In 2022, New York-based Fresh Meadow Mechanical Corp. leveraged Victaulic’s productivity-enhancing solutions to ensure the timely removal and replacement of a full riser system at an 18-story residential building in the heart of New York City. The rapidly approaching winter made it paramount for the mechanical contractor to complete the scope quickly, as construction delays could have left building residents without adequate temperature control during New York’s cold season. Fresh Meadow also needed to employ measures to minimize disruptions to occupants and maintain safety, making a grooved pipe-joining system the ideal solution for the residential high-rise riser replacement project.

The Victaulic Piping Movement Design group worked closely with Fresh Meadow to tackle project challenges such as a 21-day removal and installation timeline. On many retrofit projects, standard pipe lengths tend to be larger than the service elevator. Contractors face a dilemma between cutting pipe lengths to fit on the elevator — which translates to added welding time — and increasing material handling time and coordination of 21-foot pipe lengths. Fresh Meadow avoided this lose-lose situation by cutting pipe lengths to fit the service elevator and joining riser sections within minutes using QuickVic™ Installation-Ready™ couplings.

In addition, the newly designed dual-temperature system originally required an expansion loop in the shaft to support the necessary thermal movement. However, the expansion loop presented a key challenge during design since it would encroach on hallway space causing designers to reevaluate the building code. Instead, Fresh Meadow installed two Victaulic Style 155 expansion joints with three Victaulic Style A10 riser anchors at specific levels of the multi-story building to accommodate thermal expansion and contraction. The engineered solution provided the necessary expansion and contraction capability without the need for additional coordination, review and fieldwork that would impact both the schedule and budget.

Partnering with Victaulic equipped Fresh Meadow with the innovative technology needed to simplify the overall project and minimize disruptions to building tenants and management. Fresh Meadow completed the project six days ahead of schedule.