Renaissance International School Maintenance, Saigon

TECO MSC carried out an international school maintenance package for Renaissance International School Saigon in about three weeks, completed before the first day of term. The scope covered roof waterproofing, waterproof wall coating, repainting classrooms, repairing and repainting joinery, and installing electrical fittings. All work was done during the school break, with each zone handed back as it finished so the school could set up its classrooms in time for returning and new students.

The break is the best window for school repairs. Classrooms are empty, no students are near the work areas, and dusty or paint-heavy tasks can run during the day. The trade-off is a fixed deadline: the school opens on the date set in its academic calendar. That is why demand for school repair work concentrates into the few weeks before term starts, and why the work has to be split across several zones at once.

Survey and existing condition

TECO surveyed zone by zone and listed the work room by room. The main issues:

Parapet base on the roof: old waterproofing lifted and cracked, mixed with debris, with a risk of water reaching the ceiling below during the rainy season.
Classroom and corridor walls: faded, stained and scuffed paint, with patches of flaking and hairline cracks.
Ceilings and the atrium soffit: dusty and discoloured, needing a full repaint.
Joinery: vanity units and timber cabinets with a worn paint finish, needing repair and repainting.
Electrical: several rooms needed extra sockets and recessed back boxes to suit the school’s new layout.

TECO crew removing old waterproofing at the roof parapet base, Renaissance school — Roof parapet base with old waterproofing lifted, before treatment

Approach: zone by zone, each room finished within the break

The handover date is the day the school takes students back, so the sequence was set as follows:

Roof waterproofing first. Water coming down from the roof would ruin freshly painted walls and ceilings, so it had to be finished and fully cured before painting below.
Electrical before finishes. Chasing, conduit, back boxes and mortar make-good, so the wall surface was stable before skim coating and painting.
Walls, ceilings and classrooms painted zone by zone, with each zone cleaned and handed back once done.
Joinery repainted in place, with the surrounding area masked off.

This let the school take rooms back in batches instead of waiting for the whole site, so furniture and equipment could be set up before students arrived.

Safety and site cleanliness on school grounds

School staff were still on site during the break, so work areas were kept separate from shared circulation.

Floors and stair treads covered with sheeting, with tape protecting nosings and skirtings before painting.
Windows, equipment and fixed furniture masked with plastic.
Cleaning after every shift; debris removed from site the same day, never stockpiled in lobbies or corridors.
Work at height on aluminium ladders and scaffold, with a second person footing the ladder.

Stair area sheeted during international school maintenance — Stair area sheeted and cleaned before painting

Works carried out

Roof waterproofing

The crew removed the lifted waterproofing along the parapet base, cleaned the substrate, and re-treated the junction between the parapet and the roof slab. This is where water ponds and penetrates most. Once the new waterproofing was sound, the parapet base was made good.

Electrical installation

In rooms needing extra outlets, the crew chased vertical and horizontal runs into the walls, pulled conduit, fitted back boxes, then filled the chases with mortar. Ceiling tiles were lifted along each run and replaced afterwards. Made-good areas were skimmed flush with the existing wall before painting.

Chasing walls for electrical conduit in a classroom — Chasing walls, running conduit and fitting back boxes

Recessed electrical outlet made good after filling — Recessed outlet made good after filling the chase

Waterproof wall coating and classroom painting

All painting used Jotun products. The process for classroom and common-area walls:

Scrape off flaking paint and clean the surface.
Fill cracks, hollows and electrical chases.
Skim coat and sand flat.
Primer, then finish coats.

External walls and any areas showing damp were treated with waterproof coating before the finish coats.

Skimming and preparing classroom walls before painting — Skimming and preparing classroom walls

Jotun finish coat on international school classroom walls — Finish coat on classroom walls

Painting the atrium soffit at Renaissance International School Saigon — Painting the atrium soffit

Joinery repair and repainting

Vanity units and timber cabinets were repaired and repainted in place. The crew masked the windows with plastic and papered the floor and skirting around each unit so no paint reached finished areas. The repainted units came out flat and even in colour against the wall and the stone top.

Repainting a timber cabinet in place during school maintenance — Repainting a timber cabinet in place, surrounding area masked

Vanity unit after repair and repainting — Vanity unit after repainting, fittings refitted

Programme

The whole package was completed in about three weeks of the break. Waterproofing, electrical, painting and joinery crews worked in parallel across different zones, moving through in a set order so no trade waited on another. The final milestone was the school taking back every classroom before the first day of term.

Handover before the first day of term

Each zone was signed off with the school’s facilities team against the approved list: paint coverage and colour consistency, wall surfaces at the filled electrical chases, the new outlets in operation, joinery finishes, and cleanliness. Once a zone passed, it was cleaned, unmasked and handed back for furniture to be set out.

Renaissance International School classroom after repainting — Classroom after repainting and cleaning

Activity room completed before the first day of term — Activity room completed and handed over before term

School maintenance during the break with TECO MSC

Schools and training centres can only be repaired during the break, with the workload compressed into a short window and no room to move the handover date. TECO MSC surveys on site, lists the work room by room, splits crews to work zone by zone, and hands back by zone so the school can plan around it. On buildings still in use, TECO MSC works outside operating hours.

For a site survey and a maintenance plan for the next break, call 0911 111 929.

Completed Projects

Maintenance and Repair for Renaissance International School Saigon