Shingles torn off the existing Huntley Project High School roof lie in the foreground as workers look over another part of the roof on June 3. (photo courtesy of Dane Bradford/HP Schools)
by Judy Killen-Originally published in the Yellowstone County News 6/24/16 print edition
WORDEN — Most people associated with Huntley Project School knew there was something wrong with the roof.
They just didn’t know how bad it was.
Workers from Diamond Construction started removing the old roof to install a new one over the summer.
The new roof is scheduled to be complete by Aug. 7.
Dane Bradford, hired by the school district to document the removal of the roof, has compiled a series of photos showing how the roof was built.
On Monday, Scott Gierke, the district’s facilities and maintenance manager, showed the photos to school board members. He said the photos show mistakes in construction and installation that are spread across the entire new high school section, not limited to certain areas.
“That roof was in dire straits,” Gierke said, “and it’s become obvious to everyone.”
The school was rebuilt after a massive fire in 2008. Commercial Construction was the contractor, with JGA Architects and Fisher Construction also playing roles in its design and construction.
On some parts of the roof, workers cut through the vapor barrier to flatten bubbles that arose during its installation, Gierke said. Those diagonal slits were never patched, he said, allowing water to leak through the roof. In those areas, workers can remove shingles without tools because “the OSB had totally delaminated,” Gierke said.
OSB, or oriented strand board, is engineered timber similar to particle board used in weight-bearing construction projects like roofs and walls. When it delaminates, it shreds into thin layers.
Gierke said workers didn’t even need hammers to pry out nails, they just came loose when the shingles were removed.
Mold is growing in some roofing materials, and in some places vapor barrier material was installed upside down, rendering it useless to prevent moisture from penetrating the roof, Gierke said.
In some areas, where building materials should either be flush or overlap, there was a gap of up to 2.5 inches, Gierke said.
“Who knows how many cubic feet of air,” either heated or air conditioned, were leaking uselessly out through the roof, he asked.
Superintendent Wes Coy said, in his opinion, all three entities — Commercial Construction, JGA Architects and Fisher Construction — share the blame for the shoddy installation of the roof.
“All three are responsible for it,” Coy said. “Everything is so consistent throughout the whole roof,” Coy said, not just a couple of areas. Judging by how bad the roof looks in the photos, “somebody’s got to see the light, don’t you think?”
Coy specified after the meeting he was speaking for himself, not the school board.
As the school district deals with the roof, the school board also has to turn its attention to floors inside the school.
Coy said in some hallways, the underlayment for the tile floor is delaminating, causing cracks and upheaval in the tiles. In other classroom areas, Quikcrete that was ordered to be removed and replaced never was, causing structural problems in those floors. The district also never received a report of testing it ordered on the Quikcrete last year to evaluate its condition.
“We’ve written a letter” outlining complaints that need to be addressed, Coy said. “We’re heading down that road, too,” he added, alluding to continuing legal problems with the roof.
