Where they fail
Buildings Fail at the Thing Nobody Hardened
A hardened facility with one ordinary louvre is a facility with one ordinary louvre.
The facility type, whether it is a new build or a hardening project, and the procurement route. That is enough to start.
The usual suspects
Each of these has taken a building out of service while everything around it performed.
- A roof hatch or skylight nobody listed as an opening.
- Louvres and air intakes left unprotected.
- Rooftop equipment inadequately attached.
- Overhead or roll-up doors at an ordinary standard.
- A generator, fuel tank or switchgear below flood elevation.
Why the breach cascades
Once the envelope is open, wind pressurizes the building from inside and pushes outward on the roof and walls. That is how roofs come off buildings whose roofs were designed correctly.
The single opening does not merely let water in. It changes the loading on everything else.
What to do about it
Walk the roof and list every penetration and every piece of equipment. Walk the perimeter and list every opening including the ones that are not windows.
That list is where hardening projects find the item that would have failed, and it takes about an hour.
FAQ
Common questions
- Why does one opening matter?
- A breach pressurizes the building from inside and changes the loading on the roof and walls.
- What is most often missed?
- Roof hatches, louvres, rooftop equipment attachment and overhead doors.
- What about the generator?
- Below flood elevation, it is the classic single point of failure.
- How do we find the weak element?
- Walk the roof and the perimeter and list everything. It takes an hour.
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.