I am working on an Agricultural Event Center, short for “rodeo barn”, for a local high school here near Houston. The project contains the following:
metal building (13 34 19, Metal Building Systems)
animal pens (32 31 00, Fences and Gates)
tack and feed rooms (10 22 13, Wire Mesh Partitions)
automatic livestock waterers (11 92 19, Stock Waterers)
insect control systems (hellllp!!! I have no idea where this goes)
Should I try to write one section which would contain all the agricultural equipment listed above, or should I break them out into their own sections? Knowing that we are writing for results rather than products, what are your ideas about generating one section (i.e put under Agricultural Equipment) which would contain all the agricultural requirements, even though they may be provided by separate contractors/sub-contractors).
If that is not clear, maybe the question I’m looking for is: do you use the specs to divide up labor, even though this should be a GC activity?
We do a lot of vivariums for laboratories, and often put all the vivarium requirements in one section — equipment, floor and wall coatings, special window and door pass-thru gizmos, impact resistant wall protection — especially if these items are not found elsewhere in the project.
No, you don’t use the specs to divide up labor (see AIA A201 General Conditions), but that caveat doesn’t preclude you from making a logical grouping for specialized stuff. Another example: grouping all the x-ray shielding in one section, instead of lead lined drywall in 09, lead lined doors in 08, etc.
FWIW, I have heard that for animal facilities, galvanized steel is preferable to “Galvalume” aluninum/zinc-alloy-coated steel as a substrate for prefinished metal building siding and roofing, apparently due to the corrosive nature of the animal emissions. (In other applications, Galvalume is generally preferred.)
Brett: The insect control system specification section would depend upon how the system controled the insects. If you have some bait and trap system with “plug and play” electrical power the 11 92 00 area would be appropiate.
Also the sections other than 11 92 00 series should be their own sections. Hope this helps.
I’ve done some large animal facilities.
In regard to your sections above, you specify the items that can be used in any facility as you have them listed there: steel fences as a steel fence; metal building as a metal building, concrete floor as a concrete floor, etc. A metal building with wire mesh dividers is not “an animal facility” its just a large metal building that stores some animals.
You may end up with just a few items of “animal specific” equipment and it might be appropriate to put them in a “vetrinary equipment” 11 70 00; the insect thing comes under some sort of pest control. (possibly 10 81 00 or thereabouts).
The fact that cows and horses may live in the building for some period of time is really not the most important part of the building.
You will probably have some mechanical equipment that will be animal specific as well – heating/ventilating systems; animal watering troughs; possibly a feed distributor. Make sure you address which consultant (architect or mechanical engineer) is handling that work.
Also: I would go with stainless steel everything precisely because of the animal “emissions” problem. Obviously you can’t do this for metal buildings, but the smaller items are typically stainless. it also makes them easier to sanitize.
Robert, the last time I checked, some metal component manufactures do not warranty factory PVDF finished over “Galvaume.” See Butler Manufacturing Company as an example.
Ronald, I believe it was someone at Butler that told me their standard substrate was galvanized rather than Galvalume. I believe Butler is a Kansas City-based manufacturer with a strong presence in the agricultural market (i.e., it does a lot of animal facilities); it recommends galvanized substrate for animal facilities. MBCI and many (if not most) of the other major metal building manufacturers use Galvalume as their standard substrate, but they would not likely recommend it for animal facilities.
Robert, Butler Manufacturing Company is indeed based in KCMO, just a few miles from me. In this market, they supply as many pre-engineered metal buildings for commercial applications as agriculture applications. Additionally, it is not uncommon to see their architectural standing seam metal roof system incorporated in conventional buildings. I understand the problems Butler has encountered with Galvalume as a substrate for PVDF coatings is a red streaking effect. Of late, I have become aware of other metal roof and wall panel manufactures recommending galvanized metal as a substrate for this type of finish. Regardless of the application, animal or otherwise, I believe Butler would not recommend a Galvalume substrate for PVDF finishes. As far as MCBI, since they do not seem to engineer their systems, I do not include them in my specifications.
Okay, I like this discussion, but how far do I need to go with the galvanizing? We have portable bleachers, lockers, rolling counter doors indicated as aluminum. Will I have trouble with corrosion of these items? Should I go with glavanized steel bleachers and then stainless steel everywhere else?
I recommend galvanize everything in contact with animals or their excrement. Also, concrete should be dense, and with no sharp internal or external corners so that cleaning is easy.