Lenape Tech Roof Damage Calls for Resurfacing
Lenape Tech Facilities and Property Coordinator Curtis Fahlor describes the product to Joint Operating Committee members that will be tested to fix a 15-foot seam in the original building’s roof.
by Jonathan Weaver
A roof leak affecting a wing of classes at Lenape Technical School will cause some much-needed repair.
Facilities and Property Coordinator Curtis Fahlor said the work at the Manor Township high school will include resurfacing of a spray-on membrane above the carpentry wing.
While the entire wing is 40,000 square feet, only a 3,000 square foot patch will be repaired before winter at first due to budget issues.
“We’re going to seriously look into it – I have some seams ripping up to 15 feet long. Once it goes, it’s just going to run,” Fahlor said. “I’ve been patching it, but it’s not going to get any better.”
Fahlor also considered other rubber, pitch-style or liquid PVC systems before hearing about the current Conklin Roofing System proposal. He said he “couldn’t find one” online commercial customer unhappy with the product, but will visit a customer that has utilized the product for 25 years in Pittsburgh and others in the surrounding areas that have had lasting products before work is ordered at Lenape Tech.
“I want something that’s been on there a long time,” Fahlor said.
Administrative Director Dawn Kocher-Taylor said the plan is to first repair the leak in the C wing as a “test run” to see if the product is working as advertised before Joint Operating Committee members discuss resurfacing the remainder of the roofs. It would cost about $324,000 to repair both flat roofs
“I personally know someone who’s done this, and it’s worked out very well,” Kocher-Taylor said. “Curtis is going to continue visiting commercial properties where this has been used.”
“That way, I’ll be really behind this product or we’ll go another direction,” Fahlor added.
Resurfacing the remainder will take place no sooner than next summer.
The two flat roofs were last resurfaced last 10 years ago, with a warranty that lasted seven years. Normal resurfacing warranties last for about seven or eight years.
Joint Operating Committee members from Apollo-Ridge, Armstrong, Freeport and Leechburg school districts further discussed the upcoming repair – which would be sprayed brown to melt snow in the winter months.
“Any color we want, (Alleghany Construction) can make this. Obviously, if we make it black, it’s really going to bring the heat and the material’s going to flex a little bit,” Fahlor said. “If it’s white, it’s not going to melt as fast, so I was trying to pick something in-between the two spectrums.
“And, funny thing is, nobody’s going to see it but me.”
About 10 truckloads of aggregate will also be hauled off the roof to power wash it.
“No matter what they do to it, there’s a seam – this would alleviate that,” Kocher-Taylor said. “And hopefully give us something that’s going to last a long time.
“Curtis and I feel that it’s the right thing to explore from an efficiency standpoint and from a cost standpoint.”
Further financial figures will be discussed by Joint Operating Committee members at future monthly meetings.
In other facility issues, Fahlor, Kocher-Taylor and Principal Karen Brock said a batch of frozen cell cultures and bacteria were damaged in Biomedical Instructor Carol Stolarski’s chemistry refrigerator during a seven-day power outage before school started Thursday. Officials are awaiting feedback from insurance personnel.
Local News | jweaver August 21, 2015
By jorn jensen, August 21, 2015 @ 8:25 AM
Flat roofs are historic pond structures. Have we explored the cost to install a false structure and pitched metal roof above the buildings?