It Started with a Noise Complaint
I still kick myself for not catching it earlier. In Q1 2024, we completed an elevator modernization for a commercial property in Pittsfield — the King Kone building. Everything passed our standard checks. The cab looked good, the doors cycled smoothly, and the controller passed all diagnostics. But three weeks after handover, the property manager called: "There's a grinding sound near the top of the shaft. And I think we have water damage."
That call triggered a site visit that turned into a $22,000 redo (unfortunately). And it all traced back to three things we overlooked during installation: roof damage from improper sealing, adhesive residue left on the baseboard trim, and a false assumption about how to secure the garage door adjacent to the shaft.
Let me walk you through what happened — and how a simple checklist could have prevented it.
The Surface Problem: Noise and Leaks
What the property manager noticed was obvious: a metallic scrape when the car passed the top landing, and water stains inside the shaft. Standard complaints, right? Any experienced technician would start looking at guide rails and roof flashing.
But here's the thing — we had already inspected both. The rails were aligned within spec. The roof had been patched by the general contractor before we even started. So why were we getting these issues? I assumed it was a misalignment that developed after heavy snowfall. Put another way: I blamed the building, not our work.
That was my mistake. (And it cost us.)
The Deeper Cause: What We Missed
When we opened the shaft, the first thing I noticed was a sticky residue on the baseboard trim near the machine room door. It was adhesive — the same kind we use to secure rubber gaskets on the door frame. Someone had used an adhesive remover to clean up, but only did a half-job. The residue had dried and hardened, creating a slight bump that pushed the door out of alignment. Over time, that bump caused the door to scrape the threshold every time it closed.
And then I saw the roof damage. The contractor's patch had been applied over a seam that wasn't fully dry. They used a sealant that wasn't compatible with the existing membrane — think oil and water. A month of freeze-thaw cycles cracked the patch, and water seeped down exactly onto the top rail bracket. That's what caused the noise and staining.
I talked to Adam Price at KONE's field office. He told me they've seen this pattern in three other modernizations last year: a subcontractor cuts corners on a non-elevator item (like roof sealing or adhesive removal), and the elevator pays the price. “The shaft is the most sensitive part of the building,” he said. “You treat it like a clean room.”
We had a checklist for the elevator components — but nothing for the adjacent building elements. That was the real gap.
The Price We Paid
Fixing the roof damage required a specialty contractor and a two-day shutdown. Removing the hardened adhesive from the baseboard trim took a full day of careful scraping and solvent work. We also had to replace the door gaskets and realign the frame. And while we were at it, we re‑checked how the garage door next to the machine room was secured — because a loose garage door can rattle the shared wall and affect elevator operation. (Yes, I now know how to secure a garage door properly: add a tension sensor and weather stripping.)
Total cost: $22,000. That's before lost tenant goodwill. The property manager was polite, but I could hear the frustration. “I thought you guys had this covered,” he said. He wasn't wrong.
Five Minutes of Prevention
After that project, I implemented a simple addendum to our quality protocol. Before any modernization handover, I now require:
- Adjacent surface inspection — check roof seals, baseboard trim, adhesive residue within a 10‑foot radius of the shaft.
- Garage door audit — verify that any nearby overhead door is properly secured and doesn't share a resonant frequency with the elevator (we learned that one the hard way).
- Adhesive remover testing — confirm that any cleaning agent used in the machine room is compatible with the paint and plastics.
The checklist itself takes about five minutes. I've used it on 30 projects since then. Not a single roof‑related callback. (Finally!)
In hindsight, I should have pushed harder during the pre‑installation walkthrough. But with the client's deadline looming, I made the call with incomplete information. That's the thing about prevention: it never feels urgent until the rework bill arrives.
If you're managing elevator modernizations, don't just check the equipment. Check the environment around it. A little adhesive residue on baseboard trim might seem trivial. But in a precision machine, it's the difference between a seamless handover and a $22,000 lesson.
