May 7, 2008

2010 Olympics

City of Richmond covers costs for fungi found in Olympic Oval roof

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

Richmond taxpayers may have to absorb the cost overrun incurred from repairs that are required after moisture spoiled the nearly completed roof at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

City of Richmond officials announced last week that fungi and algae have developed in a portion of the roof membrane system at the Olympic speed skating oval.

After cutting out one by one foot sample pieces on the roof, the city determined that fungi and algae are growing on the organic facer of the IsoBoard insulation, which is the bottom layer of insulation.

The roof membrane system is made up of two layers of insulation and a protective membrane, which was installed on top of two layers of plywood. The plywood and the roof membrane system cover and protect the building’s wood roof panels.

“The plywood got saturated from being on the roof and exposed to the weather. Everybody knew that. The question is: Whose system broke down?” said Greg Scott, Richmond’s director of major projects.

Scott said the city may have already hired experts to do an assessment, which will take a few months.

Replacement costs are being covered by the City of Richmond, the oval’s owner, and are estimated to reach $2.2 million.

However, the city wants to recover the replacement costs and is prepared to take legal action, but cost recovery may prove to be difficult because the roof may not have adequate warranty coverage.

“There is no insurance for this and the manufacturers warranty does not apply,” said Scott.

“Everybody involved will get scientists and experts to determine how it (algae and fungi) got in there. There are a lot of different ways this could have happened, so I will not make any judgment.”

Scott said a tarp system was used to protect the wood panels and the roof during installation, and that each panel was checked for moisture before the roof’s surface material was applied.

However, some people have said the panels were exposed to water while stored on and off site, and after they were installed.

“The wood panels were stacked three high and had a white plastic cover. The covers were blown off and these things sat exposed to inclement weather for 9 months,” said Derek Barrett, a Richmond taxpayer, who lives near the oval and walks by the construction site six times a week.

“All it would have taken was to put a tarp over the panels.”

He said he wasn’t happy with the way the panels were left outside.

“Plain as day the wood panels sat there. It was ridiculous. No attempt was made to rectify the situation,” he said.

“Anybody who denies this is a liar.”

Jim Watson, technical manager with the Roofing Contractors Association of B.C. (RCABC) said the original specification for the roof quote asked for a Roofing Contractors Association Guarantee Corp. (RGC) 10 year guarantee. However, Flynn Canada was asked to eliminate the guarantee in the value engineering process before the job started.

Despite this elimination, Scott said the guarantee would have done nothing to help the city with the fungi and algae problem.

“Knowing the product (10 year guarantee) and how much it would cost, we decided not to use it. We looked at the value for the expenditure and did not see a quarter of a million dollars value there,” he said. “We decided to go with the manufacturer’s warranty. The guarantee would not deal with the issue we are dealing with today.”

Watson agreed that the guarantee would not have covered the algae and fungi problem, but said that the guarantee may have provided some added protection.

“The issuing of guarantee would have made it more difficult for work to proceed as it did over a wet deck, due to the independent third party inspection process,” he said.

“The guarantee would not go into effect until the project is completed to our standards.”

Watson said another specification that was dropped from the project was the application of a vapour barrier on each of the panels as it left the factory.

If this was done, the panels would have had more protection from moisture while in storage.

The city will likely have trouble recovering repair costs from the manufacturer Johns Mansville, because the roof membrane system was installed by Flynn Canada, who reportedly followed the manufacturer’s instructions for installation.

According to the manufacturer, the insulation can be installed when the plywood is dry to the touch.

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