The Muscatine County Board of Supervisors approved a change order in the amount of $8,726.23 for outer ledge structural carpentry repairs for the Muscatine County Courthouse roofing project.
The board approved change order No. 6 from Renaissance Roofing Inc. during its regular meeting on Monday, Nov. 4.
Planning, Zoning and Environmental Administrator Eric Furnas said that the outer ledge structural carpentry repairs referred to in Change Order No. 6 needed to be done.
Repairs included removing existing rotten planking from the outer ledge as needed to access and repair damaged rafter tails. The work also included replacing or sistering damaged rafter tails as needed at the outer ledge and re-installation of sound planking and replacing rotten planking as needed.
A rafter tail is the part of a rafter that extends past the building.
“All this work has been done, but they photo document very well. They sent me over 100 pictures - take pictures of each day’s work,” Furnas said. “What we have in front of us today is the total for all the rafter tails and the 1 by 8 decking repairs that were not part of Change Order No. 1.”
The board approved change order No. 1 in the amount of $7,800.39 for the courthouse roofing project during its July 15 regular meeting, according to the minutes.
That change addressed unseen areas of the roof that needed updating. The wood decking and ledging at approximately 430 linear feet by 30 inches wide needed to be replaced.
Change order No. 6 is complicated because it addresses work that began in the middle of July, after Change Order No. 1 was approved, Furnas said.
“We approved change order No. 1 that dealt with swapping out one type of copper on the cornice ledge, and there was a labor reduction rate for that,” Furnas said. “At that time, we approved a labor rate for the 1 by 8 decking that goes underneath and the plywood that goes between the 1 by 8 decking and that copper.”
“When they started working on some of that, after approval of change order No. 1, they found, by starting to remove some of the 1 by 8 decking, found more and more rotten sections of that, and they actually found that the rafter tails of that cornice ledge a considerable number of those were very deteriorated and rotten, too,” Furnas said. “So around the 16th, they brought that to our attention.”
It was determined that work would be done on the rafter tails and the 1 inch by 8 inch decking repairs at the same time.
“They went ahead and did the plywood and the copper, and they actually commenced doing some of these repairs as they went on the rafter tails and the one-by-eight decking underneath without a change order,” Furnas said. “It was early on in the process, and there was some confusion on what they could do under the minor repairs provisions that are in the contract already. If you’ll recall, you approved our staff to approve up to $7,500 if it’s something that needs to keep moving that you would affirm then the following Monday.”
Furnas said that the change order format was “the only way that we can do this” according to the contract.
“These buildings are 100-plus-year-old buildings,” Furnas said. “Until you start pulling layer upon layer, you just don’t know the total scope of deterioration, and I think these rafter tails have been there since this building was built.”
Furnas said he is happy with the workmanship. Chairperson Jeff Sorensen said he has confidence that Furnas and his team are making sure that the work needs to be done, and it’s being done right.
“There are truly hidden conditions that without a lot of destructive look, you’ll just never find it,” Sorensen said. “We ran into it when we renovated the courtroom, too. When we found problems, there’s no better time than when you’re in there to tear it apart and fix it and try to put a permanent fix in because you’re just throwing good money after bad if you don’t.”
Utility permit approved
In other action, the board approved a utility permit from Eastern Iowa Light and Power of Wilton for a request to bore underneath 235th Street, house No. 1765 in Muscatine for an electric service that includes retiring overhead poles.