POTTSTOWN PA – Repairs and upgrades proposed for Pottsgrove School District buildings could cost more than $900,000, district Director of Facilities and Physical Plants Michael Katzenmoyer has advised the Board of School Directors, the bulk of which – potentially up to $550,000 – would be invested to fix the crumbling retaining wall at the front of Pottsgrove Middle School.
The retaining wall at Pottsgrove Middle School is streaked with white efflorescence, an indicator of moisture, in this November 2008 file photo.
Katzenmoyer earlier this month (March 2011) presented directors with a laundry list of items to be reconstructed, replaced or renovated at all four of five school buildings and the district administrative offices. Board members have yet to approve the list, almost all of which would be paid for from Pottsgrove’s $4.6 million capital reserve fund.
They’ve agreed, however, that they can’t ignore the failing state of the Middle School retaining wall. Engineers hired by the district claim the wall was improperly built, and allowed water to seep in, settle, and eat away at the masonry. Its “critical components have to be done this summer,” district Business Administrator David Nester warned during a February board meeting.
Directors have already authorized the district to spend up to $30,000 in architects’ fees to redesign the wall, which holds in part of the North Hanover Street hillside atop which the school was built in 1999. It does not pose an immediate hazard to the building or students, Nester reported, but it can’t be allowed to deteriorate further, he said.
The answer to the question on most directors’ minds – can the original contractor be held liable for, and be forced to pay for, the repairs? – apparently is “no,” according to Nester, who did the research and consulted with other experts before it was asked. Too much time has passed, he indicated, for the district to win such a judgment.
The leaves the district stuck with the bill for the work, bids for which must be solicited. The project, once approved, will be completed during the summer.
Also on Katzenmoyer’s list were:
- At the high school, sidewalk repairs outside the cafeteria, new shades for windows in the lobby, and lighting upgrades in the gymnasium, office, lobby, and other portions of the building;
- At the middle school, parking lot lighting and accompanying motion sensors, upgrades to a closed circuit video security system, and sidewalk safety improvements;
- At Lower Pottsgrove Elementary, upgrades to the elevator, and fencing around a lot for district maintenance vehicles;
- At West Pottsgrove Elementary, padding on its gymnasium wall, repairs to playground structures, curtains for its stage, gymnasium lighting upgrades, and resurfacing portions of parking lots; and
- At the district offices, improvements to the district’s video-over-internet protocol system, and heating-ventilation-air conditioning controls.
No repairs are needed at Ringing Rocks Elementary, of course, because the entire Kauffman Road building is being rebuilt and expanded.
The district also plans to buy a new snowblower, a salt spreader, and a paint machine for its athletic fields.
Related:
- Retaining Wall Tops Pottsgrove List Of Needed Repairs
- Pottsgrove MS Retaining Wall Needs ‘Significant’ Repair
Ok people… Warranty / Guarantee…
Sue the company that installed this improperly…
We have a lawyer on staff get our money’s worth…
Why should the taxpayer pay to fix a problem the builder created…
Why aren’t we getting guarantee and waranty on our buildings and other purchases??????
I have passed this wall many times per week since it was first built. A year or so after it was built it started to ooze the white stuff you see in the photo. It has gotten worse over the years. You’ll see this same stuff coming out of masonry walls (usually block, stone or brick) everywhere you go. A particularly bad case can be seen on the Ursinus College campus on a building next to the library there. The bricks are literally falling out of the walls. In one hour, if you pay attention, you’ll probably see a dozen examples driving around the Pottstwon area.
I asked a few masons what caused this common occurence and why you don’t see it in older brick buildings like those in downtown Pottstown and Boyertown. Their answer: “Hydro”.
“Hydro” is their slang name for a more complex chemical name (which I can’t remember) of a compound that can be added to the water used to make the brick mortar to prevent the mortar from freezing in cold weather. As you may know, if mortar or concrete freezes while it is setting up, it will never attain its full strength, which typically takes weeks or months. If you put too much “hydro” in the water, this is what you get – white seepage for the lifetime of the structure. The fact that hydro was used at all tells you the wall was built either in freezing weather or portentialy freezing weather, which in itself is bad for setting concrete and mortar, particularly if the hydro is beyond it ability to protect the mortar from the prevailing, damaging low temperatures.
I aslo asked the masons why you don’t see this white stuff in older buildings. The answer was pretty simple: Hydro wasn’t invented until recent times. Plus, the old timers had enough common sense NOT to attempt masonry construction during cold weather. I prodded further: “Why do masons use it, if they know its going to make such an unsightly mess of their job? Isn’t that bad for business?” He chuckled. What’s really bad for business he said was if you stopped working when the weather got cold. He went on, using hydro is a common and more-or-less approved and accepted practice in modern day masonry construction, a necessary evil of sorts.
I don’t recall exactly what time of year this wall was built during the 18 months or so it took to build the Taj Mahal. I’m sure Nester knows.
The PGSD Board should direct the district’s solicitor to find a construction contract and liability lawyer and get a real opinion on what can be done to recover the taxpayer’s money which was wasted on this faulty construction back in 1999. The signs of corrosion & deterioration have been there for almost that long. Nester just likes to spend money and he apparently doesn’t like to be implicatd in any mistakes that he or the school district made. Was Nester on watch when this wall was built?
And don’t even get me started on the paint machine for the football field or the security video system for the middle school parking lot. Just put up a sign telling the teachers that “Sex in Parked Cars is Not Allowed After Dark”.
Get the janitors to rent a power wash machine and clean the unsightly stuff off with a power sprayer.
Who made the determination that the wall is really in need of replacement and what was the incentive to support that finding?
Perhaps it’s just a unsightly mess. The Photo’s above show the building wall with some of the same streaks..
Edward,
You should go up to the Middle School and examine the wall yourself like I did. Then you will be able to speak with first hand knowledge. If you do, tell us what you see.