MHHS gym roof repair begins

Mountain Home School District #193 wasted little time getting to the project to replace the roof on Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium at the high school once school released for the summer.

Work began June 3, the day after school got out. Superintendent Tim McMurtrey said everything was in place, ready to go before then, but work could not commence because the high school needed the gym available for graduation in the event it rained.

Although graduation passed without rain, wet weather is still a concern for McMurtrey throughout the process.

"Every time you take a roof off, it rains," he said. "We'll going to watch the weather like crazy."

He said the recent weather has him especially worried.

To help protect the gym in the event of rain, the gym's floor has been covered with plywood.

The roof will be replaced in pieces. As one section is torn down, new beams are put up and covered before moving onto the next section.

The $1.5 million project is expected to be completed by mid-September.

The gym will not be available for use when school starts, however, students should have access to locker rooms by then.

To ensure the project is completed as soon as possible, the school district advertised for the bid in December, set a February deadline for bids and awarded the bid the same month.

CM Construction was awarded the project and used the following months to have the beams and trusses constructed, which allowed the project to be started the day after school released.

The trusses in the original roof, built in 1958, began to crack in 1994. The school district had a construction company encase the beams in steel. A recent inspection found the steel-wrapped beams were no longer sufficient to support the building's roof.

With the recent failure of the school bond, which would have included the roof repair, the school district now will use most of its plant facility and federal forest funds to replace the roof.