WILLMAR -- A plan of action for fixing drainage problems at the Willmar Senior High is taking shape.
The School Board's Buildings and Grounds Committee met Friday for an update on the issue. The full board will discuss it at its Feb. 27 meeting.
The board will meet with attorneys to decide on a course of action to try to recover repair the cost of repairs, since the problems stem from mistakes made during construction.
After a year of meetings and correspondence, the district's lawyers are ready to talk about what to do next and how much that may cost, said Superintendent Kathy Leedom.
The board may also decide how to proceed with making more repairs this year. Repairs started with improvements in the pool area last summer.
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A study of buildings owned by the district in 2004 indicated a missing vapor barrier in the pool area and serious problems with the roof drainage system and flashing around windows at the Senior High. The school opened in 1994 and is the district's newest and largest building.
The original repair estimate for the problems was $1.8 million, but school officials have tried to find less expensive ways to remedy some of the problems.
In the pool area, they used sealants and an epoxy paint to put a moisture barrier on the interior walls. The cost was less than $100,000, rather than the $800,000 it could have cost to remove exterior brick and install a vapor barrier.
Leedom listed several of the other problems at Friday's meeting.
The roof perimeter has several problems. The rubber membrane is shrinking, causing the base to pull away from parapet walls. The membrane doesn't cover the block at the top of the walls.
The flashing at the top of walls is too short, and rain driven by a strong wind could collect in the narrow gap between the concrete block wall and the exterior brick wall, said John Hafner of Cities Edge Architects of Willmar. Cities Edge conducted the original study of the district's facilities.
Caulking should be redone in many areas, but that is a routine maintenance items after 11 years, Leedom said.
The most costly and labor-intensive problem is the window lintels, where water is penetrating the wall system, she said.
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The water "should be captured and weep out through rope wicks," Hafner said. Instead, it is collecting in the walls.
Flashing was installed improperly on every window tested so far. School Board Chairman Dion Warne said that leads him to believe the window installation is the same everywhere in the building.
Fixing the windows could involve removing some exterior brick around each window to install the flashing properly.
Committee members were concerned that the problems weren't caught during construction. In some cases, the design was not followed, possibly to save money, Hafner said.
"As a district, we are in the position of having to trust the decisions being made on site," said board member Mike Carlson.
They talked about hiring an "owner's representative" for future construction projects.
The positive aspect of the situation is that the 2004 study found the problems before the structural integrity of the building was compromised, Leedom said. However, the last year has shown how costly and time consuming it could be to try to recover costs from those involved in the original project.
"At the same time, we need to get on this and get it fixed," Warne said.
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"I think what would give you the greatest impact right now, for a doable amount of money, would be to deal with the roof edge," Hafner said.
Patching the roof membrane to cover the edges and putting on new roof caps would limit the amount of water entering the wall system, he said.
The work could be done in one summer and would cost about $125,000, he said. He recommended installing new sealants and caulking, too.
"Plug the holes, and you're giving yourselves a fighting chance" to reduce moisture, Hafner said.
The window repairs can't be done while school is in session and would likely take more than one summer, anyway, he said.
Leedom suggested a tentative schedule of window repair in the summers of 2007 and 2008.
"It feels good to have a plan," she said.
