News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Extra work on the Sisters High School repairs has pushed the completion date back to September 19, according to Sisters School District facilities manager Bob Martin.
The work will cost an additional $14,365 over the original bid of $461,267. The school district took out a loan against its Lundgren Mill property to pay for the repairs. The district hopes to eventually market that land to light industrial businesses.
The work includes additional framing required to attach the new Hardiplank siding; fire code-required draft stops and venting on soffits; and installing additional framing in the soffit area to support new fascia and gutter systems.
According to Martin, the extra requirements did not become apparent until the failed siding and soffit material was removed from the building. The detailed "as-built" plans for the high school, which might have provided advance indications of the requirements, were misplaced shortly after construction in 1993 and have never been located.
School officials, architects and the contractor expected to discover some deficiencies that would require extra work. In fact, they had feared finding significant dry rot and other water damage. That has not happened.
"I was surprised there was relatively little damage," said construction foreman Leon Methvin.
One area that was damaged and replaced was the header over the window on the east side of the cafetorium adjacent to the double doors.
The foreman, who has worked for project contractor Kirby Nagelhout for about 6-1/2 years, said the repairs caught up with the school's faults in time.
"It probably gets exponentially worse as time goes on," he said. "I think now was definitely the time to get it done."
The Hardiplank siding has gone up on much of the school, vastly changing its appearance. The cement-based siding, which is textured to resemble wood, actually gives the brick-accented building a more "Western" flair, in keeping with other commercial and public buildings in Sisters.
There's still a lot of work to get finished in a hurry, however. Students are due back in school on September 4.
"We have a plan already in place to accommodate that," Martin said.
That plan includes cordoning off work areas, putting up signage to warn students away from work areas and limiting building access.
Methvin hopes to be mostly out of the way and have his 14-person crew working on the roof by the time students get back.
"I'm honestly still hoping to have painting pretty well underway," he said. "The site has to be pretty well completed."
Methvin said that if his crew can't get all of the work in high-traffic areas done before classes resume, he'll pull them off during school hours and get the work done at night and on weekends.
Martin praised the construction crew for meeting time constraints and accommodating the ongoing use of the building by school personnel.
The crew was required to wear suitable clothing and exercise "verbal control" and observe tobacco and alcohol restrictions, Martin noted.
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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