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Audience: Both Condo and Apartments

Four Key Benefits of Four-Season HVAC in Your Multifamily Condominium or Apartment Community

By Tom Finley

As summer winds down, we’re heading into what many of you with two-pipe hydronic HVAC systems in your buildings will face with some trepidation—the fall shoulder season.

You can already hear it: complaints by residents who feel—regardless of local ordinances—that it’s too warm to turn on the heat. Others will just bear it, throwing open windows and running fans to find relief. And your building engineers may be holding their breath, knowing that switching from cooling to heating can cause leaks and breakdowns—signs of systemic weaknesses in this older-style HVAC infrastructure.

Spring Into Savings

By Tom Finley

When you think of springtime, traditional thoughts of warmer weather, flowers, and sunshine often come to mind. It’s a time of renewal, a time of opportunity. But you probably don’t think about your pipes much. Afterall, what do your pipes have to do with the changing seasons?

The truth is, there are a handful of reasons to consider your pipes in the spring, some with a very strong return on investment! Whether you struggled with your HVAC system over the winter or are considering capital improvement projects like in-unit laundry, spring is a great time to evaluate the potential for these kinds of projects at your community.

The Power of Hydronic System Upgrades

By Tom Finley

In many parts of the country, multifamily apartment and condominium communities have switched from winter heating to summer cooling and discovered that their hydronic HVAC systems are in jeopardy. Systems that have kept building climates steady and residents comfortable for 30+ years are breaking down or leaking under the stress of age and the change of seasons.

If you own or operate one of these communties, it’s time to put in a new system. And while it can be challenging to take on this capital improvement project, you actually have the benefit of an important decision: Will you simply replace your current system with a like-in-kind solution or upgrade to a system that improves both building efficiency and resident quality of life?

When A Design-Build Solution May Be Best for Your Community Renovation

By Tom Finley

When looking to complete a capital improvement project like a community-wide piping system replacement or upgrade, you have several contracting model options. We’ve previously written about why one model—hiring your service or maintenance provider for a large capital improvement project—is often not the best choice. Even among the qualified general and specialty contractors available, you’ll want to consider a number of factors to select the model that’s right for you.

Stop chasing leaks. It’s a race you can’t win.

By Tom Finley

When apartment community owners and condo boards face repeated piping leaks, they may start “chasing leaks,” which means treating each incident as an isolated event instead of committing to a systemic solution. It’s so much easier to call a plumber or HVAC service technician for a quick repair than think about a large-scale capital improvement project like pipe replacement.

The Science Behind Costly Pipe Breakdowns

By Wendy Matney

Compatibility is the key to longevity. That’s as true for human relationships as it is for piping systems. Without compatibility, breakups—and breakdowns—are inevitable.

At SageWater, we see a high volume of premature piping system failures due to the use of incompatible materials. Think of a mixture of metals, or plastics and sealants, that don’t play well together on a molecular level.

In this post, we explore some of the issues behind material-based pipe degradation and point out what you can do to help mitigate the risks of failure in your building.

Manage Insurance Risk Through Proactive Pipe Replacement

By Wendy Matney

Common Pitfalls and Guidance for Community Association Boards and Property Managers

As pipes begin to fail in condo and co-op communities, water damage and related hazards can become more frequent and severe. And as incidences increase, so do community association insurance costs and risk.

Frightful Pipes? Don’t Get Scared—Be Prepared.

By Wendy Matney

Do you know what could be lurking inside your building’s pipes? Let’s just say that if your pipes are old enough, you won’t need Halloween decorations this month to get a good scare. How frightening? Check out these cutaway images of clogged pipes…

Ignoring Pipe Maintenance Could Lead to Costly Issues for Your Building

By Wendy Matney

Ignoring Pipe Maintenance Could Lead to Costly Issues for Your Building
Whether you’re a condominium board member or apartment owner or operator, developing an annual maintenance budget is always challenging. Everyone knows that maintaining older systems can be costly, and unexpected fixes can cost even more. And the idea of raising rents or condo fees to cover them is often taboo.

Who Is Responsible for Leaks?

By Wendy Matney

Who Is Responsible For Piping System Leaks In Your Building?
When leaks occur, the first instinct (after damage control) is to ask who’s to blame or who is responsible. Like many aspects of managing a condominium or apartment building, determining who is responsible for repairing a broken or failing piping system is not a simple cut-and-dried answer. And it varies from building to building, condo association to condo association, and insurance policy to insurance policy.