Commissioning New Wall Systems

An important tracking area for each new wall system is to maintain documents and histories for reference. 

As Built Documentation

The process of building an accurate Wall Assessment report requires a trained Wall observer with experience with the Wall system being assessed.  With due diligence, the observer should complete R&D of site and building history; organize records using an industry standard for identifying materials and systems in a professional database to record accurate assessment data.

WallPro™ is a commercially available solution that provides the as built detail and daily observations to document the system construction information as part of new Wall commissioning and quality assurance observation reporting.

An important tracking area for each Wall system is to maintain documents and histories for reference.  Use the warranty tracking area in the database to add the warranty information, issued by, warranty number, issued date, expiry date. A PDF of this document should be in the database for reference for documenting any mandatory inspections.

All inspections, where observations were made should be listed by the name the firm and the inspector who made the observations, a list of the observed defects and his/her recommendations.  Often the building manager may refer to the past observations find open work items that can be added to a service request.

• Wall Section Summary
• Wall System Construction
• Document Management Areas
• Defects
• Inspections
• Surveys
• Recommendations
• Work History
• Warranties

Summary

The Wall service goal for many commercial building owners and their managers is to maintain building/Wall assets to support the business mission. Like other business assets, there is a capital cost to acquire the asset, costs to keep the asset in working condition and replacement at the end of its useful life. Wall Asset Management is the activities that support the life cycle management of Wall systems.

An important step is documenting the as built construction of the Wall system. The commissioning process allows the design documents and the contractor on site modifications to the specification to be part of the as built documentation.

Building owners that maintain punch list and commissioning documents may find the trouble spots for future performance were identified during the initial warranty and acceptance. Having these observations and documents will go a long way in making a case for a covered repair.

Statistical information generated by the database is the most accurate predictor of Wall systems ROI and life cycle costs when information is collected accurately.  Building statistically significant data allow building managers opportunities to spot underperforming systems relative to other Wall type groups.