The NEBB Professional 2024 - Quarter 3

The Residential Challenge WAR STORIES By William Bailey

Of course, as a basic first step, I asked if there were any mechanical drawings of the residence that I could use to understand the HVAC system. I was told that al though multiple contractors had been involved in past renovations, no as-built drawings were ever completed or provided. Therefore, any work done here would be based mainly on what I could observe while walking the space. As we continued walking around the res idence and investigating the issues, we noticed that

As a TAB and Commissioning professional, most peo ple assume our work focuses on major facilities, from smaller buildings to high-rise structures. For the most part, that assumption is correct. You can imagine my surprise, then, when I received a call from a close friend who managed one of our accounts for a past senator to help with some issues in their residence. Frankly, I thought this project would be a “piece of cake,” but it soon became quite a challenge. We set up a meeting with the senator's daughter and the house manager/director. According to their ac count, the issue started after one Thanksgiving holi day. The residents discovered that they could not light the fireplace in the main area of the house (The Great Room) because, when they did, smoke would roll out of the fireplace and cause serious issues. As we walked through the house, the homeowner mentioned she was not happy with her previous HVAC service pro vider and had terminated their contract. She was in terested in hiring our firm if we could resolve this issue and allow her to use all her fireplaces. Yes, you read that right—fireplaces, plural, 9 in total. The homeown er stated she wanted to use all of them during the up coming Christmas holiday.

A building pressure of approximately -0.02in.w.g was noted throughout the residence

The NEBB Professional | Quarter 3 | 2024

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