Date: Fri 09-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Booth-Library-construction

Full Text:

Problems Persist At Library Construction Site

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

At the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, the problems keep mounting.

Town officials are still holding out hope, however, for a July grand

re-opening of the $4.1 million renovated and added-on to library.

The completion of the roof over the 21,000-square-foot addition continues to

lag and now the roofer wants more money to pay for some unforeseen shingling

needs. There are new headaches, as well.

"We still have problems," Public Building & Site Committee chairman Frank

Krasnickas told the Board of Selectmen Monday night.

The painting company, Northeast Coatings, is refusing to paint some rooms

inside the existing building until all lead abatement work is repaired. In a

recent letter from the general contractor, Building Technologies Inc (BTI),

contractor Keith Crumb said paint in the existing building is "literally

falling off the walls and ceiling" due to the high moisture in the air brought

into the building by the asbestos abatement company, PETCO, to perform the

asbestos abatement work.

When the painting company bid on the job, the paint was not flaking, Mr

Krasnickas said.

Mr Crumb said he's awaiting word from the town as to who will remove the loose

paint. "If BTI's painting subcontractor can remove the paint, it will be an

extra since the building was not in this condition at bid time," he said.

Mr Crumb claims the flaking problem is PETCO's responsibility.

As if that wasn't enough, now the electrical contractor, Joe Orsini, is

refusing to begin work in the existing building until he is assured that he

will be paid for any loss in productivity caused by town workers having to

drill holes in asbestos/lead.

"He hasn't gotten in there, yet," said Clerk-of-the-Works Ed Callo Wednesday.

According to Mr Krasnickas, $63,000 is still left in the project's contingency

fund as of the May 8 bill-payment date. However, another $30,000 in change

orders is still expected, plus potential other expenses.

"We're not broke, yet," he said. But they may be soon.

Monday night, the library board voted to allow Macri Roofing, Inc, to remove

slate on the existing roof and replace it with asphalt shingles. This

aesthetics job will cost an extra $13,000 and may delay the completion of the

roof by a month. Mr Lavery said the project may end up being paid for through

an energy savings award from Northeast Utilities.

According to Joe Humeston of the library board, the library's original plan

was to replace the thicker slate with thinner shingling over a portion of the

existing building, but that plan was scratched when concerns over the

existence of asbestos on the roof arose. Tests, however, show no signs of

asbestos.

"This will keep the old roof on the library lasting a lot longer and will be

aesthetically more pleasing," said Bill Lavery of the library board.

Meanwhile, the roof still leaks, according to Mr Krasnickas. Last Saturday,

Public Building & Site Committee Chairman Frank Krasnickas took Mr Lavery and

Mr Humeston of the library board through the library addition. It was raining

and water was pouring in through the ceiling, potentially damaging sheet rock,

insulation and electrical wiring.

It was leaking Tuesday, too, though one of the three remaining leaks was

finally fixed. There are two leaks left, Mr Callo said.

The roofer says he's been delayed because he is unable to put down flashing in

the roof joints until he fixes the gutters, which takes time. According to Mr

Krasnickas, more manpower could speed the process, but additional workers have

not been brought on to the job.

Meanwhile, the sheet rocker, sprinkler men and electrical workers are being

held up.

"He's taking his time. He's holding others up. He's doing good workmanship

where he does do it. The problem is he's slow," said Mr Krasnickas.

According to Mr Callo, who filed a status report earlier this week, the first

roofer didn't arrive at the job until 11:30 am Monday.

The roofer, Dave Gordon, said the problems he's found on the roof were

unexpected, but Mr Krasnickas told him he should have taken a closer look at

what was up there before bidding on the project.

"He just took the drawings he received at face value," he said.

Mr Krasnickas is concerned that the asphalt shingles the roofer plans to

replace the slate with will not take hold there. They must be nailed, not

glued down.

At a job meeting two weeks ago, BTI said it would submit a detailed schedule

to the town on the completion of the existing building by last Wednesday. As

of Wednesday, First Selectman Bob Cascella still did not have that in his

hands.

"We were expecting it six months ago, to be honest with you," Mr Callo said.

According to Mr Callo, a portion of the flagstone walk outside the library's

south porch was destroyed when a job trailer was removed.

"This is only one example of existing town property not being protected by

BTI," he said.

On a brighter note, Public Works Director Fred Hurley said his workers have

removed all the windows with lead paint, and BTI is almost done installing new

windows.