impacted units, really helped make a challenging situation easier to deal with!
Our team continues to work on the needed repairs including insulating the new plumbing and wall repairs where openings were made. This process will take some time due to the number of units where work is needed.
If you were affected by this work and have any questions at all, please let us know at parktowercondo-mgmt@habitat.com.
We are able to report the ’01/’03 HVAC Riser is now back up and running. Heating service will now be restored and available to the ’01 guest bedrooms and the ’03 Studios.
Consistent with our last update, repairs to locations impacted by the leaking including clean up and damage repairs will be ongoing.
A branchline serving a unit a ways below the repair location, failed. This resulted in some leaking and minor flooding in a few locations. Our team quickly mobilized to clean up and minimize any damages, but this obviously further delayed the Riser coming back online.
Today we are working on all of this – following up on the original repair location and coordinating insulation work as well as addressing the new problem. Repairs are underway to the branchline and this should be completed by this afternoon so we can finally fill this Riser. We are also continuing to assist with clean up and assessing repairs needed in units that were damaged by water from both of the events.
The team is keeping us in the loop and we will continue to post updates as we have been, periodically.
FOR UNITS NOT ON THIS TIER (01/03), but near the repair locations, this means workers will continue coming and going as they coordinate the repairs. There will be noise from time to time that will impact other floors and units.
We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding while we continue working to get this Riser back online.
To do this, additional parts were needed from off site. They are actually in route at the time of this update and returning to the building to resume the repair and additional work.
As this additional work gets underway, we’ve asked our team to update us on their progress and will continue to follow up as there are relevant details to share.
They said the contractor believes one of their welds on the new line did not hold as it should so it is being replaced.
Without any further complications, we expect to begin filling the line again by mid-afternoon, so that heating service to these lines can be restored. If anything changes with this expectation, we will follow up with another update.
Going forward, this will push wall repairs into next week for those units where openings were made. First, our team needs at least a couple days to observe the lines, and make sure no other problems show up, and that all the new valves, couplings and fittings are holding as they should be. Then, the lines will need to be insulated, followed within a couple days by wall repairs and painting.
So we expect workers will still be coming and going within these hallways (at least from 21 and down) through mid next week.
AS OF 9:15 PM
Our team reports they’ve experienced a continuing problem with the ’01/’03 Riser, and unfortunately due to the possibility of continued leaking or worse, the Riser remains off.
We expect further updates in the morning but right now this means there will not be heat service to the ’03 Studios and ’01 guest bedrooms.
They reported the will have to go above the location they are now, to additional ’01/’03 units to identify a new location to make a junction between the new and old line.
Once we receive an update with more details in the morning, we will follow up right away.
We appreciate residents’ patience and understanding while our team continues and extends this effort.
Our team has had to access multiple units from the 23rd floor down to investigate and isolate this condition. It appears to us the leak occurred due to the failure of an expansion joint serving the riser.
Some residents on many of these floors (23 and down) may have noticed workers coming and going today, to and from the ’01 and ’03 units. You may have heard unexpected construction noise. Wall openings were made and some repairs are already underway, with a temporary fix in place to keep the heat on for now. Other materials are being ordered for permanent repairs. However due to the scope and the length of the line being impacted it will take a couple days to coordinate, and then a shut down of the line will be needed for 2 days to do the work. The most important part, the expansion joint, is thankfully in stock, so we fortunately do not have to wait. Waiting too long could result in the line bursting and causing flooding and damages.
As of now, the shutdown is planned for Monday February 26th beginning at 8am until Tuesday February 27th at 7pm. This will be isolated to the ’03 Studios and the ’01 Guest Bedrooms who WILL NOT have heating service during this period of time. Workers will be present and there will be noise throughout multiple hallways outside of normal construction hours, mainly because the ’03 units have no other primary source of heat. By some extremely advantageous stroke of luck, the weather between Sunday February 25th thru Tuesday the 27th is expected to be much warmer than average. So, we are giving them the green light to work these longer construction hours so we can return heating service to these residents. Colder weather is expected on Wednesday.
ALL RESIDENTS BELOW THE 30TH FLOOR:
You may very well hear noise outside of normal working hours while this work is being done. There will be drilling and hammering of metal, and welding. Because these risers go the length of the entire building, the sound may travel quite aways and transmit in other directions via the concrete floors and ceilings.
RESIDENTS IN ’01 And ’03 UNITS
If our team had to make an opening in your unit, it will be open for several days following the repairs. This is for two reasons – 1. We have to have time to coordinate the repairs with the resources we have, but perhaps more importantly 2. We will have to insulate the piping AFTER we’ve observed a few days without any leaking or other problems from the new joint and plumbing line. Our staff will be contacting residents in person to coordinate. To make this process go as smooth as possible for all units, we urge you to be as flexible as possible so we can get in, get out and move on to the next unit quickly.
We appreciate your patience and understanding while we handle this emergency situation.
Please direct any questions or concerns to our office. You can e-mail us at parktowercondo-mgmt@habitat.com, or call 773-769-3250.
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