Demolition of old library encounters another hang-up

The half-demolished Billings Parmly Library will stand a few more weeks as crews wait for equipment to access the buildings basement.

In compliance with Department of Environmental Quality directives, workers have been removing piles of debris containing asbestos from the area immediately around the library.

But progress has slowed getting debris from the buildings basement, said Bill Cochran, the Billings Library director.

A curtain of rebar and unstable concrete on the west side of the building has prevented crews from getting into the basement safely, and crews will sit idle as they wait for a machine that can hack through it.

Theres no equipment on the site right now that can get through it, Cochran said.

The only machine capable of taking down the rebar, which is spaced every 8 inches, is in Missoula and getting it to Billings and removing the steel could take three weeks and cost about $20,000.

It will add in quite a bit of expense to the project, Cochran said.

The delay may also push the completion date closer to November than October, as previously planned.

The removal of materials from the basement was required because when a piece of the demolition subcontractors equipment plummeted through the floor of the building, it could have taken asbestos-containing materials with it, he said.

No one was hurt in the incident, but the DEQ worries that when the excavator drove back and forth on the first floors slab it made asbestos-containing mastic friable. To make sure no asbestos gets into the air, all debris must be removed.

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Demolition of old library encounters another hang-up