The 2 simplest ways to best maintain your Parkade.
How condo boards can maximize their investment now and for years to come.
Recent information on maintenance shows that a condo board can plan to pay anywhere from $100 to $500 per parking stall to keep its parkade in good repair and to budget for upkeep of the moisture protection systems. So, if a building had 150 stalls, it breaks down to an average of $25 per stall, or $15 to $75 thousand dollars.
What are the best ways for a condo board corporation to use this money effectively?
By focusing on the reserve fund and operating budget, here are some guidelines to make sure that the parkade is maintained properly.
Before we start let’s get down to basics.
Most parkades today are equipped with reinforced concrete. These are durable because of waterproof membranes that protect against water and salts, which both can destroy the concrete surface. This happens when water and salts mix together and contact metals and steels which create iron oxide or rust. The rust expands and creates pressure on the surrounding concrete. These metals are found in rebar- which creates strength on the concrete floors. The rusting process reduces the strength of the concrete, and can severely affect its ability to handle weight in the parking areas. Eventually, the structure’s integrity can be comprised, in some cases, it could even collapse completely!
So the aim of maintaining parkades properly is to make sure that the salts and dangerous pollutants are removed on a regular basis.
Here are the 2 simplest ways to maintain your Parkade and help reduce the damage to the parking garage structure.
1) The most cost-effective plan is to have your parkades power swept, pressure washed, and power scrubbed, at least twice a year. This will combat against the harmful influences of rusts, dirt and dangerous debris.
2) Have a regular program for flushing and cleaning floor drains and drain pipes in the garage every 6 months. A good time to do this is as the parkade is being swept and scrubbed. This allows the salts and dirt waters in the parkade to flush down these pipes safely. This reduces the contamination of salts and debris on the concrete surface.
It is a lot easier to make sure the membrane and concrete are properly cared for with regular maintenance than to overspend on replacement costs of the overall structure. A little maintenance goes a long way when it comes to important structures like your parkade.