TISDALE — The effort to replace the Tisdale RECplex roof has hit a snag thanks to the late winter.
“It was mostly because there was four to five feet of snow on the roof in late March still and when they got here, they had to remove a lot of snow,” said Lesley Thibault, Tisdale’s director of recreation and parks. She added that situation was not normal.
The original plan was to begin the work March 1, but it wasn’t until April 10 construction crews could begin.
The work is projected to be complete in 80 working days, with the goal to finish being Aug. 31. Thibault said she understands the roofers will work some extra weekends and send a few extra crew members to get back on track.
As the roofers took the roof off over the arena, they also discovered rusted decking, which will have to be replaced at extra cost. Thibault said the town anticipated that there might be some damage below the surface.
“We did suspect that because of the high moisture content when they did some testing prior to planning the roof project,” she said.
“We figured there would be damage below.”
There’s also damage around the skylights, as some of the wooden frame around them has been rotted away.
More damage could be found as the roof over the lobby and the roof over the curling rink are repaired.
Thibault said once the roofing project is complete, the causes of many of these problems will be removed and the new roof should have a 25- to 30-year life span.
Meanwhile, inside the building, Thibault said there’s a few areas that are messy and a few areas they are limiting some access for safety reasons.
“Now that they’re working just above the lobby, we’ve got an area blocked off where we really don’t want students going in – just to be on the safe side – because there’s a lot of vibration up on the roof with them removing the old roof systems.”
