Chapter 6 - Rationale for Renewing the Pool Roof Completely

Over the years, there have been multiple patches applied to our pool roof. Sometimes, they lasted for years. Other times, further patches were needed almost immediately. The last patch was last year when we spent almost $6,000. At the time the director involved (an engineer by trade) stated that he believed that the patch had an 85% chance of solving our issues so that it would be possible to delay a large expenditure for a few years. It seemed a prudent risk to take given the cost of a complete job.

Unfortunately, the patch did not yield the desired result and repeated calls to the contractor were not returned in a timely manner. Because the work was done very late in the construction season, there was no time to take remedial action when the patch proved ineffective. We basically ran out of time for that year. There was also no warrantee and no other contractor bid to do what they said they would do.  

Additionally, the skylights were 25 years old and had been identified a number of years ago as being in need of replacement. We had postponed their replacement a number of times in the past but they really had reached the end of their useful life. If we were to do the roof, this was the time to do the skylights.

Could we have patched the roof again and delayed the major expenditure? Maybe. However, given the state of the roof at the time and the poor results of the patch just the year before, the chance of yet another patch lasting very long was very low. Also, we did not want to continue to do business with the previous contractor given their poor quality and responsiveness when we had problems. That contractor was also the only one to quote on a tar and gravel roof whereas we prefer a roof with a membrane similar to the roofs on our main buildings.

Once we decided that a new roof was needed, there were repairs necessary to other than the roof and skylights and so the “Pool Building Project” was born. The comprehensive project also included painting the pool, a window replacement, caulking of all the pool building windows, and brickwork. It also included caulking of the windows of the condos directly overlooking the pool building. These repairs would all be done while the pool was closed. We subsequently added the smart fans which cost only slightly more than replacing the PVC barrier.

Additionally, although not part of this project and scheduled for FY2017, we moved up the planned significant repair to the Dryotron dehumidifier in order to coincide with everything else that was being done. It also helped us to save substantial operating costs that would have been necessary to keep the Dryotron working properly this year.

That the roof needed to be replaced was proven when demolition of the old roof began. Some parts of the old roof were so rotten that the smell was unbearable for the workers. We had one worker who actually became physically sick.

We believe that this was the right time to proceed as Band-Aid solutions had not worked for us including just the year before. Are we happy with the result so far? No. However, there will be minimal cost to correct the current issues and since every important element is new now, hopefully we can then enjoy our pool as it was intended.

The next chapter discusses the expected repair schedule.