Temps affect roofing at Goldwin Smith; Klarman dig on track

David Taylor

Digging for Klarman Hall starts Feb. 3.

The whipping wind and negative temps have slowed the pace of roof replacement for Goldwin Smith Hall, but digging work at the Klarman Hall site, the future home of the College of Arts and Sciences new humanities building, is set to begin on schedule Feb. 3.

Workers have been bundled in all sorts of special gear to face the winter chills, but theres no way to get around the need for certain minimum temperatures to complete part of the roof project.

The adhesive used on the underlayment of the roof (the ice and water shields and plywood or copper that go under the slate tiles) cant be applied unless its at least 25 degrees, said Alex Chevallard, associate manager of projects for Cornell, who manages the construction of the roof replacement project at Goldwin Smith.

And workers are under pressure each day when they work on a section because they need to take off tiles and old underlayment, fix any problems they find and add new underlayment, all in the same day. They cant leave a portion of roof uncovered, for obvious reasons.

Along with replacing the entire slate roof on the building which Chevallard said is one of the largest contiguous roofs on campus workers from LeChase Construction are also adding two dormers on the east side for office space.

Despite the weather woes, Dave Tallie, construction superintendent for LeChase, says theyll finish the roof on schedule. LeChase is managing the Klarman site enabling work and roof reconstruction.

Once the weather gets better, we [add crew] to make up for any lost time in winter, he said. Slate roofs can last for about 100 years, Tallie said. Portions of the current roof are 109 years old; others were replaced in the 1970s, according to Gary Wilhelm, project director at Cornell Planning, Design and Construction.

Work has focused so far on the east side of the building, Chevallard said, so that workers can be out of the way for construction on Klarman Hall to begin next week.

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Temps affect roofing at Goldwin Smith; Klarman dig on track