HOT SPRINGS -- It's likely water-damaged terra-cotta eaves adorning the Garland County Courthouse are indicative of more pervasive problems with the exterior of the historic county seat, architects told justices of the peace earlier this month.
An extruded section of the overhang fell through the roof of the county clerk's office last year, making county officials wary of the possibility other sections pose similar hazards. John Greer Jr. of WER Architects/Planners told the Garland County Quorum Court Environmental Services, Public Works and Buildings Committee that water infiltration has compromised steel hooks anchoring the ornamental panels to the outside wall.
Greer and Thomas Moore of Cromwell Architects Engineers used a lift to inspect the roof and upper area of the building's southern perimeter as part of a needs assessment the county commissioned.
"It's the rust jacking," Greer said. "It's the expansion of the steel. The moisture cracks it and then over time it continues to move and then gravity takes over at some point."
Moore said water is entering multiple points, including cornice pieces below the roof, flashing where the inside of the parapet wall connects to the roof and open mortar joints on the masonry exterior.
The courthouse was built in 1906 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Its interior was rebuilt after it was damaged in a 1913 fire.
"The more we got into this, the more we realized it was really a holistic problem," Moore said. "There's several things going on that contribute to these problems. There was no single smoking gun. There was no giant hole in the roof.
"This is a grand old building. It's been there a long time. It just needs some TLC. It's that time in the life of the building."
Greer and Moore estimated a $443,080 cost to repair and replace the compromised terra-cotta panels and anchors and fix water-damaged mortar joints and masonry. The cost would include cleaning all of the masonry and applying a silane repellent to protect against water infiltration. They said a quarter of the masonry needs to be repaired or replaced.
Greer said custom-molded terra-cotta panels could cost as much as $7,800 and suggested using fiberglass, an alternative he said is more cost effective and easier to install.
"You're talking about a significant amount of money just for one section," he said. "The alternative is fiberglass, and it's accepted by the historic preservation program. They can coat it to where you'll never notice it's fiberglass. It's also much easier to attach."
He and Moore estimated a rehabilitation program replacing all of the terra-cotta with fiberglass would cost $1,089,000, but Greer said historic preservation granting agencies may balk at underwriting a project of that scale without evidence the problem is more widespread than what their assessment has indicated.
"I'm just going to assume because it's historic material, they'll say we don't want you to remove it unless you know you have a problem," Greer said. "We may have to take a phased approach, go in and cut into the cornices and show areas where we're replacing broken tiles, remove some of the coating and prove to them we have a problem."
The county has been awarded Arkansas Historic Preservation Program grants to replace the courthouse roof and bring the upper floors into compliance with the fire code.
Metro on 07/30/2018