City of Boston Facade Inspection Ordinance

Ordinance 9-9.12 has the following requirements:

• Scope: all buildings over 70 ft high must be inspected for unsafe condition, movement, significant deterioration, and water tightness (single and multiple family dwellings excluded)
• Frequency: once every five years for occupied buildings and once per year for unoccupied buildings
• Inspector: Massachusetts registered architect or engineer
• Report: written report prepared by the inspector documenting the condition of the exterior walls and filed with the City
• Consequence: owners of occupied structures without an exterior wall certificate are subject to a fine of $300 per day

During these projects, SGH generally performs the following activities:

• Review plans and specifications for general understanding and to help focus survey to problem areas
• Use binoculars to scan walls for large-scale problems
• Conduct a hands-on inspection of representative areas on each face of the facade
• Sound materials to evaluate internal cohesion and pulled on adhered materials to evaluate attachment
• Survey interior areas for signs of water damage and interview maintenance personnel on leakage history