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NANTICOKE — And the walls came down, sort of.
The Luzerne County Community College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to have nearly all the exterior masonry of the moisture-plagued Education Conference Center replaced, at total cost of $834,632, pushing total cost for what had been a much smaller battle against mold to about $1.2 million.
The work will be done as a change order to the existing contract with Champion Builders, Inc, the main contractor for work already done or underway following discovery of mold in the building. Initially, the problem was expected to be resolved through a variety of smaller steps to mitigate water infiltration believed to be causing the mold.
That work included replacing the chilled water pipe insulation in the mechanical room, replacing a small section of drywall damaged as result of water leaks, and re-grading some of the landscaping to make water run away from, rather than toward, the building in heavy rains.
As work progressed, additional steps were to be taken by removing more of the interior walls up to four feet from the floors to test for and clean any mold, and additional sealing work around windows and doors. But at Tuesday’s meeting Vice-President of Operations Don Nelson explained contractors had discovered the masonry blocks used for the exterior facade had become porous, allowing water to seep through.
That water pooled between the exterior and interior walls, breeding mold in the space.
The change order calls for replacing nearly all of the facade masonry with blocks that are far less porous, and to engineer water management systems that will make sure any water that might get in between the walls drains out.Replacing the blocks is possible because they are not load-bearing. A steel frame between the inside and outside walls supports the buildings upper floors and roofing.
While the work means spending about $1.2 million a building barely four decades old, Nelson said architects estimated replacing it with a similar building would cost about $6 million.
The replacement will be done in sections, and is expected to be done before winter weather sets in and potentially delays the project because it involved outside work. Nelson said the center, which was closed Nov. 1 of last year, will be open for use this December.
