Chuck: You might be sorry you asked about commissioning so I hope this isn’t too lengthy an explanations! This is what is Envelope Commissioning. I’m an Architect, been actively practicing since 1971, licensed in 33 states and have worked on a few international projects. My experience is on over 1300 public and private projects worth several billion dollars. I have my own Architectural firm that my Architect son primarily runs now and I have a couple of clients I still work with in addition to this commissioning work. I am affiliated with a firm called ICE that is me and other engineers in the other disciplines outlined below.
Over the past 15 years or so we have seen deteriorating quality in construction of commercial buildings while at the same time a need for energy reduction and more emphasis on green construction has been growing. Out of that experience new private and DOD standards for energy consumption and emphasis on life cycle costs have led to requirements for all systems in buildings including the envelope to meet water and air infiltration and exfiltration standards. This new field called Commissioning was born out of this need to assure we were getting what was being paid for.
Commissioning is the term now used for providing this third party oversight for the entire process and includes the envelope, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, vertical transportation, and low voltage systems and controls. I work with a group of other engineers in each of these disciplines as the Architect responsible for my portion ie the Envelope. The envelope includes all exterior surfaces, water proofing, slab, exterior walls, glass, doors, windows, louvers, roofs, etc. The problems generally occur at the interfaces of these different systems. We look for bad detailing, possible condensation, proper flashing, compatibility of materials and other small and large details that make the end product function per the standards. I deal with reviewing other Architect’s design and details at three stages during design and preparation of the drawings and specs needed for the project to assure that the design standards are being met. We are independent of both the Architects, Engineers, the government, and the Contractors so we pull no punches in our reviews. This process is intended to produce a building that is what the taxpayers actually paid for versus what was paid for in the past, but not produced. The process actually works pretty well and is verifiable and measurable. Commissioning is not used on small projects and most of the ones we do are in the 30 to 50 million range and involve complex buildings such as medical facilities,and dental clinics. I have 7 current projects active. I am in the testing phase on a 55 million dollar medical/dental clinic facility at Seymour Johnson in NC. I have 6 others just wrapping up the drawing spec phase, including the one at Kittery. They are 30 to 50 million medical/dental clinics. Three others are at Camp Lejuene and 1 at Camp Pendleton, CA.
During construction, I make site inspections periodically to look at mockups of the systems and the actual construction to make sure they are complying with the original design. At the end, Air and water leakage tests are conducted by third party testing labs to simulate real life conditions that we oversee and validate,the results. We pressurize the building and introduce a known cubic feet per minute of air and measure the rate that is lost. For each square foot of exterior envelope they are allowed .25 cubic feet per minute. We also use thermography to assess leakage. Water testing is also conducted using either exterior fans blowing water at a known speed and pressure against interfaces of masonry/glass, other joints etc. for a specified period of time with failure of the components actually leak water or sometimes we use vacume and negative pressure to pull water through the interfaces. Any leakage during the time range is a failure and they do fail sometimes. They are retested at Contractor expense We stay with it until these items are corrected. If the government will maintain them, then we as taxpayers get many years of low life cycle cost, thus saving us all a lot of tax dollars and the assurance we got what we paid for. I also enjoy it a lot and it takes my level of experience for it to work.