South Putnam Board votes to move forward on roof repairs

The South Putnam School Board voted to move forward on repairs to two sections of the South Putnam High School roof during its recent regular meeting.

At an estimated cost of $7,340, Insulated Roofing Contractors (IRC) will install about 1,850 square feet of new silicone/polyurethane roof system with a 10-year BASF warranty.

The board had been split on this issue during a special October meeting, having questions about the removal of wet tapered insulation and what exactly the estimated cost would pay for.

After reading portions of the original BASF warranty at the October special meeting, the board believed that the school should not be paying for any repairs to the roof since they were caused by water damage.

The warrany reads, “BASF Corporation expressly warrants ... the BASF Polyurethane Roof System ... will remain free of water leaks which are due to deterioration of the system resulting from ordinary or improper workmanship in its installation .... BASF will, at no expense to the building owner, repair the Dow Corning Silicone Coating and/or the BASF Polyurethane Foam to correct water leaks which are due to deterioration of the system, improper workmanship, or defects in the system components, during the time of the warranty period.”

It has since been decided that Dan Sulkoske, of Kramer Consulting (the company responsible for overseeing the work), would work with IRC to perform core samples of the insulation. IRC is to remove and replace wet insulation if any is found.

It has also been determined that the estimated cost is to pay for the extended warranty on the roof work.

Also during the special meeting, Sulkoske had said that the proposed work would be a good route for the school to take if money is an issue (the board said it is) and the board wants the repairs made now. But he also recommended installing a completely new roof (which would cost about $150,000) and advised that the work does not have to be done immediately.

The roof repairs are part of a corporation-wide improvement project that began in June 2017.

Work on the Fillmore Elementary School roof, parts of the Central Elementary School and parts of the South Putnam High School roof started in September. The Fillmore, Central and portions of the high school roof have since been completed, but work on the parts under discussion in the special meeting were postponed due to the aforementioned warranty issues.

In 2012, the corporation hired IRC to remove the rock ballast and repair these roofs with a spray foam. At a special meeting July 5, Sulkoske reported that after it removed the rock ballast that keeps the rubber covering down, he could not find anything IRC had used to hold the rubber and foam cover to the metal roofing beneath (meaning it could blow away in strong winds).

In addition, Sulkoske said the foam was letting in water. BASF later reported no water in the roof.

Other subprojects included cleaning the high bay areas in the Central Elementary School cafeteria and the high school gym, repairing a roof drain at the high school, installing a direct digital control (DDC) HV/AC system and replacing a chiller. The high bay cleaning has been done, and the latter three subprojects are set to be completed in a few days.

Superintendent Bernhardt said he does not think the board will begin looking at more subprojects until next semester.

With the recently approved roof work, total cost for the project so far has been about $629,985 ($194,700 for roof work at Fillmore and Central elementaries and one section of the high school roof; $7,945 for cleaning the high bays; $1,000 for repairing the high school roof drain; $290,000 for installing a DDC HV/AC system; and $129,000 for the chiller).

Immediate funds for the project have come from the rainy day fund (which at that time had $1.5 million), but the school is set to reimburse that fund by December with the sale of bonds. Total cost of the project is not to exceed $2 million.

“Because we have some bonds that we’ve been paying on that are going to be coming off in 2018, this will not raise taxes at all,” Superintendent Bruce Bernhardt said. “We expect that tax rates will be level or drop some even when we take on this project. But by doing this, the intent is absolutely not to raise taxes by selling bonds in the future.”