Anyone on campus who has looked up in the last few months has seen roofing crews on several Belknap Campus buildings as they’ve repaired the damage from the quarter-sized or larger hail that fell during a late April 2012 storm.
Urgent repairs to prevent water damage to the buildings started immediately after the storm. Besides the roofing material, such things as skylights, windows and rooftop equipment also sustained damage.
Now, “most of the repairs have been done. What is left is the replacement of several roofs,” said Jim Slayden, a former physical plant administrator who came out of retirement to help lead the project.
The work is extensive — 69 buildings were damaged — and it requires knowledge of and expertise in several types of roofs — sometimes just to work on one building.
“On several of the buildings on campus there is more than one type of roof,” Slayden said. “For example, Grawemeyer Hall has a copper roof, a modified roof and a slate roof. The slate has been repaired, the copper work has just started, [and] the modified roof will be repaired when the copper roof is complete.”
Crews are working on the copper roofing now. It isn’t necessarily more difficult to replace the copper roofs than others, but working with soft, pliable metal requires an experienced crew and the process is labor-intensive, said David Proffitt, senior architect, Planning, Design and Construction. The metal has to be hand bent, cut and fabricated to match existing conditions of the building.
Depending on weather the roofing projects should be completed by Dec. 31, Slayden said. Some of the work has yet to be bid, but the total price tag for the damage is estimated at $8.2 million. Insurance will cover it all.
As for the shine of the copper-clad roofs — Proffitt said to expect it to darken to a brown within one to three years and to turn green within five to 10 years, depending on climate and environmental conditions.
Belknap buildings damaged in the April 2012 hailstorm:
- Grawemeyer Hall
- North Information Center
- West Information Center
- Brigman Hall
- Patterson Hall
- Shumaker Research Building
- Oppenheimer Hall
- Jouett Hall
- Ford Hall
- Gardiner Hall
- Ekstrom Library
- Gottschalk Hall
- The Playhouse
- Ralph Wright Natatorium
- McCandless Hall
- The YUM! Center
- Administrative Annex
- Bingham Humanities Building
- Life Sciences Building
- School of Law
- Schneider Hall
- Miller Information Technology Center
- University Club
- Lutz Hall
- Threlkeld Hall
- Honors House
- Crawford Gym
- Stevenson Hall
- Duthie Center
- Dougherty Hall
- J.B. Speed Building
- Sackett Hall
- W.S. Speed Hall
- Ernst Hall
- Natural Science Building
- Chemistry Building
- Solvent Storage
- Miller Hall
- Cultural Center
- Lambda Chi
- Planetarium
- Brodschi Hall
- Urban and Economic Research
- Louisville Hall
- Unitas Hall
- University Tower
- The Ville Grill
- Center Hall
- Steam and Chilled Water Plant
- Studio Arts/HPES/Thrust Theatre
- Cardinal Park
- Fairfax Building
- Service Complex
- Houchens Building
- Student Services Annex
- School of Music Building
- College of Education and Human Development
- Baptist Campus Center
- Davidson Hall
- Strickler Hall
- University Planning, Design and Construction
- College of Business
- Grounds Shop
- Hughes Office Building
- Hughes Carpet Shop
- Hughes Hydro Tech
- Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium
- Trager Center
- Patterson Stadium