WATERVILLE — A $125,000 replacement of a 20-year-old roof atop City Hall is underway and expected to continue for two or three weeks, according to city officials.

The work by Roof Systems of Maine, of Bangor, started Monday, with funding for the work being taken from a 2015 bond, City Manager Michael Roy said.

City Hall, at 1 Common St., also houses the Waterville Opera House. With all of the renovation done to the opera house over the last few years, it was important also to replace the building’s roof, Roy said. City Engineer Greg Brown agreed, saying that four layers of various materials, including tar, felt and fiberglass, are being removed to install a rubber roof.

“This particular layer was showing some severe distress, and leaks were detected in all sorts of places,” Brown said Tuesday. “It was on its last legs.”

He said the weight from all the layers on the tapered roof posed a problem and the layers needed to be removed. The new rubber roof has a 30-year warranty, he said.

On Tuesday, a crane and large trucks were parked in the small parking lot at City Hall off Front St. where workers were based. Orange cones were set up to prevent traffic from entering the parking lot at Front Street.

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Over the last couple of years, patching jobs were done on the roof, but it was time to replace the entire system, according to Brown.

“It was beyond dire,” he said.

As work continues, there will be no disruptions for City Hall employees or the public, according to Brown. He said that as part of the bid documents for the project, the contractor agreed to work around the City Hall schedule.

“We’re making sure that the roof is always dry all the time and there’ll be no disruptions to any functions below,” Brown said. “Work is proceeding well at this point.”

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17


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