** This is a reproduction of the original letter **

 

ARNOLD AND O'SHERIDAN, INC.

CONSULTING ENGINEERS

 

 

 

July 3, 2000

 

Carolyn Kukes, City Clerk

City of Lansing

P.O. Box 470

Lansing, IA  52151-0470

 

Re:   Old Stone School

         Lansing, Iowa

         A&O Project No. 00032S

 

Dear Carolyn:

 

This report summarizes our observations and opinions on necessary and desirable repairs to the building. It summarizes only concerns relating to the building structure. The costs noted are intended as ballpark figures with a purpose toward establishing long-term goals and funding requirements to maintain the structure. The deterioration rate of this type of a masonry structure is slow but nonetheless sure. When repairs are necessary to the exterior walls, they can be very expensive. Thus, if it is intended to keep this structure, repairs need to be initiated and continue on an ongoing basis.

 

Repair List

 

A.     Exterior Masonry Walls

 

1.      Window sills/heads constructed of wood, leaks water through shrinkage cracks in wood and at ends. Deteriorates wall below windows - vertical cracks in wall between vertical window pairs. Replace sills with cut stone.

 

               46 windows................................................................................................. $24,000

 

2.      Condition of lower 5' of exposed wall. Parged with cement slurry overlain with what appears as acrylic bonding agent overlain by a proprietary surface coating.  This material probably applied to seal surface rather than repainting all stones. Serves to trap moisture migrating up wall. This accelerates deterioration of wall.

 

Consider removal of parging (all layers). Proper pointing of stone and resurfacing with sand/lime mixture of the day. This is an expensive operation and is presumably the reason it was not done originally.     .

Carolyn Kukes                                                                                                                                                                 Re: Old Stone School

 

Entire perimeter of building below lower windows ­

remove parging/repair wall.............................................................................. $50,000

 

3.      Condition of wall is judged to be poor behind all four poured concrete entry stairs. Concrete should be removed, wall repaired, and wood stair added in place of concrete.

 

                     Remove four concrete stairs; replace with wood stairs.............................. $3,000

 

4.      Bowing of walls prevalent between vertically aligned window pairs. Cracks have previously been repaired. Windowsills leak and walls are not well tied to structure. Proper repair is removal of wall in bowed section and relaying of stones. Under this proposal, wall will merely tie back to stabilize it in position.

 

Anchor wall back to floor joists. Some removal of ceiling

necessary. No cost included to repair ceiling................................................... $6,000

 

B.      Chimneys

 

Rebuild tops of two chimneys......................................................................... $3,000

 

C.     Foundation

 

1.      Only portion of inner surface visible in crawl space. Have to estimate condition based on clues above. Note settlement at northwest comer at building behind the entry addition (tilted window sill). Note poor drainage front of entry addition. Wall is presumably deteriorated below.

 

Entire wall is probably in marginal condition. Mortar leached from most joints. Wall stands up by confinement of soil. Only walls needing eminent repairs are priced. Remainder of walls will require repair at some time in future. Walls being replaced under presently authorized work are included in this estimate.

 

Excavate, shore, remove existing stone frost wall, replace

with poured concrete, backfill...................................................................... $65,000

 

D.     Roof Drainage

 

1.      Gutters do not drain properly. Possible plugged with organic matter. Downspouts damaged. At grade, leaders damaged. Gutters known to overflow.

 

Water damages exterior walls/foundations and must be directed away from the building.

 

Clean and rehang gutters. Replace sections of

downspouts. Work from bucket truck....................................................................... $2,500

 

Carolyn Kukes                                                                                                                                                                 Re: Old Stone School

 

E.  Crawl Space

 

1.      Construction methods of the day did not acknowledge the need for ventilation in the crawl spaces below first floor. Excavation in the crawl space has been done for piping runs. What remains are the original soils up near the underside of the floor joist.

 

      Present construction practice would level the subgrade, drop its elevation to allow crawling passage throughout, provide a visqueen (plastic) vapor retarder on top of the soil, and ventilate the structure. This would keep floor joists dry and limit rot potential. The majority of structural framing members viewed were not rotted. Some beam bearings where occurring at soil level were. We view this repair as desirable to extend the structure's life but not essential to be done immediately.

 

      Within this work effort, remove two sections of wall inside crawl space on south side of entry area for human access. . Remove excess soil for this' area and do same visqueen/ventilation work as typical crawl space.

 

      Excavate soil, replace rotted beams, extend beam, and bearings to new grade level, visqueen.    Use two existing vents and ad four more, on structure's perimeter. Iron grating over vent     opening $60,000

 

F.   Repair belfry

 

Repair rotted boards at ceiling, fascia. Seal so no bird access............................ $1,500

 

G.  Stabilize bowed north wall

 

Under present consideration. Use steel rods to stabilize............. $6,000

 

H.  Present building is not heated. Moisture in walls quickens deterioration. Thermal changes crack the walls. Add four house type furnace units with enough exposed ducting to temporarily temper the rooms. This is temporary only. Run gas into building is extra.

 

                                                                                                                                   $20,000

 

                    Subtotal............................................................................................... $241,000

 

I.        Contingency commonly carried for unforeseen circumstances in renovation work - 15%

 

                                                                                                                                   $36,000

 

                    Subtotal............................................................................................... $277,000

Carolyn Kukes                                                                                                                                                                 Re: Old Stone School

 

 

J.        Design fee - to do entire work listed noted

 

                       Estimate............................................................................................... $18,000

 

                       Total................................................................................................. $295,000

 

This report summarizes costs appropriate to stabilize the building structure. They do not include design fees.  They are taken from visual observations and inferences made from these observations. It is important to note that actual conditions can vary once repair construction would commence. Since some areas were not visible, conditions were taken from clues and experience in these types of matters. Repairs noted are made to update the building construction where possible to present day construction practices. As an add to these costs, please note electrical and natural gas costs to heat the building. These would be continuing costs whether the, building were operational or not. Assumed in all this pricing is that asbestos is removed prior to work in the crawl space. The difficulty in obtaining consistent asbestos abatement pricing means we have not included this cost in our pricing.

 

We hope this report assists in evaluating the future of the structure. Building of this type and age are maintenance intensive but are also an irreplaceable part of the community.

 

Sincerely,

 

ARNOLD AND O'SHERIDAN, INC.

CONSULTING ENGINEERS

 

 

 

 

Robert B. Corey, P.E.

Structural Project Engineer

 

RBC/kkm

 

cc:  Bill Burke Chairman - Public Grounds Committee

      Fax: 319-538-4159