The Dawson County Government Center is a four-story structure with a multiple component skin consisting of brick, cast stone, light weight cast stone, Arriscraft, EIFS, membrane roofing, and zinc metal roofing.  With the variety of systems involved, the Winter team knew it was critical to understand how these components came together to ensure that the final product was 100% water tight.  Winter has several standard protocol tools in place to assist in this effort, including preconstruction meetings, design/shop drawing review, mock ups, water tests, etc.

For this project, the team questioned some of the design details and knew that a full-size, stand-alone mock-up of some typical exterior wall conditions would be the most beneficial way to explore the team’s concerns.  The team proceeded to construct a two-story high mock up adjacent to the new building.  It was critical to understand these complexities early in the construction process.  Through the construction of the freestanding mock up, many shortcomings were exposed including dimensional issues, scope gaps between systems, and flashing detail weaknesses.  The full size mock up was water tested once all modifications were complete and the owner was able to see first-hand what Winter’s concerns were with the designed system.