May 5, 2017

Specialty Contracting: Exterior

Photo from SKIS Painting

The building’s exterior was cleaned and joints were resealed.

Department of Ecology headquarters repairs
SKIS Painting

General contractor: SKIS Painting

Architect: KMB

Engineer: Weatherholt and Associates

Owner: Washington State Department of Ecology

ABC members:Moss Adams; Propel Insurance

The state Department of Ecology, acting through the state Department of Enterprise Services, contracted with SKIS Painting to clean, seal and repair the exterior of its headquarters in Lacey.

The project involved cleaning the building exterior, repairing spalled concrete on a concrete panel, prepping and injecting nearly 500 lineal feet of epoxy into cracks of the precast panels, removing old silicone sealant joints and preparing the joint surface for new sealant, and removing and replacing seismic joints in two locations.

Ecology’s desire to use non-chemical cleaning methods made cleaning the biologic growth that was well-adhered to the building a challenge. SKIS had to pressure wash the building uniformly as the water repellent/final coat was clear and pressure washing inconsistencies would be visible and sealed over.

SKIS hired Contech Services to inject epoxy into 390 lineal feet of cracks in the building’s surface. Contech also removed existing crack repair materials that were failing, and in some cases, falling out. The approximately 750 lineal feet were then repaired with a sanded sealant joint to match the limestone color of the precast panels.

SKIS cut and removed all vertical and horizontal joints, as well as all window perimeter joints, and prepped the raw concrete and window frames for an appropriate profile. All raw tilt seams were prepped and filled with new backer rod, and all joint sealants were replaced on the entire south and west elevations of the facility.

Sealant was applied per specifications to produce uniform, cross-sectional shape and depth, and to directly contact and fully wet all joint sides and backer material, completely filling recesses in joint configuration. Evonik Aqua-Trete SG was applied to all but the glass and aluminum surfaces.

In-progress monitoring was performed multiple times a week by Weatherholt and Associates, and SKIS passed all non-destructive and destructive field adhesion testing.

To complete the project, SKIS supervised Olympia Sheet Metal’s installation of the sheet metal cap and the traffic coating application at the lower window in-covers.

The project was completed with an extended deadline due to weather delays and was under budget by more than $150,000. There were no medical or time-loss injuries in the 2,986 hours worked.

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