QUESTION: Why is it taking so long to replace the roof at Graham Middle School? They’ve been working on it for a year.
ANSWER: The roof replacement at Graham Middle School started in the spring of 2024 but encountered an unexpected delay last summer when the contractor, Triad Roofing, discovered structural degradation throughout the roof decking, i.e. the base to which multiple layers of new roofing materials are applied.
“There was a delay between the time the issue was found and the engineer determining the best way to proceed, the approval of funds, process for design, and ordering the materials,” ABSS chief operations officer Greg Hook recalled this week for The Alamance News.
The project is targeted for completion by mid-May, Hook said, though that timeframe may change if there are any weather-related delays.
That discovery ultimately led to an expansion of the scope of work – specifically, the need for additional engineering services and county funding, based on several subsequent updates to Alamance-Burlington school board members last summer.
The COO has previously told school board members and Alamance County’s commissioners that it typically takes a year to complete a school roof replacement project.
During a June 24, 2024 update on Graham Middle School roof project, Hook presented school board members with a 13-page report from REI Engineers that outlined the extent of the degradation, as well as the estimated $462,733 cost for the expanded scope of work.
As Hook described it at the time, no one knew what lurked beneath the existing roofing materials until crews began peeling back layers, exposing degradation that had caused the decking to crumble and cave in, which the COO characterized as “life-safety issue” created by the disintegration of materials that had been used to patch leaks over many years.
The engineering firm, REI, concluded that the existing decking and lightweight concrete – two of several layers, including tar paper, applied beneath the roofing shingles – needed to be removed, Hook told school board members in June 2024.
Hook told the board at the time that some components in the roof dated back to the original construction of the school in 1951, when it was known as Graham High School, and didn’t meet current building codes.
The school board had originally voted in December 2023 to award a $1.3 million contract to overhaul the roof at Graham Middle School to Triad Roofing of Winston-Salem.
Hook subsequently presented the expanded scope of work and estimated cost to a joint capital oversight committee (OSC) for approval late last summer before going to the commissioners to request additional funding to cover the cost overruns for the roof replacement project at Graham Middle School.
Established in early 2019 to vet and monitor county-funded facilities projects, the OSC includes: the county commissioners’ chairman and vice chairman; the school board chairman and vice chairman; and the chairman and vice chairman for Alamance Community College’s board of trustees, along with Alamance County government, ABSS, and ACC staff.
Hook acknowledged during the discussion last June that Alamance County’s commissioners had previously allocated $1.4 million in county capital funding for the Graham Middle School roof project on four separate occasions between October 2, 2019 and November 20, 2023, Hook acknowledged during his update to the school board in late June 2024.
In mid-September 2024, school board members approved a $462,733 change order for the additional construction design and contract administration services.
