Fixing the McLennan County courthouse roof may be more costly if the county has to follow higher construction standards preferred by the state historical commission.

Johnson Roofing, the Robinson construction company that was awarded a $715,000 contract to do the roof repairs, planned to use an epoxy plaster to repair holes in the roof and the different statues adorning the building.

Themis, the Greek goddess of justice perched at the top of the dome, has a hole in her left arm caused by a bird’s nest, and is missing her sword. Lady Justice has a hole in the top of her head that had become home to a beehive.

Kyle Smith of Bilt Rite Scaffolding out of Austin walks around one of the statues on the roof of the McLennan County Courthouse Friday.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

But the Texas Historical Commission is pushing to have the statues repaired with a metal similar to the original material with which they were formed.

Mark Wolfe, executive director of the historical commission, said using materials closer to the original components and mimicking the methods used to apply them to the courthouse would help keep the building structurally sound.

It would also alleviate concerns that modern chemicals and techniques could damage the roof.

“The best way to keep water out would be to have things done the way they were done originally,” Wolfe said. “So that’s one of the things we’re looking at, what would be the cost difference to have it the way it was done historically rather than doing it another way.”

The 108-year-old courthouse is registered as a historic building. The commission monitors any renovations done on historic buildings to ensure that the historical structure of the building is not altered.

The county has to obtain an antiquities permit from the commission before any construction can be done on the courthouse.

Commissioner Joe Mashek said the county had been in communication with the commission about its plans on the courthouse renovation.

But after a visit two weeks ago from Bess Graham, an architect in the commission’s historical courthouse preservation program, new concerns were raised.

Wolfe and Sharon Fleming of the commission’s historical courthouse preservation program, met with Mashek, county officials and staff from Johnson Roofing this week.

They discussed whether it was feasible to repair the statues through soldering — blending and shaping additional metal pieces to fix the problem areas.

A century old

“The statues were made of metal over 100 years ago, it may require some special people to do the repairs, and I’m afraid this is going to cost us a lot of money,” Mashek said.

Bill Johnson, owner of Johnson Roofing, said the company has a large sheet-metal production facility and staff that could reproduce some of the decorative elements — at a higher cost than what was included in the original proposal.

He said the county’s request for proposals sought repairs to the statuary as opposed to a full historical restoration.

“We bid the job per McLennan County written specifications and as requested in the competitive sealed proposal form,” Johnson said. “We gave some options that would look the same but (use) different materials that cost less.”

One decorative element the company would not be able to reproduce in-house is the different metal leaves gracing the building. Johnson said the leaves were likely made using a stamper — a machine that presses metal into a pre-made shape.

Originally, the company was planning to take make molds of some of the decorative leaves and elements, then pour epoxy plaster into the molds to make replicas.

Wolfe said the problem with using epoxy to mold the leaves is that each would have to be screwed into the building, creating more holes where water could seep in, while the original leaves are soldered on.

If the county decides to go with metal leaves, Johnson said he would probably have to get the stamps made from another company.

“Getting stamps for those leaves could be very expensive, because (the original stamps) may or may not be in existence in the world today,” Johnson said. “The stamps were probably formed from a hand-made process from 108 years ago.”

The county will submit an application for an antiquities permit to the historical commission next week.

The commission then has 60 days to review the application and decide whether the planned work will fit with its guidelines for construction on historical buildings.

The project is expected to be completed in early December, but the longer it takes to obtain the permit, the more the county will have to shell out for the work.

The current budget includes $1.5 million for the courthouse roof repairs. But that money can only be used for any construction expenses incurred before Sept. 30.

Any work done on and after Oct. 1 will have to come out of the 2011 fiscal year budget. The preliminary 2011 budget includes $715,000 for the project.

Budget cushion

There is some cushion in the upcoming budget that could cover unexpected expenses on the roof.

The preliminary budget includes a $1.5 million contingency line item in the county’s permanent improvement fund designated to cover miscellaneous renovation costs.

In addition to the concerns from the historical commission, the county has already run into at least one unexpected cost for the project.

The commissioners court voted earlier this week to hire a structural engineer to examine the stability of the roof dome after Johnson Roofing expressed concerns that the area might not be able to support scaffolding.

The costs for the structural engineer have not been determined yet.

rdennis@wacotrib.com

757-5755

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