Found in Yonkers: A Roof Renovation Without Drama
July 6, 2009 — It was a finger-in-the-dike situation, and unlike in the old folk tale of the little Dutch boy, retold and popularized in the famous children's novel Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates, it took years and not a single night for workers to fix the leaky roof at 245 Rumsey Road, a 170-plus unit co-op in Yonkers, Westchester.
"They did take some shortcuts in the original construction" of the two-building complex erected circa 1958, says architect Dom Diaz, project manager of the recent eight-month-long renovation. "Many remedies were done in the past," he notes. But after a while, no matter how heroic the effort, you've gotta replace the kid's finger with roofing membrane, metal flashing, steel-reinforced lintels and a rebar attached to the wall below.
The problems originated over 50 years ago, when the complex first went up, Diaz, founder and head of Diaz Architects, claims. The original builders "didn't put the appropriate through-wall flashing," he says, referring to the now commonly used slices of sheet metal or similar material that deflects water away from the roof and into drains. "And they didn't put flashing on the steel lintels above the windows," he adds, "so in addition to the roof leaks there were a lot of leaks form the window heads."
When the board of what had previously been a rental building finally felt able to tackle a laborious and expensive roof repair, shareholder Carlos Gonzalez, a former longtime property manager with Boston Properties, volunteered to help. "I had a little experience," says Gonzalez, now a staff analyst at the law firm Carlos M. Velazquez & Associates, "and when I heard the co-op was in the process of bidding the roof repair, I thought, 'Well, let me see if I can join the board and help out.'"
Engineer Off the Track
He ran for and got elected to the seven-member board, which, he says, was glad to let him spearhead. The engineer first associated with the renovation had left — "He had taken a leave of absence from his job; he wasn't feeling well. He was ill," Gonzalez says — and the board and managing agent Fran Kempler of Hudson North Management brought in architect Diaz and contractor Df Restoration, the latter of which had been working and continues to work on the massive Parkchester North co-op roof project, scheduled for completion in 2011. (See "Babe Roof: A Complex in The Bronx Gets Some Beautiful New Surfaces")
"We did a thorough investigation," says Diaz, "and we opened up the brick wall and found the reason it was leaking was that there was a lack of a through-wall flashing inside the parapet." As well, shockingly, "Past repairs had cut a piece of that flashing," which was then never fixed or replaced. "So therefore, any water that was trapped in the brick parapet was leaking below the roof into the top-floor units."
As if that weren't bad enough, Diaz says, the original contractor, evidently, "didn't put flashing on the steel lintels above the windows, so there were a lot of leaks form the window heads in addition to the roof leaks."
Df Restoration, following Diaz's plans, renovated the roof with a through-wall flashing in the existing parapet (the perimeter of the roof), rebuilt parts of the parapet, and installed a stainless steel, horizontal "rebar" (reinforcing bar) to connect the parapet to the wall below. Bricks and lintels were also replaced and given appropriate flashing. (See the finished roof, at left.)
Concrete Communication
"We had weekly meetings," says Gonzalez, a point Diaz confirms, adding, "We had good lines of communication among the contractor, the board and the architect. That was very important for the success of the project. That let us give residents a head's up in terms of noise, site safety, delivery of material and removal of debris."
learn more
How big was the assessment for the more than million-dollar renovation? Zero, says Gonzalez. "We refinanced our mortgage, so that there was special assessment." And he feels confident that a related project — balcony repairs, for which the board is getting proposals — will go equally smoothly.
After that, however, comes what may be the most dangerous and daunting thing of all: lobby renovation!
"I consider that more of great challenge," Gonzalez says with a laugh. "Lobby renovation is more visible than roof repair!"
Photos courtesy Carlos Gonzalez