On Tuesday, May 9, New Fairfield’s Permanent Building Committee (PBC) met to hear updates on the two new school buildings. They learned an additional roof leak was discovered at the elementary school. The leak is at the vertical CMU face above the main entry, where the roof intersects with a vertical wall of masonry. The roof manufacturer visited to inspect and pointed to the masonry as the culprit. At the time of this meeting, the masons were scheduled to investigate the following week. Colliers International’s Mr. Scott Pellman said, “there wasn’t any significant damage done. My understanding is it was a vertical leak that really just stained the ceiling tile, nothing within the walls themselves.”

The PBC continued discussion on the change in plans for a large retaining wall behind New Fairfield Middle School after the current high school’s demolition. What is being prop osed now is a stone slope down to a six-inch curb. It could be a significant savings to the project, but the group is waiting to hear back from a variety of constituents, such as Buildings and Grounds and security. In addition, an underground fire apparatus that would connect to a fire storage tank needs relocating. It is too close to the parent drop off/pick up.

The leaking fire tank(s) at the elementary school was once again a point of conversation. The contractor is monitoring those and reports no leaks. A separator shut off was added to the tank with a suspected leak. They also questioned the link-seals and amount of torque that was used in installation. PBC members agreed that the tanks need to be monitored regularly th rough the winter.

Tech prioritization was discussed for the high school, given that the original equipment intended for the school was unintentionally cut in the bidding process. The top priorities are among the priciest items, but they were described as truly getting the building wired to the point that they can get the maximum usage for the curriculum. The physical equipment is lower on the list, in part because it is much easier for the schools to acquire those through grants. Much of this work needs to be completed to already finished or nearly finished spaces. Though wiring was originally run to mimic the sophisticated system that the school wanted, the wrong size junction boxes were installed. Vetro said, work needs to be done “to the wall to make the four-by-four box become an eight-by-eight recessed box.” Post-installation work is needed to  get all the equipment to work together with final wiring, downloading of programs, and programming.

A roof coping change was approved for the high school due to the overlay of a gravel stop that is designed to marry with it. The roof manufacturer would not approve a warranty due to the gap between the gravel stop and the metal panel roof coping. The solution is to change out the gravel stop to a custom cap that matches the metal panel.

The PBC discussed work that needs to be completed to bring a water line to the existing well at the high school. The existing line is original to the school at 50 years old, so school building officials are  asking for it to be replaced. Currently, the contracts only require a new line to where it would tie into the existing one. There was a discussion about laying it simply with a trencher, but there is too much rock. There is concern that prices will escalate exponentially if they encounter a large amount of rock.

Another area of work that needs adding to the high school is additional fireproofing spray in the Dining Commons. This is due to steel that bumps down from the ceiling. Normally you do not have to fireproof steel when it is over twenty feet above the finished floor. These bump outs are below that threshold, which the Town’s building officials caught.

Vetro explained that there is an issue with gas lines that are needed to service the fume hoods that were not included in the contract documents. The design team has worked with O&G and the trade contractors to determine the most cost-effective routing method to bring the required gas lines to the hoods. O&G believes the estimated labor hours are too high, “the work is not that difficult,” Vetro said, noting that they need to drill through the casework to get the pipes inside the unit. They will also need to go through the slab to get to the floor below to access the gas line, “that’s the hardest part,” Vetro pointed out. He is in discussion with the contractor about costs.

The next regular Permanent Building Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 23, 7:30 p.m.