High school water leaks to be fixed

NEW LONDON – The New London Board of Education approved spending up to $35,100 to fix water leaks at New London High School.
At its April 27 meeting, the board approved a contract with Masonry Restoration Incorporation (MRI) to fix two areas where there has been “minor leaking and condensation issues” that the district hasn’t been able to find a remedy for, and the leaks have worsened. Those two areas include the gym wall windows and the commons windows. The estimated cost to fix those two areas is $35,100.
Joe Marquardt, SDNL business services director, told the board that the district’s Capital Projects, Energy Conservation and Facilities Committee met on April 17 and recommended that this phase of masonry and building envelope restorations at New London High School be brought before the board for approval.
“This would really, if approved, identify some leaking issues that we had in two particular spots,” Marquardt said.
He added, “Over the years we’ve tried to figure out if there is a more economical way to fix that issue, whether it was our maintenance team trying to caulk and replace some spots.”

Marquardt said the district had communicated with its roofing contractors to see if the water leak issues were related to the roof deck. The district’s door companies also looked into the issue.
“We wanted to make sure we ruled out as many of the options where we were having issues,” Marquardt said.
The water leaking issues are not “catastrophic,” Marquardt said, but added that even minor water leaks are not good.
While an estimate as to the cost to envelope the entire building was provided to the district, Marquardt said he was looking for approval from the board to envelope only the areas where there are currently water leak issues. The cost to envelope the entire high school building was $217,100.
Marquardt said the funds for the project are currently budgeted for in the maintenance area of the district’s operating budget.
According to the Topic Summary Sheet in the board packet, the work “will provide 25 plus years of service life preventing wall leaks and possible structural deterioration by preventing water infiltration into the building’s walls and windows.”
The project would include the removal of the existing sealants and grinding around the existing joints.