PORT TOWNSEND — The surprise discovery of a deteriorated Old City Hall inner wall made city engineers and contractors in charge of the building’s renovation pull out their calculators Wednesday.
The $5.4 million City Hall and annex earthquake retrofit and renovation project may cost the city more money after workers found a seriously eroded inner brick wall on the building’s Water Street side this week.
The exact estimate is not yet available, but City Manager David Timmons said the damage could result in “serious dollars” spent.
“We’ll have an estimate by the end of the week,” said project superintendent Ben Thompson of Dawson Construction, a Bellingham-based contracting firm undertaking the project.
The old cement mortar, laid in 1940s, contained moisture and over time turned into sand, leaving brick held in place by gravity, Thompson said.
Only the Water Street inner wall has been affected, said Dave Peterson, city engineer.
Prior to renovation work beginning in January, engineers probed the building’s masonry walls but did not come across any damaged mortar, Peterson said.
What must be done
Fixing the wall requires chipping old mortar and replacing it with a more appropriate lime mortar.
The original project budget includes a $180,000 contingency fund for any surprises that might arise during renovation of the 114-year-old building, Timmons said.
The city had already spent $100,000 of its contingency reserves for a variety of small changes during the course of construction.
By the end of this week, architects and engineers promise to say whether the remaining $80,000 would cover needed mortar replacement.
