Report given on BEMS $3M Lintel Project at school board meeting
BREMEN—AT last month’s board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Jim White reported meeting with an architect from Barton Coe Vilamaa out of Ft. Wayne regarding bulk water damage, caused by rainwater running in the wall and condensation, that the Bremen Elementary and Middle School (BEMS) has been dealing with in the walls. The plan is to replace the metal plates on the outside of the window lintels along the building to repair damage and prevent further issues. “Some are bowing, some are moving. So some of those plates are failing because of the water in the wall,” said architect, adam Weesner.
at present, the scope of the project includes replacing the windows, reinstalling window sills, adding new metal siding panels with corresponding coping and trim, fixing drywall in the classrooms as needed, extending and consolidating exterior copper condensate lines, replacing insulation, and other miscellaneous work. all of this will happen on the oldest part of the building. “This gives it a nice aesthetic… the original building with this new look applied to it.”
after additional inspections and tests to determine how the building was constructed and the scope of the problem, the architects discovered that before the roof was redone, some of the stone coping had begun to fail, which led to bulk water finding access into the walls. However, since the roof construction, the coping was also replaced and wrapped in metal. “That’s definitely helping,” said Weesner. “Since most of that is pretty new, that should definitely be solving most of the bulk problems.”
at first, the architects believed that only a few bricks and window lentils along the first floor would need to be replaced. However, in calculating estimates, they determined that the brickwork from that window sill all the way up should be replaced. “If you try to keep the brick above, you spend more money by putting in temporary steel supports to hold the brick up. The masons have to scaffold it. It takes a lot of time, and time is money. It got really complicated,” he said.
The architect proposed fixing the bricks that are broken and cracked as well as the mortar, and then wrapping it in metal. “To help save costs, to make it faster. We can build through the winter that way,” he said.
Originally, Barton Coe Vilamaa and BEMS believed that much of the work would involve masonry. However, latest projections reveal that that may not be the case. “The masonry scope that would still be around the building: there’s a lot of tuck-pointing, just traditional masonry restoration type work. That could be a whole separate package, it could be an alternate. It could just be a scope that you identify separately,” he said. “If you get into much restoration, that generally brings different bidders to the job, different contractors.”
add-ons to the original plan will be recommended. These will be different parts of the project that will be bid separately. Weesner explained, “So that you have options and also protect that $3 million number. The market is crazy lately. Prices are ridiculous, supply and demand is nuts and it’s hard to get bidders. We want to protect you as much as possible and give you lots of options.” a contingency fund will also be set aside out of the $3 million, in case of surprises during the construction phase.
Since Weesner is recommending obtaining all materials before beginning the project, the school is looking at a long lead time between bid and the start of construction. “aluminum right now is the killer on the windows and it’s about five months from the date of order. That’s definitely driving when things can happen,” he said. at present, the Bremen School Board hopes to begin the bidding process in June with bid opening set in July or august and construction to begin early winter.