PORT TOWNSEND — Unexpected work has left a $5.4 million City Hall renovation and annex construction project on shakier financial ground.
Project contractors Dawson Construction of Bellingham last week discovered a seriously eroded inner brick wall on the Old City Hall’s Water Street side.
Today, architects and engineers in charge of the project meet to evaluate the extent of the weather damage and decide what additional work needs to be done.
Whatever measure is chosen, City Manager David Timmons said, it probably will be costly.
“We are talking some serious dollars,” Timmons said.
After ripping out plaster-covered brick walls inside the building last week, workers discovered that brick corroded by moisture had nearly turned to sand, Timmons said.
Over the years water probably oozed into the masonry upward from the ground, dripped downward from the roof and penetrated outdoors, carried by high winds, Timmons speculated.
“The mortar is pretty seriously degraded on the interior side of the building,” said Dave Peterson, city engineer who examined damage.
Brick fortification
To address the problem, Peterson said, architects are likely to call for fortification of the brick with more mortar or other material.
The damaged wall serves an important role in the renovation project. It provides support to steel braces that anchor the 114-year-old City Hall building to the new annex structure.
The project originally included a $180,000 contingency fund.
Renovation of such an old building often reveals a lot of surprises that result in additional repair work, Timmons said.
To date, $100,000 of the contingency money has been spent on work change orders that include extra moisture prevention, unplanned replacement of ceilings and rotted wood in parts of the building.
It is too early to say whether the remaining $80,000 would cover the cost of the inner brick wall repair, Timmons said.
