Additional previously undetected moisture damage has pushed the cost to repair the county’s administrative building over budget.
Council approved additional project expenses during the regular council meeting on Aug. 14, bringing the project’s total to about $298,500, up from the previously approved $280,000.
Repairs of the exterior insulation finish system (EIFS) at the office were recommended in a Williams Engineering Canada Report commissioned by the municipality last year.
The report stated that tests confirmed that an EIFS assembly has been installed on the Mountain View County building that is not in accordance with EIFS manufacturer specifications.
Moisture damage was detected and repair work ensued this summer.
County projects co-ordinator Josh Crozier said it was originally anticipated that the cost of engineering and repair would be $275,000, or 98 per cent of the total budget.
But after the exterior of the building was removed, Crozier said it was determined that “there were two areas that require reasonably substantial structural repairs,” namely in the main office great hall and the north wall where CAO’s office, human resources office and the reeve’s office are.
“There was some deterioration of the studs to a pretty high degree in some of those locations.”
A structural assessment was completed and the county was given a $10,000 estimate to remedy the structural damage.
“So that pushes us over budget. Not by much, but there’s more,” Crozier told council.
For a few different reasons, he said the original plan to remove the stucco and tie into the existing vapour barrier around the stone on the building is not possible now.
Crozier said the stone will have to be removed and replaced with something else.
The $5,000 cost to remove the stone pushes the project cost up to $290,000, he added.
Council was presented with three options to choose from for the replacement of the stone.
Option 1, at a cost of about $8,500, was to just match the existing stucco that runs along the bottom of the building.
Option 2, at a cost of about $13,000, was having the stucco stamped to give it a brick look and then construct a foam build-out for the wood beams to sit over, like they used to sit over the stone.
Option 3 is to replace the stone with stone to bring the building back to the way it originally looked, costing about $24,000.
Coun. Duncan Milne said he’d choose Option 1 mainly because it would be a seamless finish.
“This stone, as good as it looked it sticks out, so this is a place for water to enter and that’s basically what’s happened. So any time we can make it just a smooth seamless surface we should be able to eliminate that,” he said.
Reeve Bruce Beattie agreed, adding Option 1 was also the lowest cost option and “in today’s economy, I would prefer the lowest cost.”
Council unanimously approved the $8,500 option to replace the stone with stucco. County staff said expenditures over the $280,000 budget will be funded from CAO Contingency, a budget line item that has $182,000 available.
All warranties on the building, which opened in 2005, have expired and council was told insurance would not cover the project.
