Facility Maintenance in Ajax, ON

A deeper look at how Ajax conditions shape the facility maintenance work owners actually need.

The two most costly and most preventable commercial facility failures in Ajax are rooftop membrane failures from ice blocked drains and commercial HVAC unit failures during winter cold snaps. On rooftop membranes, Ajax's Lake Ontario position means freezing rain events are a recurring winter feature that deposits ice directly over flat roof drain assemblies. The 2013 ice storm caused widespread commercial roof damage across Durham Region, and properties that had not had drain and membrane inspections in the prior two years experienced the most severe interior water damage. Bridgepoint's winter roof program for Ajax commercial accounts schedules drain clearing after every ice storm or snow event that deposits significant accumulation, documents drain and membrane condition with photos, and provides owners with a running record of winter roof status that is useful for insurance carrier reporting. On the HVAC side, rooftop units installed in the 1990s on Bayly Street plazas are at or past end of design life. A unit that fails in January creates a business interruption event for the tenant and an emergency repair or replacement scenario for the property owner that is three to four times more expensive than a planned replacement in a spring or summer window.

TSSA certified technicians performing quarterly combustion analysis, heat exchanger inspection, and refrigerant pressure checks on commercial rooftop units identify units approaching failure two to three seasons before a complete breakdown occurs. That lead time gives owners the opportunity to budget and plan a crane assisted rooftop replacement in a warm weather window where contractor availability and roofing coordination are manageable. Ajax commercial properties along the Harwood Avenue corridor also face a specific winter lighting maintenance issue: parking lot light fixtures in open air retail plazas accumulate ice and moisture ingress through gasket failures that developed during summer thermal cycling. Fixtures that were functioning in October can develop moisture ingress by February that causes premature lamp failures and creates safety and liability issues for after hours retail and restaurant operations. Annual light fixture gasket inspection and replacement is a low cost maintenance item that prevents those mid winter failures.