For Your Information

BA Burns Associates - Engineers
Consultants to the Condominium Community
Welcome! We’ve put together here some information we believe you can use. The information comes from our accumulated experience plus those of our clients and associates. We’ve made mistakes in the past (not too many) so you’ll benefit from them too.

Take your time and browse around. If you don’t see exactly what you’re looking for, drop us an email. We’ll be happy to consult with you sans fee. Sharing information is the business we’re in.

How Green Should My Reserve Fund Be?
"Invariably the question will come up during one of our seminars. “How much should we carry in our condominium capital reserve fund?” I usually answer by saying ...."
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Curing Reflective Cracks in Your Pavements
"The common cure for aging bituminous concrete in condominium associations is an overlay that is typically 1.5" to 2.0" in thickness."
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The Importance of Good Data for a Reserve Study
"In my early days with an engineering consulting firm, my mentor offered me some memorable advice. "
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Behavior Modification for Sliding Doors
"Why do bad things happen to good sliding doors? Why do some sliding doors to condominium decks..."
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Infiltration - the Stealthy Suspect in Condominium Heat Loss " Cold air belongs outdoors. Hardly a new concept. But the logic is becoming more compelling as the cost of energy ..."
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New Economics = New Strategies for Condominium Reserves
"Faced with our new economic priorities, capital reserve planning for condominiums can become somewhat of an endangered species."
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Taking Care of Pavement Business
"In capital reserve fund studies, we usually assign a useful life of twenty years to a properly maintained bituminous concrete pavement."
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Fire Detection and Suppression in Condominiums
"What level of risk are you accepting for fire protection for your buildings? Risk perception is a subject to which we ..."
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Value Means Money to your Condominium Association
"Willie Sutton was a cult hero bank robber of the 1940's. He made use of ingenious disguises during his abrupt withdrawals. "
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Concrete for Condos
"Concrete used outdoors can provide an extremely durable, versatile and attractive component to any condominium’s ..."
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Some longer articles...
Why Do We Need A Reserve Study?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

Would it make sense to have a detailed plan for how to preserve the value of your single most valuable capital asset? That is what a reserve study does for you. When a common interest development is newly constructed, its value is quite apparent; new buildings, new roads, new amenities. As they stand, they all speak clearly of recognized value. But as those real assets respond to the physical environment over time, their potential loss of value has to be met head on. Their depreciated value needs to be replaced. Roofs need to be re-shingled, roads re-surfaced, decks replaced, siding painted – the study will detail all of it. So a reserve study is really all about value. It explains how accumulate funds that will preserve the value of your investment. Without these reserves, your investment dwindles. With a reserve study, and its work product, you have the plan to secure the value of your single most valuable capital asset.
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What is a Reserve Study?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

A capital reserve study, using recognized standards of practice, produces a work product that does two things for you:
1.It tells you where you stand today regarding your ability to fund the future replacement of your association’s common area components. Any shortfall becomes immediately apparent.
2.It provides you with a defensible strategy to set your ongoing level of contribution to reserves
The steps involved in preparing a reserve study are:
•Condition Survey of the Common Area Components
•Analysis of Present Funds
•Replacement Schedule for the components
•Thirty year Cash Flow Projection in spreadsheet format
•Report with Financial Summary outlining the findings and recommendations
•Commentary that explains the rationale of the recommendations
•An electronic format of the entire work product that allows future updating by the client.



How Does A Reserve Balance Fluctuate?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

The amount in your reserve account at any one time varies. On the income side, the membership contributes its monthly assessment or condo fee. Part of that fee will (or should) go into the reserve account. On the expense side, there may be projects underway like deck replacements. Note that these expenses are for replacement of common area components. Maintenance of these components will typically be paid for from the operating account. Here’s a portion of a cash flow projection of a reserve study. As you can see, it will vary depending on your replacement for capital assets. The ending balance is, in fact, the “reserve fund”. A reserve study will recommend what the level of contribution to and the reserve balance should be. If a special assessment is needed…well that’s a subject of another article. 



How Is a Reserve Study Done?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

The Community Associations Institute (CAI) publishes GAP Report #24 outlining best practices for carrying out a capital reserve study. It’s written by Mitchell H. Frumkin, P.E., R.S. and Christopher J. Juall, both recognized experts in the industry. CAI has set professional performance standards for its credentialed reserve specialists (R.S.) Here is how our firm goes about responding to those standards:
•Kick-off meeting with Board of Trustees and management firm
•Analysis of past invoices, records of past work done and any available construction drawings
•On-site Condition Survey that inventories number, condition and future service life of all common area components.
•Computation of specific quantity, costs and replacement strategies for components
•Computation of Analysis of Present Funds (spreadsheet)
•Computation of Cash Flow Projection for the next twenty years (spreadsheet)
•Written report of the findings and recommendations including a commentary section which explains the rationale behind the recommendations.
•An electronic format of the work product that facilitates unlimited updating by the client as future conditions change and new funding strategies become necessary. Top of page.
More at Anatomy of a Reserve Fund Study



How To Profit From a Reserve Study.
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

When buying a condominium unit you will likely have a home inspection done. Make sure you and the inspector know what you are buying. Now that’s not as obvious as it might first appear. The condominium documents, a copy of which you should have been provided, will specify precisely what your ownership will be. No two set of these documents are precisely alike. They typically will say you own the interior surface of the exterior walls with the association owning everything outward. The implication is that the Association is responsible for the integrity of the building structure and any plumbing, wiring and ductwork within the structure not specifically serving your unit. Look to see who owns the windows and exterior doors. You may own the window glass but not the frames, or maybe frames and all. Are you responsible for replacing the deck or just staining it? How many parking spaces go with your unit? You should see a copy of any reserve study and a financial statement of the association before closing. You should know whether there will be significant increase in fees for reserves coming up. Is a special assessment in the wind? The best news would be that a uniform level of contribution to reserve is in place that matches the projected depreciation of the commonly held property.  A competent management team has been at work.                 Top of page



How To Design a Fair Strategy for Funding Reserves.
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

Let’s assume that the roofs of 50 common interest buildings need to be re-shingled ten years from now at a cost of $200,000. There are 100 unit owners. The preferred way to set aside funds would be for each unit owner to pay $200 per year until it’s time to re-shingle ($200,000 divided by 100 owners divided by 10 years). From some undisclosed source comes a suggestion to put off funding the project until the bids come in for the work. A special assessment will fund things.  Easy job, right? Just divide the bid by 100 and send out notices for the amount due by the start date for construction. If you’re part of management, the next step will be to disconnect your phone and email service. “Thank you very much”, says Jack the owner in unit 12 who bought four years after the last roof special assessment. “I plan on heading south shortly so I will have had a fine roof over my head all these years courtesy of my nice neighbors”. A funny thing happens on the way to closing, however. Jack’s buyer does her due diligence, uncovers the inequity, and wants $2,000 deducted from the sales price. The point here is that common costs should be shared equitably. The best way to do that is by a uniform series of payments that matches the depreciation of the common area components. Label it “fully funding” if you like, but that’s the principle of equity to shoot for. Every effort should be made to treat everyone fairly.  That’s simply part of the rationale behind community association governance. Just ask Jack’s buyer.    




Anatomy of a Reserve Study
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.
The Community Associations Institute (CAI) publication, GAP Report #24, outlines best practices for carrying out a capital reserve study. We’ve made a graphic of the steps we follow in meeting those practices. As the saying goes, “One picture is worth…..”   

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How Would I Use A Reserve Study?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.
To begin with, the term “study” is a bit unfortunate. It has that a sort static ring to it – doesn’t it? Properly done, a capital reserve fund study is precisely the opposite. It is a management tool that provides guidance for future actions. Two work products are generated by the study. An Analysis of Present Funds tells you where you stand right now. It’s a snapshot in time, good for this year and today’s reserve balance. The Cash Flow Analysis benefits from this finding. It projects your expenses for capital replacements for the next 20-30 years along with the contributions to the reserve fund that are needed to meet those expenses. Knowing the needed contributions, you can compute the monthly assessment to the membership for reserves as part of your budget. But the fun doesn’t end there. With Interactive Reserves, you can play “what-if “ and generate unlimited scenarios for future funding strategies as conditions change. Do we need reminding that economic conditions can change? 
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Special Assessments Or Stepped Up Contributions?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

It is fair to say that the majority of reserve funds for common interest developments are underfunded. Our firm sees it in the normal course of business. The contributions to the reserve fund (if there is one) have been well below required. In all fairness, no one may know what they should be. Looming just around the corner is the need to r-surface all roadways to the tune of $250,000. There is really only one option open – a special assessment levied against all unit owners. When we confront that reality in a study we are doing we clearly want some close consultation with the client. Very likely, a super majority of the membership will be needed in order to levy a special assessment. The likelihood of getting sufficient votes becomes a judgment call on the part of the client. In approaching the membership, it may make sense to offer two options – one single levy or stepped up contributions to the reserve fund between now and re-surfacing time. In actuality, of course, stepped contributions are really stretched out special assessments. But a single payment may present a hardship to some members, so breaking it into partial payments for some members could be a reasonable option.. And it only makes sense to examine the funding basis for replacement of all other common area components. There may be other candidates for inclusion in the special assessment that could impact on the decision of how it is funded.Top of page



How Do Common Area Components Fail?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” May of us have witnessed those results of the misplaced frugality in the condominium and HOA setting. It typically leads to deferred maintenance the results of which should have reasonably been anticipated. On the other hand, we don’t want to have checkbook at the ready, uncertain about incipient failure. In reserve study work, we assign a “useful life” to all common area components. We say a component reaches the end of its useful life when it can no longer provide the function for which it was originally intended. It helps to visualize priorities of failure in terms of their potential impacts.

Priority 1 – The kind of failure that impacts on people’s health.
•Well pumps that provide drinking water, on-site wastewater disposal systems, and elevator lift machinery, and pool water treatment equipment.
•Failure of old decks can be sudden and result in serious injury.

Priority 2 – Failures that may lead to greater damage with higher costs
•Roof shingles after eighteen years on the job.
•Pavements that exhibit cracking and sub-surface problems.Here deferment is the enemy.

Priority 3 – Failure is gradual and primarily an appearance item
•Damaged siding / trim with failing paint film

Priority 4 – When a component fails, you replace it.
•Keeping an inventory of spare parts may make sense for this category.
•Failure modes of well pumps and pool water quality are anticipated by careful attention to hours in service and testing of samples. Inspection of elevator equipment is commonly a municipal or State requirement. Clearly, periodic inspections with documentation will give early warning. In fact, record keeping should be standard practice should be standard practice for this failure mode. A pattern of decreasing performance will be the red flag that failure is approaching.                                                                   Top of page



What Components Should A Reserve Study Include?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

Those components that are held in common ownership by the condominium association or HOA should be included in a capital reserve study. They are spelled out specifically in the legal documents that formed the association and can quite detailed. And each set of documents can be different in the assignment of ownership. It remains unclear why there can be such variation in documents for what are similar developments. For example, some documents will say that the windows are owned frame plus glazing by the unit owners behind those windows. Others will say that the association owns the window frame and the unit owner is responsible for the glazing. Different modes of ownership are specified despite identical window construction. That could become a significant issue if the window units are of poor quality, leak air and water, and need to be replaced soon at $650 each. One could imagine a special assessment rearing its unpleasant head. Decks and balconies which may be a limited common area component may be owned by either the association or the unit owner. Or the association may own the deck / balcony, but it is up to the unit owner to stain or paint it. A by-law will usually spell that out. But aside from those infrequent variations, you will see in the list of components such items as roofs, roads, siding, decks, pool, tennis court, heating and cooling equipment, and whatever amenities there are.  The Replacement Schedule of a reserve study will enumerate all common area components.Top of page


The DIY Reserve Study.
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

On Saturday mornings, I like to watch the TV show featuring couples engaged in a home remodeling project. As they provide the labor, their contractor mentor walks them through each part of the job, step by step. The contractor will drive up in a pick-up truck that looks like it just came off the showroom floor.  The happy finale brings in an appraiser. She opines that indeed the couple has added significant value to their property by doing the work themselves. It would seem fair to assume that their mentor was rewarded to some degree. A DIY reserve study is similar. The client, using guidance from a credentialed consultant, does what the consultant would have done during the condition survey portion of the project. The client collects the necessary field data such as inventory and measurement of components on to provided formats. These go back to the consultant who analyzes the data and produces a work product. In doing the data gathering, the client learns a good deal about the nuts and bolts of their property that he might not have otherwise. When our firm does such a DIY study, we provide the client an electronic format that allows updating of the financial spreadsheets. The client can now apply his new found information to designing virtually unlimited funding scenarios as future conditions change.
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The Myth of the Percent Factor in Reserve Studies
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

In order to arrive at the amount for contribution to our reserve account why not just take a percentage of our operating budget? That might work if you had historical data for replacement of major components like roads or roofs over say, two cycles of about forty years. There are a couple of implications here that makes what seems like a simple rule of thumb a bit more complex. For one thing, our experience tells us that each association is unique. Each has its own “DNA”. A percentage that works for one may not work for another. And when you think about it, you really have to know what the total replacement value of the capital assets are before assigning an accurate percentage. So you’re already doing some of the analysis of a reserve study. Here is what Community Associations Institute has to say on the subject in GAP Report #24: “Associations often wonder what percentage of their budget should be devoted to reserves. A recent survey of reserve preparers indicated that most preparers believe that percentages do not work because of the vast differences in size, budget, amenities, architectural styles, etc.” “Associations should consult with a professional before deciding how much to put in reserves.”Top of page




Be Careful of the Data Going Into Your Reserve Study.
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

In my earlier days with an engineering consulting firm, my mentor offered a pointed suggestion. When your solution appears more complex that the client's problem (which it did) then it's time to check your data. That advice could well apply if you're putting together a reserve fund plan for your condominium association or HOA.
The ultimate intent of a capital reserve fund study, of course, is to know right off if your reserve account will cover the cost for replacing the common area components over the long term. And if it doesn't, what do you need to do about it. The first step in checking the adequacy of reserves is, naturally enough, to determine the cost to replace each component. Dividing that replacement cost by a component’s service life in years tells you how much should be set aside annually to replace it. Multiplying that annual amount by the years you’ve had use of it tells you the total dollars that should have been accumulated by now to replace it in the year of its demise. We use the term “effective life” to denote the years a component has been effectively providing satisfactory service. Summing up the values for all these components yields the amount you should have in your reserve account. Clearly then, the quantities used for effective and expected lives along with unit costs are going to be to be the primary controls over the reserve balance. Using handbook values of the construction industry for typical service lives does not always work. One size does not necessarily fit all. If the material used departs significantly from typical level workmanship then the handbook value is going to lead to flawed conclusions. If unique conditions have been causing accelerated wear of your roof shingles, then clearly some informed adjustment of their effective lives is needed. Also, any deferred maintenance that shortens the expected remaining life, clearly impacts on how the reserve fund needs to accumulate. But wait a minute. There may be an opportunity for justifiable frugality here. Perhaps the component could be repaired and placed back on track with a revised service life. You might accommodate that with a separate entry in the plan. Instances arise where a refined judgment is unquestionably needed. In our experience, it's rare to see projects in which that is not the case to some degree. And, of course, it helps when explaining things too others if that judgment is accompanied by the opinion of a recognized professional. Take time to think through the parameters that will structure your reserve strategy. It will only be as sound as the data that feeds into it.
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Condominium Siding Goes Green
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

If you were to be asked what area of building technology is seeing the most rapid and innovative development you’d be well advised to put your money on siding. The major players in siding production are now spending big bucks on the R & D of alternate siding products to bring them to market. How do we, as consumers and specifiers of siding in the condominium building and maintenance business, fit into that picture? Siding has always been recognized as the premier ambassador of curb appeal. Peeling and dilapidated siding spells low market value. Structurally speaking siding is a non-performer. Except in special cases, it offers no load bearing capacity to the exterior building shell.
Siding denies the rain, wind and other outdoor elements access to the load bearing sheathing and framing. It works best when it sheds water quickly and efficiently while letting moisture from indoors pass through it. But it’s that latter ability that can get it in trouble. If it is a painted wood product the exiting moisture can, over time, lift its protective film. Sunlight can fade the color of paint and accelerate any potential blistering. And, of course, wood forest products are becoming scarcer. Global market demands plus scarcity of resources have driven wood products upward. Well, say folks like CertainTeed and Alcoa, take a look at our alternatives to real wood siding. Let’s do just that – from a performance and cost standpoint. Vinyl clapboard siding has been the recognized leader in replacement siding for some time now. It’s colorfast. It expands and contracts during temperature changes. “Vinyl is final”. But it can be damaged by impact particularly in cold weather when it’s brittle. Opinions do vary about its appearance. The bottom line may look good but the eyes of some beholders (some would call them purists) remain unimpressed. Vinyl goes on quickly, reducing labor costs. For this reason, vinyl siding is seen on an increasing proportion of new construction today. Alcoa now produces a Mastic T- Lok “Barkwood” in a wide range of colors, still in the clapboard configuration. The mastic is a polypropylene instead of vinyl, which they claim solves the impact difficulty. The installed cost is a little higher than the vinyl clapboard product we’re used to seeing. That pricing structure may well typify these new products for a time as companies attempt to recover the cost of development.Top of page


Are Composite Siding Materials Right for Your Association’s Buildings?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

CertainTeed’s line of “Cedar Impressions” offers a vinyl based, “wood like appearance” siding product that you really have to get up close to in order to realize that it is not the real McCoy.  The product has all the bulk and thickness in appearance of a wood shake. The panelized sheets come in twelve colors that fasten using a nailing strip similar to vinyl siding. And of course, you just hose it down to maintain it. Fiber cement siding is touted as being attractive because of its longevity in service. Being heavier, it requires equipment to handle it on site. Special diamond tip blades are required to cut it and workers need respirators when cutting or drilling it. All this would seem to imply higher costs to the consumer. This has been our experience when investigating the product.
The case of panelized siding, designated as T1-11 by the American Plywood Association, presents a special situation. This was, typically, a siding of economic choice that was installed without sheathing behind it. “Shakertown” is one product line. Unless proper installed flashing at panel tops and adequate soffit overhangs are provided water entry can result with damage to the building frame. Overlying T1-11 with one of these new products enhances curb appeal while solving the water entry situation. Such a strategy has a good deal going for it.
Our experience, in doing reserve studies, is that contractor prices for siding replacement jobs can vary significantly. That variation appears to stem from two sources - how installers are organized internally and how they would approach your project. Keeping good people on the payroll means increased costs, which have to be passed along. But then good quality work is always worth paying for. If your buildings have a good deal of variations in wall, e.g., gable end configurations, then chances are that will be reflected in a significant spread of bid prices. Be sure to ask if bidders can take care of any damaged siding and trim as part of the bid, or will that be extra work.
Here are some suggestions for deciding whether a siding replacement/overlay is the way to go for you. Analyze the past performance of the siding that’s now in place. Put together some historical data on the cost of painting and repairs. Include trim and window casings because they will be part of any overlay. Decide if either poor to no structural ventilation or water entry into the wall cavity is the culprit behind the loss of protective film. Any overlay will only have the potential for trapping moisture in the cavity. How the project is going to be funded is of course a major consideration. You may want to keep on painting while accumulating income in reserve to do a replacement job at the next painting cycle. Or, it may make sense to bite the vinyl bullet now with an assessment. Deciding on the color of the new siding may be the most controversial aspect of the analysis. With many beholder eyes, the process will definitely require some tact.  Top of page



Condominiums and HOA As LEED Leaders
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S. 
        
Thumb through the periodicals reporting on the current state of affairs of building technology and you get the distinct impression that an exciting array of seemingly related new developments is emerging. Each carries its proprietary buzzword. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) has birthed the expression of building “green” to minimize environmental impacts. Sustainable Design recycles used materials into new buildings. A Life Cycle Analysis looks for performance-related evidence on long-term economic return before it will agree to replacement of a capital component.  We seem to be living in a technological matrix of individual efforts seeking some sort of consensus that will lead to a new, shared understanding of how buildings should perform.  Driving these and similar activities is, of course, the upward spiral of energy costs. But there is also the growing awareness that the client is out front of current design practice and that the hour is late. Urgency is in the air. We need no reminding that our culture cherishes individualism. Yet what these technologies seem to be coalescing around is the need for a common vision. Musing around this issue on an individual basis has clear limitations. Now people who live, manage and work in common interest developments have been on to common visioning for some time now. Well, almost. When you look at the specific issue of consuming energy to heat and cool condominiums and HOA’s, we are as equally at the mercy of current design practice as everyone else. The devil’s in the long accepted design details of wrong-sizing heating and cooling equipment. But perhaps by virtue of the nature of their governance, common interest developments could be in a unique position to advance ahead of the curve. Some delving into that proposition could help get some discussion going.
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Comfort Levels, the Brits and Boilers
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S. 

Thermal energy movement in buildings follows the same pattern as other forms of energy. It flows from locations of high activity (warm) to those of low activity (cool). While each of us has a slightly different internal thermostat, generally speaking, we feel most comfortable when the surrounding air temperature is between 72 to 78 deg F in winter and 72 to 76 deg F in summer.  Not much of a spread, really. But as the outdoor temperatures depart further from those comfort zones, the rate at which the indoor energy zips outdoors increases proportionately. That’s intuitive; we might even say instinctive. The rate at which our indoor energy departs is measured in BTU’s (British thermal units) per hour. Actually the Brits pilfered the idea from that canny Scotsman, Jim Watts, who defined the process on his way to inventing the steam engine. But that discourse is for another day. So our strategy needs to be one of slowing down the movement of indoor energy to the outdoors in winter and the reverse in summer. We do that by providing resistance within the surrounding residential envelope. The more insulation within that envelope (walls, ceiling, floor), the slower the movement of BTU’s, the less trauma to our budget.  The heat loss of a building is routinely computed during the sizing of furnaces and boilers to heat condominiums and HOA. The BTU’s these devices produce (capacity) needs to match rate at which the building loses BTU’s. Take a look at the nameplate on the front of your boiler or furnace and you will see a rated capacity in BTU’s / hour. Fairly straightforward so far, but there is a sub-strategy in that sizing that, at least in this writer’s opinion, is beginning to play a bigger role in the energy picture as it relates to the common interest development.
A boiler for a hot water heating system is sized to be able to provide indoor comfort levels when the outdoor temperature is at its extreme for the building’s climatic location. If that were not the case, we would have chaos when our winter temperature dropped to –5F. So the boiler is up-sized to have that reserve capacity to call upon when, and if, needed. The upshot is that our accommodating boiler is cruising along at 60% of its rated capacity for 90% of the heating season. The same principle holds true for a hot air furnace. The current practice designs heating plants for condominium units as though they were stand-alone homes. The heat loss for the total building is computed, the load for each unit apportioned, and a separate heating device with its reserve capacity is installed in each unit; not very economical by today’s realities. Multiply that by the number of units in our condominium or HOA and the idea begins to surface that here is a prime target for significant reduction in energy consumption. But it will take some significant adjustments in both design practice and management perceptions. Top of page


Reducing Energy Consumption in Condominiums and HOA
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S. 

Increasing either the amount or the quality of insulation is arguably the most direct way to reduce heating and cooling transmission through the residential envelope. Foamed in place insulation of high R-value is seeing greater usage in new construction. Retrofitting it into existing buildings is case specific. Cold air infiltration through windows, doors and roof and wall penetrations can account for as much as 30% of the total heat loss of a condominium / HOA unit. Sealing up those locations will pay off and cost little. Replacing leaky window units with tight thermally efficient ones could mean a significant initial investment, but it will pay off in the long run. A community manager recently described to me some easy steps he took to insulate feed piping running from outdoor boilers to his buildings. The BTU’s that were once zipping out the pipe walls to the outdoors are now going into the buildings’ baseboard radiation. He anticipates significant drops in fuel consumption. If you are a condominium board looking in that direction, it will pay to have a professional investigate your options and payoffs before doing any work. For individual heating plants in homeowner units there are some basic lines of defense against wasting fuel. Annual servicing is a must - akin to changing the oil in your car. The “consumer” of your heating oil is your oil burner. Lavish some cash on its care and upkeep. Your oil burner is an assembly of fuel pump, fan, tubing and fuel nozzle with an electrical transformer on top, all mounted on the front of your boiler or furnace. The pump supplies fuel under correct pressure, which when mixed with air, atomizes into a fine mist allowing it to burn most efficiently when ignited by a spark from the transformer as it sprays out the nozzle. The generated heat is passed on to the heat exchanger, which in the case of a boiler is a nest of water chambers or a bellows-like air chamber in a hot air furnace.  As part of annual check-up, your heating technician will change your oil filter, check your nozzle, vacuum out the combustion chamber and check your flame detection (safety) controls.  Ask him to do a stack check for CO2, stack temperature and overall efficiency every other year. If the fuel is natural or propane gas, the range of control of operating efficiency is smaller and, to some degree, simpler. Complete combustion of the gas is important if you are to extract all its BTU’s. Incomplete combustion can also generate carbon dioxide and other potentially harmful by products. One more result of incomplete combustion is lower temperatures in your exhaust stack, which will reduce drafting and efficiency. A heating technician will check the operation of your burner heads for full combustion as well as the operation of the safety valve downstream.    Top of page

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Reducing Energy Costs – It Could Be Good for Your Reserves
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S. 

Given the fact that the cost of energy will continue to consume a significant portion of their operating costs,, has not the time arrived to begin devising some new ways of designing and controlling the heating and cooling systems going into common interest buildings? A good starting point would be to begin designing a common system to serve the entire building instead of individual plants for every living unit. The townhouse configuration offers a good example. Here the design approach has been to consider each unit as a small home – five units, five home heating systems. You might argue that, given our preference for independence, each homeowner should have an inalienable right to control the destiny of his or her individual comfort level. But if the future unit owner had been in on the building design phase and were told that an engineered common heating system feeding all units could provide that degree of comfort at reduced future energy costs and at little to no increase in purchase price, I think we know which way the vote would go. It’s commonly understood that boilers operate most efficiently when running at full capacity. Suppose we had a single, high efficiency, condensing type boiler properly maintained to run at 95+% efficiency. We’re going to allow that common boiler to run at its rated capacity, supplying hot water to each unit’s radiation for the 90% of the time when it is capable of meeting the common demand. We will meter the amount of heating water supplied to each unit for billing purposes.  Each individual unit would also have a small boiler riding on the common system. It will fire up to modulate the temperature in the individual units only when we have an extreme cold snap, thereby satisfying the different inalienable opinions of comfort of different owners. An alternative might be a second common boiler that fires up the meet infrequent higher demands. The result would be reduced heating energy costs for our newly defined client - the development, and ultimately each unit owner. An astute developer might consider all this a marketing plus. But of course, he or she would need to intentionally steer the design in this direction. But before people are motivated to even begin thinking along these lines they need some data that sets at least some general feasibility parameters.  What are the comparative costs of individual versus common heating systems in specific building configurations? What reductions in operating costs can be expected and what would the rate of return on investment be? How much would it cost to retrofit an existing building? Could the latter cost be factored into a capital reserve fund plan as an improvement? The hardware is on the shelf. Some work needs to be done in system design and (here comes the hard part) selling management.Top of page




How To Get t The Most for Your Condominium Pavement Dollar
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

Maintaining the paved surfaces of condominium roadways and parking lots can easily be the number one consumer of your association’s budget. Here are four ways that should help you get the most for your pavement dollar:

•Provide positive drainage off the paved surfaces.
•Make sure you have a stabile, well draining sub-base underneath.
•Know what you’re paying for when you do maintenance.
•Invest some money to buy extended service life.
•Keep records. Ignore history and you pay again and again and….

We’re assuming that your condominium roads and parking lots are surfaced with bituminous concrete. This flexible product is a mixture of an asphaltic binder with ground up stone and sand aggregate. It helps to remember that all the work of transmitting vehicle wheel loads down to the sub-base is done by the aggregate. The asphalt is simply the “glue” that stabilizes the aggregate in place so it can do its job. While that may be a nice structural solution, the arrangement leaves tiny void spaces between the pieces of aggregate. Surface water that does not evaporate can find its way down into and through the aggregate and eventually the soil sub-base. Once there it can, if not allowed to drain away, begin its business of deterioration.

•Clearly, a properly prepared, draining sub-base is critical. But the quickest way to intercept that process is to provide positive drainage off the paved surfaces to the shoulders or into catch basins. The sooner it gets off the paved surface the better.  Less water penetration means longer pavement life. Fill in “bird bath” depressions that pool water with binder. If the pooling area is more extensive, cold planning may provide the pitch you need to get the run-off water moving.

•A sound sub-base, the foundation of your pavement, is the best warranty for long pavement life. It should be a coarse granular material with much larger voids between its granules allowing water to flow through it and make a quick exit below instead of hanging around beneath your roadway. If the sub-base is of unsuitable material with clay or construction debris that holds water in it in it, you will be wasting money paving over it year after year. Excavate down, remove the offending material, and replace it with good clean gravel. You will pay more during re-surfacing, but you’ll come out ahead in the long run. In capital reserve fund studies, we usually assign a useful life of twenty years to a properly maintained pavement. With prudent management, that life can be extended.

•One way to spend money and get little for it is to patch only the part of the roadway width that has failed. The remedy may seem intuitive. But shoulder drainage can pocket in the sub-grade up against the dam created by the deep patch. Now you have a self-perpetuating condition.  The better solution would be to spend a little more money and cut out the full width of pavement, and then fill it with patch material. The usual way to rehabilitate existing pavement is to overlay it with a minimum thickness of 1.5 inches of bituminous concrete. Here is where you can buy (literally) yourself some longevity. Make sure your paving contractor addresses some key points before overlaying. Defects in the sub-grade should be cured. To make sure that the surface drains well some shimming may need to be done to get positive drainage.



Reflective Cracking in Condominium / HOA Pavements
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S. 

Cracks in existing bituminous concrete pavements need to be sealed. This is important for two reasons. First, while the crack is exposed, you don’t want it to be a continuous rapid route to the sub-grade. Constant saturation of the sub-grade leads to its erosion and pavement failure. Secondly, if you overlay, any unsealed cracks in the underlying pavement can move and cause what’s known as reflective cracking in the overlay. If the crack is significant, lay down a synthetic fabric in a bed of hot asphalt to help bridge over the crack. A tack coat of emulsifier over the existing pavement helps the overlay to adhere better. Make sure the contractor lifts to finish grade all curb boxes for utility shut-offs and manhole rims. You don’t want a series of pockets in the pavement or maybe worse, buried shut-offs. Then be prepared to invest in the future. When your overlay is about four years old start a program of seal coating. This application of a refined coal tar mix will inhibit degradation of the pavement surface by replacing the asphaltic binding “juices” on the surface of the pavement that are lost to ultraviolet exposure. At this point, there are probably not many cracks but seal those that you do have with bitumen mix. Continue this program of seal coating and crack filling at three to four year intervals. Now the pavements may look satisfactory at twelve years out and have good rideability. For those reasons, you may be tempted to skip maintenance to “save” money. But here is where prudent management starts to pay off. For every dollar you spend now, you will save four in the future trying to patch a pavement that suddenly starts to go downhill on you. Once water infiltrates into the sub-base through unsealed cracks the way is open to general pavement failure. Now an overlay may not be feasible. You may need to grind up all pavements and lay down new ones. On the other hand, there is no reason why you should not get a pavement service life of twenty plus years if you take care of it with smart, alert management. Your past investment in seal coating and crack sealing will now pay off in a nice dividend of extended service life. Keep records on what work was done when and for what costs. If a section of roadway shows up as having needed repeated overlays over short time periods, it makes no sense to continue the overlays without looking to see if there’s a problem in the sub-base. Records that allow you to profile the performance of all pavements can send up a red flag about one or two sections that seem out of character with their neighbors. Pay for the solution, not the symptom.   Top of page



Reserves Studies and Costs
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

It’s no secret that costs in the building industry don’t stay fixed for very long. So how do people who offer reserve studies keep up with things? It helps to have friends in high places, like roofers, or down to earth guys like paving contractors. We make the rounds monthly or so to check in with the present cost per ton of processed asphalt for flexible pavements. Next stop will be the roofers and local distributors for roofing materials. They know we talk with potential customers so they are nice to us. The point here is that assignment of replacement costs for reserve studies has to reflect how our local construction business people are responding to what is happening globally. Material costs are only part, if the most unpredictable part, of the picture of course. Labor rates can vary with how a vendor chooses to do business - his overhead, benefits, etc. Still, they are fairly well known for each trade in the industry. If you have been on the receiving end of bids, you have occasionally been surprised at the spread of bidding results for a project. “How can they possibly be that far apart?” you wonder. The bid form will have been for the same amount of service or material. The answer lies in the fact that they may see something in the existing conditions that you don’t. After all, they’ve been in the business for some time now and they probably detect too many unknowns in the work description. That spells surprises to them and they had better have something in their bid to cover them.
Those wavy roof surfaces could mean that the plywood deck is deteriorated from condensation and will need replacement before any overlayment and shingles can go down. Or perhaps they see something in the generic specifications that just is not going to work for your specific condition. Here is where the condition survey by your reserve specialist earns its fee. The survey will put together a profile that accurately describes how the materials and construction techniques of your property have responded (and will respond) to their environmental exposure over time. Assigning costs to the replacement of capital assets in reserve studies needs to blend together all these factors. Top of page



How Can Value Engineering Enhance Reserves?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

Building siding is arguably the premier arbiter of curb appeal. Like a first impression, it had better be good or perceived value suffers.  A capital reserve study that looks at siding usually assumes a painting/staining cycle along with some random repairs common to wood products exposed to the outdoors. It can be a routine assumption of the cost of future maintenance based upon past performance of the siding and maintenance records. But if you have the kind of siding that seems to keep needing repairs year after year and seems to say little for curb appeal even when freshly painted, it might be a candidate for replacement. The condition survey which is the principal field activity of a reserve study should pick up on this possibility. A recognized technique for examining continued maintenance versus replacement is the value engineering study. It analyzes technical performance versus costs over the useful life of the existing component and its challenger – in this case the replacement siding.  Value engineering emerged during WWII when General Electric was searching for economic substitutes for raw materials that were short supply. A computation of the area of the siding of the buildings is computed and the unit cost of the alternative siding is applied to it to arrive at a cost which essentially becomes an investment. The question becomes, when will my investment start paying off in reduced costs for maintenance? An important variable for you to consider is whether to go over the existing siding with the substitute material or strip off the existing siding before applying the challenger siding. Clearly, there is a significant increase in cost for the latter. The nature of the substitute siding will help you evaluate the likely appearance of siding over siding as part of your decision. Invoices for the past cost of repairs and painting will be well known. After all, those costs are why you are doing this exercise. Your ROI results from computing when the accumulated costs for repairs and maintenance equals the cost of the re-siding. If the period of time and the aesthetics of the application are acceptable and the funds are available for the initial investment, then go for it.Top of page




How Condominium Retaining Walls Work
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.
It’s somewhat rare to see a development site without a cut into the natural landform to accommodate some form of man-made construction. When that happens, retaining walls can be used to hold back the disturbed earth face. Retaining walls are (hopefully) static elements. But things might be going on behind those walls that could eventually create unpleasant surprises.  The following may be of some help. Retaining walls can be thought of as dams that hold back earth instead of water. Just as the pressure on the face of a dam increases with the depth of the water behind it, so too the earth pressure behind a retaining wall increases with the height of the wall’s backfill. In fact, engineers refer to equivalent fluid pressure when designing retaining walls. For example, a stiff damp cohesive clay exerts less than 30 pounds per square foot of pressure on the load side of a retaining wall while a very fluid gravel (mud) could develop the same pressure as water itself, 62.4 psf. The point here is that the height of the wall and the natural characteristics plus wetness of the soil behind it are key elements both in the initial design of a wall as well as its behavior over time.  You may have one of the several kinds of retaining walls in your common interest development. Timber walls of treated wood will typically be used as part of a landscaping scheme. They augment the natural setting in a way a concrete wall could never match. Such walls are economical and because of the loose arrangement of timbers, usually drain quite well. Once rot sets in, however, they can present a poor appearance as they fail structurally piece by soggy piece. Plus they have a definite limit in allowable height – usually about four to six feet. Concrete walls offer a distinctly more substantial alternative. The earth pressure behind any retaining wall acts in such a way as to try to both slide the wall along in the direct of the pressure while, at the same time, trying to overturn it by “tripping” it so that it rotates about its base. The gravity type concrete wall uses its mass to resist the sliding and overturning motions. The cantilever design has a similar base with reinforcing steel embedded in a thinner wall. The steel reinforcement absorbs the earth pressure that wants to trip the wall induceing bending stresses within the steel. Concrete is ideal for vertical loading (compression), but being stiff, it dislikes bending. So if those earth stresses exceed the resisting ability of the steel and try to bend it, there is a definite potential for cracking of the wall. Or, if there is no steel within the wall, there is virtually no resistance to bending. What sets up this unpleasant situation? Inadequate drainage behind the wall will saturate the soil backfill, increasing the fluid pressure beyond the resisting capacity of the steel reinforcement. Freezing of soil water and subsequent expansion can contribute to the action. Understand that these charateristics are interrelated and vary with both climatic conditions and time. If a retaining wall abuts a paved parking lot, check the paved surface at the base of the wall. A depressed trough in the paving could indicate settlement in the wall due to poor compaction of the supporting soils.  If there is displacement of the two surfaces alongside a diagonal crack then chances are good that failure has occurred during bending. Patching the crack with non-shrink grout will only produce a cosmetic effect. If the crack does not progress then you may just want to live with it. But if there is active loading alongside the top of the wall such as a road (surcharging), then more immediate action would seem advisable. Have an engineer look at it. The eventual heroic solution may be to excavate out behind the wall, install good drainage capacity and perhaps cut out and replace the cracked section. In response to this scenario of potential blocked drainage and cracked monolithic walls, the segmented retaining wall (SRW) offers a durable and pleasantly attractive alternative. 
These walls are constructed using precast concrete masonry units (blocks), which are horizontally interlocked and stacked in vertical rows to the height needed. The cavities in the units are filled with compacted earth, which provides the bonding between rows. Steel rods can be inserted vertically
if needed. If the soil and wall height require it, geosynthetic reinforcement can be used. These are sheets of synthetic fabric that run from the top of every other row well into the backfill material. The fabric provides the resistance to the sliding and tripping action that besets our stiff poured concrete walls. Recent improvements in the physical properties of the block units render them stronger as well as more aesthetically attractive. Rough, split rib faces are but one configuration. A modest range of colors is usually offered. Being laid up loosely without mortar, they readily allow water to drain freely, thereby defeating the prime nemesis of our poured concrete friends. Care needs to be exercised during construction because future performance depends very much upon following the detailed installation instructions of the manufacturer of each SRW system. SRW’s would seem to offer a nice alternative to that rotting timber wall. Be advised though that the selection of the right type of retaining wall for any location depends on a mix of soil characteristics, backfill height, degree of slope, ground and surface water and as ever - cost. It would be a good idea to consult an engineer to help you make the right choice. As the old, but true, adage goes, engineering doesn’t cost – it pays.   Top of page


What Is A Reserve Specialist (R.S.)?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

The Community Associations Institute awards the credential of Reserve Specialist (R.S.) and uses the following criteria in evaluating applicants for the designation:

“Qualification Guidelines
I. Background—must have one of the following:
College bachelor level degree in construction management, architecture, or engineering;
Four years prior related experience (prior to and in addition to direct Reserve Study experience) in a field servicing community associations (accounting, association management, construction, etc.);
Trade school diploma and two years prior related experience (prior to and in addition to direct
Reserve Study experience).
Other college bachelor level degree and three years working under the direction of an active RS
designee.

II. Experience and Sample Work Product:
Must certify preparation of or be in responsible charge for preparing at least 30 Reserve
Studies within the past three calendar years and submit a list of 25 clients with application.
Must submit one study of the applicant’s original work using format on application, including
all five tasks as described within for a “full” study.

III. References:
Two references from community association industry professionals.
Five references from different clients.

IV. Continuing Experience:
Must continue to prepare or be in responsible charge for the preparation of at least 20 Reserve
Studies within the past three calendar years and submit a list of 15 clients with application.
Renewal applications, required every third year, will require documentation of this experience.”
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Are There Any Standards for Funding Goals for Reserve Studies?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

The following funding goals for common interest developments are suggested by Community Associations Institute in their National Reserve Study Standards”

“FUNDING GOALS: Independent of methodology utilized, the following represent the basic categories of Funding Plan goals:

Baseline Funding: Establishing a Reserve funding goal of keeping the Reserve cash balance
above zero.
Full Funding: Setting a Reserve funding goal of attaining and maintaining Reserves at or near
100% funded.
Statutory Funding: Establishing a Reserve funding goal of setting aside the specific minimum
amount of Reserves required by local statutes.
Threshold Funding: Establishing a Reserve funding goal of keeping the Reserve balance
above a specified dollar or Percent Funded amount. Depending on the threshold, this may be
more or less conservative than “Fully Funding.” (Italics added)Top of page



How Much Does A Reserve Study Cost?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.
We use two primary criteria when we quote you a fee: (1) How much time will we need to spend on site to complete your Condition Survey (2) The amount of follow-up office time needed for computations and analyses. There can be variations on these. A common interest development with stand-alone duplex townhouses on sizeable lots, connected by several circulatory roads clearly takes more site time than two garden style buildings containing the same number of units. But if the garden style buildings had issues with membrane covered roofs might need infrared inspections. We would need to tell you that in the quote. As general guidance though, the fee for a full reserve study with on-site condition survey would range from $2,500 to $5,000 depending on the factors mentioned above. For an update to a reserve study we had done, the fee would range $700 – 900. If the existing study were done by another firm, we would need to see the report of that study before quoting. One more happy variable. If we had done the study recently, you would be able to update the study yourself. How? Check out our Interactive Reserves.
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How Do You Assign The Remaining Life of A Reserve Component?
Robert J. Burns, P.E., R.S.

If a reserve study were to be compared to a piece of music, the remaining life of its common area components is an underlying theme that is “heard” again and again. It is the denominator that divides replacement costs to yield the amount to set aside each future year so that time and money meet under just the right circumstances. It tells us when to be ready to go out for bids to re-surface the roadways or replace the clubhouse exercise equipment. And when things begin to get tight at budget time, it can give us an indication of whether the roof re-shingling project can be postponed another two years to allow more capitalization. The remaining life for a common area component is the expected service life minus the effective life. The source of expected service life can typically be the accepted standards of the construction industry. Well, almost. Clearly, the level of initial level of quality of the material is a determinant. You usually get what you pay for. So, premium products should be expected to last longer. Not so easy pinned down is the effective life. In reserve study work it’s defined as how long the component has functioned in a way that has provided the service for which it was intended. Here is where judgment comes into play. If a boiler has a forty year expected service life but has been made to run more hours per day because it was undersized for the heating load, then it has provided its “effective” purpose (service life) in less than forty chronological years. So its effective life is advanced beyond its chronological life. If it had been in place for twenty-five years, we might therefore assign a thirty-year effective life to it. The same rationale could apply to, say, pavements. If a pavement that normally lasts twenty years begins to exhibit cracking and movement from drainage issues we would advance its effective life beyond the chronological one to make sure it got replaced before total failure.

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