Chapter 5
Maintaining School Facilities and Grounds

		To remind readers that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
		To convey strategies for planning and implementing “best practices” for maintaining facilities and grounds

• Preventive Maintenance: An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Cure
• A Focus on Preventive Maintenance
• Maintenance and Operations Issues
• Custodial Activities
• Grounds Management
• Departmental Organization and Management
  • Maintenance and Operations Manuals
  • Managing Facilities "Partners"
  • Work Order Systems
  • Building Use Scheduling Systems
  • Managing Supplies
• The Role of Maintenance During Renovation and Construction
• Commonly Asked Questions
• Additional Resources
• Maintaining School Facilities and Grounds Checklist

A comprehensive facility maintenance program is a school district's foremost tool for protecting its investment in school facilities. Moreover, preventive maintenance is the cornerstone of any effective maintenance initiative.

Preventive Maintenance: An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Cure

Under the guise of "saving money," many school districts (and other organizations for that matter) practice what is known as "breakdown maintenance"-a maintenance program in which nothing is done to a piece of equipment until it breaks down. And then, after the equipment breaks, the least expensive repair option is used to return the equipment to service. While this may sound like a cost-saving approach to maintenance, precisely the opposite is true.

Breakdown maintenance defers repairs and allows damage to accumulate, compounding an organization's problems. On the other hand, regularly scheduled equipment maintenance not only prevents sudden and unexpected equipment failure, but also reduces the overall life-cycle cost of the building.

Maintenance entails much more than just fixing broken equipment. In fact, a well-designed facility management system generally encompasses four categories of maintenance: emergency (or response) maintenance, routine maintenance, preventive maintenance, and predictive maintenance. The one everyone dreads is emergency maintenance (the air conditioner fails on the warmest day of the year or the main water line breaks and floods the lunchroom). When the pencil sharpener in Room 12 finally needs to be replaced, that is routine maintenance. Preventive maintenance is the scheduled maintenance of a piece of equipment (such as the replacement of air conditioner filters every 10 weeks or the semiannual inspection of the water fountains). Finally, the cutting edge of facility management is now predictive maintenance, which uses sophisticated computer software to forecast the failure of equipment based on age, user demand, and performance measures.

A Focus on Preventive Maintenance

A good maintenance program is built on a foundation of preventive maintenance. It begins with an audit of the buildings, grounds, and equipment (see Chapter 3). Once facilities data have been assembled, structural items and pieces of equipment can be selected for preventive maintenance. When designing a preventive maintenance program, heating and cooling systems are always a good place to start, but planners should think creatively because there may be other components that would be good candidates for preventive maintenance.

The Maintenance Spectrum

Once the items (structures, equipment, and systems) that should receive preventive maintenance have been identified, planners must decide on the frequency and type of inspections. Manufacturers' manuals are a good place to start when developing this schedule; they usually provide guidelines about the frequency of preventive service, as well as a complete list of items that must be maintained. Many manufacturers will assist customers in setting up preventive maintenance systems (if for no other reason than they get the additional business of selling replacement parts).

Once the information is assembled, it must be formatted so that preventive maintenance tasks can be scheduled easily. Ideally, scheduling is handled by a computerized maintenance management program (see Chapter 3). However, a district that does not have such a system can accomplish the task with a stack of 3" x 5" index cards and a dozen manila folders (one for each month). One side of the index card should contain information about the equipment and the services that need to be performed. The back side of the card is used to record the date on which service is performed, the name of the technician, and the cost of materials. After each inspection, the card gets placed in the manila folder assigned to the month of the next inspection. For example, if the initial inspection is in February and the inspection is a semiannual, the card would be returned to the August folder. This simple system should meet the needs of a smaller school district. However, larger districts should invest in a computerized maintenance management system designed specifically for school districts.

For more information about preventive maintenance, visit the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities' Maintenance Page at http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/maintenance.cfm, which provides list of links, books, and journal articles on how to maximize the useful life of school buildings through preventive maintenance, including periodic inspection and seasonal care.

Maintenance and Operations Issues

A number of specific maintenance topics are addressed in the following paragraphs. Every school organization in the nation may not encounter every one of these issues since school facilities and circumstances facing school districts vary enormously. Additional information about relevant environmental topics can be found at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Web index page at http://www.epa.gov/ebtpages/alphabet.html.
 

Access Controls - Keys and key control are a major concern for all districts. For example, who has the authority to issue keys? A great grand master keying system - a pyramid system that allows several doors to be opened by one master key - is well worth the investment. (All major manufacturers of lock systems produce great grand master keys.) Also, the concept of a "key" has changed rather dramatically over the past decade or so. Electronic locks that open by card, code, or password are now being used in many schools. Some systems record the time and identification number of each person who opens a door. Whether traditional metal keys or electronic "keys" are used, top-level school managers and the school board should establish a clear and concise "key policy."

Boilers - Boilers, which can be used to generate hot water for domestic use (e.g., kitchens, showers, and bathrooms) or for heating buildings, should definitely be included in an organization's preventive maintenance program. Most large boilers are subject to state or local inspection laws, which typically require that the boiler be maintained on a regular basis (at least annually) and that maintenance records be kept on-site. Records of hours of operation and fuel use must also be maintained on-site and made available to inspectors. Moreover, permits may be required for boilers that generate more than 10,000,000 btu/hour. Energy-saving techniques include equipping boilers with hot-water temperature resets (which adjust the temperature of the hot water being produced based on the outside temperature) and using boiler economizers to capture and recycle heat that would otherwise be lost in the stacks.

Electrical Systems - Electrical equipment must be maintained like any other piece of equipment, whether it is a distribution pole with transformers or a breaker box for controlling a classroom's electrical power. Professional engineers and electricians should help to determine preventive maintenance tasks and schedules for electrical components. Thermographic scanning, which identifies overheating in connections, motors, bearings, and other electrical switchgear, can be an important tool for determining the condition of electrical gear (the principle behind the test is that a loose connection, bad bearing, or bad breaker bars will produce more heat than a proper connection). Thermographic scanning devices are not expensive and should be part of every district's standard maintenance toolkit. Another new technology, motor current analysis, checks the line current going to a motor and can be used to identify unacceptably high resistance and other defective parts in a motor before it fails. With the widespread use of computers, the proper maintenance of electrical systems is more important than ever in 21st-century schools. Reliance upon extension cords and an excessive number of power poles is an indication that permanent upgrades to the electrical system are needed. However, upgrading existing electrical systems in old buildings must be carefully managed. Building codes vary by locality, but whatever procedures, standards, and inspection requirements exist are designed for standardization and safety and must be carefully followed by school personnel.

Energy Management - The cost of energy is a major item in any school budget. Thus, school planners should embrace ideas that can lead to reduced energy costs. Energy Management Systems are computer-controlled systems that operate HVAC units. They can automatically turn on and off air conditioning, lights, and boilers according to pre-programmed instructions entered by facilities staff. Investment in Energy Management Systems will generally be recouped within a few years. The following guidelines will help a school district to accomplish more efficient energy management:

		Establish an energy policy with specific goals and objectives.
		Assign someone to be responsible for the district's energy management program, and give this energy manager access to top-level administrators.
		Monitor each building's energy use.
		Conduct energy audits in all buildings to identify energy-inefficient units.
		Institute performance contracting (i.e., contracts requiring desired results rather than simply a list of needed products) when replacing older, energy-inefficient equipment.
		Reward schools that decrease their energy use.
		Install energy-efficient equipment, including power factor correction units, electronic ballast, high-efficient lamps, night setbacks, and variable-speed drives for large motors and pumps.
		Install motion detectors that turn lights on when a room is occupied (and off when the room is unoccupied).

For more information about energy management, visit the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities' Energy Page at http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/energy.cfm, which provides list of links, books, and journal articles on various methods of heating, cooling, and maintaining new and retrofitted K-12 school buildings and grounds.

Fire Alarms - Fire drills should be held on a monthly basis both to test fire alarms and practice occupant response to fire emergencies. During school breaks when buildings are not occupied, detailed inspections of all fire alarms should be performed. This includes testing all pull stations, smoke detectors, and heat detectors located in building ductwork. (Note that the installation of smoke and heat detectors in HVAC ducts is a recent, but important, revision to many building codes.) Some states require that a licensed contractor perform fire alarm inspections.
 

Floor Coverings - Selecting appropriate floor coverings for a school is an important issue that planners must address during renovation and new construction. Often lunchrooms, main halls, and secondary halls are covered in terrazzo, vinyl composition tile (VCT), or quarry tile. These coverings have hard surfaces that are easily cleaned and do not collect dirt. In classrooms where noise control is important, carpets with an impermeable backing, which prevents the passage of water or dirt and are easily cleaned, may be used. Carpets can also be purchased with adhesives already attached to the backing, which helps to ensure complete adhesion without the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Some primary schools use area rugs rather than carpets because they can be easily removed and cleaned at the end of the school year or as needed. Periodic cleaning of both carpets and rugs is necessary to minimize the likelihood of dirt and other contaminants causing indoor air quality problems. Ceramic floor tile is an excellent surface material for bathrooms or other areas with high exposure to water. Good specifications for a high-performance, soft-surface floor covering include:

		nylon type 6.6
		face weight no greater than 20 ounces
		100 stitches per square inch
		vinyl pre-coated as primary backing
		close-cell vinyl cushion
		permanently fused to tufting blanket
		no moisture penetration after 10,000 impacts
		no backing or seam degradation after 50,000 cycles from Phillips Chair Caster Test
		factory-applied non-wet, low-VOC adhesive with no off-gassing (required)
		permanent chemically welded seams
		warranty non-prorated for 20 years against zippering, delamination, edge ravel, excessive surface wear, and loss of resiliency

For more information about floor care, visit the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities' Floor Care Page at http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/floor_care.cfm, which provides list of links, books, and journal articles on the maintenance of a variety of floor coverings in K-12 school classrooms, gymnasiums, science labs, hallways and stairs.

Focus on Floors: A Common Custodial Task A large part of custodial responsibilities in a school building involves the cleaning of various types of flooring. In heavy-traffic areas such as corridors, classrooms, and cafeterias, an effective cleaning regimen might be: Carpets   Shake floor mats in entryways   Vacuum daily   Apply spot remover as needed   Deep-clean prior to start of school year   Deep-clean during holiday break   Scrub-clean twice yearly Hard Surfaces   Shake floor mats in entryways   Dry-mop daily   Apply spot remover as needed   Wet-mop three times/week   Spray-burnish every other week   Strip and finish yearly Although carpets help to protect floors, they are difficult to keep clean. They collect dirt and pesticides, and incubate fungi and bacteria when moisture gets trapped. Adhesive backing can also give off harmful fumes. (Some new school buildings are being constructed without carpets to alleviate these health concerns.) If, however, the floor-covering inventory includes carpet, then provisions must be made for proper cleaning. A hot-water extractor should be available at each school and used weekly to remove stains and dirt. Carpets should be steam-cleaned annually with a professional-quality steam cleaner that generates water at least 140°F and an extraction capability of 60 pounds per square inch. Note, however, that carpets must be dried within 24 hours of wet-cleaning to prevent mold from growing. Carpet bonnets, which attach over a buffer wheel, should never be used because they damage carpets. Larger districts should have in-house staff who are capable of repairing buffers, vacuum cleaners, and other types of carpet-cleaning equipment. Equipment manufacturers will advise customers about training repair people and obtaining replacement parts. For more information about recommended carpet and rug care, visit the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) at http://www.carpet-rug.com/. The CRI also has a site that focuses on carpet use in schools, including such topics as indoor air quality, allergies, and carpet selection, installation, and care at http://www.carpet-schools.com/.

Gym Floors - Gym floors are generally constructed with vinyl composition tile (VCT), one of several grades of maple flooring, sheet rubber, or other synthetic materials. Regardless, all floor types must be kept clean and properly maintained. VCT floors must be periodically stripped and re-waxed to ensure a safe surface. Wood floors require annual screening and resealing with a water-based sealant. They should also be sanded, re-marked, and resealed in their entirety every 10 years. Synthetic floors (including sheet rubber but excluding asbestos tile) require monthly cleaning and scrubbing with buffers.

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Systems - All schools require HVAC systems to control indoor climate if they are to provide an environment that is conducive to learning. In fact, oftentimes a district's ability to convene classes depends on acceptable climate control. If the air conditioning is broken on a 90ºF day or the heating system is malfunctioning on a 30ºF day, school gets canceled. It’s as simple as that. Different regions of the country may place emphasis on different elements of the HVAC system, but the bottom line is the same: HVAC components must be maintained on a timely and routine basis. This preventive maintenance will ensure reliability, reduce operating costs, and increase the life expectancy of the equipment.

Two effective ways to improve HVAC performance are through air balancing and water balancing. Air balancing ensures that the desired amount of air reaches each space in the building, as specified in the mechanical plans. Water balancing ensures that the flow of water from the chiller and boiler is in accordance with the mechanical plans. Water balancing is normally performed before air balancing. Balancing is usually conducted upon installation of new equipment and at 5- to 8-year intervals. Balancing should also be conducted when building space is substantially modified or room use is changed dramatically.

For more information about HVAC systems, visit the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities' HVAC Page at http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/hvac.cfm, which provides list of links, books, and journal articles on HVAC systems, including geothermal heating systems, in school buildings.

Hot Water Heaters - Hot water heaters in schools range in size from small 10-gallon heaters to the larger 100- to 300-gallon units. Preventive maintenance programs must be established for each hot water heater. At a minimum, maintenance should include inspection for failing safety devices and leaks (especially if fired by natural gas).

Kitchens - Kitchens present special problems for school districts: not only must equipment be maintained properly to ensure reliability, but 1) a high state of cleanliness must be maintained in all food preparation areas; 2) the use of certain cleaning agents may be discouraged in food preparation areas; and 3) ovens and stoves pose special fire safety concerns. Floor surfaces are also of particular concern in kitchens since they must be easy to clean yet slip-resistant. Recommended floor surfaces for kitchens include terrazzo, vinyl composition tile (VCT), quarry tile, and sealed concrete. Kitchen equipment is a prime candidate for inclusion in a preventive maintenance program.

Painting - Painting should be done on a regular schedule that is published well in advance of work dates to minimize inconvenience to building occupants. Painting needs will be determined largely by the type of surface, the type of paint applied previously, and surface use (e.g., a window pane may be expected to receive less wear than a chair rail). A wall constructed of concrete masonry units (CMU) and painted with a two-part epoxy can last 8 or 10 years whereas drywall will require painting every 5 or 6 years. Bathrooms, special education areas, and other high-traffic areas will require painting on a more frequent schedule. A durable, cleanable (i.e., able to be cleaned by the custodial staff with their standard tools), paint from a major manufacturer should be used for indoor areas. Water-based latex paints are a good choice because they are low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and do not produce noticeable odors. Surfaces must be properly prepared for painting, which may require the use of a primer to cover stains and discolored patches.

Plumbing - Like other major building components, plumbing should be included in the preventive maintenance program. Sprinkler systems, water fountains, sump pumps, lift pumps, steam traps, expansion joints, and drains are likely targets for preventive maintenance. Standing water must be avoided at all costs since it damages building materials and can lead to mold concerns that affect indoor air quality.

Public Address Systems and Intercoms - These communications tools are vital to the management of school buildings and, in an emergency, the safety of building occupants. Public address (PA) systems must be connected to the emergency power system to ensure uninterrupted communications in the event of a power failure. Public address systems and intercoms should be tested on a daily basis during the broadcast of a school's morning announcements. If broadcast systems fail to perform properly, they must be repaired immediately.

Roof Repairs - Roofs should be included in a preventive maintenance program and inspected on a regular schedule. The key to maintaining good roofs is the timely removal of water from the surface and substructure of the roof. Thus, all leaks and damaged tiles must be repaired as soon as possible to prevent water damage and mold growth. On composition built-up roofs, hot tar is the only appropriate repair method. Single-ply and modified roofs should be repaired in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. Staff should read carefully all warranties issued with new roofs to ensure that required maintenance is conducted according to specification so as to avoid invalidating the warranty protections. For example, failing to inspect or repair a roof on an annual basis (and document such efforts) may be considered justification for a manufacturer invalidating a warranty.

The facility manager must verify the annual assessment of each roof within the district, recording the date of installation, type of roof, type and thickness of insulation, type of drainage, and type and frequency of repair work. Detailed drawings or photographs that show the location of repairs should be maintained, as should contact information for the installing contractor. This information is extremely important in the event of a major roofing problem or an insurance or warranty claim. Whatever type of roof is selected, it should be installed by a reputable (and bonded) roofer and should include a non-prorated warranty.

For more information about roof repairs, visit the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities' Roof Repair Page at http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/roof_maintenance.cfm, which provides list of links, books, and journal articles discussing maximizing the life cycle performance of school roofs, as well as roof inspection strategies, scheduling, documentation, and repair resources.

Water Softeners - Water softeners are often used in hot water lines in those regions of the country where the water has a high concentrate of calcium. Water softeners remove the calcium from the water, which prolongs the life of dishwashers and other kitchen equipment.