News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Construction crews will replace the siding, soffits, and some roof panels at Sisters High School over the summer.
According to current cost opinions developed by construction manager Bob Martin and architect Scott Steele, the repairs are expected to cost approximately $694,000, including a 20 percent contingency.
The school district has borrowed $800,000 against the value of the Lundgren Mill property to cover the cost of repairs. That property was annexed to the City of Sisters as light industrial land on Thursday, April 12 (see related story, page 1).
The Exterior Insulation and Finishing System (EFIS) that sides the school is failing in some areas due to water intrusion.
"The (roof) flashing never came down far enough to span the EFIS," Martin explained.
Accent strips that sit at a 90 degree angle to the walls allowed pooling of water, Martin noted, which also caused problems with the siding.
The EFIS is actually delaminating on the gym, where the walls were exposed to driving rain. That siding must be replaced, Martin said. The district will almost certainly use a siding material different from the EFIS, which is a styrofoam product with a coating sprayed over it.
According to Martin, the district will probably go with HardiplankÆ, a cement siding product that can be made to look like wood or stucco.
The EFIS on most of the rest of the school is intact on the walls, but areas around windows and brick wainscoating are cracking and falling away because there were no expansion joints built in when the siding was applied.
Martin said it would be "horrendously expensive" to cut around the windows and trim and put in cushioning material and reflash the joints.
Therefore, the district is likely to re-side the entire building with HardiplankÆ.
Construction crews will also need to trench and pipe around the base of walls where grading problems allow water to seep back toward the base of the walls.
"It's not standing water," Martin said, "but it's real wet between the wainscoating and the framing members."
The district will replace roof flashing and may install gutters and downspouts to route water away from the building.
"We're not talking residential gutters," Martin said. "We're talking six-by-six (inches) with big enough downspouts to handle (the water)."
SoffIts, sagging and detatching from the building due to water intrusion, will have to be replaced.
The good news for the district is that the roof does not need to be replaced. A complete roof replacement would have pushed the cost of the repair project well over $1 million, with no ready source of funding.
However, according to Martin, close inspection of the roof, particularly over the gym, where humidity is highest, indicated that the sub roofing is "bone dry."
Martin said a ridge cap, which is full of stray screw holes filled with caulking apparently from a mistaken installation when the school was built, will be completely replaced to avoid ongoing maintenance.
Some corroded panels around a boiler stack will also be replaced and the area resealed to avoid repeating that problem.
Flashing around skylights will be replaced.
Martin said construction is expected to begin after graduation and be completed over the summer break. The school board will make formal recommendations at its May meeting.
Martin believes that the nearly $700,000 repair program will solve the problems plaguing the 10-year-old high school building.
He said he is "confident... the repairs that are going to be done will be sustainable for a long time."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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