San Francisco windows being inspected, replaced after storm winds
SAN FRANCISCO - In the wake of the problems caused by high winds in downtown San Francisco during this year's storms, there's a new effort to make sure windows in high-rises don't pose a safety threat to people walking below.
Alan Zweig is a busy man these days. He owns a window inspection and installation company in San Francisco and after this winter's storms blew out windows across the city, even in some high rise buildings, Alan's been working around the clock to fix all the damage and prevent more windows from breaking in the future.
"You'll see a lot of corrosion here around the bolt. This bolt sometimes will decay and fail and if that fails this can fall off," said Zweig, owner of Architectural Fenestration & Restoration Inc.
The city changed its window inspection requirements last month to try and improve safety. Now all high rises, even those built in the last 30 years, must undergo inspections.
"I think it's a great thing and it'll give a lot of reassurance that the buildings are safe," said Zweig.
The new rules only apply to buildings over 15 stories and don't change how most of the smaller buildings in the city are inspected, but even so, Alan says many of the owners of those smaller buildings are choosing to get inspections anyway.
"To be proactive and look at how their building is fairing in regards to maintenance and whether buildings need to be, have windows replaced on them," said Zweig.
The inspections themselves don't take long to do. It's the process of fixing any issues found during those inspections that can take time.
"We'll take this gasket out on all four sides, recenter the glass, put gaskets back in and then we'll use a structural silicon caulk on the bottom and on the top that'll lock the glass in place so it won't have movement in the future. But this is a classic example and the symptom is the rattling that it makes," said Zweig.
Alan says every building and every window is different. Inspecting all of them will be a big project for the city.
"It's not a simple undertaking. It's going to take quite a bit of effort," said Zweig.
Effort though that Alan says he hopes will give residents more peace of mind that the windows in their homes -- and the ones they're walking under downtown -- are safe.